Skyfiller

Not done to bad for 2 years stacking 😀

Not done to bad for 2 years stacking 😀

Not done to bad for 2 years stacking 😀

Basically, splat! I do like mem sovs regardless, when I see them under magnification. Otherwise it's just spaghettis to my old eyes.

Willy Wonka

so received the final pieces including extra queens (if you are going to do it do it right) and beyond stunning, highly highly recommended 

You sound a similar age to me, my little life story may help or guide.
........... I've posted my little how I got into gold story in prior years, but it seems relevant to this thread today. Here's it again 
 

     
 

    I'm 45 now and through my twenties, i guess I must have staked and wasted around £75k-£100k at a rough guess through bookies, FOBTs, online poker and land based casinos.
    
    
    
    Some good days but it all quickly went back as losings in the end.
    
    
    
    I went cold turkey at 30-31 and managed a few months until i relapsed again.
    
    
    
    Told myself never again.
    
    
    
    It was this time I found about gold, since 2008-2009 I have bought investment gold every month, a gold sovereign here, a half sovereign there, 1/2 oz on a good month, a full oz of fine gold when bonus from work.
    
    
    
    What this did was separate actual cash i could gamble and move it into another tangible thing with value that i couldn't easily spunk away or spend.
    
    
    
    Slowly but surely, my gold stack has grown, every month, as i would buy a another gold coin every fortnight or so.
    
    
    
    The ancient Aztecs called Gold 'the sweat of the sun'
    
    
    
    Blood, sweat, tears and toil getting it out of the ground.
    
    
    
    YOUR blood sweat and tears represents how hard you have worked to get this coin you now hold, and continue to hold ongoing.
    
    
    
    Your pile of gold increases monthly.
    
    
    
    Gold is also a little bit of a gamble, it will never go to zero, it has been money for 5,000+ years, and can also go up in value
    
    
    
    Currently im now VERY nicely up in £ terms if i chose to cash in and take some profits.
    
    
    
    A quote stuck with me quite prophetically, as i've never believed in loans or credit cards.
    
    
    
    “Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves.” ― Norm Franz, Money & Wealth in the New Millennium: A Prophetic Guide to the New World Economic Order
    
    
    
    The bigger my gold stack grows the more satisfied I become and want more. A positive kind of addiction.
    
    
    
    I have not yet cashed in one single coin for gambling and my investment pile has grew.
    
    
    
    I have cashed gold in here on the forum and realized better than dealer prices to increase my business and expand/buy new vans/staff/tech
    
    
    
    This degree of separation that takes place between the gold coin and actual cash i can spunk gambling is awesome.
    
    
    
    Yet i know at a glance my total gold grams i have on any given day, and know how much it is worth should i cash in.
    
    
    
    When money is in a bank AC it is just like figures on a screen to me, cash in my hand just gambling token/betting voucher credits.
    
    
    
    I could never hold onto money while it was in a bank account, savings account would be were there for good intention but the money came out for gambling.
    
    
    
    Gold doesn't do that for me, the degree of separation between between the time and effort it takes to cash in a gold coin, packing posting, sending, waiting for bank transfer for payment etc. is a few days minimum.
    
    
    
    By which times my urge to gamble has long since past.
    
    
    
    whilst i will always have that gamble bug inside me, i cant extinguish that flame as i like to to take risks, i'm self employed and risk = reward. and i have done well working over the years.
    
    
    
    I still have my monthly little gamble, but as my priority with my spare cash is always to buy a minimum amount of gold, i'm never exposed to loose mega money EVER, fact these days, as the money isn't there because it has been converted from one asset class cash into another asset gold.
    
    
    
    The small amount i assign myself to have a gamble is minimal, £100 or £200 for a month. should i win, i actually treat myself to some more gold coins for my stack.
    
    
    
    With doing this approach and putting what used to be gambling stake money cash into gold, i've got my good nest egg of gold if i cashed it in from my safe deposit box.
    
    
    
    I purposely store the gold in a safety deposit centre in a city that is hours drive/train ride away to resist the sudden urge to gamble/cash in.
    
    
    
    A financial advisor would tell you it is stupid and daft to put all your eggs in one basket with one asset/investments, but to a gambler?
    
    
    
    would i sooner have this,  lots of gold is much better than having nothing at all, **** all to show for it - so it works for me
    
    
    
    Knowing this fall back of savings is there for any of lifes eventualities makes me sleep wonderfully at night.
    
    
    
    This approach may not be for everyone but if you can never hold onto money it has worked wonders for me.
    
