CollectForFun

If your base case is that silver will go up, then it shouldn't in my opinion make a difference whether you stack bullion or junk silver, as both should in theory go up respectively to their metal content.
In practice, there may be differences in how premiums on bullion vs. junk will evolve over time but that's impossible to predict. Premium on .999 silver should in theory never become negative, while on junk silver, it's possible. And if it happens once that silver loses all its investment asset status and becomes purely industrial metal, then I think .999 silver will become more valuable then lesser fineness. But if that ever happens, the spot price will be far from where it's now so such details won't be really so important...
So should you or should you not? Try out and see for yourself. Be prepared old silver coins won't be all shiny and clean as your brand new bullion, but to me it's part of their appeal. Plus old coins are free history lesson to me. I never learnt so much about history than from collecting old coins...

Good point about the mines but why would anyone who has not bought gold or silver recently be "done for"? That's just nonsense, isn't it.
And a funeral director giving investment advice... who knows, he may as well be a TSF member for all we know..!

Good point about the mines but why would anyone who has not bought gold or silver recently be "done for"? That's just nonsense, isn't it.
And a funeral director giving investment advice... who knows, he may as well be a TSF member for all we know..!

What a mess! Out of interest I searched for more information and I can tell you this can become interesting if the authorities decide to apply a hard line in terms of the past periods and start assessing additional VAT to the dealers for previous years. But I hope they will be more lenient towards the past, but in any case, the loophole seems to be definitely closed for the future.
For those interested in the detailed background, I summarise below the respective legislation including the links to the underlying documents (sorry for long post!|:
According to the German VAT Act, reduced 7% VAT can be applied to several categories of goods, which are listed in Annex 2 to the VAT Act. Collectors' items ("Sammlungsstücke") are covered by Point 54 of this Annex. According to letter c) paragraph cc) of that point, coins and medals made of precious metals qualify as collectors' items if their price (excl. VAT) exceeds 250% of the metal value. According to Article 12 paragraph 2 point 12 of the German VAT Act, reduced rate on the above items specified in Point 54 of Annex 2 shall be applied only on importation of goods, i.e. not on domestic or intra-community transactions. This is in accordance with the EU VAT Directive which does not allow applying reduced VAT rate on collectors' items in general, but only on imports. So far so good. The German Ministry of Finance issued a letter on 5 August 2004 detailing application of reduced VAT rates. This letter starts with the following introduction: "With reference to the result of the discussions with the highest tax authorities of the federal states, the following applies to the application of the reduced tax rate to sales of items specified in Appendix 2 of the UStG carried out after July 30, 2004:". So this letter pretends to be quite an official interpretation of the law, as I see it. Silver coins are covered by line 174 point 2 of that letter and this is where it becomes really interesting, as this letter literally says that "The reduced tax rate can be applied to sales of silver coins that are not included in the list attached to this letter without the need for a valuation.". So it's pretty simple - silver coin not in the list? Then reduced VAT rate applies irrespective of the premium. And if the coin is in the list? "The sales of the silver coins listed in the attachment are regularly subject to the standard tax rate. However, the entrepreneur can claim the reduced tax rate for those coins if he can prove that the requirements are met in the individual case. The list of silver coins subject to the general tax rate is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Any changes to the list will be announced separately.". So the coins listed in the attachment must be tested for price against the metal content value. And so which are those coins which do not qualify for automatic VAT reduction according to the letter of 2004? They are listed in the attachment to that letter and curiously, include only various "junk" silver coins from the 20th century and Maria Theresia Taler, but no bullion coins. Was this list ever updated? I don't know but I did not find any update. I found that in 2014 the Ministry confirmed that the 2004 list still applies. Maybe in 2004 the Ministry did not feel the need to include bullion silver coins as the market was not as widespread and afterwards they just omitted to update the list? Or was there any other reasoning behind which coins are included and which not? And finally, we are now in 2022 when the same Ministry of Finance issued a new letter dated 27 September 2022 in which they just say that "The regulations of the letter of August 5, 2004 led to practical application that the reduced tax rate was applied on some silver coins, although the statutory conditions were not met. The regulations mentioned there are therefore no longer applicable. The regulations of this new letter are to be applied in all open cases.". So what this all means? Basically, in 2004, the Ministry of Finance interpreted the law in such a way that they extended the legal definition of silver coins which qualified for reduced VAT rate on import from >250% items to any silver coins not in the list, whereas the list contained for investors only not very relevant silver coins. This interpretation was arguably followed by the German customs authorities and therefore silver bullion coins could have been imported to Germany with 7% reduced VAT. In 2022 the Ministry suddenly woke up and realised that their interpretation went beyond the law so reversed it and confirmed that 7% may apply only to >250% collectors' items.
This is however not the end of the story, because in order to benefit from the loophole, the dealers had to first import the coins with 7% VAT and then apply the differential taxation in order to avoid taxing the whole value of the coins by 19%. According to article 25a of the German VAT Act, the differential taxation can be applied by resellers of the collectors' items. As was shown above, collectors' items are defined as coins >250% premium. The 2004 letter scratched this requirement but in my understanding, only in respect of the application of reduced VAT rate, so the letter did not re-define the collectors' items for other purposes, such as the application of the differential taxation. Or is there any other method whereby German dealers could have applied differential taxation on new bullion silver coins?
So as I see it, the dealers had every right to rely on the 2004 letter from the Ministry and import silver bullion coins with 7% VAT on them. But I am not so sure they were able to sell these coins under the differential taxation scheme, even while that 2004 letter was in force... In any case, gone are the times of cheap silver bullion from Germany and the it will be interesting to follow further development and how much the dealers will be investigated for the past sales...

