Yound head Sovereigns

I would grade the 1879 St George as MS-61
and the 1884 Melbourne shield as a MS-63

Thanks very much for the replies and grading help Buffaloboy5 and SuperDave.

Dave, won the 1884m Shield on eBay just after Christmas. It was a short 2 day listing and the pics were too small to be of any use. I paid only 10% above melt for it. I got lucky.

Poor selling strategy and poor timing from the seller. They should have got more for it.

These are the pics it was listed with. I'm probably mad for bidding at all but I didn't venture far from melt anyway so couldn't lose. Needless to say when it arrived I was happy with the deal.

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Just as a follow up, I took both Sovs into the local coin dealer. She grades quite conservatively. She got the eye loupe out and tilted the coin this way and that carefully taking her time. The 1884m shield graded good EF for the obverse and UNC for the reverse. The hair near the eyebrow has some very slight wear.

The 1879m St George apparently has been cleaned It graded EF for the obverse and almost UNC for the reverse. A little disappointing since it was advertised as UNC. Not that I paid anywhere near that much for it. I still got my money's worth.

Both are obviously very nice still, but could be better. FYI the 1879m St George with medium tail on the horse has a book value of $2000 AUD for a true UNC.

She said I got a bargain if I paid anything less than AUD $320 for the shield so at AUD $219 I guess I did.