Value Of An 1885m Shield Sovereign

I'm perfectly happy to acknowledge that the "Holey Dollars" - that series of generally Spanish/Spanish American 8 reales with holes punched out and labelled with an Australian colony or settlement as Australian.

However, other places used those same coins with holes - for example, Costa Rica, Demerara & Essequibo, St Vincent.

I hope the Ozzies aren't going to claim them as Australian.

What can I say florin old mate, the cretins are getting more abundant, Must be something to do with the fading ozone layers

I think that the Downies grading is correct. There are no flat spots at all attributable to wear on the high points of the design on either side. The high points on the obverse however, are dull.

The obverse grading is therefore EF.

Normally, the shield side of these coins seems to hide the wear much better, and presents in slightly better condition than the obverse.

The small nicks to be found on the obverse would detract from the value a bit. That is to be expected, because 22 ct. gold is relatively soft, and the detail more exposed to wear, due the design.

The sovereign did not circulate as much in Australia as it did in Britain. Most of the Australian sovereigns went straight overseas, mainly to Britain and India, to pay for imports into Australia. It was possible to go to a bank any time and ask for sovereigns.

The half sovereign DID circulate more widely amongst the population in Australia, up until about 1910, alongside the paper currency, as a backing to it. That explains why Australian minted half sovereigns on average are in poorer condition than the sovereigns, and why far fewer of them were minted. Mintage of the half sovereign was in response to commercial demand for them as a circulation coin.

This also helps to explain why Australian half sovereigns have a much higher numismatic value than their British counterparts, which also had much larger mintages.

I agree with Pertinax's grade on this coin'
VF+ or EF-40, The dings on the rim are quite distracting as well

I once had a complete type set of Australian sovereigns and half sovereigns, including an Adelaide Pound in V / VF. The halves were all of the Sydney Mint
I bought the Adelaide Pound out of money given to me for my 21st birthday.

The complete set was sold through Noble Auctions, along with about 100 Roman coins, which included 2 aureii and 2 solidii. The money received went to a deposit for our first house. Also had pre decimal type set each type, represented by the rarest date for type, except the '30 penny, which was a '25.

That was a long time ago.

way to go ?

gold coins or gold bullion ?

that is the question ..

,, kel ,,

Coins are much more interesting to me