A Tale of Two Sovereigns - Both 1928-SA One Genuine One Fake

[LawrenceChard]

A Tale of Two Sovereigns - Both 1928-SA One Genuine One Fake

These two gold sovereigns turned up on the same day.

1928 is quite common, particularly from the Pretoria, South Africa Mint.

Both attracted extra interest and scrutiny for our team, and got passed over for me to check:

This had been tagged as "weird" or similar. It did look slightly unusual, perhaps a little yellower than many George V sovereigns. It still looked OK to me, but I asked for photos to make it easier to study.

Heres is the obverse:

I was concerned about what looked like pimples. Raised pimples in particulalr are a bad sign, usually arising from rusty dies.

On the niton test result sheet, I noted "grainy":

39.878 cts = 7.9756 grams

The gold content is a tiny bit high, and the silver content at 6 ppt, is also slightly high, but for a branch mint it was not totally unexpected, and would help to explain the yellow colour.

4 to 6 ppt would have been in line with my expectations.

I am happy the coin is genuine.

The other 1928 SA was different:

What can you see?

I see what looks like a weak strike. The whole surface is very grainy, and there are some raised pimples. Undoubtedly fake, but quite a good one compared with many. The date numerals look a little squashed.

 

Again, it appears to be a weak strike, but the raised areas look slightly worn. There are obvious raised pimples, a grainy surface, and mushy looking lettering. Fake!

Of course, we did a Niton XRF test:

You might note that I had written FAKE on the description before I tested it.

The gold content is too low.

The silver content would be right on an 1887 London Mint Jubilee Head, but wrong on this coin.

The trace of Cadmium is a bad sign.

39.909 cts = 7.9818 grams, so it's weight is good, despite the signs of possible wear.

The alloy analysis was not necessary on this fake, but interesting and educational.

On the top coin, the high quality photos helped, although I had already concluded that it was genuine. Viewing the zoomed photos at the same time as the actual coin is often very useful, albeit a bit of a luxury.

I could be wrong. It might be an extremely good fake.

I often wonder if it's worth getting a coin like this "slabbed" just to see if it gets queried, or accepted without comment.

😎

Edited September 14, 2022 by LawrenceChard

[Zhorro]

A masterclass!

[Ukbullionfan]

Got to love a LC story. You should start a YouTube channel/podcast of your life and history. 👌

[Chandler365]

Personally I find a greater difference in the mint mark , the letter A has a marked difference , the fake having a missing part of the A ? 

[LawrenceChard]

44 minutes ago, Chandler365 said:

Personally I find a greater difference in the mint mark , the letter A has a marked difference , the fake having a missing part of the A ? 

I agree!

😎

[SidS]

Even the forgers know there should be a smattering of silver in the alloy.

The fakes look better than the genuine modern ones.

[pricha]

I'd love to see them in the flesh and see if I could notice anything unusual. Is it true that King George is the most faked coin ? Most decent fakes seem to be George V from what I've read. 

[MonkeysUncle]

Well I can safely say I would be none the wiser if it were in my possession. 

Try flogging it to another dealer, one that can't seemingly be bothered to check stuff... oooh, I am naughty. I once part ex-ed a Nissan with a knackered gearbox to a dealer who offered a crappy deal and didn't bother to look at the car... 'til a week later. Caveat emptor!

[SidS]

1 hour ago, MonkeysUncle said:

Well I can safely say I would be none the wiser if it were in my possession.

It's a funny one in a way. As many of these fake sovereigns contain gold which is usually 18ct+ and even occasionally more than the real coins, it probably shouldn't make much difference to a stacker of gold bullion whether they're real or not.

It's a whole different story if you're a collector though - who wants the actual coin rather than the gold per se.

Edited September 15, 2022 by SidS

[Booky586]

On 14/09/2022 at 20:26, LawrenceChard said:

I often wonder if it's worth getting a coin like this "slabbed" just to see if it gets queried, or accepted without comment.

Go on, be a devil and send it off! You know your want to! 😀

[SidS]

If it's the ethics you worry about, if it does get slabbed you can always crack it out again and scrap it afterwards.

[LawrenceChard]

1 minute ago, SidS said:

If it's the ethics you worry about, if it does get slabbed you can always crack it out again and scrap it afterwards.

Breaking out requires special equipment:

Slab Gone by @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer!

😎

[dicker]

@LawrenceChardWhat is visible in this part of the first Sovereign?

Is this “orange peel” type detail that you have mentioned before?

Best

Dicker

 

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, dicker said:

@LawrenceChardWhat is visible in this part of the first Sovereign?

Is this “orange peel” type detail that you have mentioned before?

Best

Dicker

 

No. Orange peel effect is when the surfaces are lumpy and grainy, very similar to the surface of most oranges.

This "bearding", looking like the horse has developed an extremely hairy neck, is probably "flow lines" created during striking, or when the metal cools after striking. If so, the two effects have similar causes, heating and cooling cycles causing surfaces to become uneven instead of perfectly flat.

What is harder to understand or explain is why it looks so brown instead of gold, but I suspect this is a "trick of the light", because the colours we observe are created when (usually white) lights reflects differentially from different surfaces with different textures.

It feels strangely different using the word different repeatedly in one, now two, short sentences.

Does all this make sense to you?

Perhaps we should claim this as a newly discovered rarity. The "Hairy Horse" variety?

😎

 

[dicker]

Yes, thanks makes perfect sense.  

Hairy Horse Variety is perfect!
 

 

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, dicker said:

Yes, thanks makes perfect sense.  

Hairy Horse Variety is perfect!
 

Is this hairy enough?

Perhaps St. George would look good on a Shetland pony?

😎

[dicker]

Shaggy Shetland

Furry filly

Matted mare

[jultorsk]

Better it's on the horse than 'Hirsute Hero'... 🤔😂