Where's a good place to buy raw gold sovereigns?

[stinkycheese1]

I already have one sovereign, from 1913. But I want an earlier one, from the 1800's. A long time ago I put scratches on my gold sovereign, and sent it into ANACS. It came back geniune, UNC details NET AU55. I ordered it from amergold.com. However, I'm a bit hesitant to order these coins raw because of counterfeits. I'm not saying mine is, I know mine is real, but are these coins often counterfeited, or do they go by their bullion value? IF they go by their bullion value it doesn't matter, bullion is bullion. Should I risk buying one raw or should I only buy these certified?

 

Heck I'll even buy one off eBay if you think I should. There are alot of fakes on Ebay though. Here's my sovereign:

 

Here's a sovereign I want to buy:

 

LinktoAmergold

[pendragon1998]

I've actually been wondering the same thing lately.

[rbrown4]

They do not always go for bullion, it will all depend on the date and type. Some advice that I was given a while back by a well respected member of these forums was to certify all gold that I have (assuming future sale of them). Grading of gold I have found can be tricky, with surprises both direction higher and lower grade than expected, again depending on the type and date. If it were me, I would stay with certified gold.

 

What year of the Victoria are you looking for?

 

Rey

[stinkycheese1]

They do not always go for bullion, it will all depend on the date and type. Some advice that I was given a while back by a well respected member of these forums was to certify all gold that I have (assuming future sale of them). Grading of gold I have found can be tricky, with surprises both direction higher and lower grade than expected, again depending on the type and date. If it were me, I would stay with certified gold.

 

What year of the Victoria are you looking for?

 

Rey

 

Any year, I'm just looking for a victoria gold sovereign at a good price. (That's what they are called, victorian?)

 

I'll certified if I can find it.

Thanks for the help!

[rbrown4]

That one is acutally called a Queen Victoria "old head" design.

 

 

Rey

[stinkycheese1]

That one is acutally called a Queen Victoria "old head" design.

 

 

Rey

 

 

Thanks (thumbs u

[RareSov]

Many of these 1893-1901 reign sovs go cheaply, you can pick up many S or M mintmarked coins for bullion, in good condition.

 

I don't like that site, they haven't even made sure the details on the page are correct. How can they sell you a 1913-1915 Veil sovereign ? copy paste job from the George V section..

 

You're paying over bullion but if the coins truly grade AU they arent too expensive. Better off buying NGC MS62 and up off eBay just dont get into bidding wars. Plenty of these coins exist in those grades

[stinkycheese1]

Many of these 1893-1901 reign sovs go cheaply, you can pick up many S or M mintmarked coins for bullion, in good condition.

 

I don't like that site, they haven't even made sure the details on the page are correct. How can they sell you a 1913-1915 Veil sovereign ? copy paste job from the George V section..

 

You're paying over bullion but if the coins truly grade AU they arent too expensive. Better off buying NGC MS62 and up off eBay just dont get into bidding wars. Plenty of these coins exist in those grades

 

Should I buy them raw off ebay or certified?

[Conder101]

There are quite a few Victoria sovereigns,of several differnt designs, on eBay right now. Most of the are raw, but there is also a nice group of NGC certified pieces that have just recently been listed with no reserve and a one cent opening bid.

[physics-fan3.14]

If you are buying from Amergold, they probably have a guarantee. Look around on their website. I would look for certified coins on Ebay first, though. Be patient, spend a couple of weeks looking, watching, bidding. Then after a couple weeks if you still haven't found anything good, inexpensive, and certified, go back to Amergold. They are not going to sell out, and you have to take the chance that you will get a better one certified on ebay first.

[pendragon1998]

I've been thinking about working on a type sovereign set, which would be a long-term project for me. I'd like to learn more about the series first, though, as aside from my britannia set, I don't know much about british coins. Is there a good book out there that would introduce me to what I need to know?

[RareSov]

The Gold Sovereign, by Michael Marsh, got mine pretty cheap on eBay

[RareSov]

stinkycheese : If you want to collect nice sovereigns, UNC of this sort are worth the premium and should be a good investment regardless of gold prices. Thus, buying certified MS62 and 63 coins is a good idea, at least when they start low.

 

I wouldn't buy raw unless you buy a book first as well, and have good eyes, AND a feel for whether to trust certain sellers. Some are obvious ripoff merchants, avoid anyone who proclaims their coins as UNC when you can see wear and calls common dates RARE.

[RareSov]

Its probably best to use your favourite dealer, and buy coins that are just over bullion value. Luckily for you, this would mean a AU coin for the type you seek. The dealer you mentioned doesn't seem too bad price wise, but you might find slightly better coins elsewhere..

 

I know one good dealer is Chards, but they are in the UK. They are on eBay and will ship to you, but payment was tricky for me, no PayPal All Gold Sovereigns seem good too, if they aren't the same company. Also on eBay. I would gladly buy raw sovs off them if serious about bullion priced coinage as they have a good reputation and loads of sovs.

[pendragon1998]

Is it feasible to try and work on an AU/low MS Victoria sovereign type set and expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 per coin?

[SuperDave]

Some of those Sovereigns currently on Ebay are mine. I have no trouble purchasing them on Ebay, but I hold the seller to a much higher standard of conduct and Feedback than I would even for a silver coin of equal value.

 

Gold is kinda tough on Ebay for a buyer; there are a higher percentage of clueless bidders who are unafraid to get into a bidding war. One must discipline oneself to set a high bid, and stick to it. Fortunately, Sovereigns are relatively common, and there will always be another one.

[RareSov]

Good advice.. sovereigns are for sniping or bidding and leaving it alone, the snipe works MUCH better in most cases.

[World Colonial]

Sovereigns were minted in the UK, Canada, Australia and South Africa. There is also an India mintmark though I do not know if it was issued from there.

 

Most of the later dates (after 1900) are common or at least I believe they are and so are many others. I once bought an 1871 Shield Reverse (English mint) on Teletrade in PCGS XF-45 for about bullion value.

 

As for counterfeiting, I do not know how prevelant it is and I would not get paranoid about it as long as you use common sense and buy from a reputable seller. But what I can tell you is if you ever do buy a counterfeit, it almost certainly will not have the same metal content as a real one or at the least, I could not imagine that it would. There would be no point in doing that unless the coin was a rare date and mint combination.