billysilver

I'm receiving a signal at this very moment.... 👽

Hi John, I've never known anyone to use anything other than Royal Mail for postage on the forum, I have neither sold using any other methods or purchased using any method other than RM. Note that only special delivery is fully insured for precious metals. Most people will be happy to assume the risk for one or two coins with Royal Mail signed for 1st or 2nd class. You're only obligated to make it clear in your listing, who assumes risk, what postage methods you are offering and who is paying for the postage. In the unlikely event of something getting lost after dispatch, if you've shipped via 1st or 2nd Class Signed For and it's been agreed at the time of the deal that you(the seller) assumes the risk, then you would be responsible for reimbursing the loss, most often times though, when 1st or 2nd class signed for postage is offered on a listing, it's stated that the buyer assumes the risk if they choose to accept such a means of postage, due to the fact that these services do not cover pm's, even though they are insured up to £50 and if the seller assumed the risk, theoretically, if the "tracking number" didn't update when received, an unscrupulous buyer could say they didn't receive the item and try and get the seller to refund them and the seller would be morally obliged to and would have no means of re-course with Royal Mail. I would be surprised to ever hear of such a thing occurring for two reasons though; 1. I've never had an item lost when selling or buying here and 2. Members here are not the type to behave in such a way as described in the former hypothetical. If you have access to a depot, you can send via Royal Mail Tracked 24 or 48, which is not a service available at The Post Office, once again though, these services are not insured for pm's, they are insured up to £100 for non pm's but one benefit of these services is they are fully tracked, unlike signed for, where the "tracking number" is updated upon receipt. This means a RM 24/48 item is not going to get lost. Regarding any option other than Special Delivery, in the event of a loss, you could attempt to claim the item is a collector's piece and you may get somewhere with that, I know I have read a thread that discussed this succeeding when a loss has occurred for them in the past but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work on legal tender bullion, unless you got lucky. All being said, I don't know what fear-mongering dispatches was alluding to, I haven't seen terrestrial television for a long time, but as long as you are clear in the listing, who assumes risk and what services are available at the time of the deal and it is agreed between the two parties, you will be good to go. Check out my buying and selling guide, there may be some additional pointers that can help you when you decide to sell on the forum:

Lucky guys!!! Congratulations @Widsith and @HerbertDTurbot What an awesome win!

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Well done @Yann

Why do wind turbines like Metallica? Because they're huge metal fans! The precious metal gods are smiling on you today, congratulations @metallica73 Metal up yer a**!! 🤘

I will also add that The Customs Act of 1842 ordered imported gold and silver may not be sold in Britain unless assayed by a British office. So the timing is right if it were a piece produced by an North American company, sold in Britain, it wasn't until 1867 that the import mark "F" for foreign was added to imported pieces that were hallmarked in Britain.

@Subspecies That's a keen observation. If it were the case that it is an import mark, would duty not be paid to customs when imported and therefore one would expect to find Queen Victoria's head or was duty not applied to foreign silver imported? Also, could there be a possibility that if it were a piece crafted by a North American company, imported without declaring and then hallmarked in Britain, is that a likely scenario? Finally, why would a piece have no makers mark but include an import mark, is that a common situation?

In Britain it's the case that makers use initials, in North America there are figural makers marks. Maybe this is also the case elsewhere but I don't know, it is the case for North America though. I wondered if it could be an import mark but as far as what I have learned, import marks were not a thing until The Customs Amendment Act of 1867, since this piece is dated 1846 I had ruled that possibility out. I could be wrong though.

The closest I have identified so far on the makers mark is a company called Gorham, it's certainly not definitive but they do use the anchor in shield over several years and formations of the company, so I just thought I would add this information in case. @KevinFlynn That is a great website and it's interesting to learn all these little intricacies of hallmarking that I had no knowledge of before, I knew the marks for the assay offices and the .958 and .925 marks but there is so much more to learn, quite an enjoyable little quest this is, very interesting. The link for the Gorham marks and information is: www.silvercollection.it/gorham

This is interesting. Good to learn the calligraphic L indicates a date, the makers mark almost looks like the Birmingham assay mark no? Are there makers hallmarks that aren't lettered initials?

I'm no hallmark expert but I know that The Lion Passant at the top indicates it's Sterling Silver, The Leopard on the bottom left indicates it was assayed in London. I would assume the calligraphic L is the makers/sponsors mark but I didn't know that such a style of makers mark was used, like I said I am no expert though. I look forward to finding out.

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