New member
GoldCoinLover
Posts: 1,244
I'm a new member. This is my first message. I appreciate the kindness around these forums, as I've experinced it alot differently on other forums.
I'm afraid my coin is counterfeit. I need your help. I'm thinking of sending it into PCGS but I don't think they accept forign coins. Its a british gold soverign. Its date is 1918, or 1913, its hard to tell the 8 from a 3 and my magnifer sucks. I turned 16 last month, and I spent my birthday money on it. I got it from www.amergold.com . They said they'd pick me out an extra good one.
It was supposed to be BU. But I'm guessing its XF. On the head side of the coin there is a small red dot, from something, I don't know from what. It looks suspsicious. I took a cottonball, wet it with water, and tried to take it off, I couldn't. It was stained on it. I was dreading that that dot was copper and perhaps the coin was a fake and the gold was plated. Amergold is is an authoriezd dealer according to PCGS.
I also have a 1/4 oz gold american eagle I compared it to to see if it was fake. I'm postive the american eagle is not fake.. I flipped the gold eagle and the gold soverign, both sound the same. I spinned both, flipped both, and rung both on tile. I did not notice any difference in sound pitch. If it was gold plated, I know for sure there would be a sound difference. It appears authentic, but I don't know.
Do any of you guys know of possibly that red spot could be? I don't see why it couldn't just come off with water. I scrubbed it pretty hard. I also put a few small scratchs near the spot with a knive to see if it was plated, it didn't appear to be.
Thanks.
Here's a picture of the coin. (It's hard to see the spot, since the picture is low res)
I'm afraid my coin is counterfeit. I need your help. I'm thinking of sending it into PCGS but I don't think they accept forign coins. Its a british gold soverign. Its date is 1918, or 1913, its hard to tell the 8 from a 3 and my magnifer sucks. I turned 16 last month, and I spent my birthday money on it. I got it from www.amergold.com . They said they'd pick me out an extra good one.
It was supposed to be BU. But I'm guessing its XF. On the head side of the coin there is a small red dot, from something, I don't know from what. It looks suspsicious. I took a cottonball, wet it with water, and tried to take it off, I couldn't. It was stained on it. I was dreading that that dot was copper and perhaps the coin was a fake and the gold was plated. Amergold is is an authoriezd dealer according to PCGS.
I also have a 1/4 oz gold american eagle I compared it to to see if it was fake. I'm postive the american eagle is not fake.. I flipped the gold eagle and the gold soverign, both sound the same. I spinned both, flipped both, and rung both on tile. I did not notice any difference in sound pitch. If it was gold plated, I know for sure there would be a sound difference. It appears authentic, but I don't know.
Do any of you guys know of possibly that red spot could be? I don't see why it couldn't just come off with water. I scrubbed it pretty hard. I also put a few small scratchs near the spot with a knive to see if it was plated, it didn't appear to be.
Thanks.
Here's a picture of the coin. (It's hard to see the spot, since the picture is low res)
0
Comments
<< <i> I scrubbed it pretty hard. >>
And stop doing this.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
I put the picture in that paperclip link near the end of my post, I'm not sure how to put the picture in directly without clicking on that ..
FOR SALE Items
Of course, it is hard to tell from the pic, but it looks OK. It doesn't look XF either. Does it feel like gold, weightwise? You should get it weighed on an accurate scale.
All the services slab foreign coins, but there's no need to get this slabbed unless it is a really scarce date or super high grade, in my opinion.
I think it looks pretty nice! George V is
Yes it feels like gold .. pretty heavy. It's a british soverign, and its weight is very close to that of a 1/4 oz gold american eagle. They both weighted rougly the same (according to my hands), and sounded the same when rung. I don't have a percision scale at all.
Oddly enough, I was thinking of bringing the gold soverign to the grocery store, (where they have those percision scales they weigh meat with) and weighting it there, although I don't think that is to safe, nor is it very accurate)
Anyway, thanks for reading all this and I appreciate all your help with helping me on this!
~Novice coin collector. My name is Kevin.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
I'd suggest "buying the book before buying the coin" although you can also soak up knowledge on these forums. Just ask and we'll try to help.
