Charliemouse

2012 Perth Mint 1/4oz Gold Proof Lunar Year of the Dragon Just digging out all my photos of my lunars, especially dragons. (Spoiler alert: I have a lot of photos.)

2012 Perth Mint 1oz Silver (colourised) - Lunar Year of the Dragon

2002 Half Sovereign

Not had too much new shiny lately, so I thought I'd catch up photographing some of my earlier purchases. Plus, a lot of these are heading towards the NGC, so I wanted to photograph them before they are entombed. 2011 1/4oz proof gold Britannia Definitely needs a bit of a spit and polish. One of my favourite designs, and nothing seriously wrong with it.

I am collecting the series in 2oz silver and 1/4oz gold proofs. I may try the bullion coins. Let's see. I very much like the general design. There are several nods to the Bond fans, gun barrel, the 007 logo from the era being celebrated, and the names of the decade's films in micro-text. I would have made different choices on the vehicles for 70s and 80s. Wet Nelly is probably the most iconic, but they've already done it in the previous Bond series. And I thought the Acrostar was a poor choice - I'd much rather had seen the V8 Vantage with skis.

2023 Royal Mint - Six Decades of 007 - Movies of the 1970's - 2oz Silver Sharing a photo before it has to be packed off back to the mint. Unfortunately came with just too many faults / impacts. Hopefully the replacement will be an improvement. 🤞

I took some 'proper' photos, with the SLR. Less 'magnification' but sharper and at an angle so you can see the flaws better. I think it's right to say there is a combination of different things. Fibres stamped into the face, impacts, uneven fields. 1. This shows the uneven fields (I'd expect a little), but also deeper marks, some that show to the eye (near the C) and some that are dark but show at an angle (near to point). 2. Large 'thread' coming out of the D, plus a clear straight hairline scratch going into the portrait. Scattering of debris around the S. 3. Another field of marks all over the place. The marks next to the P have depth, and reflect light at angles. The impact after the word GUN. I think the nearby speck below the E is just dust.

I was going to buy the bullion versions as well. 🤣 Although I didn't know they were doing them for these until I'd started on the proofs.

Agreed. I'm not bothering to complain. But they do ask why you return it and for a description, which I give. I am a believer in feedback. I know I can return. Just whether I should (which has been answered thanks). Strong agree. Big difference between perfection and visible scratches. As I stated, these are visible to the naked eye, especially the 'bullet hole' that looks like an extra full stop. I have kept most things from RM, and when graded, they were all 69 or 70. I am not a perfectionist, otherwise I would return everything. But I will return things that I can see flaws in with my own eyes, when I bought them new. I don't use the microscope to look for flaws. I used it here to share pictures. Otherwise you wouldn't know what I was talking about. Yes. They are scratches or some other fault in the surface. They are not dust. You hardly ever get to see the coin in enough detail, and seller descriptions are often insufficient (to be generous). I generally only buy directly from RM coins that are not going to come up very often, or that are obviously going to be very desirable.

Don't know what you're talking about. 🙄

I received a 2oz proof silver "6 Decades of 007 - 1970's" last weekend, about 2 months after ordering it. Unfortunately, it had a lot of small impacts and fine scratches, just visible to the naked eye. These are microscope shots. I didn't open the capsule; the out-of-focus marks are on the capsule rather than the coin, but it's easy to tell the difference. The microscope obviously makes them look worse than with the naked eye, or even a loupe, but I still would expect better. There's no way I'd grade it - I'd expect to get 67-68 at best. I kept the capsule closed so there's no way they could say I caused the marks. I assume I am not being over sensitive in wanting to return this.

Oh, I know. I just thought, since they have repeated the spelling, they might have a reason/excuse for it.

I think a trout would have better keyboard skills.

@stefffana you have such a great variety of precious metals, mate. It is always an education. [No sarcasm at all intended. Ignore those fools.]

Is that the 'American-French' version then? Because I also have an NGC 'piefort'. Or is it just a mistake?

Are you saying the dog ate your order? 🤣

I would have sworn the photos showed different patterns on the bar. I'm definitely having some kind of Mandela effect here. Or dementia. I honestly don't care. I bought them coz they were cheap. Does of course lead to the question why did it take them over 2 months to print some envelopes?

Is it actually a henna bar, or is it the Britannia bar inside a henna envelope (as I got)?

Today is a day of (almost) rejoicing. After 69 😉 days since ordering, my bars have arrived. Not actually the ones I ordered, but Brit bars instead. 🙄 Not sure I care enough to send them back now. Most importantly, I got my free 50p.

Good guess but no. It's two different coins photographed about 5 months apart. Top left is the proof, bottom right is the reverse proof. I have blended the two photos together in Photoshop.

2023 Coronation 1oz gold coin(s) - Proof and Reverse Proof I wasn't sure where to put this photo. There's isn't a 'miscellaneous UK coin photo' thread, or even a 'miscellaneous coin photo thread'. Maybe we should have one. @ChrisSilver? Anyway, I got out my (virtual) welding torch, and created this.

Wow! First 1oz coin. That quite the start to live up to. I say "embrace the power of AND". (buy both)

Let's take this onto a separate photo thread. Looks like a lot of photo geekery to unpack.

Yes it's weird. I think it is an artefact of the focus stacking. Here's one of the 40 individual frames to prove it...