Is this British Sovereign of George V a fake?

Hi,

My uncle showed me some of his British Sovereign coins.

However, one of his coins – minted in 1925 under the reign of George V – is awkwardly weird: It has a very thick rim.

Look here, the first and second coins are of Edward VII and Victoria. But the third coin is of George V and it has a THICK RIM:




And here is the suspected coin:




The weight is 8,01 grams.

My uncle says he bought it from a reputable place and insists it is not fake, and that the thick rim was just a novelty in design and not a sign of fake.

Can anyone with deep knowledge tell me whether it is fake or not?

Thank you so much.

 

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Well it should weigh 7.9881g. If anything, you would expect it to be a tiny bit lighter not heavier. Although it's not off by much, the scale that weighed it at 8.01 may not be exact, and it could have been a slightly heavier planchet. What are the dates, on the other ones?

 

"What are the dates, on the other ones?"

1898 and 1910.

 

South African Mint gold sovereign, I wouldn't worry about a thick edge as that could be from anything. The difference in weight isn't that much, not all scales are accurate anyways. All that said, the initials on the reverse are wrong, the SA is under the horses foot and there should be a BP where your coin shows an SA. Here's a pic on what it should look like, something is wrong with yours!

 

This page here claims that 1925 with a thick rim is actually a restrike?!:

"Official Restrikes
One of the most unusual facts about 1925 sovereigns is that in 1949, 1950 and 1951, the Royal Mint produced sovereigns, but instead of preparing new dies with George VI's head, and with the correct date, they lazily re-issued George V sovereigns dated 1925. Prior to this, 1925 London Mint sovereigns were quite scarce, especially in mint condition, suddenly they were again available. We deplore this kind of laziness from the Royal Mint, which does nothing to inspire confidence among collectors and investors that it will not repeat the same behaviour again. We can clearly recall that in the 1960's, we would often receive large quantities of gold sovereigns, all dated 1925 and all from the London Mint. We sometimes had as many as 500 pieces!

However, we believe that the restrikes can be distinguished from the originals by the more pronounced rim around the edge of the coin..."

From: https://goldsovereigns.co.uk/1925sovereign.html

 

Best idea is to test it , use water displacement. Fakers don’t fake with real gold. You will know in 5 minutes. Looks good to me.

 

I asked for the dates, because I wanted to see if the other ones were thinner, but they are all the same weight 7.9881g.
Because it is noticeably thicker and heavier, I would be suspicious.
However, if the restrikes were made with the same 91.7% gold purity,
then everything is hunky and or dory.

 

Not saying this has tungsten, but tungsten and gold density are very similar, if you use water displacement, if the coin had a tungsten core and a thick gold plating, could you be fooled by the results?

 

Many fakes are made with real gold, US or not just depends on the counterfeiter. Even counterfeiters in China use real gold and silver sometimes, so you just never know! Below is a Youtube on a fake half gold sovereign!

 

I would look at some restrikes to figure if the sharp rim is commom before I would call it a fake. Just so you know that is usually a pickup when dealing with fakes.

 

I think the logic behind my comment is that if it is an ultra rare date so has numismatic value it could be faked with real gold to make a premium but there is no logic in making a common date with real gold. Tungsten is slightly or paramagnetic so you can also try the "slow" silver test on it.

 

From what I have read, counterfeit British sovereigns are fairly common and even have some legitimacy. When the supply of sovereigns was running short, private minters produced them to the same standards as the genuine article. They were accepted in trade, and no one was actually hurt.