MetalsMan

7 hours ago, Widsith said:

You did latin?

Yes, GCSE level. They would talk about talents as a medium of exchange in the Ecce Romani (beginner) books.

1 hour ago, Widsith said:

I stumbled across the Talent as a measure of gold or silver in olden days.

This is from wikipedia.  I thougt it was interesting and wanted to share:

 

 

A talent (Latin: talentum, from Ancient Greek: τάλαντον "scale, balance") is an ancient unit of mass. It corresponded generally to the mass of water in the volume of an amphora, i.e. a one-foot cube.

The Babylonians and Sumerians had a system in which there were 60 shekels in a mina and 60 minas in a talent (in Ancient Greece one talent was 26 kg of silver). The Roman talent consisted of 100 libra (pounds) which were smaller in magnitude than the mina.

When used as a measure of money, it refers to a talent-weight of gold or of silver. The gold talent is reported as weighing roughly the same as a person, and so perhaps 50 kg (>110 lb avoirdupois). Some authorities say that the talent typically weighed about 33 kg (>72 lb) varying from 20 to 40 kg. In June, 2018, the international price of gold was about US $41,155.69 per kilogram. One gram costs about $38. At this price, a talent (33 kg) would be worth about $1,400,116.57. Similarly, in February 2016, the price of silver was about $15 per troy ounce or about 50 cents per gram, so a 33 kg silver talent would be worth about $16,500. Thus when we read that King Auletes of Egypt paid Gaius Julius Caesar the sum of 6,000 talents of gold to grant him the status of a "Friend and Ally of the Roman People," this amount would be worth about $8,400,000,000 USD today! These estimates are only rough values, because they are based on modern estimates.The value of silver in comparison to gold drastically changed. This is because of the output of the Spanish silver mines in the New World. In ancient times the same amount of silver was often worth more than gold. The estimates do not account for the less technical mining ability of the time, nor that there were still native deposits available. Later in Roman history, during the medieval Byzantine period, the emperor Basil II was said to have stockpiled the legendary amount of 200,000 talents of gold which, in modern terms, would be worth approximately $280,023,314,760 USD. At any rate, he did save enough money that the Byzantine government was able to remit all taxes paid during the final two years of his reign.[source?]

Another way to calculate the modern equivalent to a talent is from its use in estimating military pay. During the Peloponnesian war in Ancient Greece, a talent was the amount of silver needed to pay the crew of a trireme for one month. Hellenistic mercenaries were commonly paid one drachma for every day of service, which was a good salary in the post-Alexander (III) days. 6,000 drachma made a talent.

The talent as a unit of coinage is mentioned in the New Testament in Jesus' parable of the talents. One talent was an incredible amount of money.

Categories: Old units of measurementUnits of mass

I seem to remember that word coming up as a gag in an old Asterix comic. Obvious word-play, something like "you can make it, only if you've got the *talent"

And it was read out in an old Latin Class, once!

We'll see if RM reply to @BackyardBullion's videos but I can only think that the trusting (perfectly decent, hard working people) who don't do their research will buy these thinking they'll hold value. 

That's not to negate from people who buy for pure aesthetic pleasure, but surely, if you have enough to invest nearly £4k then you'd think about how they'd be liquidated another day?

Just happy to watch them strike.... say a set of 2oz silver QBs?

Welcome welcome!

Hello folks. Sorry to say it's refund time on the restruck 2Oz Queen Beasts I've received this morning. Actually worse than my original set.

Maybe I'm expecting too much? Spotting galore but also a black charred mark on the corner of the Unicorn.

These aren't all the pics but a decent flavour of the issues.

On 10/08/2021 at 10:09, Jeffers46 said:

I was told mid-late august to receive my newly struck 2oz set

 

Same same - confirmed restruck replacement late August.

5 minutes ago, Spence098 said:

Love this note.

100 trillion dollars 😂😂

Not a bad Grade either for my first graded note 65 EPQ Gem Uncirculated 🙌

Wow, practically art, with the heartache I'm sure that came with having to own something like that (if you get my notion!)

Well well, what a coincidence - the day i complete my number and date run of 1 oz bars, I get to ask for #96 of this years 100gers!

p.s. @FlorinCollector 2019 and 2020 bars originally, just for your records!

