I love gold sovereigns. They sell really well here in the UK because, as legal tender, they are both VAT free and capital gains free. Also, they are really interesting coins in their own right and with a bit of study you can get to know what is rare and unusual and make even more selling on. I buy only Sovereigns and partial Britannias (which are pure 24ct gold unlike the 22ct Sovereigns).
I’m new to gold and thinking about getting some after watching this video could you tell me roughly how many I would need to get as close to an ounce of gold as possible?
@@othomaso100 Here is a link to the spot price of both gold and silver in the UK. www.chards.co.uk/gold-price/gold-spot-price These charts give a rough price for what gold and silver are trading on the markets. However, physical gold and silver coins have premiums which mean they buy and sell for more than the spot price. A 1oz gold Britannia (which is 24 ct gold) is currently selling for about £1,625 (plus postage) which is just under 10% extra premium above the spot price. Four gold sovereigns (which are 22 ct gold) have a little under 1 oz of pure gold in them in total are selling for about £370 each (plus postage). That's what you pay to buy them, but if you try and sell them back to a dealer they will only offer spot price. Luckily gold has being going up so much in the past few years that this covers that loss. However, I would recommend that if you are buying gold you buy to hang on to it as a hedge against inflation rather than as an investment opportunity. Here is a good site that offers very reasonable rates www.hattongardenmetals.com/buy/cid9/gold-britannias If you live in London you can collect in person and save on postage.
British RAF pilots and SAS soldiers carry them when on missions to use in emergency escape and evasion situations; the gold sovereign is still legal tender in the UK.
FYI: Any Gold Sovereign minted from the reign of Queen Victoria onwards is legal tender in the UK. The ones from earlier monarchs have been demonetized by UK law, so get treated differently for tax purposes (the legal tender ones are exempt from VAT at purchase and CGT at sale).
@@daviniarobbins9298 : Nope. Current UK laws specifically grant legal tender status to Sovereigns from Queen Victoria’s reign onwards only, and all sovereigns from prior reigns are now explicitly demonetized (so they are treated as collectibles, subject to VAT and CGT). Look it up, I promise that I’m not making this up. I don’t know what year that this law was promulgated, but I do know that it is the current law in effect regarding the legal tender status of Gold Sovereign coins in the UK.
The gold sovereign we know dates from 1817, and is quite rare before Queen Victoria. The Tudors ruled more than two hundred years earlier and their sovereign was a very different coin.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 well I suppose that's a matter of semantics, but the tudors did mint gold coins called sovereigns, so the legacy certainly goes back that far.
The very first gold Sovereign was struck during Henry VII's reign. On 28th October 1489, the king ordered the officers of his Royal Mint to produce “A new money of gold.”
I just started buying gold to compliment my silver. Started with 1/4 eagles, then 1/10, now I'm onto my first of many sovereigns to come! I don't know what it is about them but I get a better feeling of worth from them and of course love the price.
Another great video, but I wanted to mention something specific to you. You do realize that is St George *killing* a dragon on the coin right? This coin is anti-dragon propaganda!
Normally I don’t leave comments on videos but I want to say you have done your homework and produce a very informative and good video about this gold coin. Thanks
First sovereigns were minted in 1487 by Henry 7th. Now they are 7.32 grams of fine gold, worth approx £300 with a face value of £1. There's a perfect example of inflation.
Another great example of inflation is with the 1928 American Gold Eagle with a face value of $20. There was also a 1928 $20 paper note which is still technically only worth $20 (minus the numismatic value) but the Eagle is now worth over 2K.
I have a few of these and some variations, proofs and smaller Sovereigns, nice coins and great for stacking, often sold with low premium here in the UK
@@ef7480 Rather Splendid is indeed correct a sovereign has a nominal value of £1. Britannia's have their value minted on the obverse 1/4 is £25, 1/2 is £50 and 1oz is £100. The two and five sovereigns are still commonly referred to as £2 and £5 respectively, because again this is their value. All this info can be found on the Royal Mints website.
I just bought my first gold sovereign, I got a 20 Franc French gold Rooster and the sale was just a few over spot! Pretty smart way to add more gold to your stack at a bargain.
