paulmerton

Oof, yes, that's bad! Makes me wonder whether to just return mine for a refund rather than a replacement to avoid this kind of pain.

A .900 silver half Boliviano from 1894, struck with a shattered die. A lovely mint error.

ngl, I had to go back and check it wasn't me 🤣

Got a nice-ish 1819 crown with all the lettering readable on both sides, just in time for it to see its big brother get sent back.

Not on gold. But you only have to look at modern silver proof £2 coins to see that grease (often trapped between the inner and outer) can cause an issue on silver.

I wasn't 100% convinced that this was a tiny strikethrough or dent, so I bravely got out my Wera hex key set (the Perth Mint of hexagonal shaped tools) and opened up the capsule. I blew at it with an air blower, and was disappointed that it didn't budge But I blew a bit harder in desperation, and it disappeared! So it was indeed just a foreign object on the surface of the coin all along. Hurrah! But then I noticed this other problem that I think warrants it being sent back regardless - some finger-like marks around the final letter that I only noticed at this angle (photo is through the capsule).

The wibbly edge shouldn't affect the grade, as it's an artefact of the striking process.

That's caused by the edge lettering. As metal from the blank flows into the voids in the collar, some of it is encouraged to come away from other places. I believe this could be avoided if the coins were struck more times and/or with more pressure. If you ever see a 10p coin with a cud error on the reverse, there's always a sunken area on the obverse for the same reason - metal flowing into the void where the die has broken causes some of it to come away from the obverse. Similar effects can be seen on old pennies, threepences, sovereigns etc where a "large" portrait causes a ghostly sunken outline to be visible on the reverse.

Is anyone else getting lots of 500 Internal Server errors when trying to use the forum? I would have asked this in a more appropriate thread, but I can't actually navigate to it!

Just opened my 5oz and I think there's something in the background field, which is annoying. Send back? Looking at the rest of the coin, you can also see where the metal didn't fill the edge lettering completely in a few places. Not really a problem in my eyes: Also, while looking at the rest of the coin, is this normal?

Just something I noticed on the latest silver proof uncoloured dinosaur 50p - in the rippled background you can still see traces of contour lines that haven't been fully polished out. These reflect the depth resolution of the laser cutting machine.

The alternative game would be to wait for everyone else to return theirs to be melted and refunded, then bask in having a very rare set of coins

Some clarity would certainly be welcome. I suspect the easiest way forward, without waiting for them to commit to a concrete answer, would be to ask them to arrange for all previous purchases in this range to be returned and refunded if they cannot confirm that the remaining coins will still be made.

Someone has.

https://atkinsonsbullion.com/silver/silver-coins/1oz-silver-coins/pre-owned-2013-usa-eagle-1oz-silver-coin-roll-of-20-ngc-graded-gem-unc-3764494-(241-260)-vat

But it's not canceled, it's merely "paused". Crystal clear!

I don't see how it's against those specific terms. Each bid is final and binding and cannot be changed.

The frosting is applied to the dies, not individual coins after being struck.

The laser-cut surfaces are naturally frosty. During the polishing of the background fields they sometimes have to re-add the frostiness (e.g. if they accidentally hit the frosted area with the polishing stick) and they do this by masking the already-polished areas and sand blasting the die.

The frosted effect comes from the die. Parts of it can appear to be missing on the coin if: The frosted part of the die is impacted, or polished by mistake. The coin is impacted. A small fleck of metal is retained by the die and prevents the frosting being imparted onto the blank.

Yes

This is where grading falls down. I wouldn't want to buy that coin even if it were a PF70. For proof coins in particular, it would be nice if there were some additional value that represents how well the coin was made in the first place.

https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-coins/coin-accessories/empty-tenth-oz-coin-capsule-pack/

If you can sell the silver versions of these at sensible prices, I think that would be very popular here.

Yes, these at sensible prices would be great. But Scottsdale also do the same thing now so that might easier?