Sylvester

Well a few years back the most i had ever spent was about £50 so you know how it is... I just kept creeping up bit by bit... I slowly creeped up the £100 zone (for want of a better term), then into the £200 zone, then i climbed up to the £300 zone, and then i shot straight up to £500 land... I haven't done anything in the £400 yet.

It was a bargin, and that's why i couldn't let it go!

£525!!! That is the most expensive coin i've ever bought to date and it practically bankrupted me, but it was well worth it... I mean look at it...

And £400 is still cheaper than what i paid for that 1693 sixer.

I was kinda hoping for one in Fine, £400, that better?

It's not made out of conventional alloy either. Normal gold coin are minted with a alloy of .917 (22 ct) gold and the remainder being copper. Ansell are minted in 22ct gold, but the remaining 2 cts is a mixture of copper, antimony (poisonous), arsenic (poisonous), lead (yes you guessed it poisonous). The solved the brittleness problem experience with the Australian gold alloy, i doubt that they are very poisonous when mixed with other alloys... they use arsenic in steel production even now. You might not want to eat it though...

i really want one, can't afford one but i'd like to see one! Question is if you drop it will it break? And would it be wise to wash your hands after handling one... considering the stuff in there? (or is it non-toxic when alloyed?)

Can you get an Ansell sovereign there? Also on my to watch for list... 1694 & 1710 sixpences. And 1686 and 1687 half guineas to complete my half guinea set.

neither have i...

Probably, i think the best way of sealing a coin in to a capsule would be in a laboratory... If the coin and capsule was placed in a gas chamber, and the oxygen was removed and was replaced by a noble gas like helium or argon then the coin could be put in the capsule and it would be oxygen free and since helium etc. are inert then no further reactions should be possible. I haven't got a periodic table on me but any gasses in the same group as helium, so neon, argon, krypton, xenon, should all be okay... i'd stay away from radon though as it's radioactive... I'm sure helium is the best bet all round it is probably ascertainable cos they use it for balloons at parties.

Well abopve the right wing is one place i'm definately watching, but if you look above the R in QUARTER... If caught early enough it can be removed by a gentle scratch with a fingernail, but be careful cos you can scratch the coin... but of course if you leave it then it'll just ruin the coin further, so it's a no win situation. A small scratch near a spot or a bverdigris encrusted coin. The best method is prevention... As i can figure it out... CO2 + H2O + Cu = CuCO3 + H2 So eliminate the Carbon dioxide or the vater vapour and verdigris shouldn't form... So don't breath on you coins, a houseplant would (should), be a good thing to have as it will remove CO2 from the atmosphere... Then the only thing you have to worry about is carbon spots, or copper oxide (yes those little brownish black spots)... which is just as bad to be honest as it's corrosion all the same. But then again so is toning on silver coins...

Also pay no attention to the 'don't clean coins bit on the second link' when it come to encrusted ancients you don't have much choice. Plus most ancients have seen some cleaning at some point or other. Modern coins (well in comparison to ancients) on the other hand (interpret that as year 1000 and after should never be cleaned unless stricty necessary, and those dated after 1662 not at all)

There is a way of removing encrustation with these coins, i think olive oil is a good way... http://www.cbnoble.com/clean.htm Can't remember whether acetone helps or not though, but i know it is used to remove finger prints, might not be too good with encrusted coins. Vaseline is supposed to be a good one if used with a swab, see here... (it's in there somewhere) http://www.phantomranch.net/prospect/coins_cl.htm I think your best bet is olive oil, soak them for a decent period, it can take weeks or months, the main thing is once you have it free from the dirt, wash gently with distilled water (which can be purchased easily from any chemist), and when drying do not rub the coin's surface if you can help it... always tap it dry on a soft cloth, very gently. Hopefully the olive oil will work. Don't try vinegar under any circumstances...

oh by the way Oli this post wasn't meant to be rubbing it in, but was for the benefit of another member...

This is true... but most of the bargins are on the sovereigns, halves usually go at £45-£50 regardless of the grade... i once saw a load of fake 1915 halves in a jewellers, they didn't know either. So if buying from a Jewellers always be on the look out... and if you see any 1915 halves with funny dark circular marks around the obverses (all in the same place in every single one with slightly weak strike), then beware.

Greece have won! Erm it depends on the two side issue, some rings may have had St. Geo showing others Vicky, thus make one with both and it can be decided which to show later. Dunno... hopefully a real gold coin expert (GD) will be along who has had more experience in the gold area than any of us put together.

I believe that cheaper gold rings were often made with sovereign like (or half sovereign like) coins in them, it is very possible that you have a real gold pseudo half sovereign. You see from a distance they look like the real deal... Do you know how many carats the 'coin' is?

Gold definately has an aura about it, undoubtedly. I just love guineas, dunno why... the designs are sometimes pretty hideous (spade guineas aren't great... and most of the Geo. III later date ornamental shield ones look naff), but they are still nice to hold. As much as i am a die hard silver fan, i think gold is right up there with it, the feeling of holding gold is a nice one. It gets me a bit giddy and irrational too, it's what they call gold fever... i can see why wars have been fought over the stuff. Did you know that half sovereigns are rarer than sovereigns? Underappreciated though. You'll never have a problem selling the gold. When i sold mine up in January the dealer snatched the whole lot off of me no questions asked... exceopt for the shierld reverse sovs cos he had a whole load of them already, but another dealer was eager to get those. You can't do that with bronze!

Ah well longwave is totally understandable, i've picked up French Stations before, but FM stations are shorter wavelength and don't travel nearly as far, better quality when you are near (Unlike MW and LW), but go one county away and it's totally gone. Or something like that. If i remember my Physics lessons correctly, FM shorter but more intense wavelength... LW = well longer wavelengths, the latter go further and don't get as much interruption.

How has it been tested? Specific Gravity?

Half Sovs look like this... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...3918141601&rd=1 I know i used to collect half sovereign and i can usually tell a real one from an average fake, the coin you picture is no where near average fake quality... to be honest it doesn't even look like a real one, a caricature portrait and all... But what you have maybe more interesting, so you know it's gold, well that crosses out any idea that it may have been one of those platinum fakes (i kid you not, they are worth far more now, but they weren't at the time) Even if it is real gold, it is quite possible if it is a contemporary forgery that the gold was worth less at the time than the face value and thus there was a profit to be madfe from coining forgeries, even if it was but a few pence or a shilling.

I'm sorry you have to do this but on the whole it is probably the best thing you can do to be honest in the long run. A sovereign from every monarch is a challenge and don't expect William IV to be easy though! If you wanted a nice date set of 20th century type stuff a nice one is London Mint half Sovereigns, 1902-1915. (they are Farthing size and they'll fit in the same spaces the farthings would have occupied) At about £35-£60 a piece it's not cheap but it's very possible. Edward VII ones aren't that difficult. (well not when compared to the silver or the bronze stuff at least). I'm gonna get some shield reverse sovereigns again shortly, i miss the ones i used to have, so i'm gonna speculate in a few London ones, hopefully i'll not go mad and try collecting them again, although it would prove cheaper than these blasted sixpences.

Unless they are in Bucks, Herts and Bed then they can. But i'm in Yorks so i can't either. I have trouble picking up Hallam FM (From other side of my city), but i can pick up Minster FM all the way from York...? what#!

Well i can't make it out very much, but it's definately not a real half sovereign... i can tell you that for nothing. Could be fake, could be a gaming counter, a model coin or anything really.

there's nothing quite like the feeling of spending real money and not this base metal junk we've got these days. I've spent silver before i just want to spend gold now...