1:38 💡 Gold Sovereigns have been in circulation since 1817, with a face value of one pound sterling, although they are now primarily used as bullion coins. 3:52 💰 Despite being smaller than some other gold coins, like the American Gold Eagles, Gold Sovereigns can be purchased closer to spot price and have reasonable premiums when bought and sold, making them an attractive option for stacking. 6:44 🛡 Gold Sovereigns are recognized and traded widely, offering liquidity and making them a popular choice among gold stackers.
Sovereigns are the pinnacle of of divide and conquer applied to gold stacking. It's easier to buy 4 Sovereigns one by one, than a full ounce all at once, and it also helps cost dollar averaging. As for resale performance, stacking in ounces is les than 2% more efficient than Sovereigns here in Spain. I picked several gold ounces when I was fresh into stacking and had lots of dry powder. Nowadays, it is more convenient for me to grab a Sovereign every one or two months. I will get some 24K ounces now and then to diversify beyond 22K gold just in case.
Buying the occasional double sovereign when a commemorative date becomes available confims an amazing belief in your original decision to stack gold coin. Only this year, a 2002 golden anniversary of our Sovereign's reign became available to me. It was apparently only issued in a 3 coin proof boxed set, so the chances of finding a separated one was extremely slim. Of all my sovereigns of various monarchs, from half, full and doubles, this my most prized example. I would say to anyone before you get in too deep, read and attain as much knowledge as can, even a lack of recent knowledge can bring regrets. For example, I know I had 3 × 1957 sovereigns at one time, now I have only 2, since parting with that third one, I found out that the 1957 was our current Sovereign's first issuance, 4 years after taking her seat on the throne. Britain had been recovering from WW2, it was only when forgeries started to circulate, that a genuine release of her first sovereign was decided. These first 1957 sovereigns are the only sovereigns with a finer reeded edge than any other sovereign. This was done so the genuine sovereigns could more easily be identified. So I parted with a 1957 sovereign when almost any other date of the same design would have better suited me.
I avoided foreign gold for a long time. For the last two years, however, I have picked up a bunch of Sovereigns and Francs. The nice thing about gold and silver, at least in times of economic relativity, is that you can find buyers in private who will always pay you spot.
Sovereigns and francs are great and you can often find them with very little mark up. And they are easy to sell both domestically and internationally from my experience. Gold is gold anywhere on the planet!
Its worth noting from collecting these, the new ones will have an accurate weight of 7.98 old sovs can be 7.654 7.695 etc. They went out of common use after WW1 and became bullion after that and the weight became more important to be accurate. So don't worry when your weighing to buy a say 1898 one it says 7.623 instead of 7.98.
Hey Shane that is so informative, just purchased a George V from uk bullion dealer weighing 7.89g and sent it back for exchange as I thought the weight was low. In fairness the company did not argue and sent me another George V bang on 7.98g...I feel rather silly now reading your comment🙈🇬🇧
I definitely need to buy more gold to complement my silver, and since I’m already in the UK, sovereigns are the way to go, especially since they’re exempt from capital gains tax and VAT over here! I currently own a 1996 proof full sovereign, a 2020 proof half sovereign and a 1911 circulated half.
Great Vid thanks for the show. I picked one up the other day from my lcs. Sounds like you got a great deal I paid 40 over spot. I need to find new sources for buying my gold!
Watch the 1979 film, Time after Time. There's a Victorian era time traveler that winds up in 1979 San Francisco and he has a coin belt filled with British gold sovereigns and gets by exchanging his gold for US dollars. It was fun to see that. Seems like gold is always accepted, no matter what era you're from.
Great video. I know people find them metal detecting in Australia. As they were minted in a few commonwealth countries and used as legal tender. It’s also a great idea to diversify your stack. I agree 100% with what you have said in previous videos about stacking what is most liquid in your country, ie: U.S eagles, Canada maples, Australia kangaroos, China pandas ect. But it’s also important to have brands/mints that are liquid in other countries. Incase of a worse case scenario where, your countries economy crashes. And you need to sell on the international market. Countries metals with a better economy will be a lot more liquid. Imo Everybody should at least have a little U.S mints, Canadian mint and Perth mint minimum.
in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia the gold britannia is a lot more often in stock than perth mint products or PAMP products. idk if this is because the other stuff sells out first or that there are more brittanias around
@@williamwilliam5066 who said anything about traveling abroad? You can trade online. If Australian market crashes, but u.s is strong. U.S. eagles will be extremely liquid on the market here in Australia compared to Australian government kangaroos. If that makes sense?
