AGW stands for Actual Gold Weight, and refers to the actual weight of the pure gold in a gold coin. The measurement does not include the weight of the other metals alloyed with the gold.

Modern coin collectors love coins in PR70. Modern sovereign collectors are no exception. With the significant increases in value of PR70 sovereigns in recent years, I took an afternoon to answer a que...

There are few more noble pursuits than that of the coin collector. To the true enthusiast, the art of collecting coins is more than just a pastime: It is a passion, a journey of discovery, and a porta...

While there are dozens of ultra-rarities amongst the Australian pre-decimal and gold series, there are only a few truly rare modern Australian coins .

We send thousands of coins to PCGS for collectors. A small minority of the coins are rejected by PCGS because of “damage”. A question that we often receive relates to how a mint condition coin tha...

All sovereigns are worth at least their gold value ($630 as of 9/5/22, but it changes daily). These are called “bullion sovereigns”, “scrap sovereigns”, or (between dealers) “scrubbers”. T...

The most valuable gold sovereign is the 1920 sovereign minted in Sydney. A high-grade version of this coin recently sold in June 2021 in Monaco for €942,400 (AU$1.48 million). This is a world-record...

Jubilee head sovereigns have always been my favourite series of sovereigns. Even if the design doesn’t appeal, one cannot deny that the series is an interesting one. With multiple varieties on the o...

There are a lot of varieties across both the sovereign and half sovereign series. One of the varieties appears on the Jubilee head half sovereign and relates to the number of pearls on the Queen’s n...

The infamous 1933 Double Eagle once owned by King Farouk and London coin dealer Stephen Fenton has sold for the second time this century, once again shattering world records. Changing hands at US$18,8...

It appears to be little known, but there are date varieties on both the shield and St George reverse sovereigns of 1873. A picture says a thousand words, so instead of describing the varieties, we hav...

When I was younger, I was given an old Renniks catalogue from the 1970s. Before the internet, price guides were often the only way to learn about all aspects of coins collecting, such as what to colle...

We are asked this question a lot, and there are so many factors that go into the value of a gold sovereign that tomes could be written about it. Fortunately, when a non-collector asks how much their s...

PCGS offers a number of different services besides basic grading and encapsulation. One of their most popular services is their photography service, run by professional photographer Phil Arnold. Phil ...

Like the Edward VII sovereign series, the veiled head (or old head) sovereigns are popular, owing to their affordability and general availability. They are also the last of the Victorian sovereigns, a...

The blank ponds (or Kaal ponds) were manufactured in Pretoria some time around 1900 in the midst of the South African War (Second Boer War), and are in effect unfinished gold ponds. While historical r...

Across almost every Australian coin series, there are unanswered numismatic questions. Whether the questions arose from poor record keeping, botchy die punching, bad policy, experimentation, or someth...

I have just got in a large supply of the new matte black PCGS boxes. These are second-hand, but are in pretty good condition, otherwise. These hard, plastic boxes can hold twenty PCGS-graded holders, ...

While all pennies and halfpennies are worth something in the highest grades, most of these copper coins are practically worthless and sell by the kilo in bags to scrap dealers. Pennies are generally w...

The Edward VII sovereign series has always been a popular one for collectors. Big enough to be challenging, but small enough to build in a few years, it has appeal to both connoisseur collector and be...