Welcome to Fine gold,  Here you will find some Gold Sovereigns for Sale at great prices. Click on for sale to see what is on offer!

Gold Sovereigns General Information

Gold sovereigns began life in 1489, but ceased around 1604. They were re-started again in the reign of George III in 1817 and featured a St. George and Dragon design on the reverse. This design was engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci.

Sovereigns were last minted for use in circulation in 1932, but production of sovereigns for Bullion use re-started in 1957, however they are not issued every year.

There were three Victoria Heads:- 

The Young bun head (bun because of her bun hair), was minted from 1838 to 1887.

The reverse of these was a Shield design from 1838 to 1887, and a St George and Dragon reverse used from 1871 to 1887. Young head sovereigns were issued by mints in London, Melbourne and Sydney.

The Jubilee head (introduced for the golden jubilee in 1887 !) used until 1893.

The Old Head started in 1893 and went on until 1901. It is also known as the veiled head.

Mints & Mintmarks

Sovereigns were made by the Royal Mint in London and at mints in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.

Spec

Sovereigns weigh 7.98-7.99 grams and are minted in 22 carat gold. This gold is alloyed with other metals but is 91.66% pure gold. One Sovereign therefore contains 7.15grams or 0.235 troy ounces of fine gold. Each coin has a diameter of 22.05 millimetres.

Prices

The gold content of a sovereign is worth about about £85 so it is rare for a sovereigns sold for less! To buy a new one this year costs around £140.

Grading

This is an area that is always very difficult. Wherever possible they will be described as accurately as possible. Scans of the actual coins are supplied and if a bidder has any questions he must ask before the auction finishes.

A range of grades are used to describe the condition of coins.

Valuation of a coin is impossible without a sound knowledge of the grading of coins. For this there is no real substitute for experience. However, the following is a guide to the main grading scheme used for UK.

• Poor: Inscriptions worn off, date illegible, only outline of design visible.
   
• Fair: Date, legends and denomination (if any) legible, type recognisable. Very little detail visible
• Fine (F): Worn over whole area, but only the highest spots are worn completely through.
   
• Very Fine (VF): Detail clear, but obvious evidence of very limited circulation. High spots worn but detail remains. Traces of mint lustre may linger amongst the letters of the inscription.
   
• Extremely Fine (EVE): Slight wear on high spots on close inspection, and all other detail clear and sharp. Much mint lustre may remain. May appear uncirculated to the naked eye.
   
• Uncirculated (Unc): No wear at all, although it is possible for the design not to be fully struck up in the minting process. There may be bag abrasions. Older coins may be tarnished or toned.
   
• Brilliant Uncirculated (BU): Usually implies full mint lustre.
   
•  Proof: Not a condition, but the coin has been struck using specially prepared dies and blanks, and the minting process has been carried out usually twice with extra pressure to ensure the die is filled. Normally the fields are highly polished, with the design matte, however matte proofs where the whole coin is matte are known (especially the 1902 GB proofs), and sometimes even the design is polished (especially from the early 1970's for UK proof sets). Proof coins usually have very sharp edges .
• FDC (Fleur de Coin): Perfect mint state, with no abrasions or marks, and full lustre. Usually applied to proof coins only, or coins from sealed mint sets.

  Many coins fall in between grades, and so terms such as "nearly VF", "good VF", "gem BU" are encountered.

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