SilverStorm

It’s a no brainer, you don’t get involved with gangsters. Especially if you got a 2 year old.  

Be careful though! Last year many TSF members were suffering from a new variant called RM Covid22, whereby the main symptom was to wait nervously on their phones or computers (In a queue!) to buy whatever the RM was selling, with money being no object. Don’t let it happen to you…..😿

The overall message is that you have a great deal of choice!
If you are buying bullion, there really is no right or wrong - just your own preference.
Enjoy chasing and owning.
Best
Dicker

Personally I prefer to collect new sovereigns.  Buying them from a trusted source gives me confidence they are not fakes and I'm a bit OCD about condition - prefer them to be unscratched etc.
I can certainly see the appeal of older sovereigns though.

I am concerned about crypto for many reasons.  Mainly because I don't understand it.  Also, what happens if you can't get online because there's no power or you don't have an internet connection or you forget your password or any other number of reasons?
For me, crypto is a big no.  For others who know more about it I'm sure they are comfortable with their position.  Each to their own.

It’s a no brainer, you don’t get involved with gangsters. Especially if you got a 2 year old.  

And this is why I don’t have any inclination of buying old bullion coins, because of perfect replicas as mentioned above.  I just don’t have the head knowledge (or time for that matter) to determine if a coin is authentic or not.  Current year bullion coin is good enough for me.  

I was browsing the news and came across this interesting article on how current sanctions affect ordinary Russians.   I copied and pasted only the first half of the article; you can click on the link to read the entire article if you wish.  I have bolded the relevant point I want to emphasize.
Link: Russian sanctions: It’s all about the price of bread in Russia - The Washington Post
 
Ordinary Russians were already worried about rising food prices. Then came war and sanctions
For many Russian citizens older than about 30, the scenario is painfully familiar: Prices for nearly all goods are rising, and the value of the ruble is dropping.
A popular Telegram group is advising people to withdraw all their savings, convert cash into dollars or euros, or buy “physical assets” such as phones, watches and cars that can be sold at a later stage. Lines are forming at ATMs and banks, and rumors where foreign currency might be available are spreading fast. Nearly everybody is making frenzied calculations about how long their savings will last to buy basic staples.
The situation is reminiscent of the hyperinflation of the early 1990s, when President Boris Yeltsin liberalized prices as a prerequisite for the creation of a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a worried Muscovite confided in 1992 in a journal that is now preserved in an archive of diaries by ordinary Russians: “Prices are outrageous! From 2 to 11 rubles [in one year] for a loaf of black bread.”
Rising food prices and food insecurity were the most obvious signs that something was going wrong on the path toward democracy and prosperity charted by Yeltsin.
In Vladimir Putin’s Russia, high-quality food staples became more widely available and relatively affordable. After 2015, though, inflation began creeping back due to low oil prices and Western sanctions for Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Prices rose further during the pandemic due to global supply chain disruptions.
By the time the war started, Russians were already vulnerable to food price inflation. In a July 2021 survey, 60.4 percent of respondents said they spend about half of their monthly income on food. And the cost of food was a concern for nearly every family. The survey said 96.3 percent of respondents drew attention to the rise in food prices. “In their opinion, vegetables, fruits, dairy products, meat, and vegetable oils have risen most of all,” the survey found.
The concern about the cost of basic staples and the frenzied efforts to convert cash or virtual savings into commodities with lasting value are thus familiar to Russian citizens. What remains unpredictable is how sanctions will affect ordinary Russians as the situation unfolds....
 
When fiat currency collapses and becomes worthless, having silver/gold on hand will help to feed and clothe yourself and/or your family.  This is why we stack, for when a SHTF scenario comes knocking on your door.  The axiom "better to have and not need it, rather than need it and not have it" could not be more true.  

I think this is the best plan.

Got this in yesterday, but didn't have time to post up pics until now.  
Enjoy!  
 

