paulmerton

Very nice tins! Do they contain plastic trays full of 41mm shortbread rounds?

You're very good at finding all these things and telling us about them. Thanks!

Like many people in the UK, I'm a big fan of the Really Useful Box brand of storage boxes as they are pretty durable, stack well, and they come in almost any size you could need ranging from 0.07L to 145L. I get most of mine from Hobbycraft, Staples or Ryman depending which is cheapest. Anyway, one of the less common sizes is this 2.5 litre box which I had been using to store some special LEGO until I realised today that the 3-row tray insert it came with was just perfect for storing assorted sizes of 1oz and 2oz coins in capsules. The 2.5L box also has the same lid dimensions as the 5L, 5L XL, and 8L open fronted boxes (34x20cm), so it will also stack with those if you want to use the same system for storing chunky bars and so on. I haven't tried it yet, but I think you can nest two of these tray inserts in the 5L box; however, I think they would be hard to remove when full! I'll put some photos below to demonstrate. I've put an empty Quadrum capsule in there just to show that they fit too (perfectly, in fact). The round capsules contain various coins with the largest coin diameter being 41mm. There are also some 2oz beasts in there, a small stack of 1oz bars, and a bunch of bagged coins I haven't sorted out yet. I estimate you could fit about 100-120 round 1oz capsules in there if you maxed it out, and this sort of box should be fine holding that kind of weight. One of the things I like most about these boxes is that you can easily see what's in them without having to open anything - but that could also be a bad thing What do you think of this storage solution?

I'm still not entirely sure what the difference is between a stacker and a collector. The two terms seem almost synonymous for some people.

I would have thought the eventual eradication of physical cash would be more a more likely trigger than a change of monarch. Then the only people making money will be the legal vultures on the TV ads.... "Were you mis-sold CGT-free bullion? Claim now!"

When I received mine I did actually wonder whether the capsule was rubbing the Queen's face. The cheek of it!

Is this correct? I thought you could sell a limitless amount of UK legal tender coins without having to pay any capital gains tax?

Try a JPEG instead of a HEIC file. The latter aren't particularly well supported on the web yet.

Glad I'm not alone. I didn't want to say anything in case it was treasonable or something

These short videos are a really good way of showing off items like these.

Interesting, as that's a completely distinct specimen to either of the ones I have, and it doesn't look like the one currently shown on the Scottsdale Mint website either - yours only has two vertical lines leading up to the central dots, whereas the one at https://www.scottsdalemint.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/One_front_2.jpg and the ones in my photos all have two pairs of lines going up. If yours is definitely real, then it suggests they have indeed changed the design at some point. I have asked Scottsdale Mint about this, but they refuse to answer any such questions because I didn't buy my bar directly from them. Personally, I think this is disgraceful of Scottsdale Mint, especially when their own website promotes this 1oz bar as being "perfect for bartering". If they refuse to answer even the simplest of questions about whether a genuine bar should contain certain features, then it is clearly NOT perfect for bartering. If anyone from Scottsdale Mint is reading this, I'd love to see what you have to say about it.

I had a feeling the race was going to be a damp squib as soon as I noticed the highlights show had been moved to much later than normal and shortened to an hour in length - and even then, the race had still "finished" within the first 15 minutes of the programme! With all the rain, I was secretly hoping for something as exciting as Spa 98, but it was not to be. I am not the real Paul Merton, but yet I still found it strangely humbling to see everyone on here proudly talking about their PM collections. (That's what it means, right?) PM.

Hi all, I've been on here a couple of weeks and this is how the slippery slope started for me... I've been collecting bank notes, coins and stamps for years just for personal pleasure. The niche themes I collect are merely things I like and I do not expect to get rich from this or even have any intention of selling anything, but I suppose some items in particular might be pretty rare. I have no idea why exactly, but earlier this year I randomly thought it would be cool to just own a bar of gold! Something chunky and shiny to behold! Anyway, after I found out how much a 1kg bar of gold actually costs (and how small it is!), I just as suddenly decided that maybe a 1kg silver bar might be more realistic But then I put myself off the idea after seeing how the price of silver has varied over the past couple of years. Oh, if only I'd splashed out at the start of the pandemic instead of spending that first week worrying about potentially more important things, like where I was going to be able to get some bog roll from! But months later, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a hefty bar of silver knowing that it would end up being almost twice the price as it was a year earlier. Okay, so that didn't last long and I decided to buy one anyway. But hmm, where should I go to buy a quality bar that is guaranteed to be genuine? My spidey senses guided me towards the Royal Mint website, which I often frequent but for some reason had never bought any bullion from there before. Okay, this looks quite straightforward.... WAIT, WHAT? These prices don't include VAT? Laugh if you must, but this was the moment I discovered about VAT on silver but not gold (but somehow I was still not quite in a position to convince myself to buy a 1kg bar of gold, no matter how much I'd be "saving"). Then I discover the world of prices that change while you are literally looking at them. It does down a bit. It goes up a bit. It goes down a bit more and I decide to take the plunge. Oh my word, it feels like such an archaic system. I have to transfer money to a special pot on the website, and then hope there's still enough money in that pot to be able to buy the thing I want 30 seconds later? Madness! It seems like other bullion dealers have mastered the art of accepting payments by card, and some of them offer the same products for less. Oh well, I'm committed now, so I upload my money via a dusty debit card (which I literally only use when a credit card is not accepted). Unsurprisingly, my online banking app suddenly requires me to approve the transaction by furnishing the cloud with some biometrics. It's actually the very first time I've ever had to do this (not including systems I've tested before), but it seemed like a pretty slick process and after approving the transaction I immediately get a text message from my bank to tell me that my card has been blocked and that I need to confirm who I am. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ME APPROVING THE TRANSACTION?! I try to confirm who I am, but by this stage I'm starting to have doubts about that myself. It only took a few minutes to sort out, but I had to make the payment again, by which time the price had gone up by a stonking fiver! Oh well, let's go for it. Two days pass... The bar arrives. It was impressive to hold but I fear that merely touching it has infected me with some kind of bug that makes me want to buy more shiny things made out of silver. Has anyone else experienced this? Should I seek help? So that's how it all started. In the run up to buying that bar, I had of course discovered @BackyardBullion on YouTube (how is it possible for one human to make so many videos about silver) and that of course led me to this forum. I have since bought stuff from a few people on here and directly from other bullion dealers including Chards (only mentioning this because @LawrenceChard seems a bit of a legend and personally I think it's great to have people like that taking part in this sort of community). I have to go now, the F1 highlights are about to start

