United Kingdom Gold Sovereigns -- Date Set
1916

Owner Comments:

S-3999, Marsh 234

Acquired from: Heritage
Means: Auction 61311, Lot 25004
Date: 5 March 2023

Critique: Very nice looking example of this early Melbourne sov of George V. Although common, relatively few of these coins have been graded by NGC. As of 3/2023 only one graded higher. Although well over a hundred million gold sovereigns were minted during George's reign from 1911 to 1932, with the exception of a few dates it's very rare to find an example graded higher than MS64, from any mint.

This coin was offered in a special auction of Top and near-Top Pop sovereigns, which seemed to attract quite a number of bidders. But they were mostly spending their money on the Top Pop examples, while ignoring coins like this one that were second tier. The fact that very few coins are graded higher didn't seem to matter. And the fact that only three examples of this coin have been offered in US auctions over the past two and a half years also did not generate much interest. Just a few weeks prior, the sole Top Pop coin sold, but I decided to wait for this second tier example to see if I could save some $$. As hoped, I ended up paying less than half of what the Top Pop coin sold for, which I count as a good deal. I'm very pleased to add this to my collection.