ELUSIVE GOLD COIN

Evening Star, Issue 25674, 24 December 1945, Page 4

ELUSIVE GOLD COIN

VALUE OF SOVEREIGN ENHANCED ■ An elderly optimist, seeking a suitable Christmas present for a very young relative, recently offered a Dunedin bank £1 for a sovereign. About 20 years ago he was successful in a similar quest, but the fact that “ money isn’t what it used to be ” was quickly made apparent to him. In fact, it takes' £2 5s to buy a sovereign to-day,/and then one is fortunate to find a willing vendor. Sovereigns and half-sovereigns, which once outranked the “ almighty dollar ” as a popular medium of international exchange, are. still regularly unearthed in Dunedin.- In odd. trinket boxes, in forgotten “ home banks,” or carefully stored in . a drawer, there must be a substantial sum in this city of a coin that has appreciated in value over the years.. Once the sovereign had a direct link with Dunedin, for much of the gold used in the London mint came from Otago fields, but what amount .of the precious metal is now produced in New Zealand is at present diverted into commercial avenues or converted into bar form for international settlements. Each full sovereign contained approximately five pennyweights. of gold of 22 carat fineness, which gives it a present-day worth of £2 55.. The price paid by the Melbourne mint is £lO 15s 3d on ounce, but a gold export duty and a war tax amounting to £1 4s 4d result in a New Zealand price of £9 10s lid.