Have you ever heard not to clean your coins?? That also goes for rubbing them and bouncing them around and similar activities. Please try to treat your coins like the valuable historical artifacts that they are. Only handle them (gently) by the edges; don't touch the surfaces. Also, holder them in non-PVC flips or Airtites. Although this won't be much of an issue with gold, since gold's inert.
Your sovereign seems to have nice mint luster on it, evident of an uncirculated coin. I don't see any wear, but it might have some on it. If you could give us better photos or scans, it would be easier to tell. Generally, George V coins can have a "worn" look to them because of the design elements.
Also, it's wise to invest in a very high quality loupe (magnifying glass).
Happy collecting!
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
<< <i>Welcome! For someone so young, you have expensive taste. But then again, I can't blame you because I feel the same with gold.
Hehe, yep, I definitely love gold. Mainly because it does not tarnish. It bugs me alot having my perfect looking silver coin in one of those plastic flips, and looking it at a month later and see these yellow tarnish lines all over it. I like its color alot too, and its weight. It just is my favorite metal.
Above all though, even coins, I'm saving up to go to tokyo, Japan. I'm going to take my whole family, and I like japan alot, mainly because of their technology and they have things before we US citizens do. The trip is going to cost roughly 5,000 dollars so its hard to buy some inexpesive gold coins and save up for the trip at the same time. This spring break my family and I are going to the grand canyon. We're expecting to go to tokyo when I graduate from high school, in 2006.
Years ago, I bought a book and it told all about coin and the history of money. It said don't store coins in plastic flips because it can effect the coins condition. All of my coins are in plastic flips. After researching, I heard that plastic flips have something called PVC in them and you should stay away from all of them. The book said instead to use flips made out of paper. I live in Lake havasu, arizona. It's a small town there's not any coin stores for aways away. There are several, however, in pheonix, but thats 3 hours away. So I haven't gone to a real coin store in years .. as much as I'd love to.
**Edited to take out "years" in: "but thats 3 years away". I changed that to hours. 3 lightyears is quite aways away ..
09/07/2006
<< <i>Hi Kevin. Welcome to the Darkside. I hope you have fun here, and enjoy your return to coin collecting. I also started collecting when I was 6, and that was nearly 30 years ago. I do believe it's more fulfilling and worthwhile than many other pursuits.
I'd suggest "buying the book before buying the coin" although you can also soak up knowledge on these forums. Just ask and we'll try to help.
Have you ever heard not to clean your coins?? That also goes for rubbing them and bouncing them around and similar activities. Please try to treat your coins like the valuable historical artifacts that they are. Only handle them (gently) by the edges; don't touch the surfaces. Also, holder them in non-PVC flips or Airtites. Although this won't be much of an issue with gold, since gold's inert.
Your sovereign seems to have nice mint luster on it, evident of an uncirculated coin. I don't see any wear, but it might have some on it. If you could give us better photos or scans, it would be easier to tell. Generally, George V coins can have a "worn" look to them because of the design elements.
Also, it's wise to invest in a very high quality loupe (magnifying glass).
Happy collecting!
Thanks! I do handle the coins by the edges, but lately i've been alot worse. I put about 5 small scratchs near the top left corner of the coin where the red dot was, I didn't know that would effect the value and now I really feel pretty bad. I was just trying to see if it was plated ..
Besides the scratchs, I'd guess its in AU condition. You can't really see it that great on the low resolution photos. I'll try to get a higher resolution picture. The batteries on the camera lose their power very fast. Since I don't know how to use the digital camera myself, I'll try and get my dad to do it. I'm really obessive with thinking coins are "counterfeit" sometimes, so when I try to get my dad to take the picture of it he just won't. I'll try to get him to take the high resolution photo. (He works long hours and when we comes home, well ....
Thanks again for the warm welcome. (Could you describe what "the darkside" is, heh? Reminds me of starwars)
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5
"For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
Around here we say coins are either from the U.S.
Pure 24k gold is very soft, so nearly all gold coins are alloyed with another metal to make them harder, and copper is the most common one used, which is why copper spots are a sign of solid gold alloy, not plating.
<< <i>I scrubbed it pretty hard. >>
<< <i>I also put a few small scratchs near the spot with a knive to see if it was plated, >>
By the way, if someone refers to you as a "YN" don't feel offended - that's coin collector slang for "Young Numismatist", which (in the words of a recently disgraced lady) "is a good thing".
heh. Thanks.
