Hey there, My neighbor is from Ireland and mentioned that he had a family heirloom 1/2 Sovereign that had been given to him by his father at the airport when he left for the US. I told him I'd do some looking into it for him so it thought I'd post it for input. As it turns out, it's a full sovereign not a half and it is in decent shape given the fact that it is on its third r fourth generation and is stored wrapped in a piece of cloth. I see it is a Melbourne mint mark. The color is wired because of my camera. Any insights or other info on these that I could pass along to Finbar would be better appreciated. Thanks!
This is a common sovereign with 2,802,306 minted. It is the second legend and I believe in VF condition. It is worth $400 retail.
I would agree that it is VF but would not think it worth $400. Melt right now is around $320 and sovereigns in VF are plentiful enough that I don't think you would get more than 10%, 15% max, premium for it. If it were not an M mintmark then probably not much more than 5%.
Thanks. As it is a family piece he has no interest in selling it anyway. I assume these were minted in Australia because that's where the gold was mined?
They were minted in Australia (Melbourne, Perth and Sydney IIRC), India, South Africa and Canada as well as Britain. I have always assumed the gold was local but never seen it confirmed.
In the 1850s Victoria produced 1/3 of the world gold output. The Syndney mint opened in 1855, but could not keep up with the output - so the Melbourne mint opened in 1871. So yes - these mints opened as a result of the near-by goldfields.
