Graded vs Ungraded Gold

[Organics]

6 hours ago, Ignorant said:

An argument in favor of grading coins is that it’s an excellent method of ascertaining authenticity. Especially concerning older and ancient coins.

Very true 👍

[Organics]

19 hours ago, SeverinDigsSovereigns said:

This is a list of tax free gold in UK. Because these were inherited from the EU era I'd imagine the same coins are also tax free where you live and tax free when shifted around UK and all EU countries. But you do need to check on your government website(s) because there may be extra procedures to follow when clearing customs

An old £5 that looks like proof... sounds like the 1887. Almost all 1887 £5 are proof like. Old coins were proof like for many reasons. As far as I know, they can be

-Rejected proof thrown into circulation (back in the days they actually had proper quality control)

-Used proof dies reused

-Proof-like by design

-Highly polished metal blanks

-Highly polished dies because they were previously worn (in this case die polish lines are common)

There may be more to that but well beyond my expertise

VAT_Notice_701-21A_coins_list.ods 15.61 kB · 2 downloads

You were right but I was wrong. It is from 1887 but a £2 coin. I was thinking of getting this graded and a couple of others, which I’ll PM you pictures of. Here are the pictures of the 1887. What do you think? Is it proof like to you? 

 

[Petra]

1 hour ago, Organics said:

You were right but I was wrong. It is from 1887 but a £2 coin. I was thinking of getting this graded and a couple of others, which I’ll PM you pictures of. Here are the pictures of the 1887. What do you think? Is it proof like to you? 

 

There appears to be a lot of marks around her head particularly at the back. Any idea what they are🤔

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Organics said:

You were right but I was wrong. It is from 1887 but a £2 coin. I was thinking of getting this graded and a couple of others, which I’ll PM you pictures of. Here are the pictures of the 1887. What do you think? Is it proof like to you? 

 

Looks like a proof-like circulation coin to me. Maybe grade it without conservation, you really only do that if there are deep red spots, or if the coin is a post-1980 proof

[Organics]

26 minutes ago, Petra said:

There appears to be a lot of marks around her head particularly at the back. Any idea what they are🤔

Have no idea. I’ll have a closer look 🙏

7 minutes ago, SeverinDigsSovereigns said:

Looks like a proof-like circulation coin to me. Maybe grade it without conservation, you really only do that if there are deep red spots, or if the coin is a post-1980 proof

Ahh ok. Thank you 🙏 

[Stuntman]

I agree that the 1887 £2 looks like a circulation coin rather than a proof.  I'd say it's AU58 on a bad day, maybe MS60 or MS61 on a good day.

Maybe @GoldDiggerDave might advise on the likely grade, and whether his conservation services might be able to help with the abrasions/hairlines in the obverse and reverse fields?

[Organics]

1 hour ago, Stuntman said:

I agree that the 1887 £2 looks like a circulation coin rather than a proof.  I'd say it's AU58 on a bad day, maybe MS60 or MS61 on a good day.

Maybe @GoldDiggerDave might advise on the likely grade, and whether his conservation services might be able to help with the abrasions/hairlines in the obverse and reverse fields?

Thank you 🙏