Welcome to the forum. It's always nice to see a YN getting a solid start with collecting. You'll find a lot of people here who can help you out with your questions and education.
I know you feel bad about scratching your coin
Glad to have you here with us.
Myriads
The "red" spot is probably just an aforementioned 'copper spot'. These are caused by alloying problems in the gold where there is a concentration of copper in that area.
As mentioned above, get a good image of any coin you wish to buy first. When you get a chance, go to a major coin show and just "look".
The key is getting some good 'hands-on' education about coins from older collectors and dealers. Also, freely use this forum as a resource to get answers to your coin questions. And most of all, have fun!!
<< <i>Welcome GCL.
The "red" spot is probably just an aforementioned 'copper spot'. These are caused by alloying problems in the gold where there is a concentration of copper in that area.
As mentioned above, get a good image of any coin you wish to buy first. When you get a chance, go to a major coin show and just "look".
The key is getting some good 'hands-on' education about coins from older collectors and dealers. Also, freely use this forum as a resource to get answers to your coin questions. And most of all, have fun!!
Since there is more copper in that area, does it still have the right amount of copper/gold alloy in the coin though? I'm thinking of taking it to my physical science teacher and/or other chemists teachers to see if they have a percise eletronic scale I can weigh it on.
<< <i>Hi Kevin, and welcome.
Around here we say coins are either from the U.S.
Pure 24k gold is very soft, so nearly all gold coins are alloyed with another metal to make them harder, and copper is the most common one used, which is why copper spots are a sign of solid gold alloy, not plating.
<< <i>I scrubbed it pretty hard. >>
<< <i>I also put a few small scratchs near the spot with a knive to see if it was plated, >>
By the way, if someone refers to you as a "YN" don't feel offended - that's coin collector slang for "Young Numismatist", which (in the words of a recently disgraced lady) "is a good thing".
--------------------------------------------
SATOOTOKO, thanks for the response. This may not be on the subject of coins, but I'm especially curious about that license plate in your signature that says, (if I'm correct): "Mr.Meiji." .
The reason is I'm saving up for tokyo japan and am learning japanese myself, are you a japanese person yourself or just like japanese coins?
Thanks.
Ebay
It's refreshing to see young adult participation on the forum. There is, in my opinion, no better place to learn about coins than with this group of Darksiders (world coin collectors) on the PCGS forum.
Without exaggeration, the knowledge here is almost encyclopedic and accurate for almost any coin or period.
I've been here less than a year and have a very long way to go but they put up with my stupidity.
is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
<< <i>Since there is more copper in that area, does it still have the right amount of copper/gold alloy in the coin though? >>
Yes, assuming it's not counterfeit, the ratios are OK. This is a not uncommon occurance on many gold coins from many different countries.
You''ll also see "streaking" on some copper (bronze, brass, etc) alloys as well as nickel alloys like the US "nickel" which is 75% copper and 25% nickel. There is nothing you can do about this streaking on copper and nickel issues and it is debatable on whether the copper streaking/spots on gold can be permanently "conserved" away.
Cheers.
Also, here is one of my sovereigns, this one from Australia.
We ARE watching you.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
We ARE watching you.
although my scan is really terrible. Superb luster and a great coin, the Swiss one.
I'd really like to see a "gold only" thread, to post some nice 20 francs/lire/drachmas gold from all over the Latin Union.
Until then, here's one more.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
09/07/2006
is that you end up being governed by inferiors. – Plato
If it is, then he's the same guy who did this 1855 Bavarian 2 Gulden
King Otto was the son of Ludwig I of Bavaria and you can see the Bavarian shield in the center of the cross on the reverse.
I didn't know that Voigt was still active in 1855.
Conrad Lange, one of his best students was the engraver of the older portrait of King Otto in 1851.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
1885 1/2 Sov.
1894 1/2 Sov.
And, my current favorite!!
1860 1/2 Sov.
Unfortunately, there are competent forgeries of every sovereign date from 1900 to 1932. Forgeries include coins made from real gold and many come from the middle east.
The good news is that it is less likely that you will encounter modern forgeries for dates 1913 and 1918. If you have a 1913 with a "C" mintmark, be suspicious.
(Distilled from Coin Market Values, 2004 catalogue)