What a mess! Out of interest I searched for more information and I can tell you this can become interesting if the authorities decide to apply a hard line in terms of the past periods and start assessing additional VAT to the dealers for previous years. But I hope they will be more lenient towards the past, but in any case, the loophole seems to be definitely closed for the future.
For those interested in the detailed background, I summarise below the respective legislation including the links to the underlying documents (sorry for long post!|:
According to the German VAT Act, reduced 7% VAT can be applied to several categories of goods, which are listed in Annex 2 to the VAT Act. Collectors' items ("Sammlungsstücke") are covered by Point 54 of this Annex. According to letter c) paragraph cc) of that point, coins and medals made of precious metals qualify as collectors' items if their price (excl. VAT) exceeds 250% of the metal value. According to Article 12 paragraph 2 point 12 of the German VAT Act, reduced rate on the above items specified in Point 54 of Annex 2 shall be applied only on importation of goods, i.e. not on domestic or intra-community transactions. This is in accordance with the EU VAT Directive which does not allow applying reduced VAT rate on collectors' items in general, but only on imports. So far so good. The German Ministry of Finance issued a letter on 5 August 2004 detailing application of reduced VAT rates. This letter starts with the following introduction: "With reference to the result of the discussions with the highest tax authorities of the federal states, the following applies to the application of the reduced tax rate to sales of items specified in Appendix 2 of the UStG carried out after July 30, 2004:". So this letter pretends to be quite an official interpretation of the law, as I see it. Silver coins are covered by line 174 point 2 of that letter and this is where it becomes really interesting, as this letter literally says that "The reduced tax rate can be applied to sales of silver coins that are not included in the list attached to this letter without the need for a valuation.". So it's pretty simple - silver coin not in the list? Then reduced VAT rate applies irrespective of the premium. And if the coin is in the list? "The sales of the silver coins listed in the attachment are regularly subject to the standard tax rate. However, the entrepreneur can claim the reduced tax rate for those coins if he can prove that the requirements are met in the individual case. The list of silver coins subject to the general tax rate is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Any changes to the list will be announced separately.". So the coins listed in the attachment must be tested for price against the metal content value. And so which are those coins which do not qualify for automatic VAT reduction according to the letter of 2004? They are listed in the attachment to that letter and curiously, include only various "junk" silver coins from the 20th century and Maria Theresia Taler, but no bullion coins. Was this list ever updated? I don't know but I did not find any update. I found that in 2014 the Ministry confirmed that the 2004 list still applies. Maybe in 2004 the Ministry did not feel the need to include bullion silver coins as the market was not as widespread and afterwards they just omitted to update the list? Or was there any other reasoning behind which coins are included and which not? And finally, we are now in 2022 when the same Ministry of Finance issued a new letter dated 27 September 2022 in which they just say that "The regulations of the letter of August 5, 2004 led to practical application that the reduced tax rate was applied on some silver coins, although the statutory conditions were not met. The regulations mentioned there are therefore no longer applicable. The regulations of this new letter are to be applied in all open cases.". So what this all means? Basically, in 2004, the Ministry of Finance interpreted the law in such a way that they extended the legal definition of silver coins which qualified for reduced VAT rate on import from >250% items to any silver coins not in the list, whereas the list contained for investors only not very relevant silver coins. This interpretation was arguably followed by the German customs authorities and therefore silver bullion coins could have been imported to Germany with 7% reduced VAT. In 2022 the Ministry suddenly woke up and realised that their interpretation went beyond the law so reversed it and confirmed that 7% may apply only to >250% collectors' items.
This is however not the end of the story, because in order to benefit from the loophole, the dealers had to first import the coins with 7% VAT and then apply the differential taxation in order to avoid taxing the whole value of the coins by 19%. According to article 25a of the German VAT Act, the differential taxation can be applied by resellers of the collectors' items. As was shown above, collectors' items are defined as coins >250% premium. The 2004 letter scratched this requirement but in my understanding, only in respect of the application of reduced VAT rate, so the letter did not re-define the collectors' items for other purposes, such as the application of the differential taxation. Or is there any other method whereby German dealers could have applied differential taxation on new bullion silver coins?
So as I see it, the dealers had every right to rely on the 2004 letter from the Ministry and import silver bullion coins with 7% VAT on them. But I am not so sure they were able to sell these coins under the differential taxation scheme, even while that 2004 letter was in force... In any case, gone are the times of cheap silver bullion from Germany and the it will be interesting to follow further development and how much the dealers will be investigated for the past sales...

