Victorian gold sovereign

Richie Watson said he unearthed this Victorian gold sovereign whilst detecting on one of his permissions.  The farmer let him keep it but Richie has been told it is rare so he asked for a valuation.

On the obverse is the young head of Queen Victoria with the date, 1843, below. A number of varieties are known for this date, the rarest being examples with a narrow shield on the reverse. This example has the standard shied for 1843.

Another variety has a Roman I in the date. I enlarged the image of the obverse as much as I could but still couldn’t be certain about the first digit in the date. It has been argued that some coins of 1843 have an Arabic 1 struck over an inverted Arabic 1; that could be the case with this coin.   

Valuation

The obverse would grade VF but there is a noticeable edge knock at about 7.30, scuffs to the queen’s face and a deep scratch to the right of her eye. I could see no imperfections on the reverse and this side looks as if it would grade good VF. The defective obverse on this sovereign could reduce it value to around £400. However, if the first digit of the date was accepted as being a Roman I then it could sell for 50% more.

Valuation Service

If you would like your coin identified or valued, please read about my valuation service and contact me