voodomonk Using Copied Sovereign Images on eBay
eBay seller voodomonk of welwyn garden city, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, not only stole our 1932 South African Mint sovereign images without permission, but tried to tell buyers his coins were in absolute mint condition.

High eBay Feedback is No Guarantee of Integrity or Honesty
When we wrote this page, this eBay member's feedback was 156; with 100% positive according to eBay.
It also demonstrates that high eBay feedback is no indicator of intelligence, reading ability or honesty.

Sample Listing

1989 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA
1989 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN WITH BOX AND CERTIFICATE.
500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOVEREIGN EDITION 1489-1989
WEIGHT = 7.98 GRAMS
AGW = .23540oz GOLD CONTENT = .917
THE 1989 SOVEREIGN IS THE MOST VALUABLE AND MOST COLLECTABLE OF THE 1979-2010 PROOF SOVEREIGN ERA!
100% POSITIVE FEEDBACK SO BUY WITH CONFIDENCE.
PAYMENT PREFERRED BY CHEQUE OR BANK TRANSFER.
ANY QUESTIONS FEEL FREE TO ASK.
1989 Gold Sovereigns Were Different
As you can see from the photographs, 1989 sovereigns did not use the by now traditional St. George and Dragon reverse design. Instead to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the first gold sovereign for Henry VII in 1489, the designs chosen for both sides of the 1989 gold coins reflected the designs originally used five centuries ago. Very few coins or currencies can boast such lengthy service. The original sovereigns were intended to be used as a symbol of Britain's importance and wealth, to impress the rest of Europe.
Obverse
The obverse, or head side, shows the Queen seated facing on a throne. The majestic appearance of this design, combined with the large size, weight and purity of the original sovereigns, is the reason the new gold coin came to be called a sovereign in the first place.
Reverse
The reverse design also mirrors its 500 year old original counterpart, bearing the Royal Arms surmounted on a crowned double Tudor rose.
Designer
Both sides of the coin were designed by the sculptor Bernard Sindall.
Proof Only
The 1989 sovereign, as all dates of sovereign from 1983 to 1999 inclusive, was only available as a proof. There was no ordinary uncirculated version made.
Issue Limit and Mintage
There were 10,535 sovereigns issued in 1989. The issue limit was 12,500 pieces. This shows that the Royal Mint did not manage to sell as many as it had hoped to, and presumably forecast. The sales period for this coin would have been from about January 1989 to about mid 1990, although these dates, vary often from year to year. The end date possibly depends on whether the Mint decide to run another production batch. We should perhaps explain that as a factory, the Mint do not produce the entire issue limit in one production run, but make a large initial batch, followed by one or more smaller batches through the lifetime of the products marketing phase. Towards the end of a period, they may decide that there was not enough residual demand to make it worthwhile making and storing an economic batch quantity.
Extremely High Demand
It was only in about 2003 or 2004 that demand for the 1989 proof sovereigns started to really outstrip supply. Once you start trying to get one of each date, or just one of each type, the 1989 is needed to complete most collections.

What's Wrong?
We invest a great deal of time, effort, and cost into creating some of the best photographic coin images on the internet. We strongly object when lazy and dishonest people decide to use them without a by your leave or thanks, doing so in competition with us.
Copyright theft is dishonest. We recommend you avoid doing business with dishonest dealers.
This particular eBay seller only our high quality images of a 1989 proof gold sovereign, he or she used them to try to sell his own sovereign without saying it was not the same coin. Anyone viewing the photographs would expect it to be the same, near perfect condition coin, "airbrushed" it to make it look like a supermodel.
She also stole 14 of our high quality gold sovereign photographs in total to offer 7 proof sovereigns for sale on eBay in direct competition with us.

It is always possible, even likely, that sellers who steal photographs do not own a similar coin, and have the intention to totally defraud potential buyers.
The vendor is not only cheating us by stealing our copyright images, he is fraudulently or ignorantly misleading and deceiving all potential buyers. Gaining pecuniary advantage by deception is the definition of fraud.

Seller ID	Item Number	Date	Description	Price
voodomonk	160380872409	23rd Nov 2009	1989 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�925
voodomonk	160380876366	23rd Nov 2009	2002 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�245
voodomonk	160380877726	23rd Nov 2009	2000 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�240
voodomonk	160380879430	23rd Nov 2009	1998 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�280
voodomonk	160380880340	23rd Nov 2009	1995 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�280
voodomonk	160380881591	23rd Nov 2009	1980 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�175
voodomonk	160380886733	23rd Nov 2009	1999 GOLD PROOF FULL SOVEREIGN+BOX & COA	�340

Price
The seller was asking a various starting prices for each listing, which probably slightly undercut our own prices.
Whatever the items "sell" for, after eBay's greedy 10% selling fees, and possible PayPal charges, the crook may have been much better off selling the coins to us, instead of stealing our photographs.

eBay Guilty of Negligence or Complicity
We will be reporting this example of copyright abuse using our standard Statutory Declaration via the eBay VeRO programme, and wait to see if they chose to action or ignore our report. We look forward to taking legal action against eBay for their negligence and / or complicity if they fail to take down the offending material promptly.

Selling Gold Sovereigns & Other Coins on eBay
We point out that sellers may often get more money, for less effort, by selling to a specialised dealer, such as us, rather than via eBay.

Copyright Notice
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