paulmerton

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-59151380

1 minute ago, James32 said:

Now that's quite reasonable considering what others have paid, are ya going for it??

I already have one. Just sharing the bargains  

https://www.sharpspixley.com/buy-bullion/buy-silver/silver-coins/2021-1kg-the-queens-beasts-completer-silver-coin

Currently £855.48 inc VAT and delivery, and in stock. Seems a no-brainer, right?!

What I find funny about these sorts of bars are the people who buy them in preparation for when disaster strikes and the post apocalyptic society breaks down to such an extent that normal money doesn't work any more and you can only buy a loaf of bread by breaking a couple of bits off your silver combibar.

If things really are that bad, there probably won't even be any bread to buy, and even if there is, who would actually accept a couple of small bits of metal that could be made of anything? The vast majority would have no idea what they are, what they're worth, or whether they are genuine.

Trying to pay for anything in a post apocalyptic world by breaking a couple of bits off a combibar seems fraught with danger. A more likely outcome is that you'd get shanked by someone who then steals your whole bar.

But in the meantime, they look cool 😃

Just now, HerefordBullyun said:

God I cannot stand that monotoned monoeye-browed turd!

You don't like the chap, then?  

Looks like Jeremy Vine will be covering this on his Radio 2 show today.

2 minutes ago, Spark268 said:

flash sale over at HGM with 30% off silver 1oz coins.

single brits, maples and eagles are available for GBP23-24, with free shipping.

... plus VAT.

1 hour ago, tallthinkev said:

No 1/2 oz then, seems silly if there is a 1/10 and 1/4. 

Maybe it's yet another cunning ruse by RM to get you to spend more - the available alternatives are a 1/2oz silver proof Britannia and a 1/2oz gold bullion Britannia.

The 10oz is nice, but I was disappointed that it lacked some of the security features that are present on all of the other sizes, even the 1/10oz. Maybe next year's will have them, if the larger size doesn't make the features too pointless (i.e easy to copy).

2 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I am perfectly happy with the use of "p", or "p." as an abbreviation of penny or pence. We used to use £.s.d. as an abbreviation of pounds, shillings and pence before decimalisation.

 

I stand corrected! - said the man in the orthopedic shoes.

2 minutes ago, Spark268 said:

Cashback to buy money - how very droll! 😉

Bullion and many other types of item aren't eligible for this cashback, so the Royal Mint will still be making a hefty profit on those proof markups and special 50 pence coins (I nearly said 50ps but didn't want to invoke the wrath of @LawrenceChard  ).

7 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

I wonder if Devon and Cornwall Police will have the initiative or imagination to pay Brett in Royal Mint non-circulating legal tender commemorative coins?

If so, they should try and capture the occasion on video.

I also wonder whether Brett would resist accepting them.

I think he'd welcome it, as it would save him some time!

From https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16521776/coin-collector-tesco-fuel-compensation-police/:

"Dad-of-four Brett plans to spend the compo on more coins."

4 minutes ago, TommyTwoShots said:

Why don’t they use US dollars?

They probably do most of the time, but where would the headline be in that!

2 minutes ago, dicker said:

A beautifully clear font!  I am not a font specialist, but like the font on FINE and GOLD but not PUR, which is rather bunched up!

I think I would like "GOLD" on any coin, whatever the font is 🤣

That font and edge weighting looks like Hello Paris, with everything lowercase apart from the initial K.

As for a contender, my choice may seem boring: I like the font, simplicity and spacing of "C A N A D A" at the top of the classic Canada Silver Maple Leaf.

(no picture as I don't have one to hand - would inserting a Chards image be fair use?)

Valcambi pop-up shop opportunity  

2 minutes ago, James32 said:

Do you think it's fake???? And they would go to the bother on a 1/2 oz coin that pings beautifully.

No, I don't think it is fake...

... although to be fair, I can't confirm it's genuine either!

The ping you hear from a coin is not just a single frequency, it's made up of multiple frequencies, and those can often be used to distinguish different sizes, shapes and metals of coin - and also to confirm whether one is likely to be genuine. The Pingcoin app doesn't have a 1/2oz gold eagle in its library yet, but what I would do, @SlowFrog, is load the ping sound from that YouTube video into a sound editor like Audacity, and then record the ping from your own coin to compare.

If you do a frequency spectrum analysis, you should see at least three significant spikes that line up in the same places for both pings if the coin is genuine. I imagine it would be ridiculously hard to produce a fake coin that passes this test.

13 minutes ago, James32 said:

A fake would need to be substantially thicker or bigger to match the weight of gold.

Unless it's a fake gold coin made with a cupro-platinum core of the same density. Okay, probably never going to happen unless platinum really takes a dive  

Tungsten has a density very close to that of gold, which is why it's seen used in fake gold coins - or more likely in gold bars where drilled holes are plugged with tungsten slugs and capped with real gold so the bar still looks like pure gold and still weighs the same. However, tungsten is slightly magnetic so that can't be the case with this coin. 

They are not listed on https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-coins/silver-coins/, but Royal Mint seemingly has 25-coin tubes of the 2019 Royal Arms back in stock here: https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-coins/silver-coins/royal-arms-2019-1oz-silver-twenty-five-coin-tube

They've published a short video about it now.

13 hours ago, HillWalkerDundee said:

On the radio this morning, Royal Mint have signed an agreement with a Canadian start up to recover gold, silver and other precious metals from mobile phones and other electrical equipment. Honest, guvnor, there isn't a PM shortage.

I don't think it suggests anything like there being a shortage.

I think it's simply the case that if the cost of recovering a kilogram of gold from electrical equipment costs less than a kilogram of gold, then it's a no brainer - and presumably it does work out cheaper, because if it did cost more, they wouldn't be doing it! Umicore has already demonstrated it's a viable model.

1 minute ago, James32 said:

Stunning 

You know you could use the like button instead of posting all these one-word replies, right?  

1 hour ago, sovereignsteve said:

You have to laugh at these reports; "....will use technology to retrieve gold..." I thought they'd just wave a magic wand.

I'm sure they won't miss the opportunity to strike a special gold coin made out of green, recycled gold for a hefty premium. They will probably call it Welsh gold.

I don't think it will affect things much. Umicore have been doing that for ages already.

https://pmm.umicore.com/en/sustainability/

As you may have seen in another thread, I bought a Trial of the Pyx coin last week - one of only ten to be returned from the trial!  Due to an evident lack of care at their end, they installed it wrong-face-up in its tamper-evident display card, so I asked them what they could do about it.

One week later...

The Royal Mint has eventually responded to my email. They have apologised for the way my item has arrived, but because the item is no longer available, all I can do is return it for a refund.

I am far from impressed.

4 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

What was the original topic title?

Which Paul Merton will perform well during the rise of electric cars.