Assistance Requested: 1958 British Gold Sovereign - Real Or Not?

You look at the ground above the date, S - Sidney, M - Melbourne and P - Perth (In addition to the other information supplied by Sel) You are correct in your assumption that no mint mark means it was minted here in England.

Well Yellow, I am hardly a great photographer either but that's an OK photo. Its just much more flattering to the coin than the original photo, it makes it look much better.

Well it was a mixed compliment really.

Unlike a photo of a person which you would like to be flattering I don't think thats the objective.

We now have cameras on our phones that are pretty versatile and take a photo which is adequate for showing what you have got.

Your photo makes the coin look nice, the original photo is the better one because it shows the flaws on the coin, it more accurately represents it.

Your other coin is cool too... looks like its been a good day for you.

There's a lot of good people on here, for the most part everyone tries to help each other. It's also good to see American's interested in UK coinage, often it feels like the opposite. I am interested in some American items that we don't see so much over here sometimes we can find stuff for each other so that's useful too.

So are you interested in all gold coins or what? What's your collecting aims?

Have you any Britannia's?



(This proves my photography isn't any better than yours)

"There's a lot of good people on here, for the most part everyone tries to help each other. It's also good to see American's interested in UK coinage, often it feels like the opposite. I am interested in some American items that we don't see so much over here sometimes we can find stuff for each other so that's useful too.

So are you interested in all gold coins or what? What's your collecting aims?

Have you any Britannia's?"

David,

I think coincommunity.com is, if not the best, one of the best numismatic websites on the English language world wide web. One reason I feel this way is the fact it has a relatively large international membership. I greatly enjoy learning about international and domestic coins, researching coins, history, and establishing relationships with numismatics around the globe.

I have a small "store front" on ebay. I sell some of my own coins but most coins I sell are from friends that asked me to do so for them. I am not a business, broker, professional, dealer etc. This is a hobby.

What do I collect? International gold coins.

What do I buy, sell, trade? US and international- coins, luxury items, art, antiquities, US Civil War items, snuff boxes and paraphernalia, jewelry, books, rarities, etc.

Additionally, I enjoy networking with people around the world in order to mutually assist each other, whether buying, selling, locating, etc. items.

Yes, I have several silver bullion Brittania's. I think they are very attractive coins. They supplanted the Mexican Libertad as my favorite silver bullion coin. I am currently selling my silver ones in order to free up funds to purchase gold ones.

PS: I think you photos are great ;-)

This message is directed to the Brits but may be applicable to others and is just one of the reasons I feel establishing an international network of fellow numismatics is beneficial.

In two words: Exchange rates.

Example: An 1958 Gold Sovereign Elizabeth II VF on Chard's website (excluding other fees) is about 270 British Pounds which is about 353 USD as of today.


Due to my location in the USA I can save some one in the UK money on that specific coin.

The "flip side"...

Due to some one being located in the UK my assumption is they have access to a far greater number and variety of sovereigns than some one in the USA, thus making collecting sovereigns more challenging.

Now if some one in the UK wants a specific USA coin some one in the USA has the best access and if the correct relationship is established the person in the UK could acquire that coin and save money in the process.

Full Disclosure: UK and Australian residents historically have made up about 5% of my clients. Over the last 6 months that percentage has increased substantially. The number and types of coins being purchased (or requested) has grown in direct correlation.

Interestingly, one of my best UK clients is not an individual but an institution. I am on purpose excluding specific details because I respect privacy and believe in discretion. I'm sure you all know how to use the ol'google.

Bodleian Library
Broad Street
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX13BG
United Kingdom

David,

I would enjoy speaking with your mother. My physical location could not be much better for finding USA snuff boxes and related material that is pre-1900. I have only recently began my pursuit of these items. I wish I had started much earlier but hindsight is always 20/20. Besides there will only be more coming on the market through a wide variety of channels.

In my area these items normally have historic and/or local significance that gives them additional appeal thus additional value. And they've been around for quite awhile. About 5-6 years ago, by pure happenstance, I saw a few prices realized for these items at both local and national auctions. I was surprised by the prices but not shocked or anything crazy. I then looked at some historic auction results going back to 2000 and saw an obvious trend (slow and steady upwards). Over the last couple of years I've seen a few but more and more sell for, what I consider, stupidly high prices.

Since I would be buying these items with the sole intention of profiting later, the realist business side of me senses a bubble forming. Wanting to profit while minimizing risk from this potential opportunity I dove into research. After much, much, much, much to much time and effort I got the answers to the questions I had.

End result: I am VERY bullish snuff boxes. Buy and hold.

Please relay the above to your mother hopefully it will make her happy!

Admittedly, I know zero about vinaigrettes and pomanders.

Allow me to briefly address (no pun intended) the last statement in your post. You are correct that postage can be expensive, even prohibitively so. I do not want to accidentally break any forum rules nor offend a forum member(s) so the following statement is deliberately and purposefully obtuse. The source of the vast majority of COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY issues that create undue expense, headaches, and assorted difficulties manifest themselves through sheer ignorance and laziness on the non-commonwealth land across the Atlantic from you.

Your mother's fondness for English silver is entirely understandable. I would have expected nothing less

Could you give me a few specific examples of Russian silver items of interest. They do not need to be coins. I would be curious (and maybe helpful). It is interesting you brought up Russian silver especially "seeing such things less frequently", but I'll get to that later.

I have a million questions to ask some one who has worked in the jewellery trade for an extensive period of time. This is neither the time nor place for that topic and I imagine the last thing you need or want is questions from me about it ;-) So I will shut up now.

Banknotes and silver- It took me about 4 solid years of pure frustration and losing money to fully realize as fact what you just said/typed. The key words, which I will quote, being "without the large passage of time". Thank goodness those 4 years ended when silver was above $35 USD an ounce. And that was just dumb luck.

I think the retirement strategy is a good one and more than prudent.

Spam filter grabbed them. I have very secure email service.

Reading email now.