Proof the mint can't actually mint.

1872 is one of the easier years to find, so you should be able to get one in a decent grade for a lower cost than for some other years.
£100 for a VF example (UK grading) from a dealer is probably about right, possibly slightly over book price but not too much.  £100 is definitely too much for a Fine example.
I have an 1852 gothic florin which could potentially be for sale.  Grade wise I would say it's EF but has probably been lightly cleaned.  I bought it from a reputable dealer about 7 years ago, I now have two other gothic florins which I will keep.
 

What a mess! Out of interest I searched for more information and I can tell you this can become interesting if the authorities decide to apply a hard line in terms of the past periods and start assessing additional VAT to the dealers for previous years. But I hope they will be more lenient towards the past, but in any case, the loophole seems to be definitely closed for the future.
For those interested in the detailed background, I summarise below the respective legislation including the links to the underlying documents (sorry for long post!|:
According to the German VAT Act, reduced 7% VAT can be applied to several categories of goods, which are listed in Annex 2 to the VAT Act. Collectors' items ("Sammlungsstücke") are covered by Point 54 of this Annex. According to letter c) paragraph cc) of that point, coins and medals made of precious metals qualify as collectors' items if their price (excl. VAT) exceeds 250% of the metal value. According to Article 12 paragraph 2 point 12 of the German VAT Act, reduced rate on the above items specified in Point 54 of Annex 2 shall be applied only on importation of goods, i.e. not on domestic or intra-community transactions. This is in accordance with the EU VAT Directive which does not allow applying reduced VAT rate on collectors' items in general, but only on imports. So far so good. The German Ministry of Finance issued a letter on 5 August 2004 detailing application of reduced VAT rates. This letter starts with the following introduction: "With reference to the result of the discussions with the highest tax authorities of the federal states, the following applies to the application of the reduced tax rate to sales of items specified in Appendix 2 of the UStG carried out after July 30, 2004:". So this letter pretends to be quite an official interpretation of the law, as I see it. Silver coins are covered by line 174 point 2 of that letter and this is where it becomes really interesting, as this letter literally says that "The reduced tax rate can be applied to sales of silver coins that are not included in the list attached to this letter without the need for a valuation.". So it's pretty simple - silver coin not in the list? Then reduced VAT rate applies irrespective of the premium. And if the coin is in the list? "The sales of the silver coins listed in the attachment are regularly subject to the standard tax rate. However, the entrepreneur can claim the reduced tax rate for those coins if he can prove that the requirements are met in the individual case. The list of silver coins subject to the general tax rate is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Any changes to the list will be announced separately.". So the coins listed in the attachment must be tested for price against the metal content value. And so which are those coins which do not qualify for automatic VAT reduction according to the letter of 2004? They are listed in the attachment to that letter and curiously, include only various "junk" silver coins from the 20th century and Maria Theresia Taler, but no bullion coins. Was this list ever updated? I don't know but I did not find any update. I found that in 2014 the Ministry confirmed that the 2004 list still applies. Maybe in 2004 the Ministry did not feel the need to include bullion silver coins as the market was not as widespread and afterwards they just omitted to update the list? Or was there any other reasoning behind which coins are included and which not? And finally, we are now in 2022 when the same Ministry of Finance issued a new letter dated 27 September 2022 in which they just say that "The regulations of the letter of August 5, 2004 led to practical application that the reduced tax rate was applied on some silver coins, although the statutory conditions were not met. The regulations mentioned there are therefore no longer applicable. The regulations of this new letter are to be applied in all open cases.". So what this all means? Basically, in 2004, the Ministry of Finance interpreted the law in such a way that they extended the legal definition of silver coins which qualified for reduced VAT rate on import from >250% items to any silver coins not in the list, whereas the list contained for investors only not very relevant silver coins. This interpretation was arguably followed by the German customs authorities and therefore silver bullion coins could have been imported to Germany with 7% reduced VAT. In 2022 the Ministry suddenly woke up and realised that their interpretation went beyond the law so reversed it and confirmed that 7% may apply only to >250% collectors' items.
This is however not the end of the story, because in order to benefit from the loophole, the dealers had to first import the coins with 7% VAT and then apply the differential taxation in order to avoid taxing the whole value of the coins by 19%. According to article 25a of the German VAT Act, the differential taxation can be applied by resellers of the collectors' items. As was shown above, collectors' items are defined as coins >250% premium. The 2004 letter scratched this requirement but in my understanding, only in respect of the application of reduced VAT rate, so the letter did not re-define the collectors' items for other purposes, such as the application of the differential taxation. Or is there any other method whereby German dealers could have applied differential taxation on new bullion silver coins?
So as I see it, the dealers had every right to rely on the 2004 letter from the Ministry and import silver bullion coins with 7% VAT on them. But I am not so sure they were able to sell these coins under the differential taxation scheme, even while that 2004 letter was in force... In any case, gone are the times of cheap silver bullion from Germany and the it will be interesting to follow further development and how much the dealers will be investigated for the past sales...

