CollectForFun

Is this the same coin? If so, it was on auction earlier this year with starting price EUR 40 and went unsold...

https://numis24.com/lots/view/61d5b91539e3832ab6278b3e

8 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

I feel like Twoflower everytime I go there.

Big like to you for this unexpected remark - put a big smile on my face!

3 hours ago, Silver2022 said:

To earn $12000 from stock markets, you will have to invest/spend $50,000. That is the main point

This is getting somewhat confusing. So buying shares is "spending", while buying silver is "investing"?

Sorry, I'm still missing your point. If the goal of this thread is to convince people to spend less and thus save some more money, that's ok I guess. But how this calculation of the yield from the stock markets fits in the discussion of whether gold and silver are good investment I have no idea.

1 hour ago, Silver2022 said:

Let's say you spend $2000 less per month, you will have $12000 in 6 months. To earn $12,000 from stock markets or investments you will have to invest $50,000. You can lose all your money. Gold & Silver are safest investments. So spending less is better than investing. 

So, spend less in order to have money to buy silver? Or what is your point?

On 17/08/2022 at 16:10, Happypanda88 said:

 

It is often reported that the mining industry mine about 8-parts of silver to 1-part of gold ore globally. In other words, for each metric ton of gold production, there are 8 metric tons of silver.  And yet the current price of gold to silver ratio is almost 90-1.  So yes, IMHO silver is probably the most undervalued asset in the world.  Others might disagree, but they are wrong ! 😎

Then what about for example platinum? Platinum's production is just a fraction of that of gold. And yet, it's cheaper.

Unfortunately, production ratios can not be conclusive for an asset's price...

On 11/08/2022 at 06:45, Happypanda88 said:

Statista reported that silver coming from primary silver miners decreased significantly in 2020 and this trend is going to continue going forward.  Silver is now largely extracted from the ground as a by-product of mining other metals like gold, lead, zinc and copper.

In short, silver is so so under valued.

As far as I know, it is quite normal that silver is mined as a by-product of mining other metals. My understanding is that it's not a sign of its scarcity, but rather a sign of how commonly it is found in various base metal ores, even if you don't look specifically for it.

So I am not sure if you can conclude from this that silver is undervalued, as it is produced literally just as a side product of something else...

It's all just their pricing strategy - the bar is cheap, shipping is expensive, but they are transparent about the fees so it's up to you to decide if the total price is ok for you or not.

There must be many other dealers to choose from and compare their price incl. shipping and all other fees. Upon a quick look, coininvest.com may be an option for you as they seem to have various 50g bars available at below 2% premiums.

Just guessing, going to Costa Rica for a vacation?

FWIW, on this image of the bar on a certain German dealer's website "1g" marking appears to be in similar position to yours

Or here another such example with serial number very close to yours:

3 hours ago, pillowcat2012 said:

Fast forward 4 weeks the parcel has not arrived. Royal Mail confirm it has been lost and offered the refund the postage cost, said that as the item is a valuable coin it is not covered by 1st class insurance. In hindsight I should have paid for special delivery.

Does it make any difference to the bolded when the item was not in fact "a valuable coin" but just a random object worth £300?

On 02/07/2022 at 04:28, ryanp007 said:

Today (recently, lol) I received...

This fantastic and scarce coin which for the time being is the crown jewel of my LMU collection.

The coin is an 1848 Republic of Venice (San Marco) 20 Lire. A one-year edition only, as the revolutions of 1848-49 sweeping Europe generally, and the Italian States in particular, turned out to be fairly short lived.

A total of 5,210 of these absolutely breathtaking 20 Lire coins were minted (I believe in Turin, but I haven't confirmed). The obverse is the Lion of St. Mark, and value within wreath on the reverse.

One thing that I have noticed with graded pieces is there is a prevalence of Prooflike designations for these coins. I've tried to capture the reflective, prooflike nature of this coin but its really difficult to do in photos. In hand, it is amazing to see. A very, very beautiful mirrorlike finish. Angle it in the sunlight the right way and you could signal an airplane with it! One of the nicest coins I've had the privilege to add to the LMU collection and one of the very few raw coins I would consider sending off for grading to validate and conserve it.

 

 

This is such an amazing coin! I don't think it can be surpassed by any other from the 20 francs category. And also condition of the coin is great! Huge congratulations on this acquisition.

Having quickly checked recent auction archives it does not seem this coin was bought at an auction, or was it?

My only concern with grading this coin would be that those hairlines, mainly on the reverse, could be seen as a sign of cleaning and you get a details grade. Or if they determine that there are some marks from previous mounting (as many of these coins were mounted). But in any case, I don't think any potential imperfections affect the overall eye appeal too much which I am sure must be even better when holding the coin in hands!

By the way, I see no reason why these coins shouldn't have been minted in Venice directly.

(I hope you don't mind that I quoted your post within this thread...)

As far as I know, the biggest concentration of the coin shops in Paris is around the "Bourse" (Rue Vivienne and surrounding streets). They would however be probably all closed by this time of the day...

14 hours ago, Leonmarsh said:

Sorry I probably haven't been clear I paid 650 I think for the coin, so was advertising it at what I paid as I managed to get an ms62 and ms64, 

Today the buyer has paid £1,008 I end up with 800 quid, so I have done ok, but someone could have picked it up for 650 I break even and someone gets a good value coin 

Man, I don't know... assuming it was you who bought it at Sincona auction?