54 minutes ago, Rll1288 said:

🤣 Knowing my luck... all 68s

Rookie question: Can someone talk me through the reason for grading these? I get what you want to know, but if you were to sell on, what does that do to the sale value if they're mostly, say 68s or 69s vs mostly 69s or 70s?

😆😆😆 - so what's the made up of!?!?

Mines gone back - #79

17 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

Maybe a community open letter/complaint signed by a large number of dissatisfied customers might get the RM to notice that they are annoying some of their customers

I have a good friend, this QB set was his first ever Proof set purchase and he has had to return it - full of milk spots and the beard shavings (thats what it looks like anyway) INSIDE the capsules. He said to me he is very unimpressed and has been put off so much by the RM that he probably won't buy again.

That's a real shame.

I have thought for a while now that we need to be more vocal about these kind of issues so this thread should be a great read for any RM staff that actually care about what they claim on every invoice they send out.

RM - if you are reading this - DO BETTER

So my untrained eye didn't see initially see spotting on at least 4 of my coins - Im in the same position as this is my first proof set too. Feel a bit like sending them back would be going down a rabbit hole. Some on here have said they'd consider having theirs back rather than getting a refund. 

Not sure what to do. 

Outstanding, congratulations!!!

1 hour ago, ady said:

Stop looking at the spot price, my price is what I can get a physical ounce for. That's more the true market value.

I mean I'd stop looking at spot price if i didnt have to add VAT - and if second hand sellers stopped selling at "VAT included" levels anyway. One person's tax is another person's premium!

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

When we were thinking about buying the Perth Mint's One Tonne Gold Kangaroo Nugget, we thought, no, if we do, they will just issue a two tonne one to annoy us! 

So I decided not to bother.

🙂

To be fair, it does still look like you're trying to shift it while the fuzz aren't looking. 10/10 for effort, sir.

Mine are through, I double checked and all looked good. One looked like that slight "hair" effect, but it looked like it was the capsule rather than the coin.

1 hour ago, Roy said:

Thanks @Zhorro for the heads up! I'm not usually that lucky!

Well done RM, that's how coins should be released, randomly not timed where everyone has their mates and family buying too.

Congrats to everyone on TSF who bought.

Got the 2Oz set (about 1 1/2 hrs ago) so happy with that. I hope they dont remember when i got buyers remorse and sent back the 1/4 Oz gold WHO proof that was £600! 

@motorbikez and @NewCoins for the heads up to this - not on the mail list (sorry if that galls anyone!) but this is my PP membership paid for i hope!!

14 hours ago, GoldDiggerDave said:

I’m going  do a video of this this week, I’ll hide a few sovereigns and some 1oz gold and silver rounds and show how easy they are to find.  I’ll pop it in the thread once done.  

Would really like to know what the tech can do that a stacker might be up against. Any ways of masking would also be a great feature (but whatever you do, that sounds really useful)  .

1 hour ago, BigMac said:

Hi Everyone,

I'm still getting my head around stacking and still doing some research. I was wondering how long does it take for a price drop to be reflected in a shop like The Britannia Coin Company or Bullion by post?

Thanks to everyone who posts, this is a very useful forum

Mac

My personal go to are ATSBullion, Atkinsons and Chards (oh and Bairds, too). Although you can find cheaper deals on hear. Price drops take their time, like any business that needs to weather shocks in price. 

11 hours ago, CollectorNo1 said:

Yeah...been keeping an eye on the gold spot price...atm in my favour..but as we all know can change in hours...gonna gamble and wait a bit longer....maybe be lucky..maybe not....shame the bullion dealers don't reflect the spot price going south in there prices........

Yeah, good call 🙂

I'm new so not sure if this is a bullion proof, but it was my first gold purchase. Beautiful coin, and I believe limited mintage to 5000 (don't quote me on that). 

https://www.gold.co.uk/gold-coins/gold-myths-legends/1oz-robin-hood-gold/

But the QB Completer is beautiful too:

https://www.chards.co.uk/2021-queens-beasts-completer-one-oz-gold-bullion-coin/14554

7 hours ago, Minimalist said:

Its true

Where about in London do you live?

Little far for you, especially in this sun, pasty cakes 😉.