Selling Gold Sovereigns: When Your Coin Is Worth More Than Its Gold

Most sovereigns reach us in a small envelope, a christening box, or loose in a drawer with a watch and a few cufflinks. Usually nobody in the family is quite sure what they are.

For the great majority, the answer is simple. A full sovereign contains 7.32 grams of pure gold, and that sets the floor under its value. But a minority are worth a good deal more than the metal inside them, and it would be a pity to sell one of those by weight. If you are about to sell gold sovereigns that came down through the family, this is how to tell the difference first.

What a sovereign actually is

A full sovereign is 22 carat gold, which is 91.6% pure. It weighs 7.98 grams in total, of which 7.32 grams is pure gold and the rest is copper. That copper is why sovereigns survive a century in a pocket and still look sharp.

A half sovereign is exactly half of everything: 3.99 grams in total, 3.66 grams of gold, and the same design shrunk down.

The coin has been struck in its modern form since 1817. The horseman on the back is St George killing the dragon, engraved by Benedetto Pistrucci, and it has appeared on the coin on and off ever since, sharing the job over the years with a plain shield. If you are holding one, it is 22.05mm across and 1.52mm thick, so slightly larger than a penny but immediately heavier in the hand.

Why the weight matters most, most of the time

Sovereigns were working money, struck in enormous numbers. Britain made hundreds of millions of them, and the branch mints in Australia, India, Canada and South Africa made millions more.

That means a 1911 George V, a 1925, or a 1966 Elizabeth II is a common coin. There is nothing wrong with owning one. It simply means its value follows its gold, and what we pay for 22 carat today is published openly on our gold calculator rather than kept behind a counter. Anyone wondering how much 22ct gold is worth per gram can put the weight in and see a guide figure in seconds.

When a sovereign is worth more than its gold

Five things lift a sovereign above metal value. Any one of them is worth pausing over.

The mintmark. On a St George coin, look at the ground beneath the horse's hooves, just above the date. A tiny letter there tells you where it was struck. S is Sydney, M is Melbourne, P is Perth, C is Ottawa, I is Bombay and SA is Pretoria. On the older shield coins the mark sits below the shield instead. Some branch mint years had small productions, and those carry a premium well above their gold.

The date. A handful of years are genuinely scarce. 1819, 1841 and the London 1874 are the famous ones. The London 1917 is another, because most of that year's coins were melted down or shipped abroad during the First World War and few came back.

The reverse design. Victoria's earlier sovereigns carry a shield rather than St George. In London those ran until 1874, and the Australian mints kept using the shield for longer still. Collectors want them, particularly in good condition.

Condition. A coin that never circulated, with its original mint lustre still sitting in the fields around the design, is worth substantially more than the same date worn smooth. Lustre is the thing to protect, which brings us to the next part.

Original packaging. A proof sovereign still in Royal Mint presentation packaging, with its certificate, is a different proposition from a loose coin.

Please do not clean it

This is the single most expensive mistake people make, and it is always done with the best intentions.

Cleaning a sovereign strips the lustre and leaves fine scratches across the surface. A coin that might have carried a collector's premium becomes a coin worth its gold and nothing more. Silver dip, metal polish, a toothbrush and washing up liquid, even a vigorous rub with a cloth, all do damage that cannot be undone.

If you want to look at yours properly:

• Hold it by the edge, between finger and thumb.
• Put it on a plain surface near a window, not under a lamp.
• Photograph both sides with your phone, zoomed in.
• Leave the dirt exactly where it is.

Tarnish and grime are not a problem for us. Polishing is.

How to spot a fake

Forged sovereigns exist, and some are decent. Four quick checks catch most of them:

• Weight. A real full sovereign is 7.98 grams. Kitchen scales that read to a tenth of a gram will tell you a lot.
• Size. 22.05mm across and 1.52mm thick.
• A magnet. Gold is not magnetic. If the coin jumps, it is not gold.
• The detail. Fakes tend to look soft, with mushy lettering and a colour that is slightly too yellow or too orange.

None of this is required before you come to us. We test every coin as a matter of course, and we would far rather look at ten real sovereigns and one fake than have you worrying about it at the kitchen table.

What we do with yours

Coins are weighed and tested in front of you, not carried off into a back room. Common dates are priced at our rate for 22 carat that day. Anything lifted above metal value by its date, mintmark, condition or design is priced as the coin it is, and we show you why.

As private gold buyers we only buy, so there is no shop window and no retail overhead coming out of your figure. That figure goes on a written document valid for 24 hours, so you can take it home and think. If you decide to go ahead, payment is by instant bank transfer the same day, usually within seconds of you agreeing, and we pay cash for gold on smaller amounts.

Where to bring them

Most people come to a private appointment at our office in Ascot, one client at a time, no counter and no queue. Bracknell, Windsor, Camberley and Virginia Water are all inside twenty minutes. Slough, Maidenhead, Staines and Egham are under half an hour, and Reading is about thirty minutes on a normal day. You can check the areas we cover if you are not sure whether you are in reach.

For a larger collection, or where an older relative would rather not travel, we come to you across Berkshire and Surrey by arrangement.

If you would rather have a figure before going anywhere, send a few photographs through the valuation form and a specialist will reply within one working day.

Quick answers

Do you buy half sovereigns?

Yes, and quarter sovereigns too. The same rules on date, mintmark and condition apply, just at half the weight or less.

My sovereign is mounted in a ring or a pendant. Does that matter?

It matters, and it is worth asking before you do anything. The mount is usually 9ct while the coin is 22ct, so they are worth different amounts per gram and we price them separately. Prising a coin out of a mount can damage the edge, so let us look first.

Do you buy other gold coins?

Yes. If you want to sell gold coins from further afield, Krugerrands, American Eagles, Canadian Maples, and Swiss and French 20 franc pieces are all familiar to us, along with older European gold.

What if my coin has already been polished?

It still has every gram of its gold, and gold does not care. You will be paid for the metal. We mention it only so you understand why the figure is what it is.

Are gold sovereigns free of Capital Gains Tax?

Sovereigns struck from 1837 onwards are legal tender in the UK, and UK legal tender coins are exempt from Capital Gains Tax. It is a genuine advantage of holding them, though your own position is a question for your accountant rather than for us.

What do I need to bring?

Photo identification, a passport or driving licence, and for larger sales a recent proof of address, because we buy under UK anti-money-laundering rules. Bring any boxes, certificates or old receipts, as they add to the value of anything collectable.

The weight and purity figures above are fixed by the Royal Mint and never change. What we pay per gram moves with the gold market through the day, and today's figure is always on the gold calculator.