1934 Wreath Crown

I recently acquired this 1879 Sovereign which I had been looking at for quite a while. It's the London Mint variety with a mintage of only 20.013 and therefore very rare. The weight and dimensions appear to be accurate at just under 8 gms. I cannot see anything wrong with it. Looks like a genuine sovereign to me....any comments will be welcome. I will attach a few photos which have been taken to the best of my ability. Also what grade would you attribute to this coin? Thanks

Just some clearer pics.

That's great to hear and thanks everyone. I know I sound perhaps a little too excited but I've been after this one for a while now. It's not my most expensive but it was a gap that I wanted to fill and a hard to come by sovereign. Many thanks for all your help.

Acquired it on ebay from a fairly old and reputable dealer holds.ms-69 Am i allowed to disclose this info here??? If not, please edit and accept my apologies.

It's coin alignment which again is correct from my knowledge.

The milling is a little smoothed out of course due to normal wear and tear. No evidence of mounting. Looks quite legit to me. Maybe a VF grade??!!

More photos

Hi. I'm new to this site. I had purchase this 1934 Crown a while back from a reputable auction house. However, more recently someone said it was probably a fake. It has been certified, graded and slabbed by NGC. Any help or opinions are welcome. I will upload the reverse separately.

Vicky Silver I took every bit of practical advice offered to me and asked all the experts for their opinion. If I send the coin to anyone else for evaluation and it is removed from the NGC holder, what recourse do I have at any time with the auction house or NGC....NONE. I had the coin in hand and although I am not an expert, I looked at it carefully under 40X and 60X magnification. It looked OK. It is not MS and the wear looked normal. The brownish colouring is only in the photographs not on the coin itself. I have a simple question from all forum participants….why do we get coins graded IF we feel that the independent graders are such novices that they would mistake intentional filing and scuffing of a coin for normal wear and tear? Or miss telltale signs!!! And are NGC so petty, dishonest and irresponsible that both they and HA would ignore a client’s concerns for a few $$$ and intentionally give a false opinion a second time? I don’t think so. Which is why I prefer to pay a little more for a graded coin rather than buy an ungraded coin from a dealer who might want to slip a fake to me for personal gain. I have suffered a large loss on eBay at the hands of a long-standing unscrupulous dealer with 100% positive feedback. What irks me is that while others tried to be positive and helpful, a single individual was insisting he was right even when the best, most respected experts in the business said it looked OK in the photos BUT they could not be certain without having the coin in hand (a conclusion I can accept and respect). However, this one individual is almost certain that the coin is a fake??? I stand by my opinion of him and don’t care if he does not post any comments on my coins or threads in future.

Hello Everyone who had been following this thread. I have just heard back from HA who had submitted the coin to NGC for re-evaluation. NGC have confirmed that the coin is 'struck and genuine'. Therefore, it is not a cast fake item.I am happy with their findings and can finally put this issue to bed. Thanks to everyone who supported and encouraged me. As for the person who started all this, on Coin Talk, I would say....Hope you have more interesting things to do in life and perhaps instead of writing books you need to do some research first. Cheers!!!

Thanks. I too think it is genuine. Anyway it's been sent back for re-evaluation so we shall know in a few days. I'm sure NGC will look at it much more closely now that it is a coin that has raised doubts.

Any year, era, monarch..... Here are some of my favourites. Henry VI Qtr Noble MS60

Without a doubt. Their coin has pretty ugly toning.

Looks like at least 70-80% higher than the market price on average. I guess they are counting on people with deep pockets who do not have the time to search for what they want and are prepared to pay a higher price just to buy it there and then. Must say they do have some nice ones though.

I don't think they can be very high grades considering they were salvaged....But it is certified.

I remember seeing his first fight against Liston (replay) in black and white at the movies when I was perhaps 5 years old. As a child I knew then he was going to be someone special. Reading about his life, I realized he was more than a boxer. He was an extremely intelligent and articulate person, when you consider his background and lack of formal education. Above all he was a man of very strong Conviction and Principles and contrary to what most believe, he refused to go to war because of these....not because he was a coward or un-patriotic. He was shot at, stripped of his titles, insulted and ridiculed for this but he fought, what was perhaps his greatest fight ……and won. Perhaps not the greatest boxer of all time, but without the shadow of a doubt, the GREATEST influence on that sport and certainly the greatest sports personality EVER…… a man who influenced generations. I was fortunate to acquire a lithograph, signed by him, and I hope to treasure this for a long time to come. RIP Muhammad Ali.

An early young head. Nice. I've always favoured this shield-back to the spade guineas.

Hello I have been looking at a particular sovereign for a while and am thinking of making an offer on one. It's quite pricey so I just wanted to know if anyone had any bad experience with the dealer. I'm not sure if we can post names here but if I'm breaking any rules I apologise in advance and trust the moderator will delete this thread. The dealer is Buckscoins and he lists on eBay as well. Any information is most welcome. Thanks

Thanks Brg. Not tuppence but a whole crown's worth of advice Yes I have arranged to send it back for review. Having taken the coin out of the bank and seen it again, the coppery tinge is in fact just the shading in photography as you rightly pointed out. Yes there seems to be some 'scraping' at the high points but to me this could be the result of a one time accident, not an intentional filing of a coin that has been cast. I also feel that such obvious pointers of at forgery would, most certainly, have been picked up by the graders at NGC and we are naive to think that they would miss them. Should have feedback in about 2-3 weeks and will post the results here.

Absolutely fabulous. Would love to take that off your hands when you feel you need to pass it on to someone who appreciates it. For the right price of course.....

So basically you feel it is a genuine coin???!!! Steve Hill was also leaning towards that opinion but left the final decision to me. Having discussed it with HA and as AZDA said, in the interest of a little more peace of mind, I have decided to send it back to HA and NGC for review and re-evaluation. It will cost me upwards of $200 but well worth it, in my opinion.

Rev