RM must surely be aware of production methods employed by Perth Mint. I watched a good video on Chards website, an interview with their head honcho done during the pandemic a couple of years ago in which he was asked how the pandemic was affecting them and what they were doing. The prime thing I remember from this was him saying “ We’re cleaning everything and getting rid of contaminants. “ The impression I got was that this was more akin to working in an operating theatre than an industrial environment.
Perth Mint have a peerless reputation for a quality product and the ones I have bought are flawless. @GoldDiggerDave has a very interesting video on the so called ‘ping test’ on Gillick sovereigns from the 50’s and 60’s which says it all. The legacy of these times may be a reason for the problem. It can’t surely be that RM are penny pinchers. Me personally, I could squeeze the sh* t out of a buffalo, I hang on so tight, but I still appreciate quality and a little more spent on attaining it would I think, be the right direction of travel.