Help with fake Sovereign? G21 mark in obverse field.
Weiss
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Friend of mine sent me a text with a bunch of coins left by their grandfather. The kind of pre-Krugerrand stuff you'd expect to see in a mid-century smaller gold hoard.
I was just going back over the images when I realized the image of a sovereign had strange marks on it (forgive me: It was on my cell phone and I'm, like, old and stuff).
Had a chance to download and blow it up and clean it up. Says "G21" in the field.
Google shows a few very thin mentions of this and a similar "MOM21" in the field, showing these to be mid-century counterfeits likely made in the middle-east. But it's unclear if they are the good gold but fake variety or just plain old fake varieties.
Anyone have a source that's a little more respectable or legit? I'd like to be able to send these friends something, but I can't seem to find anything that looks definitive.
--Severian the Lame
Comments
Seen this somewhere before and NOT a Royal Mint product. Perhaps 21 karat gold?
Well, just Love coins, period.
I believe there was a post on this some time ago. I seem to remember that 7jags is right about the mark.
What you have here is indeed a "Middle Eastern Jewellery copy" of a sovereign. In Dubai, one of the world's largest gold markets, it is legal to make and sell fake gold coins - so long as the coins are actually made of gold, and the gold fineness of the fakes is clearly marked on them. The fake-makers make their profits by charging the tourists the same standard bullion rate as genuine coins for their fakes, but either making the gold slightly more dilute than a genuine coin, or the correct fineness but slightly lightweight.
This one, at 21k gold, is in the "slightly less fine" class (genuine sovereigns are 22k). "G" is probably the initial of the company that made and sold it.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
Thanks, guys. I'll pass the info along!
--Severian the Lame
I have seen these for sale in Arabic countries, they are not real sovereigns, they are copies of past sovereigns however they tend to be made from real gold so if you buy one or are thinking of, only pay spot price based on weight and karat.