I've got a Queen Vic half-Sov (i think)

[robnab 0]

Hi, i hope someone can help, i've been trying to match a gold coin with pics on the net for my mother-in-law, the date is obscured and the portrait isn't the same as any i have seen, files attached. (obverse is the standard George and dragon design)

[Sylvester 15]

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.

[Emperor Oli 0]

I think it's a fake- the base of the neck doesn't look right and the coin as a whole look counterfeit. Perhaps if we had better pictures....

[robnab 0]

Its not a fake, ignore the picture quality, my digital camera is not the best around. the coin has been tested and is gold

[william 0]

But that doesn't make it real. So it's gold, but nthe portrait of queen Vic is all wrong. It wil be at least bullion value now, but no more, as it is definitely fake. If yu really want, here's how the head should look, I know this is a crown, but anyway... http://www.predecimal.com/forsale/6/crown1896lx.jpg

[Sylvester 15]

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.

[Sylvester 15]

Its not a fake, ignore the picture quality, my digital camera is not the best around. the coin has been tested and is gold

How has it been tested? Specific Gravity?

[robnab 0]

Thanks everyone that gives me something to go on, this coin is a bit bent and not in very good condition, i thought it maybe came off a sovereign ring as there's a blob of solder or similar on the back (right where the date should be) i think all this picture will show up is how bad my camera is...

[Sylvester 15]

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?

[robnab 0]

thats interesting, but would a fake coin for a ring need to have both sides? no i don't know about carats etc, i will try and find out more.

Blimey! greece are beating france!

[Sylvester 15]

thats interesting, but would a fake coin for a ring need to have both sides? no i don't know about carats etc, i will try and find out more.

Blimey! greece are beating france!

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.

[GDJMSP 0]

The British sovereign is one of if not the most counterfeited coin in the world. The sovereign was not widely counterfeited until after WW II. But by then, entire factories were built in Italy and the middle east for this express purpose. A great many of these counterfeits are made of gold, albeit of a slightly lesser finesness. But even 1 or 2 percent lesser fineness can yield substantial profits.

In the middle east gold markets counterfeits abound. Not as much today as in years past, for the gold dealers have become accustomed to them. Still they are bought and sold on a regular basis with the price being somewaht lower than genuine coins. And even the British govt. has been fooled. During the first Gulf War GB issued to their soldiers soveriegns to be used if caught behind enemy lines. Later - many of these coins were found to be counterfeit.

It was the existance of so many counterfeits that caused the British govt. to begin striking sovereigns again in 1957 and it continued until 1968. These coins were issued for use in the world and to help lessen the impact of counterfeits as they were unavailable in Great Britain.