Owner Comments:
S-3868C, Marsh 142, DISH-S15
Long tail
Acquired from: St James's, London
Means: Auction 72, Lot 200
Date: 1 March 2023
Critique: Very beautiful gold sovereign, with exceptional luster. As of March 2023 a sole Top Pop, which is not too surprising since very few Jubilee Head sovs survive in grades above MS63. A quick check of the NGC population census shows that 1891-S has had fewer coins graded than any other Jubilee head sovereign, from any mint. A very large number were originally produced, so it's a mystery what's happened to all of them. Perhaps many are in the hands of British collectors, who tend not to get their coins professionally graded.
I do have some concern about a couple of tiny dark spots under the date and to the right of the ground on the reverse. They were obviously there when submitted, and the graders didn't seem too concerned with them, but I may consider having the coin conserved if there's a chance that long-term deterioration may set in.
Although this is a fairly common date, I expected the unusually high grade to generate quite a bit of interest during the auction, however that turned out to be wrong. Only one other bidder had even mild interest, and I was able to purchase it for about half of what I expected. For graded encapsulated coins, most auction companies show the total pop in that grade, as well as the number in higher grades. And many companies further give a direct link to the coin on the NGC website which you can conveniently click on. But this particular company just mentions the grade of the coin, and shows a low-resolution grainy image of the coin holder that includes the NGC certification number. Apparently most bidders don't bother to go to the NGC site and type in all of the relevant information, and therefore probably don't realize the extreme condition rarity of some of the coins like this one. It's just a small amount of extra work, and certainly worth the effort just to see how scarce or common the coin is.