Silverlocks

Gold tends to confuse the software that auto-calibrates the colour on digital cameras.  Take a look at @Charliemouse's articles on photographing gold for details.

Gold tends to confuse the software that auto-calibrates the colour on digital cameras.  Take a look at @Charliemouse's articles on photographing gold for details.

How many in a oz?

My stack as of end of Q3 - A bit of Bullion - Brits, Maples, Krugs, Dollaridoos and Phillies, some Perth Mint, RM and Germania collectibles and a bit of gold, plus a copper bar.  Now largely focusing on gold as I have about 80oz of silver.

The Knights set are my faves.  Was it this year's secret santa?

The Knights set are my faves.  Was it this year's secret santa?

£160 for the full set. RMSD included.
A very sought after set, in perfect untouched condition. you won’t see these 3 coins together very often. 
 

 

 

2024 Tudor Beast Dragon - 1oz Silver Proof and Reverse Proof
These are replacements for the set I returned.

@James32 - still got any 20 franc coins?
@shawy2510, @Belmont, @CallumHSLimited.
@Blinny maybe a punter for your 1/2s?

@James32 - still got any 20 franc coins?
@shawy2510, @Belmont, @CallumHSLimited.
@Blinny maybe a punter for your 1/2s?

@James32 - still got any 20 franc coins?
@shawy2510, @Belmont, @CallumHSLimited.
@Blinny maybe a punter for your 1/2s?

Presumably in this new plant they can also recover the gold from sub-standard proof coins. 🤣

..

I couldn’t resist - my second and so beautiful..
 

So, does this mean there's a wedding in the offing?
Can we come and lower the tonparticipate in the celebrations?

PM'd

1999 Proof 1/10 Britannia


2004 Proof 1/10 Britannia

I like it with the dark background reflected in the fields behind the inscription.

Refreshingly nice pictures.  Well done.

2021 Perth Mint 1/2oz Gold Proof Australian Nugget
Thanks to @ArgentSmith for helping me complete the collection of 35th Anniversary nuggets.

. . . I can - as the parcel's turned up. Hurrah!
The ICON coin is an absolute pig to photograph as one has to get the angle and light spot on in order to see either the text or the image. If there was a TV competition for photographers along the lines of MasterChef - then photographing this coin would really separate those who can talk the talk from those who can walk the walk. Definitely one to test the skills of someone like Charliemouse! Anyway, here are my feeble attempts - along with the KCIII bar . . .
 




 

@Belmont - you might get some mileage from one of these.

Rule #1 of buying silver in the UK - VAT really ganks the value of investment in silver.  Buying and selling through conventional dealers will get you a spread of 30% or more, which makes it not worth doing this way.
But . . .
You can buy and sell on the secondary market at manageable spreads.  If you keep an eye out here and the various other places where folks buy and sell silver, you can buy and sell at a far more sane spread.  The going rate for 1oz coins is somewhere about £23 (give or take - maybe a little more with silver going up), and there are people you can buy from around this price point.  Bars in the 10 oz to 1kg range are also worth buying at the right price. 
You need to understand your exit strategy, which is just a fancy way of saying 'How do I flog my coins?'  With silver, buying and selling to dealers isn't cost effective, so your exit strategy for silver will have to be based off selling back to the secondary market.  Therefore you have to pay attention to liquidity - i.e. what people will buy, and at what price you can make a quick sale.  As a starting point, think of tubes of 1oz coins, and bars in the 10 oz to 1kg range.  Take a look in the UK ungraded section for sales to get a sense of the going rate for these on the open market.
Consider also buying gold in the portfolio, unless you really want to bet on silver going to the moon.  The folks in that video are notorious for circulating clickbait about how silver is about to jump in price, and have been running this schtick for years now.  

Bit of a James Bond week.  Both 1980s and 1990s turned up this week.
2024 Six Decades of 007 - 1980's - Silver 2oz and Gold 1/4oz proofs
Octopussy's Acrostar Microjet - actually a real flying jet aircraft.
These two coins turned out to be spotless - a little spot of missing frosting here and there, as usual, but no contact marks.  Although, as shown in the previous microscope photos, the gold 1/4 has a 'wire edge' or 'wire rim' (terms vary) apparently caused when the gold is forced around the edge during the strike.

In America, silver has no VAT and thus has much lower spreads than it does here, so it is much easier to stack silver efficiently over there.  You will see a lot of silver stacking YT channels in the US, but the tax conditions and market are very different here, so you should take American stacking channels with a pinch of salt.
Silver is quite hard to stack efficiently in the UK.  VAT really ganks the dealer market, so you can expect to lose about 30% or so of the value if you buy and sell back to dealers.  The only really cost effective way to stack silver is to buy and sell on the secondary market, where you can get much smaller spreads.  As a starting point for this, I suggest you reach out to @theman73 and see what he's got available at the moment.  I've bought plenty of stuff from him in the past; he's a good egg.  Also, keep an eye on the trading forums and get a sense of what things sell for.
Gold has much lower spreads than silver as it doesn't attract VAT.  The entry point for gold is really half sovereigns, although 1/10oz coins often turn up at decent prices on the secondary market (such as here on TSF).  Sovereigns are really the sweet spot for stacking gold here in the UK, as they have a killer combination of low premiums, small size and liquidity and exemption from capital gains tax (they are still technically legal tender and exempt because of this).  Sovereigns aren't the be-all and end-all of stacking gold in the UK, but they are a good starting point.  If you want to buy some sovereigns, I suggest you get in touch with @Belmont, @CallumHSLimited or @shawy2510 as a starting point.  There are other vendors flogging sovs here, so keep an eye on the listings and see what comes up.
If you're going to get into sovereigns, it pays to have a bit of understanding about the numismatics of the coin, for example being able to do a basic assessment of the grade, or knowing which designs or mintages might attract a premium.  Shields are a good example of this as they tend to sell for about 10-15% over spot, where 5% is more normal for sovs.  Get hold of Marsh's The Gold Sovereign, Allen's Grading British Coins and the current edition of Spink's Coins of England and the United Kingdom as a starting point.
Sovs are not the be-all and end-all of stacking gold in the UK; it would also pay to get an idea of the typical premiums associated with other items such as 1oz coins, 1/4oz coins or bars (take a look at Tavex's house brand 1g bars as another entry point to dip your toe into the water with gold).  Look at the prices on the dealer web sites, then take a look at the sales postings here to see what the coins trade for on the secondary market.
Note that the price of gold is quite high at the moment.  I can't give you any advice as to whether it will go up or down in the future, but look into cost averaging as a strategy.  Silver might well go up, and a lot of folks think it will, but I can't give you any prognosis on this either.  However, the huge spreads on the main dealer market mean it would have to really go up a lot in order for you not to lose on it, so you really need to get ofay with the secondary market if you want to do silver.