What a mess! Out of interest I searched for more information and I can tell you this can become interesting if the authorities decide to apply a hard line in terms of the past periods and start assessing additional VAT to the dealers for previous years. But I hope they will be more lenient towards the past, but in any case, the loophole seems to be definitely closed for the future.
For those interested in the detailed background, I summarise below the respective legislation including the links to the underlying documents (sorry for long post!|:
According to the German VAT Act, reduced 7% VAT can be applied to several categories of goods, which are listed in Annex 2 to the VAT Act. Collectors' items ("Sammlungsstücke") are covered by Point 54 of this Annex. According to letter c) paragraph cc) of that point, coins and medals made of precious metals qualify as collectors' items if their price (excl. VAT) exceeds 250% of the metal value. According to Article 12 paragraph 2 point 12 of the German VAT Act, reduced rate on the above items specified in Point 54 of Annex 2 shall be applied only on importation of goods, i.e. not on domestic or intra-community transactions. This is in accordance with the EU VAT Directive which does not allow applying reduced VAT rate on collectors' items in general, but only on imports. So far so good. The German Ministry of Finance issued a letter on 5 August 2004 detailing application of reduced VAT rates. This letter starts with the following introduction: "With reference to the result of the discussions with the highest tax authorities of the federal states, the following applies to the application of the reduced tax rate to sales of items specified in Appendix 2 of the UStG carried out after July 30, 2004:". So this letter pretends to be quite an official interpretation of the law, as I see it. Silver coins are covered by line 174 point 2 of that letter and this is where it becomes really interesting, as this letter literally says that "The reduced tax rate can be applied to sales of silver coins that are not included in the list attached to this letter without the need for a valuation.". So it's pretty simple - silver coin not in the list? Then reduced VAT rate applies irrespective of the premium. And if the coin is in the list? "The sales of the silver coins listed in the attachment are regularly subject to the standard tax rate. However, the entrepreneur can claim the reduced tax rate for those coins if he can prove that the requirements are met in the individual case. The list of silver coins subject to the general tax rate is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Any changes to the list will be announced separately.". So the coins listed in the attachment must be tested for price against the metal content value. And so which are those coins which do not qualify for automatic VAT reduction according to the letter of 2004? They are listed in the attachment to that letter and curiously, include only various "junk" silver coins from the 20th century and Maria Theresia Taler, but no bullion coins. Was this list ever updated? I don't know but I did not find any update. I found that in 2014 the Ministry confirmed that the 2004 list still applies. Maybe in 2004 the Ministry did not feel the need to include bullion silver coins as the market was not as widespread and afterwards they just omitted to update the list? Or was there any other reasoning behind which coins are included and which not? And finally, we are now in 2022 when the same Ministry of Finance issued a new letter dated 27 September 2022 in which they just say that "The regulations of the letter of August 5, 2004 led to practical application that the reduced tax rate was applied on some silver coins, although the statutory conditions were not met. The regulations mentioned there are therefore no longer applicable. The regulations of this new letter are to be applied in all open cases.". So what this all means? Basically, in 2004, the Ministry of Finance interpreted the law in such a way that they extended the legal definition of silver coins which qualified for reduced VAT rate on import from >250% items to any silver coins not in the list, whereas the list contained for investors only not very relevant silver coins. This interpretation was arguably followed by the German customs authorities and therefore silver bullion coins could have been imported to Germany with 7% reduced VAT. In 2022 the Ministry suddenly woke up and realised that their interpretation went beyond the law so reversed it and confirmed that 7% may apply only to >250% collectors' items.
This is however not the end of the story, because in order to benefit from the loophole, the dealers had to first import the coins with 7% VAT and then apply the differential taxation in order to avoid taxing the whole value of the coins by 19%. According to article 25a of the German VAT Act, the differential taxation can be applied by resellers of the collectors' items. As was shown above, collectors' items are defined as coins >250% premium. The 2004 letter scratched this requirement but in my understanding, only in respect of the application of reduced VAT rate, so the letter did not re-define the collectors' items for other purposes, such as the application of the differential taxation. Or is there any other method whereby German dealers could have applied differential taxation on new bullion silver coins?
So as I see it, the dealers had every right to rely on the 2004 letter from the Ministry and import silver bullion coins with 7% VAT on them. But I am not so sure they were able to sell these coins under the differential taxation scheme, even while that 2004 letter was in force... In any case, gone are the times of cheap silver bullion from Germany and the it will be interesting to follow further development and how much the dealers will be investigated for the past sales...