35 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I am pleased that you notice, but do not know why Numista quotes it as 3.6 grams. When I first saw your post, I suspected that I had written the weight down incorrectly, however I will check it as soon as I can, which may be tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a quick search finds: https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/german-states-hamburg-schilling-km-586-1855-cuid-1135556-duid-1336762 Weight: 1.0800g.

https://en.ucoin.net/coin/hamburg-1-schilling-1855/?tid=81931 Weight 1.08 grams

https://www.ma-shops.com/koelnermuenzkabinett/item.php?id=20922 3.60 grams

https://worldqualitycoins.com/products/1855-german-states-free-city-of-hamburg-silver-coin-schilling-castle-ngc-ms63 Weight: 1.08 g

There are numerous other sources, but I suspect many of them simply quote a figure they have seen elsewhere, and assume it is correct.

I prefer to make my own mistakes!

😎

Actually, I had no doubt about correctness of your measurement and I was only happy to see the actual weight confirmed as I also noted inconsistency between various sources. Numista is usually great but one should keep in mind that its data is mostly based on contributions from members, which should in theory be checked by a "referee", but mistakes can still occur. After I saw 1.08g given by NGC and Ucoin (as well as other sites on which weight ranged from 1.04 to 1.11g), I started to suspect that Numista got it wrong, unless there are two different sizes of the coin or something like that, which was why I asked if you perhaps know something about that.

Anyway, if your measurement is confirmed, I would try submitting a correction on Numista and we'll see what happens!

21 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

OK, here goes:

Cu 536

Ag 452

Pb 5

Fe 3

So, 45% silver.

Thinking further about the lead, this is unlikely to have come from cupellation, which is used in fire assay analysis, but not in refining, as far as I am aware, but please feel free to correct me if you find otherwise.

Thanks for posting this, it's useful to know that you weighted the coin at 1.1 grams. Do you know why some sources (including Numista) claim the weight is 3.6 grams?

3 hours ago, DrFreeman said:

@CollectForFun I see your point which is definitely valid. However, I use established scales for several reasons (e.g. the ones I use are researched and used over years and tested in terms of validity & reliability; using well established scales allows for comparability with other studies; etc.). Altering scales may have benefits, but definitely has downsides as well which I aim to avoid. Anyways, thanks for your feedback and your help! 😃

So, if I don't gamble and therefore answer "Never" to all of your questions on page 4 of the questionnaire, would that be fine for you? Or would this skew the results towards one end of the spectrum, to which I however don't belong?

If you're ok with that I don't mind doing so I just don't want to cause more harm than benefits by submitting my responses.

@DrFreeman out of curiosity, why do you assume that everyone gambles or places bets? At least, your questionnaire seems to lack response options that would differentiate between people who never gambled and those, who did, but would respond "never" to those questions anyway...

Why not adding N/A option for those who don't gamble?

BTW the whole Biafra set in original case sold recently here and both Biafra and Lesotho graded sets sold in Japan here and here. Premiums were actually not very high, so if anyone is interested, it's probably just a matter of waiting until the next one appears somewhere on the auction...

Lesotho apparently did the same set in 1969

Numista link

3 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

For example, it should not have been difficult for you to Google all 3 coins, to check their specified composition. Numista is a good resource.

Good advice in general, but easier said than done for these "coins". I could not find any of them on Numista and there are generally very few hints as to them anywhere else on the internet.

Anyway, it seems the real issue is only with the smallest (Brexit) one? BTW @BullionMan89 why do you think the dealer who sold the coins to you XRF tested all of them? Do you know they do this for every coin they sell? Or is it just your assumption?

If both coins should have arrived in one package, I wouldn't exclude a possibility that the person at the RM overlooked that there should have been 2 coins in your package and simply forgot to add the other one.

I assume their packaging is standardized so the total weight of a package including 1 coin is known. They should also have records of the weight of your package so that should be an indication whether it included just one, or both coins.

Intresting development but I am sure some solution will be found.

E.g. when FedEx say you must collect your shipment from Stansted Airport, do they mean it has already been cleared through customs, or that you still need to go through all customs paperwork first?

I would ask them to confirm status of the shipment from the customs perspective as well as provide you with exact reasons for their request including specific reference to legislation or their T&Cs applicable to your case, rather than using vague complex terms and thresholds that are based on noone knows what. Based on that info you can follow up or maybe someone will be able to advise.

7 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

Similarly, I don't know enough about original Maria Theresa thalers. for many years I thought all the 1780 dated ones were restrikes, but some are not.

There was at least one "paper" published about them, followed by an excellent book A Silver Legend: The Story of the Maria Theresa Thaler.

Strangely enough, it is more or less true that all 1780 MT talers are restrikes, i.e. minted later than in 1780, which was the year of MT's death. However, some restrikes are much earlier than others, as the coin has been produced almost without interruption since then until today. Those first restrikes are often referred to as original strikes, which is not completely correct. I guess, the right term should be something like "original restrike"...

8 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

 

From which we can say the gold content is approximately 99%.

😎

Well, considering that it should be just .986, the results are less precise than I would expect...

7 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

It's difficult to know exactly

While I like to see original mintage coins of restrike issues, I don't feel there is a strong market for them, which is regrettable in many ways.

It possibly devalues it to a price similar to a 1915 restrike.

I suspect some people would prefer a "perfect" 1915, rather than a holey 1879 or other original date.

You mean you don't see strong market for original strikes? Or just those that are holed? In my numismatic circles, original strikes are always welcome - although, preferably not holed. By the way, is this one for sale?

8 hours ago, Petra said:

Whatever age, it is a nice looking coin. About how much would a hole in it like that devalue it by?

Unfortunately, a holed specimen loses almost all its numismatic value. On the other hand, there seems to be more holed, repaired, ex-mounted or otherwise damaged 4 ducats (original strikes) on the market than pristine ones, so sometimes collectors have no other choice but accept a coin like this in their collection, at least until a better specimen appears on the market.