Shep

Sovereigns. With the reasons stated above in mind, is there any particular reason why you are prioritising silver over gold? (Genuine question). I have a considerable amount of bias towards stacking gold, but silver often seems to play the part of a middleman gateway metal for new stackers. Alright it’s “cheaper” per Oz and you can build a large stack relatively quickly, but that comes with its own issues of storing and hiding it. Not to mention the premiums and VAT issue if buying from dealers (although some would argue that the premium is irrelevant and can be passed on when selling to private individuals). Obviously it’s always good to have a balance, but purely as a store of wealth, with the present situation in the U.K. would it not be preferable to prioritise gold over silver?

There are definitely worse things to be addicted to 🤷‍♂️

Like many others I stack sovereigns with a view to augment my pension when (if) I retire. I also stack so that I can hopefully afford to give my children some security when they’re older (although they won’t know about it until such time I’m confident they’re not financially delinquent). I inherited a portion of my stack when my gran and grandad died unexpectedly. My grandad stacked sovs so that they could both have a nice retirement. They never got to enjoy it as they should have and this always plays heavily on the back of my mind. I’m careful with my money but I also try to be mindful not to miss out on today with my family for the sake of tomorrow which may never come. Just as an aside, does anyone else look at their 100+ year old sovereigns and wonder how many people owned these before me, and likely had the exact same goals? The gold in these coins will be and has been forever, we’re just the temporary custodians of it.

I would vote no. It looks a wee bit too worn to enjoy imho. If you want a garter Sovereign but are not too fussed about it being an 1817, perhaps look for an 1820 one? You’ll likely find one in much better condition for around the same money or perhaps just a little more.

I have to say on that point that I’ve never consigned a coin with them either. I just emailed asking them if they would submit my coins to PCGS and they said yes 🤷‍♂️. I do agree though they don’t advertise it and perhaps things have changed since I used them around 18 months ago.

Very odd, removing the exact thing that originally built their popularity. I presume the sellers commission fee of 9 or 10% will be remaining also. Hopefully this isn’t tantamount to business suicide for them. Can’t say that I’ve ever bought from them, but I have used them a few times for submitting coins to PCGS for grading and i have always been more than happy with their service.

Postman delivered some good gold bug feed today. 1) 1918 15 Rupees AU58 back from grading via @CoinsOfTheRealmAuctions- great service, would recommend if considering grading. Overjoyed it hasn’t returned with a dreaded details designation (or worse, fake). 2) 1912 Gold Canada $5 MS63 from the Coin Connection to go along with my 1912 Canada $10. I quite enjoy the story behind these coins. https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/the-bank-of-canada-hoard/1002

I wish this could be the case. The Royal Mint has cultivated the perfect hype/FOMO combination for its releases. Everything from the 1000000s long queues to the anxiety inducing wait to see if your order is confirmed, and then the further anxiety of waiting to see whether you receive a coin that looks like it’s been run over, all of which feeds the hype and FOMO machine. I feel many people are driven to purchase these modern releases primarily by the fear of missing out on a potential profit, rather than truly liking the coins. For example, the James Bond and Music Legends in my opinion are just complete trash tier releases fed by unworldly amounts of hype and now people who bought to flip are getting badly burned. The Royal Mint knows it can churn out utter sh*te and simply get away with it because if I don’t buy next time, there will be some other mug in the online queue who will take my place. There is no incentive for them to change any of the issues you have highlighted in your post. I nearly blew my stack when I received my 2022 SOTD Sov this morning complete with tank tracks across the obverse. What makes it worse is that they have the bloody nerve to put that little QC sticker in the box! Its the equivalent of seeing your mashed up coin and then being flipped the middle finger directly by the Mint!! 😡 Much like you this has become a watershed moment for me. For the foreseeable I’m going to stick to buying coins that have a bit of history and a story behind them, I always find I enjoy owning these types of coins much more in any case.

Received my 2022 SOTD Sov today from @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer. Disgraceful condition. Disappointed is an understatement.