What a mess! Out of interest I searched for more information and I can tell you this can become interesting if the authorities decide to apply a hard line in terms of the past periods and start assessing additional VAT to the dealers for previous years. But I hope they will be more lenient towards the past, but in any case, the loophole seems to be definitely closed for the future.
For those interested in the detailed background, I summarise below the respective legislation including the links to the underlying documents (sorry for long post!|:
According to the German VAT Act, reduced 7% VAT can be applied to several categories of goods, which are listed in Annex 2 to the VAT Act. Collectors' items ("Sammlungsstücke") are covered by Point 54 of this Annex. According to letter c) paragraph cc) of that point, coins and medals made of precious metals qualify as collectors' items if their price (excl. VAT) exceeds 250% of the metal value. According to Article 12 paragraph 2 point 12 of the German VAT Act, reduced rate on the above items specified in Point 54 of Annex 2 shall be applied only on importation of goods, i.e. not on domestic or intra-community transactions. This is in accordance with the EU VAT Directive which does not allow applying reduced VAT rate on collectors' items in general, but only on imports. So far so good. The German Ministry of Finance issued a letter on 5 August 2004 detailing application of reduced VAT rates. This letter starts with the following introduction: "With reference to the result of the discussions with the highest tax authorities of the federal states, the following applies to the application of the reduced tax rate to sales of items specified in Appendix 2 of the UStG carried out after July 30, 2004:". So this letter pretends to be quite an official interpretation of the law, as I see it. Silver coins are covered by line 174 point 2 of that letter and this is where it becomes really interesting, as this letter literally says that "The reduced tax rate can be applied to sales of silver coins that are not included in the list attached to this letter without the need for a valuation.". So it's pretty simple - silver coin not in the list? Then reduced VAT rate applies irrespective of the premium. And if the coin is in the list? "The sales of the silver coins listed in the attachment are regularly subject to the standard tax rate. However, the entrepreneur can claim the reduced tax rate for those coins if he can prove that the requirements are met in the individual case. The list of silver coins subject to the general tax rate is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Any changes to the list will be announced separately.". So the coins listed in the attachment must be tested for price against the metal content value. And so which are those coins which do not qualify for automatic VAT reduction according to the letter of 2004? They are listed in the attachment to that letter and curiously, include only various "junk" silver coins from the 20th century and Maria Theresia Taler, but no bullion coins. Was this list ever updated? I don't know but I did not find any update. I found that in 2014 the Ministry confirmed that the 2004 list still applies. Maybe in 2004 the Ministry did not feel the need to include bullion silver coins as the market was not as widespread and afterwards they just omitted to update the list? Or was there any other reasoning behind which coins are included and which not? And finally, we are now in 2022 when the same Ministry of Finance issued a new letter dated 27 September 2022 in which they just say that "The regulations of the letter of August 5, 2004 led to practical application that the reduced tax rate was applied on some silver coins, although the statutory conditions were not met. The regulations mentioned there are therefore no longer applicable. The regulations of this new letter are to be applied in all open cases.". So what this all means? Basically, in 2004, the Ministry of Finance interpreted the law in such a way that they extended the legal definition of silver coins which qualified for reduced VAT rate on import from >250% items to any silver coins not in the list, whereas the list contained for investors only not very relevant silver coins. This interpretation was arguably followed by the German customs authorities and therefore silver bullion coins could have been imported to Germany with 7% reduced VAT. In 2022 the Ministry suddenly woke up and realised that their interpretation went beyond the law so reversed it and confirmed that 7% may apply only to >250% collectors' items.
This is however not the end of the story, because in order to benefit from the loophole, the dealers had to first import the coins with 7% VAT and then apply the differential taxation in order to avoid taxing the whole value of the coins by 19%. According to article 25a of the German VAT Act, the differential taxation can be applied by resellers of the collectors' items. As was shown above, collectors' items are defined as coins >250% premium. The 2004 letter scratched this requirement but in my understanding, only in respect of the application of reduced VAT rate, so the letter did not re-define the collectors' items for other purposes, such as the application of the differential taxation. Or is there any other method whereby German dealers could have applied differential taxation on new bullion silver coins?
So as I see it, the dealers had every right to rely on the 2004 letter from the Ministry and import silver bullion coins with 7% VAT on them. But I am not so sure they were able to sell these coins under the differential taxation scheme, even while that 2004 letter was in force... In any case, gone are the times of cheap silver bullion from Germany and the it will be interesting to follow further development and how much the dealers will be investigated for the past sales...