I exclusively stacked sovereigns till JM bullion kept putting the 20 francs on sale. I probably have more of those than I do sovereigns now. Still love them though.
Just like you I will be stacking much more gold for 2020. Hope to snatch myself a couple try oz of bullion coins. Thanks for introducing the British sovereign coin!
The prices you're paying for sovereigns are really good. Here in Australia, where the coins were legal tender, we're charged 10% gst. The premium is about 16% over spot! 999 bullion has no tax, so it makes no sense to stack these coins in Australia.
Very nice pick up! Not everyday you can find the GOLD at spot😁 I think 2020 will be a golden year, and I agree saving for 1oz. Eagles is the way to go. Thanks for sharing 🐉's👍 MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎅
Walking home today in the Great British county side and found a 1909 Edward VII Sovereign laying on the side of the road. It must have been there for years and is very scuffed and marked but sill just under 8g of 22k gold
So I don’t have to pay the California tax, I go to Nevada once a month. I’ve done the math for silver from buying premium to selling. Turns out, generics are the absolute best way to go. They sell for $1.15 over spot and buy for $.65 under spot. Meanwhile, ASEs sell for $3.25 over spot and they’ll buy them back for spot. The way I see it, if the price doesn’t go up and you’re suddenly forced to sell for some unknown reason. I’d much rather be out $1.80 vs $3.25.
All my gold is in these 1/4 oz sovereigns! I love them and I like the older ones, Queen Victoria’s etc... I think there are 10 total and I would like to own all 10 one day 🐒🐒🐒
Maybe ten types of sovereigns in all (since 1817) but the earlier monarchs are very rare. Of course there are many many more dates - they’ve been issued almost every year since.
Great vid, I’ve been buying these for only about 3 years now. I really like the low premiums and I always save my ebucks for these purchases. Take care
@@Eli-qr9hc : No, I'm in the UK so Sovereigns are one of the best / cheapest gold coins for me to buy. They're still classed as "legal tender" here with a nominal value of £1 (although they don't have a face-value) so they're tax-free. They're known and recognised world-wide so you can easily sell them anywhere if you want to.....see links below for more info. www.coininvest.com/en/gold-coins/sovereign/#?sorting=fine_weight_asc&grouping=metal_id&page=1 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_(British_coin)
An important consideration for US buyers is the tax on gold. In my state, IL, gold under .999 fineness has a 9.75% sales tax ! So do US Eagles, so I do not buy them online, because dealers must charge me that tax. WI is 5.5% on ALL gold. Check JM bullion for gold buybacks, they seem to have better prices than coin shops.
I bought my first sovereign the day before thanksgiving. One of the online dealers had them on sale, so I called my LCS and he matched the deal. I like the “long neck Liz” as SBC says. Haha
Great to see you going right after your stated goal and picking up some gold! Respect! One reason the American Gold Eagle might be slightly more expensive at the time of purchase than the British Gold Sovereigns is because the Eagles are eligible for a lot of Precious Metals IRA, and Sovereigns are usually not, from what I can tell. You can see an example of a list of Precious Metals IRA eligible bullion over at JM Bullion's website. I don't see Sovereigns on a lot of these lists. So maybe that's one reason? Thanks for another great video and for sharing your experience! See you in the next one!
@@SilverDragons47 Thanks man! Nice to see that sovereign up close. I've been considering picking one up myself, so thank you for sharing. And congrats again on acquiring more gold!
Very popular for stacking worldwide, easily traded. Bonus in the UK for stacking gold is there is no sales tax on any gold coins and bars. Second bonus in the UK is no capital gains tax on UK gold Coins (Sovereigns and Britannia's) The bummer here in the UK is Silver, we have a 20% sales tax on silver.
I don't want to not pick ;) But Canada , Australia and South Africa have them aswell 👍👍 Actually there are good premiums on a frew Canadian and south African ones aswell :) Excellent video 👍
S.D. It's something to watch a video from 6 months ago to see how times have changed and premiums. But I do like the Sovereigns I actually had none at the beginning of the year and now I have four.
