A client popped into our office today with a strangest piece we ever
saw. It's a rear
1920 gold sovereign but at first was unclear where it was
minted. Recently one of them 1920 Sydney minted sovereigns but in proof
was sold at Baldwins auction for around £720,000 (over a million US dollars). The guy said he's been to various coin dealers and many said it was S mark (Sydney), a well known dealer from Blackpool estimated is as a Perth mint (anything but P. much less in value).
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Naturally, with a coin of such possible value he went to seek our expertise. We took a close up picture and here's what we saw (see the pic on the left). There is a barely recognizable SA (South African mint, Pretoria). But to the best of our knowledge they didn't start making these before 1923, so we were puzzled.
After closer look and much deliberation we came to conclusion that it's a nicely done fake due to certain give away signs. If you have a different opinion, please do post your comments, we'll be very interested to hear that.
The funny bit is that the guy has some very attractive offers on it but decided to keep it in case any better offer comes along. Best of luck!
If you unsure about any of your
gold British coins please contact us and we'll do free valuation for you at our office here in London. We can also offer you the best price if you decide to sell your coins. Please
contact us first before taking your coins elsewhere.
Dear Sirs,
ReplyDeleteafter accidentally purchasing a 1920 Sovereign with no evident mint mark and not finding this year from the London Mint in my catalogue, I searched on the net and found your interesting page on this item.
As you do not give special details how to spot the weak points of this particular coin, I looked up your page on forgeries
http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/fakes.html
and then particularly studied your article on
http://goldsovereignexpert.com/info/fake-gold-sovereigns-spotting-counterfeits/
I studied all criteria outlined and - with the help of a 10 times magnifying glass - also closely compared my 1920 sovereign with other sovereigns in my possession. Nevertheless, despite all the effort, I was not able to find a weak point in my coin. On the contrary, it has the same „yellowish“ aspect as many of the Australian items (The London mint seems to have used a slightly different alloy, with the more „ressish“ tone probably due to the use of more copper than silver?).
I am not at all an expert in this matter, but what confuses me most is, that my supposedly faked 1920 sovereign looks in any case much original (= eventually better faked) than e. g. a 1917 Libanese fake described in details on the above-mentioned web page. Such a fine fake makes a priori no sense to me for a piece with the exact weight of gold, no numismatic value and moreover being upon first inspection recognizable as „not original“ because of no evident mint mark (= what the unclear mark / marks exactly means is open to interpreation and no mint mark would not be possible for an auhtentic coin, because not being minted that year).
During my next travel to Germany, I will have the item examined by a numismatic expert (on German coins) I know, as I have a certain idea in mind. I will let you know the outcome after his examination.
Nevertheless, I would be very thankful, if in the meanwhile you could indicate me what exact weak points („give away signs“) you have found in your 1920 item published on the net. And also, if you are aware of other cases of 1920 sovereigns with no mint mark but of superbe quality (There was at least another item, see: http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/1920fakelondonmintsovereign.html. Yet, the result of my enquiry with the publishing company was, that it is not anymore in their possession, but was likely melted).
Thanking you in advance for your efforts, I remain in the meanwhile with best compliments from Luxemburg,
Dr. Volker Armspach
volkerarmspach@gmail.com
I have the same coin. It is a forgery but of course the gold value is still there.
ReplyDeleteI too have one and my thoughts are the same as Dr. Armspach. Why? Could they not be a minting error as in many other sovereigns, or even someone had a few minted in London, as in the Sydney minted ones.
ReplyDeletedekachad1@yahoo.co.uk
I have just found one in a ring i purchased.as far as i can see its in good cond..ive taken loads of pics and 2 or 3 look like the letter s. Other pics look like S A...so not sure.
ReplyDeleteFind the Best Gold Sovereigns for your business and requirements. Thanks for such a valuable post!
ReplyDelete