What a mess! Out of interest I searched for more information and I can tell you this can become interesting if the authorities decide to apply a hard line in terms of the past periods and start assessing additional VAT to the dealers for previous years. But I hope they will be more lenient towards the past, but in any case, the loophole seems to be definitely closed for the future.
For those interested in the detailed background, I summarise below the respective legislation including the links to the underlying documents (sorry for long post!|:
According to the German VAT Act, reduced 7% VAT can be applied to several categories of goods, which are listed in Annex 2 to the VAT Act. Collectors' items ("Sammlungsstücke") are covered by Point 54 of this Annex. According to letter c) paragraph cc) of that point, coins and medals made of precious metals qualify as collectors' items if their price (excl. VAT) exceeds 250% of the metal value. According to Article 12 paragraph 2 point 12 of the German VAT Act, reduced rate on the above items specified in Point 54 of Annex 2 shall be applied only on importation of goods, i.e. not on domestic or intra-community transactions. This is in accordance with the EU VAT Directive which does not allow applying reduced VAT rate on collectors' items in general, but only on imports. So far so good. The German Ministry of Finance issued a letter on 5 August 2004 detailing application of reduced VAT rates. This letter starts with the following introduction: "With reference to the result of the discussions with the highest tax authorities of the federal states, the following applies to the application of the reduced tax rate to sales of items specified in Appendix 2 of the UStG carried out after July 30, 2004:". So this letter pretends to be quite an official interpretation of the law, as I see it. Silver coins are covered by line 174 point 2 of that letter and this is where it becomes really interesting, as this letter literally says that "The reduced tax rate can be applied to sales of silver coins that are not included in the list attached to this letter without the need for a valuation.". So it's pretty simple - silver coin not in the list? Then reduced VAT rate applies irrespective of the premium. And if the coin is in the list? "The sales of the silver coins listed in the attachment are regularly subject to the standard tax rate. However, the entrepreneur can claim the reduced tax rate for those coins if he can prove that the requirements are met in the individual case. The list of silver coins subject to the general tax rate is regularly reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Any changes to the list will be announced separately.". So the coins listed in the attachment must be tested for price against the metal content value. And so which are those coins which do not qualify for automatic VAT reduction according to the letter of 2004? They are listed in the attachment to that letter and curiously, include only various "junk" silver coins from the 20th century and Maria Theresia Taler, but no bullion coins. Was this list ever updated? I don't know but I did not find any update. I found that in 2014 the Ministry confirmed that the 2004 list still applies. Maybe in 2004 the Ministry did not feel the need to include bullion silver coins as the market was not as widespread and afterwards they just omitted to update the list? Or was there any other reasoning behind which coins are included and which not? And finally, we are now in 2022 when the same Ministry of Finance issued a new letter dated 27 September 2022 in which they just say that "The regulations of the letter