    
    
    Sorry for the rambles length here today but to those nodding their head to this and this life course maybe sounds a familiar path to yours, if my narrative resonates with you, give gold a try. please try it, you might just like it, or start just buying gold with your big wins.
    
   https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/32375-your-gold-story-how-it-happened/?do=findComment&comment=416089
 

     
 

     
 

     
 
https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/60379-anyone-else-addicted-to-buying-gold/?do=findComment&comment=638451
 
I'm about 15 years into my stacking journey, ahead of you though 

Won them on Bullseye

Hi all!   I couldn't resist the temptation and ended up purchasing some more fine casting grain this morning. It was just sitting on my shelf, calling out to me, so I had to go ahead and melt it down tonight. So i thought i would share my evening's fun with you. Silver pouring has become incredibly addictive for me, and this is only my second week! I'll have to make another trip to the refiners ASAP!   I wanted to share with you all the bits I created using original antique pieces i own. This time, I attempted another oval grand tour intaglio piece, which turned out even better than before. I also tried my hand at a side profile portrait of an English Georgian gentleman in a round, they have a nice, chunky feel to them. Additionally, I created a small Italian classical figure with goat button round and some bars with a cool fossil petrified tree bark effect. I thought it would be interesting to show you my progress as it might be of interest to some of you.   I hope you all had a good evening as well.   Cheers, Matt

The gunge is dirt and skin oils caked and polymerised on over the ages.  Most sovereigns pre-date the clean air act, and were manufactured and circulated bang in the middle of the coal-fired industrial revolution.  They can get pretty grubby with this gunge; this is not toning or aging on the coin, which can also happen and manifests as brick red patina on the coin.  
In order of efficacy - 10% ammonia solution (use distilled water) > acetone > isopropyl alcohol.  Soak the coins for a little while, swab gently with a paper towel or cotton swab.   Ammonia won't react with gold, but don't use it on copper as it will form soluble cuprammonium complexes with most copper salts and dissolve the toning leaving you with pink coins.
As to whether serious numismatists really like patina on their coins - let's just say that when I go to the London Coin Show I see dozens of trays of bright, shiny, gleaming gold coins with no visible dirt or patina on them.  These are typically 100-200 years old (and sometimes even more) circulated right through the coal-fired, sulphur laden, pea soup smog industrial revolution.  Bright, shiny, clean.  All of them.  Make of that what you will.

"As part of Costco's new 'greener is grander' initiative, any and all paperwork with regard to bullion sales is to be immediately repurposed for usage as wrappings during the daily distribution of free snack samples to paying Costco members."
Taken directly from their website.  Hope this helps!

bargain palladium anyone ?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/234706255952

Just look at the sales on this forum to see what is liquid! Bullion sovereigns all the way. Always has been and always will be.

Have you ever been truly bowled over by a dream item of anything? After the novelty wears off they usually become a burden and quickly sold on and replaced by more mundane but practical things. We’re hard wired to want the best but most of the time it’s stressful when we get it. Live like a pauper. Happy days.  

Soap. Or washing up liquid. Always worked for me when I got stuck in things as a kid.

Bump 

Dates include:
1872 * 3,
1876M,
1876S * 2,
1878,
1878M,
1879M * 3,
1880 * 3,
1880M,
1881M * 2,
1884M * 2,
1885M,
1886M * 2,
1886S
& 1887M
£410 + post each,
pics of individual sovs on request 

3 x 1958 sovereigns -
£415 inc post SD each   
or
all 3 together for  £1220 posted SD
Payment by BT .
 
 

Appreciate we are not supposed to talk about the forum on the forum, but in case people have not seen the stats from @ChrisSilver this is worth looking at.
As per one of my posts earlier this year, the trade sections are absolutely packed with volume / flow for Gold.  This is great - there were times when I wanted a Sov or two and there were none available for a week - now there is constant flow and a great deal of variety.
New members take note, TSF offers an awesome platform to buy and sell, and the cost of membership is well well worth it for the trade section alone.  
 
 

https://www.export.org.uk/news/603013/Queens-Awards-winners-2022-export-victors-praised-for-resilience-and-ingenuity.htm
 
might be worth an email 

https://www.export.org.uk/news/603013/Queens-Awards-winners-2022-export-victors-praised-for-resilience-and-ingenuity.htm
 
might be worth an email 

I was browsing this morning for some info on another area of British coinage and accidentally stumbled upon this article. It's a bit of a gem and I'd thought I'd share it with any of you who care about the history and use behind sovereigns and half sovereigns. I personally love these academic articles where a contemporary has gone to some trouble to inspect and analyse the currency they found.
Part 2 onwards is fascinating - the quantity by date of sovereigns and halves which were to be found in change from 1817-1867 issues - some are scarcely found. There's a surprising amount of 1841s found - predictably very few of 1819.
1864 make up over a fifth of sovereigns in circulation in 1868!
Also of interest into part 3 and 4 of the article are the percentages found circulating below legal tender weight.
Pg 440 is particularly fascinating. It gives some idea to survival rates in 1868. Bear in mind that many more coins will have been melted since. Perhaps worth comparing with Marsh - to see how they marry up.
Open source so free to download.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2338797
 

I don’t like certifying coins and locking them in slabs.  
My Mk1 eyeball and research is not fun and valuable to me - and I have seen coins over graded to my eye anyway.
My outrageous forecast: In 100 years I suspect PF70 modern issues will be worth more in their original boxes than slabbed.