United Kingdom Gold Sovereigns -- Date Set
1868

Owner Comments:

Marsh A373

Acquired from: Heritage
Means: Auction 232223, Lot 62407
Date: 9 June 2022

Critique: Heavily worn, but no serious defects. Good placeholder until a nicer example comes around. I'm pretty happy with the overall look of this one, so I'm in no hurry to replace it. Eventually I'd like to have the full set of 15 Sydney sovs in at least AU condition, but need to get one example of each before I start thinking about upgrades.

According to the listing in Marsh/Hill 2021, there are two distinct types of Sydney Mint sovereigns dated 1868. Those truly minted in 1868 were alloyed with silver and have a yellowish tint, while those actually minted in 1869 but dated 1868 were alloyed with copper and thus have a reddish tint. For some reason, London did not ship any dies dated 1869, so Sydney just continued using the old dies from 1868. They could have hired a local engraver to recut the date to 1869, but I suppose they thought that would be too complicated and probably look bad. It's really hard to tell the true color of coins based on photographs, since the mode of lighting can completely alter the true look. But when I hold this particular coin up next to some very clean coins I have from 1864 and 1866 it looks to be the same yellow color. So my feeling is that this is a real 1868 silver alloy example.