Quintuple Sovereign vs 1oz Britannia

[argentumstacker]

As someone beginning to stack gold, is it worth spending more on Quintuple Sovereigns over 1oz Britannias?  

[TringSilver]

Get whatever has the cheapest premium would be my advice.

[beacon]

Whatever is lowest. However; the higher the weight, the less liquid generally speaking.

[Pete]

A quintuple sovereign especially a flawless proof is definitely something to admire.
When I sold all mine I could barely beat spot and selling to dealers like HGM and BbP made absolutely no difference paying 97-98% of spot and the same with full and fractional Britannias.

For showing friends get the QS but for future trading get sovereigns or 1oz bullion coins ( 24ct preferably ) at lowest premiums, maybe 50g bars.

[GoldDiggerDave]

Theres more 1oz bullion Brits around than quintuple bullion sovereigns.  

https://www.chards.co.uk/gold-britannia-1-ounce-coin/britannia-bullion-coin-pre-owned/2759

https://www.chards.co.uk/best-value-gold-five-pound-quintuple-sovereign/11714

using this as an example 

£1,383.47 for a secondary market brit  premium 3.2%

£1,632.99 for a secondary market £5 sov premium 3.5%

For purely stacking 1oz brits will be easier to obtain.  You need to ask yourself can you afford to hold 1oz gold coins or more in the case of the £5 sov.  Will you be liquidating regularly, look at splitting your stack with smaller coins full sovereigns (you do pay more % premium but give you the options to liquidate smaller amounts instead of a large coin)  

I have seen more fake £5 sovereigns than brits so be careful who you buy them from especially if you are buying on eBay and facebook.

Start with 1oz Brits from a reputable dealer until you are comfortable.  If you are really at the start of your journey into gold full sovereigns are an easy low cost entry into the world of gold coins.  

Cheers

Dave 

 

[RDHC]

1 hour ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

 

I have seen more fake £5 sovereigns than brits so be careful who you buy them from especially if you are buying on eBay and facebook.

 

 

That's very interesting. I can understand the fake £5 sovereigns because they go back more than a century, but I have not previously heard of fake Britannias. Are there are any particular years or other clues to watch out for? I would have thought that even before the additional security devices over the last two years a Britannia would be very difficult to fake convincingly, but I'm open to correction.

[GoldDiggerDave]

@RDHC I have seen photos of fake 1oz gold brits had a few fake £5 sovs in hand as well as Krugerrand’s.  The fakes  especially the £5 sovs can be very good fakes, with the strike being very close to an authentic £5, and it’s then the over all appearance and one thing I do look for is fake wear.  Many fake £5 are gold and a lot I’ve seen test too high instead of 916 they come in at 950+.

I have had fake silver bits in hand, my mate bought some on eBay, should have taken some pictures at the time, I can see instantly they were not even silver. 
 

don’t just blindly trust because it’s a new coins that it can’t be fake. The new £2 coin in 1998 was said to have the best security design at the time and there are loads of fakes in circulation and I mean loads, possibly one reason why the RM have not made any for circulation for the last few years. 
 

Trust but verify.

[Roy]

Interesting topic!

I'm with Roger, I've never heard of a fake Britannia but I'm not baiting you Dave, I need to pick your brains! (I hold a lot of Britannias!)

Is it only 1 oz gold Brits or fractionals too? Any particular year? Bullion or proof, or both? There are many special reverses as you know, so I can see a motive. 22k or 24k?

Totally agree on the sovs, I've never been fortunate to own one but members here have and a 1887 £5 which was was bought from a dealer was discovered to be fake and had to be returned/refunded.

The forgers are very clever.

[RDHC]

2 hours ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

@RDHC I have seen photos of fake 1oz gold brits had a few fake £5 sovs in hand as well as Krugerrand’s.  The fakes  especially the £5 sovs can be very good fakes, with the strike being very close to an authentic £5, and it’s then the over all appearance and one thing I do look for is fake wear.  Many fake £5 are gold and a lot I’ve seen test too high instead of 916 they come in at 950+.

I have had fake silver bits in hand, my mate bought some on eBay, should have taken some pictures at the time, I can see instantly they were not even silver. 
 

don’t just blindly trust because it’s a new coins that it can’t be fake. The new £2 coin in 1998 was said to have the best security design at the time and there are loads of fakes in circulation and I mean loads, possibly one reason why the RM have not made any for circulation for the last few years. 
 

Trust but verify.

Thank you. All information of this kind is valuable, as is the warning. Fortunately my gold Britannias (no silver) have come only from reputable dealers, so I feel pretty confident about them. Can you recall what distinguished the fake ones from the real thing or were the photos not good enough to tell?