Strange gold sovereign? Help!!

Hi guys:

I just bought a British gold full sovereign and it is odd indeed. It is a
South Africa mint 1927-SA George V.

What is strange about it is that it has an odd marking on the reverse that
is not mentioned in either of my price guides. Just to the left of the
horse's right-rear leg is a mark that looks like a small "J21". It is in
relief, just like the date, not engraved, so it had to be in the mint die.
I have two other 1927-SA sovereigns and they do not have this mark.

Also, the gold is much more "yellow" than my other sovereigns, which are
"redder" in hue. It also appears much shinier than the others, not the
usual matte finish in the background. I measured and weighed it and it
appears to indeed be solid gold.

Is it counterfeit? Is it a restrike? Is it a rarity that isn't in my
books? I figured at least one of you guys would know about it or have it in
a book. I'm going crazy trying to figure it out!

Thanks for any light you can shed on this puzzlement.

Don
Kansas City

The chances are very good that it is a modern (post-WW2) counterfeit. The
marking could be where the counterfeiter, not wishing to deceive anybody,
indicated the fineness of gold used as 21kt rather than the standard 22kt. In
many middle-Eastern countries it is not considered to be a crime to make copies
of obsolete foregn denomination coins, so long as no fraud is attempted and the
counterfeits are sold as counterfeits. One of the reason that Great Britain
resumed striking sovereigns as bullion pieces in the late 1950s was to
establish the fact that the sovereign is NOT an obsolete denomination, and
should not be counterfeited. I doubt it helped.
Tom DeLorey
..
Subject: Strange gold sovereign? Help!!
From: "Don A. Gilmore"
Date: 10/25/2004 6:12 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

Hi guys:

I just bought a British gold full sovereign and it is odd indeed. It is a
South Africa mint 1927-SA George V.

What is strange about it is that it has an odd marking on the reverse that
is not mentioned in either of my price guides. Just to the left of the
horse's right-rear leg is a mark that looks like a small "J21". It is in
relief, just like the date, not engraved, so it had to be in the mint die.
I have two other 1927-SA sovereigns and they do not have this mark.

Also, the gold is much more "yellow" than my other sovereigns, which are
"redder" in hue. It also appears much shinier than the others, not the
usual matte finish in the background. I measured and weighed it and it
appears to indeed be solid gold.

Is it counterfeit? Is it a restrike? Is it a rarity that isn't in my
books? I figured at least one of you guys would know about it or have it in
a book. I'm going crazy trying to figure it out!

Thanks for any light you can shed on this puzzlement.

Don
Kansas City










TomDeLorey
-
Vote. If you don't like the way things are going, vote the bums out. If you are
happy, re-elect. Just don't not vote and then complain about how things are.