How to spot a fake gold sovereign

1. Weight. A genuine full sovereign weighs 7.98 g exactly. A half is 3.99 g. Variation beyond ±0.05 g is suspicious.

2. Diameter. Full sovereign: 22.05 mm. Half: 19.30 mm. Use vernier callipers or a coin gauge.

3. Magnet. Gold is non-magnetic. If the coin sticks to a strong neodymium magnet, it's fake (likely steel core, gold-plated).

4. Ring test. Genuine 22ct gold has a distinctive bell-like ring when balanced on a fingertip and tapped lightly with another coin. Plated fakes give a dull thud.

5. Design detail. Compare St George's spear, the dragon's tail and the date numerals against a known-genuine image. Fakes routinely have soft, mushy lettering and weak relief.

Middle Eastern jewellery sovereigns — often correct gold content but wrong weight or diameter. Sometimes legitimately worth bullion, but never the collector premium of a genuine British issue.

Chinese counterfeits — frequently brass cores with very thin gold plating. Fail the magnet test or scratch test instantly.

Tungsten-core fakes — rare but exist. These pass the magnet and ring tests. Detection requires specific gravity testing or XRF analysis.

Don't sell, and don't throw away. Bring it to a buyer who will test it on the spot with proper kit (XRF spectrometer or precise density scale). We test every gold coin in front of you before quoting — there's no charge whether you decide to sell or not.