Concern about this 1959 sovereing

[Frank0215]

Greetings! 

A few days ago, I was looking at a gold sovereing I purchased on january at a LCS. At first, I thought it could be a mint error, but I searched on the internet and couldn't find any sovereing with something like this. The "error" is on top of the word "REGINA", and there's another one similar (but smaller) in another place.

Now I'm worried it could be a counterfeit, so I'm here to ask for your opinions. The size and weight of the coin are both OK, and also passed the "ping" test.

Thanks for your time 😁

 

[SovereignSaurus]

Is that what a die crack looks like? 🤔

[BRIAN GREER]

take it to your local refiner to check metal content...I doubt that it is counterfeit........but even if it is and the metal content is correct you can sell it with explanation for at least melt.....there are a ton of counterfeit gold sovereigns................USDOD bought 50000 of them for special opps during the first Iraqi war....after the war of, those that were returned to DOD about 1/3 of them were counterfeit...............since most counterfeit sovereigns contain the correct amount of metals few coin people care...they just sell them...................the reason why the counterfeits are so perfect in most ways is because the counterfeiters are just laundering their illegal gold into the system..................good luck

[SovereignSaurus]

Also about 60 years ago demand for sovereigns was high and they traded at significant premiums over spot even just as basic bullion coins. The other potential reason to fake a coin with the correct gold content is a rarer date that would have a high premium too. 

Not making a call that this coin in the photos isn't genuine more just adding to Brian's comments.

[Frank0215]

On 6/11/2022 at 6:31 PM, BRIAN GREER said:

take it to your local refiner to check metal content...I doubt that it is counterfeit........but even if it is and the metal content is correct you can sell it with explanation for at least melt.....there are a ton of counterfeit gold sovereigns................USDOD bought 50000 of them for special opps during the first Iraqi war....after the war of, those that were returned to DOD about 1/3 of them were counterfeit...............since most counterfeit sovereigns contain the correct amount of metals few coin people care...they just sell them...................the reason why the counterfeits are so perfect in most ways is because the counterfeiters are just laundering their illegal gold into the system..................good luck

Thanks for your reply! And very interesting historical fact... I didn't know it 

[Frank0215]

On 6/12/2022 at 2:38 AM, SovereignSaurus said:

Also about 60 years ago demand for sovereigns was high and they traded at significant premiums over spot even just as basic bullion coins. The other potential reason to fake a coin with the correct gold content is a rarer date that would have a high premium too. 

Not making a call that this coin in the photos isn't genuine more just adding to Brian's comments.

Thanks for your reply! Almost everyone says that it's just a die crack, so I guess it is. I'm happy that I also learned something new about the history of the gold sovereign 😄

[Shaun]

@Frank0215 Can confirm that it's just a die crack 🙂

I don't handle that many lizzys, but i don't think it's as common with them.