I'm not a coin expert by any stretch. I am considering the sale of some of my gold sovereigns given to me by my great uncle. There is one I cant identify though. They are australian sovereigns as far as I know. its got a young head, shield and a ww inscribed at the base of the neck. the date is 1864. as far as i can tell, this coin doesn't exist. any help?
What you have is a British soverign. The sheild design wasn't first used in Austrailia untill 1871. Before that the soverign looked similar to this.
Thanks byrd It's interesting that I should find a British sovereign among the Australian ones. It was found in an old leather wallet type thing. I wonder if the British sovereigns were circulated in Australia much as we circulate some New Zealand coins in Australia today? Edit: On further thought, I realise that todays coins have an assigned value, whereas the gold sovereigns had actual value, so I doubt anyone would have cared much.