of August 5, 2004 led to practical application that the reduced tax rate was applied on some silver coins, although the statutory conditions were not met. The regulations mentioned there are therefore no longer applicable. The regulations of this new letter are to be applied in all open cases.". So what this all means? Basically, in 2004, the Ministry of Finance interpreted the law in such a way that they extended the legal definition of silver coins which qualified for reduced VAT rate on import from >250% items to any silver coins not in the list, whereas the list contained for investors only not very relevant silver coins. This interpretation was arguably followed by the German customs authorities and therefore silver bullion coins could have been imported to Germany with 7% reduced VAT. In 2022 the Ministry suddenly woke up and realised that their interpretation went beyond the law so reversed it and confirmed that 7% may apply only to >250% collectors' items.
This is however not the end of the story, because in order to benefit from the loophole, the dealers had to first import the coins with 7% VAT and then apply the differential taxation in order to avoid taxing the whole value of the coins by 19%. According to article 25a of the German VAT Act, the differential taxation can be applied by resellers of the collectors' items. As was shown above, collectors' items are defined as coins >250% premium. The 2004 letter scratched this requirement but in my understanding, only in respect of the application of reduced VAT rate, so the letter did not re-define the collectors' items for other purposes, such as the application of the differential taxation. Or is there any other method whereby German dealers could have applied differential taxation on new bullion silver coins?
So as I see it, the dealers had every right to rely on the 2004 letter from the Ministry and import silver bullion coins with 7% VAT on them. But I am not so sure they were able to sell these coins under the differential taxation scheme, even while that 2004 letter was in force... In any case, gone are the times of cheap silver bullion from Germany and the it will be interesting to follow further development and how much the dealers will be investigated for the past sales...

Just found an article on the subject. Dealers may face additional VAT payment  on silver coins for the last 4 years. This is likely to cause economic difficulties for some of the dealers.
https://amp2-handelsblatt-com.translate.goog/finanzen/recht-steuern/silber-haendlern-fuer-silbermuenzen-drohen-nachzahlungen/28744512.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=de&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Rumours of some change have already been mentioned also in some other thread although it wasn't entirely clear to me what it meant in practice. Now that you raised it again specifically I tried to google some info on the internet and found a few quite detailed overviews of the situation (in German) e.g.:
https://www.gold.de/artikel/silber-anlagemuenzen-anwendung-der-differenzbesteuerung-vor-dem-aus/
https://www.goldreporter.de/silbermuenzen-finanzministerium-kippt-differenzbesteuerung-041022-14h/handel/109365/
I understand that nothing is official yet but there are rumours about planned changes which unsettled local dealers and caused increase in premiums already now?
edit: @dikefalos may know more

Thank you! Actually I made a mistake and youre right. One more to go. I also decided to try to get both mint marks of the 1870 and 1871.
So now i am looking for: 1879, 1986 , 1892, 1870 KB, 1871 KB
Gonna take me a while, but i'll be collecting patiently.

