Gold Sovereign Buying

One of the oldest, most popular and well regarded gold bullion coins is the British Gold Sovereign. It is over 500 years old, the first one being issued in 1489 and is produced every year by the Royal Mint. In the past the gold sovereign has been used in general circulation, but nowadays the gold sovereign is simply a Gold bullion coin.

The modern full gold sovereign (from 1817) contains 0.235421 troy ounces of gold, has a diameter of 22.05 mm, thickness of 1.4 mms and an overall weight of 7.9881 grams. It is made of 22 carat gold (0.917). It is also available in half, quarter and double versions.

The modern gold sovereign always carries the same design of Saint George slaying a dragon on horseback. The only changes to this in recent times were in 1989 which has a 500th anniversary design, 2002 for the golden jubilee, and 2005 when a more stylized version of the dragon design was used for a year.

Though the gold sovereign is quite a small coin by modern standards, it is estimated that the face value of £1 it had in 1895, is equivelent to the same purchasing power as £150 in 2007.

In the motion picture From Russia with Love (1963), James Bond is issued a travel briefcase with 50 gold sovereigns hidden in a secret compartment. The coins have also been issued to RAF pilots in recent times (for example in the gulf war) as part of their bailout kit to help them buy their way to safety if shot down behind enemy lines.

Gold sovereign's intrinsic value is determined, by the gold content, however, Sovereigns usually trade at a signifiacntly higher premium to the gold price than some other bullion coins such as the Krugerrand. This is due to the higher unit cost of the Sovereign, the higher demand for the Sovereign from collectors, and the higher costs of identifying and stocking a numismatic coin.

It is estimated that a small percentage of coins advertised are fakes, purchasers should be wary of buying unseen, or through sellers with poor feedback. As always, coins should be bought through a recognized dealer or individual with good feedback.

With fake sovereigns, commonly, the gold is substituted with or mixed with a substitute metal to look like gold. With a numismatic fake, the forger might use the correct gold, but try to replicate a coin with special numistic value.

Fake gold sovereigns are usually underweight or oversize. A fake made from lead to the same dimensions as a genuine sovereign would be approximately 35% lighter than the genuine article. If made the correct diameter of the same mass, it would be 55% too thick.

On the whole, buying gold sovereigns is an excellent choice for gold bullion coin. At time of writing for UK residents it was also exempt from Capital gains tax.

Article Published On: 03 April 2009
Article Revised On: 11 May 2011

Disclaimer
The above article is for information purposes only, and is not advice. Its accuracy cannot be guaranteed and no responsibility for errors or omissions can be accepted by the website owners.

Bullion Supermarket > Bullion Information > Gold Sovereign Buying

	USD	Date
GOLD	1,719.00	06/02/2012	PM

Gold Sovereign Buying

More information on Gold, Buying Tips, Gold Bullion Bars and coins:

More information on Silver, Buying Tips, Silver Bullion Bars and coins:

GOLD Price

GOLD Price Chart

Join today!