1888 Sydney Mint Sovereign With Die Cracks.

I formed an Australian gold type set (17 coins in all, including an Adelaide Pound waaaay back in the late 1960's.
Sold the set to help raise money to buy our first home.

All of the Half Sovereigns in the collection were from the Sydney Mint, in the city in which I live.
The Sydney Mint Building still stands in Macquarie Street, Sydney and is a heritage building.
Gold Sovereign production ceased in 1926, and all minting presses dismantled.
The 1/4 inch steel plate lined bullion room still exists at the front of the building., but is now used for office space.

Google Images reveal some good pictures of then current style of Georgian architecture.
search Google Images:
'Sydney Mint Building'

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I can see the circumferential die cracking through the lettering behind Vikkie's head.

22 ct gold is softer than .925 silver and so
there should be less stress on the coining dies, which one could reason that die cracks evident on gold coins should be scarcer

Nevertheless, I do not think evidence of a die crack on this coin would add much to the value, but it becomes a much more interesting coin.

I do not believe that a die with a known crack after it's discovery, would be allowed to continue in production.

The die pairs of for the 1887 dated sovereigns would have been removed from the coining presses, at which point it is possible to assume the cracking would have been discovered.
Thus, the die for this coin although may have been used for 1887 dated coins, would not have had any evidence of cracking before being paired with a 1888 reverse.
It is possible that the die for this coin was only used on 1888 dated coins

My brother reminded me Eric Eigner,Drake Sterling,has an office(or at least a Rep.) in London,might be worth contacting them..AtB..