By the way, I liked your post long ago as it's a really nice collection but have just now realised that you are probably not aware that there's also an 1892 one?
1892 is the year of the monetary reform in Austria/Hungary and introduction of the new currency, but these Hungarian 20 francs were still minted with that year and unlike their Austrian counterparts, they are not just restrikes.
So one more to go... ☺️

If genuine, this would be a big hit. But alas, I'd have some doubts about its authenticity. Photos are not great but I don't like some details, e.g. the statue on the top of the column - is there a gap? The fence - where are the bird decorations? Where's the signature on the obverse?
I am looking at this on my phone screen only so better check is advisable but I would be cautious. You can find several silver plated copies of this coin which tend to have similar issues on aliexpress.

If genuine, this would be a big hit. But alas, I'd have some doubts about its authenticity. Photos are not great but I don't like some details, e.g. the statue on the top of the column - is there a gap? The fence - where are the bird decorations? Where's the signature on the obverse?
I am looking at this on my phone screen only so better check is advisable but I would be cautious. You can find several silver plated copies of this coin which tend to have similar issues on aliexpress.

Thanks a lot! I’ll do a closer inspection tonight but based on your comments, I think you may be right. Being generous, the statue on the column may be some fading/wearing but I do fully agree with the look of the fence and the lack of the signature on the neck on the obverse. 
 
I will have a chance to go back to the same place tomorrow, so I may just check with the shopkeeper. I appreciate your insights!

If genuine, this would be a big hit. But alas, I'd have some doubts about its authenticity. Photos are not great but I don't like some details, e.g. the statue on the top of the column - is there a gap? The fence - where are the bird decorations? Where's the signature on the obverse?
I am looking at this on my phone screen only so better check is advisable but I would be cautious. You can find several silver plated copies of this coin which tend to have similar issues on aliexpress.

‘Banter’ seems to infect every thread now - I find it off putting.

If you don't mind paying higher premiums you may wish to check a few Thai gold coin offers at Ma-shops. Just bear in mind these are offers from numismatic shops, prices of which are usually set higher than what the coin is actually "worth". Or there's surely going to be a Thai coin sold at some auction sooner or later... 

Well there of course are Thai gold coins but none of them seems to be 1oz .999 gold. You can check their full list according to Numista website (not necessarily complete but very likely close to it).
Should you nevertheless wish to get something at least from that region there is a Laotian 1oz tiger gold coin (https://www.apmex.com/product/246165/2022-laos-1-oz-gold-2000-kip-tiger-bu-panthera-tigris) or Cambodian 1oz ... also tiger gold coin (https://goldsilver.be/en/1-oz-30gr-gold/4174-cambodia-30-000-riels-1-oz-gold-lost-tigers-2022-.html). Or some of the several Singaporean 1 ouncers. But if you want to keep it very strict only to countries which you really visited you may have to plan another holiday to these countries soon ☺️

I thought is would be nice to add coins to my stack from deferent places I have travelled. I’m trying to stick to one ounce coins. 

There's no Thai 1oz bullion gold coin, as far as I can see. Nor 30 gram, for that matter. Any particular reason for looking for one from Thailand specifically?

I posted a month or two ago about a coin I had seen go from one auction to another - great that someone else takes a similar interest.
I can’t definitively work out why some coins are bought and sold several times over a relatively short period of time in different auctions.
1. My first thought about coins going from auction to auction was money laundering but I don’t think this is the case
2. Specialist dealers do need stock so buy from auction - this is unequivocally true
3. Market nuances - some years specific coins are “hot” and sell at auction well.  
I have see a couple of Sovs go through auction a couple of times for a very similar price.  Anyone want to help me understand why?