Charliemouse

Catching up a couple of days... Thanks to @arshimo2012, @brnlx639 and @James32.

Oh man. Seller's remorse sucks.

I am about to post a Wanted for a Griffin. If you are looking to sell, I would be interested. Looking to pay £70 plus post, or exchange for another QB.

A little more investigation... I found some Lighthouse 'Grips 22' capsules lying around, and they do indeed fit, but not perfectly. Looking at the side of the capsules, they have 22.2 written on them. These are better than the 22.5 I had, but still enough to rattle. That said, they are about twice as thick/high as they need to be, so most of the rattling is actually up and down rather than side to side. I think unless someone like Lighthouse produce a 'perfect fit' capsule for Sovereigns (which they should - they do a great one for QBs), I am stuck with foam rings.

They are not a company I would likely deal with, even before your information. However, they did come high up on a Google search for what I was looking for, so I'm sure they will do well... 🙄

As I say, I'd prefer direct fit capsules, as I think they look better - you can see the sides of the coin. But I will try the Air-tite foam ones, just to see. The H series are slightly larger than they need to be. They do a T series only slightly larger than a sovereign, i.e. has a very narrow foam ring. 0.05mm too small in foam will be a lot more forgiving that 0.05mm in plastic.

Yes, that's the one I saw and mentioned in the OP. Ridiculous. The RM site has sets for of 20, except as mentioned, they are never in stock. See above.

Anyone have a contact in Lighthouse or Air-tite? This has surely got to be a gap in the market.

Yeah, it wasn't the RM site I saw it - it was another site just gauging it as a second hand capsule.

I tried a 22mm and it's too tight - probably work if I pushed hard enough. Not going to do that.

The one I saw said nothing about 20. It strongly implied it was a single capsule. If you could share a link for it, actually in stock, that would be very useful, thanks.

Advice needed. Considering the dimensions of sovereigns have remained basically unchanged for a very long time, and they are so popular, finding capsules that fit them properly seems to be impossible. I can get 22.5mm capsules all day long, but that is just big enough to rattle. I need 22.05mm capsules. I prefer to use exact-fit capsules - I don't need to stack them in standard tubes, I'm not that rich, so I'd rather have capsules that are just big enough to fit the coin. Apart from trying to source RM screw capsules, that are as rare as hen's teeth, and cost ridiculous amounts (£16 for a capsule is a joke), what do other people do? Do you just accept the inevitable and use over-size capsules and foam rings, or let them rattle?

It's not what you've got, it's how you use it. 😉 Lighting is the trickiest. I have a fairly pro set of kit, although slightly old these days, and have been experimenting with lighting. I've also been bouncing flash off the ceiling.

Congratz on your first 1oz. And nice photos too! I know they are not always so popular, but I like brits. They are super shiny and have a great bling factor. Of the three ounces I have so far, a Krug and a Buff being the others, I still really like the brit. (I might get thrown out of the Buffalo club for saying that.) I want an Eagle and a Roo next. Big lumps of cash though. Sovs are easier on the wallet.

Either that's a very high mag macro, or you bought a 1kg coin. Not sure which is more expensive. 🤣

We definitely need to talk photography. Beautiful shots mate.

Some more arrivals from this week, from @Panda6Pack, @arshimo2012, @James32, @Nick1368 and @TheShinyStuff. And finished a run of dragon bars.

I've been slow to post here, since coming back from holiday last week. I will try to catch up over the next few days. I'll start with these...

That's gorgeous. Send it to me and I'll photograph it. 😉 Might even send it back... kidding! 🤣

Oooh, nice. I got to buy one of these.

Some (normal size) gold, and some more big silver. Thanks to @goluckystayhappy for the Buffalo, and @Charverdude for the Double Sovereign, the 10oz Brit and the 10oz Lion. (Conflicted about the sov, since the plastic in the card is very poor, especially for photos, but removing it from the card is also wrong. Ah well.)

I do love 10oz coins. They have a beauty all of their own, especially close up. I received a QB Completer today, to go with my Lion of England, Yale, Griffin and Falcon. I think they are beautiful, and look forward to completing my collection. (In capsules, so most of the scratches and reflections are on the plastic.)

A little more silver this time. Not sure what Father Christmas has to do with Fiji. 🤷‍♂️ Thanks to @J90ord for the (other) fuzzy animals.

Get in line!

For the photographically / technically minded, today's were handheld with a flash bouncing off the ceiling, a 150mm macro and full frame DSLR. My choice would definitely not be a 150mm for coins; I use a longer focal length so I can take shots of insects without getting too close; but I use what I have. Particularly with the small coins, I am basically at 1:1, so each pixel in the image is about 6µm. Put another way, a hair would be 10+ pixels wide. At this scale, dust is the enemy, and shows up everywhere!