Plus Australia/Canada/South Africa. Australian sovereigns were produced at 3 mints (Sydney/Melbourne and Perth), had more reverse designs. Sydney mint type 1 and 2. The Shields , and Adelaide pound.
I just made the transition from stacking silver to gold with gold sovereigns. The premiums and VAT in the UK on silver makes them I feel unviable as a store of wealth for the UK investor.
Same, the 20% VAT just makes it financially irresponsible to stack silver, it was good when you could get it from the EU VAT free. I stack sovs and Britannias
We must remember if u get an old one. You will have historical rights with the coin so if the governments ever do session act 6102. It be much harder for them to take ur gold cause it class under historical coin.. get dates before 1930s
Great coin. I've always thought LCS's gave spot for gold. i'll have to ask my LCS. Good to know. They are great way to stack fractional gold for closer to spot.
Been getting excited to get onto 1/4 oz size coins after I finish my first tube of 1/10 gold. 1/2 way done and the more I look the British Sovereign I think it might be the coin for me… just like to be a little different
I couldn't agree with you more, SD. I have 49 sovereigns from 1833 to 1999, 11 of which are proof and almost all bought for spot + 0% to 10%. They have the same fineness as the AGE and yet, in many cases, have the history of pre-33 gold behind them. I also have a proof 5 sovereign coin, which is really impressive. There are 4 sovereigns that I paid more for and they are the Canadian minted 1911C, 1914C, 1917C and 1919C. These are not bullion coins as they are scarce due to melting. The 22mm black ring airtites are the way to go.
I love them. I love mostly old gold coins. But I noticed, out of all my coins, the sovereigns i own didn’t gain in value like my other coins. That won’t stop me from buying them, they are so affordable, and cool looking.
Couple years later..... SD, did you increase your Sovereign holdings much over the last 2 years? I really like these coins and was thinking of buying more of them. (Currently, I have 1)
Investing in gold at this point is BS. 2 weeks ago i bought 2btc and put them in different trust of lyra holt dean and now i have 6btc. i am not saying investing in gold is lame but at this point in time in 2020 bitcoin is the best to look into. You can google her and you will find her .
I have a bunch in a velvet bag, it's great to jingle them around, especially as they are bullion for the most part so scratches don't mean anything for the more modern ones or more common.
@@BusyBeeCompany - Oddly enough, long ago they used to put gold coins in a bag and jiggle them for hours so that small fragments would chip off. When repeated many times with many coins the bags would contain enough gold fragments to melt and sell. This was known as ‘sweating the coins’.
local coin shop in carolina was offering 88 cents to melt value for my sovereigns along with all the crap of how difficult it is sell / expenses of operating a coin shop etc. I was taken aback getting such a low ball. I was hoping 2 - 4% under the melt (yours $14 below sounds like about 4% below). More surprising was the fact the guy told he sometimes has to melt it to sell it - and gets 99 cents on the melt value.
Hello, I’ve just uploaded a video of a gold coin that I found in my house when I was trying to catch mouse in my kitchen! Can you take a look and see if you can identify the coin for me please?
The Swiss gold 20 francs Helvetia... its just such a nice coin, low premiums also... I bet you can't just buy one! ;) Thank you for always sharing good information and keeping it interesting. Stack on, Stack on my friend
I have a few of the British sovereigns, but was wondering about buying the 1/4ioz AGE or a deal offered at an online dealer Of a Random quarter ounce gold government coin that’s about $35 cheaper than the American gold eagle. (I know there’s possibly a liquidity factor but I was looking at saving $35) ?
A couple of points, with gold going up at the moment 90% of Sovereigns, from young Victorias onwards are basically worth their gold weight. However, sometimes you can get a small premium on young Victorias and also Shieldback Sovereigns are usually worth a little more. Some years from some mints are also more valuable but there are too many examples to list.
I have stacked some 19th century gold coins. Mainly German. I do have one sovereign. Victoria 1864. I just love the history with these coins! French, Swedish, Austrian etc...Who had these coins back in the day? It's not just about the value.