Finally took the plunge on a coin that I’ve long been wanting to add to the collection. 1862 India Mohur

I’m not particularly sure of the intricacies of the US market but as a general rule of thumb I would say stick to bullion only to begin with, and always try to buy at the lowest premium you can over spot price. I would steer well clear of buying proofs for now, you are much more likely to get burned if you do buy them. When you begin to naturally learn more about the market perhaps then diversify further into numismatic pieces.

Much like Music legends (and James Bond?) series I feel the Tudor Beasts will just fade away. It’s pretty forgettable IMHO. This lion does look pretty garbage though, the little crown on its head looks particularly ridiculous to me.

Ideally nothing that could be included in the category of anxiety inducing modern proofs/BUs (already failed). 5 2022 bullion sovs so far. My goal is to end the year with a minimum of 8.

Not to go all “Barry” on this thread but is it really as black and white as that? You talk about customers taking advantage here but I put to you the recent events of dealers selling the 2022 SOTD prerelease in batches. Each time they reappeared they were sold at increasingly steep premiums over RRP. Is this not taking advantage of the fact dealers know the average joe has very little chance of succeeding in the Royal Mint queue? I have no issue with this personally but is it ethical? - probably not. Is it taking advantage of a situation to make a profit? - definitely, and why shouldn’t they, they’re not charities after all. I really don’t think any company can claim to act wholly ethically.

No agreed, I thought that is what @stefffanawas also referring to so I was replying directly to the OP.

I feel the Bleyer Bullion situation is somewhat of a false example. Correct me if I’m wrong but BYBs video is referring to the question of whether the mining/transport/minting of the gold we buy can be deemed ethical, or whether people are being exploited along the chain in getting our gold to us. If we can’t guarantee this with things like bananas (the fair trade programme has on many occasions been exposed for still using farms that employ child labour) I’m not sure how this could ever be guaranteed with gold. That’s not to say companies shouldn’t try. Regarding the Bleyer situation they had it covered within their terms and conditions to have the ability to cancel orders made against pricing errors on their website. Instead they honoured the deal and turned it into a PR win. I bought some and I didn’t lose sleep - if they had cancelled I wouldn’t lose sleep either, I would just go look for the next opportunity to buy. I buy to give my family security for the future. No company is going to actively protect my interests and would probably gladly scalp me if I walked in desperate to sell with a pile of proof coins by offering me melt value for them.

Hang on. I wasn’t complaining, if you read the post from the guy I quoted he asked when they were due for delivery. All I was doing was trying to answer his query by stating a time frame that I had been given. At no point was I dripping about the delivery time, I personally couldn’t care less.

I preordered from Chards and they sent an update email stating the expect to have them ready to dispatch mid - end of March. Perhaps quicker if you bought direct from the mint 🤷‍♂️.

Box for me. Previous experience of sending coins for grading always seems to end in 69s for me and it spoils the enjoyment of owning it.

Yes, you’re probably right there but it’s the only way I’ll blow the cobwebs off my wallet for one! Shame as they are quite nice.

I like these but even at £345, 5.59g of 22ct doesn’t represent a great buy for a coin that will probably have limited numismatic appeal (tight fisted northerner). I’m hoping to see these in the Royal Mint bargain bin later down the line to pick one up.

You join it, and then you end up like this with no coins.

I think the sales thread generally works well due to its self policing nature, without overly restrictive rules or control from mods. All it requires is a bit of common courtesy and recognition that it’s not a space solely for “dealers” to capitalise and use as their private source of daily income. No issue with people wanting to make money but if you have multiple similar items to list in a single day I.e. an amount of various gold coins, perhaps put them in a single listing and don’t stick the middle finger up by blasting other people’s items into the stratosphere and filling the front page with your items alone.

I’m not really convinced that a lot of people are selling, or even that the ones that are, are doing so due to price action. As others have said perhaps it’s because of the Royal Mint milking us dry at the moment. Admittedly theres more traffic in the buy/sell threads thats for sure, but to me it seems that’s down to a couple of dealers making upto 10+ threads for individual items everyday.