I’m actually really jealous. This cake looks amazing! The guys from the warehouse where I work made me a cake last year. Didn’t look nearly as good as this one. I’ll post it below, but be forewarned that in doing so, I may very well get my account suspended.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That’s a good problem to have! 😆

It's just the same with women.
😎

I used to be indecisive about this kind of thing, but now I'm not so sure,
I suggest the better grade one, or...
Spin a coin.🙂

You should buy branded bars that is popular in your area.  If you try to unload an unfamiliar or unpopular bar, you will have difficulty selling it (let alone getting a decent return on it). 

If you don't hold it, then you don't own it.
Hmmm. That explains why my wife can't keep her hands off me.

I can think of other sets of risk.  If a company that holds your gold under full allocation goes bust and the asset cannot be accessed, or ownership not proven. Or if the government seize the assets allocated to you, or simply seize all of that asset type in secure vaults. 
 

As the tanks roll up to your city limits, do you want your gold in a ‘fully allocated, bailment storage option’ account,
or in the 'go-bag' under the bed??

This link should be re-posted as a general guide under the General Precious Metals category if it isn’t already. I make mention of this versus reposting it myself as I think @SilverStorm deserves the credit. Great resource for people with gold and silver with different markings on their product.

I agree with you about 99%.
You may have already seen this:
https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/krugerrand-gold-content/507
And I seem to remember posting about it on TSF.
Cupelation worked just fine, but can be ever so slightly destructive!
Assay Offices do use multiple methods, for different reasons, which reinforces your point.
It is probably more important though, for users to have some understanding of how their equipment works, and what its limitations are.
I have also noticed that there is a growing level of suspicion bordering on paranoia, probably because there are now so many YouTube videos, and threads on TSF and elsewhere about fakes, that people who get an unexpected reading from their testing device, that they immediately believe they have a fake, rather than think that it may be a quirky result from their favourite, and probably newly acquired, testing equipment.
At the other end of the spectrum, we hear of dorks who buy "silver" bars or coins via ebay, for less than intrinsic silver value, and fail to engage whatever vestigial brain matter they have. We have also encountered people who have bought "Krugerrands" from pawn shops for about £5 each, in the hope that the pawn shop has made a mistake in labelling them as imitation or gold plated.
Most people have eyes and brains, acquired free of charge at birth, but like any other testing equipment, no good if you forget to use it!
😎

Caitlin, check the link below for more info. 
 
link: https://www.cascaderefining.com/real-or-fake

No one testing method can be relied upon 100%.  I believe you agree with me on this point.  Even the Niton XRF gun has its limitations.  This is why everyone should use various testing methodologies to confirm the accuracy of their PM.  Unfortunately, it costs a lot of money get testing equipment, which may be out of reach for most people.

I'm not against 1/10 oz size coins, but I do prefer the standard 1oz variety.   Currently I'm nearing my limit on buying the 1oz, due to the sharp increase in spot price.  If spot price continues to sky rocket, I will scale down my purchase to either half oz or 1/4 oz.  

For me, the most prized silver is the 1oz Asahi  silver bar.  It’s the very first precious metal I bought that got me started on the journey of PM acquisition.  So it’s mainly because of sentimental reason.

Many years ago, I had a college friend from Vietnam.  One lunchtime I asked him how long he had lived in the UK. It transpired that he was a refugee. He and his family left Saigon by boat in mid 1970s during civil war. They paid to be smuggled into Hong Kong as refugees.
When I asked how much per head, he said didn't know as he was young but was aware they had to pay in gold to smugglers. I asked how come his family had so much gold.  He said his grandma owned a gold jewellery store. He recounted that all the remaining gold jewellery they had were either sown into clothes or stuffed into hollowed out platform shoes before leaving. Quite an interesting story I thought at the time. 
Years later, I met a vietnamese couple. I retold the story to them about my college friend and that they had to pay in gold to be smuggled out. They answered yes, no smugglers would accept paper money. Whoever wants to leave had to pay in gold. 
They said the going rate when they left was 6-7 tael of gold and some smugglers wanted more. Each tael is approx 1.2 ounces so about 7-8.5 ounces per head. 
They recounted that many boats were over capacity. Some of them sank and goodness knows how much gold were left at the bottom of the sea.
That's a when SHTF story for you !