There's something quite nice about pour lines in silver isn't there! Are they down to luck or is there a knack to getting them looking nice?

(Not a silver deal per se, but this seems like a bargain for some related accessories) This USB microscope is a reasonable deal on its own, and obviously lets you look at your coins and bars in close up detail on your phone or computer screen: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jiusion-Magnification-Endoscope-Microscope-Compatible/dp/B06WD843ZM But it also has an offer where you can get 99% off a set of 100 coin capsules: So for £18.09 you can get that USB microscope plus these (with free next day delivery if you have Amazon Prime): The obvious downside is they aren't large enough for most 1oz coins. Maybe that's why they are almost free

Wow, that's a lot of Scottsdale bars! Do any of yours lack the small diamond shaped bit in the highlighted area?

Wow, the visual differences between the two bars really stand out when looking at them up close... I hope this just means they were made years apart using different but legitimate stamps?! Ignore the timestamps again, the clock on my microscope is wrong and I forgot to change it still. Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Notice the obvious difference there? One is missing the diamond shaped bit at the middle bottom. The image on the Scottsdale Mint website also contains that extra bit of decoration, so that's confusing: Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Genuine one from BullionMan89: Suspect one: Genuine one from BullionMan89 (rear): Suspect one:

From what I understand, the thing that matters is that the big tall spikes all appear at the same positions along the x axis. It doesn't matter too much if there are lots of shorter (quieter) frequencies that don't line up. The y axis scale is logarithmic, so for example those big blobs of low frequency sounds on the left side of the graph are really insignificant. I'm fairly certain from the tallest peaks lining up that the suspect bar is genuine. If you want to try this yourself, all you need to do is install Audacity (a free sound recorder/editor), record a ping, and then use the Frequency Analysis feature on part of the waveform. If you have a laptop it will probably have a microphone built in so you won't need to buy one specially. There are also mobile apps that automatically do this sort of thing for verifying coins. They check that the expected frequency spikes are present for a specific type of coin, but the one I tried didn't do bars. Bear in mind I didn't know anything about this sort of stuff until earlier this week, so there may be some holes in my knowledge!

I have just received some bars from @BullionMan89, which I trust are genuine, so it's comparison time! Here's a fresh ping test with the "suspect" bar: And here's one with the (genuine) Scottsdale 1oz bar from @BullionMan89: The x axis is the same, so overlaying them in an image editor shows the frequency spikes lining up fairly well: This suggests to me that if at least one of the bars is real, then both must be. So both are really silver. I think I'm as satisfied as I can be now without drilling into the suspect bar, but there is one more interesting thing I noticed - there are several small differences between the designs on the two bars. Is it possible that the stamp used to manufacture these bars has changed at some point in time? I don't know how old my "suspect" bar is, but I would presume it's the older of the two. I'll see if I can get some good comparison photos to upload shortly.

I have a toilet seat like that!

Thanks! It was less than £25 so I'm inclined to keep it - as long as it really is silver, of course

Here we go.... I suddenly realised I do have access to another nearly non-destructive testing process without having to buy anything. I balanced the bar on a fingertip and struck it with a dampened titanium bar. Here's the frequency analysis of the ringing bar, as recorded through my laptop's built in microphone with the free Audacity sound recording/editing software: The tallest peak is at 6348 Hz. The one to its right is 10228 Hz, and the one to its left is 5856 Hz. The big blob is just background noise, probably caused by my laptop, but the scale is logarithmic so that's not significant. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure how to interpret these results, as the expected sound frequency for an item made out of pure silver seems to depend on the size and shape as much as the material it's made of. Does anyone know what frequency spectrum a genuine bar of this precise type should have - or even better, is anyone willing to volunteer trying the above on a known-genuine one?

The listing says the seller does not accept returns, but I'm pretty sure you can still request a return through eBay for items that arrive damaged or that are significantly not as described and seller still has to pay for the return postage even if they've said they do not accept returns. I've just had another idea for something I can readily test before I contemplate returning it... back soon

Lots of little bits will melt quicker than a big chunky bar would.

There already looks to be enough scraped off the bottom edge to see what the base metal is, if I had the means to test it. I should probably just return it anyway as it's clearly not in "very good condition", but I'm somewhat curious to find out for sure.