LawrenceChard

That's rather dismissive, and certainly convinces me that @Bimetallic might have hit the proverbial nail on the head. I am sure that most members who participated or read this topic would be interested in hearing the whole story, and it is rather rude to disappoint them, and dismiss their interest because you now find it boring. 🙂

That appears to be a consensus opinion. I have considerable experience that some people on forums (fora?), and review sites, post one-sided and incomplete accounts of transactions and conversations. The missing parts are often very important, and would often show the complainer as being unreasonable, misleading, in the wrong, and sometimes plain dishonest. Now that the topic has been aired here, it would be interesting to hear the while story. Perhaps someone should invite Terry to add his comments, and have the chance to defend DCC.

That would make a great avatar! ☺️

I can assure you that doing it with gold is much more fun than using silver!... ...and it's such a nice colour. 🙂

I assume by "small 1/4 stuff", you are talking about gold, rather than silver, or even platinum or palladium. Another member possibly thinks you mean silver. In my opinion, nobody in their right mind would buy quarter ounce silver coins for investment bearing in mind their very high % premiums. They are more of a "collectable". I just referred someone else to this old page I wrote about 20 years ago: https://taxfreegold.co.uk/fractionalbullioncoins.html Although I also just corrected a typo, and added a new paragraph, which says: Gold Sovereigns British gold sovereigns are the closest thing to quarter ounce gold coins. Their gross weight is more than a quarter of a troy ounce, which their actual gold content is only slightly less at 0.2353544 troy ounces. Gold sovereigns have a history dating back to 1489, or 1817 for "modern sovereigns", and are often available at a premium similar to, and sometimes less than, modern quarter ounce bullion coins, meaning any numismatic premium is being thrown in for nothing. When we have them in stock, this is usually a good deal: https://www.chards.co.uk/0.25-ounce-gold-bullion-coin-pre-owned/744

Lower spot prices are unlikely to cause lower premiums. Most TSF members probably suspect the opposite, although there should not be much effect on premiums, except that caused by increased demand. I wrote a longish post about this recently.

Let's hope they make one featuring a coco-de-mer! 🙂

I have to tell you there are not such things as sovereign 1oz coins, so I hope you haven't been buying any non-existent coins. 33% premium reasonable - not totally unreasonable, but why pay so much for bullion? Quarter ounce silver Britannias have been issued since 1997, but originally only proofs as part of a 4 coin set. https://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=silverbritannias.php

Correct, mainly, certainly as far as bullion goes, for the better dealers at least! 🙂 For numismatic stuff, yes, but see above for bullion.

Did you miss somebody out? https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/newbies-investment-guide/1008

You can't be too careful with those TSF bars! ☺️

It would still be interesting! ☺️

We just re-photographed a 1967 Tonga palladium set: Hau did we manage that? ...and the edge inscriptions: Historically the first palladium coinage.

2021 Canadian One Ounce Gold Maple: Needs video to show the shimmer.

Trucking right, too! 🙂

I recently wrote / re-wrote a Newbie advice page: https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/newbies-investment-guide/1008 You should find it impartial and hype-free. Feedback and suggestions more than welcome. P.S. I can recommend a good dealer! 🙂

A bit of "I'll be back". Perhaps he works as some kind of terminator? 🙂

I was looking too deeply, and thought there must have been an infamous Terry Wheeler!

We do use some paper / account hedging, but mainly for short-term positions, to reduce our exposure, but probably never exceeds about 5% of our stock value, and more like 1% or less. We do use more "physical" hedging, so for example if we 100 Krugerrands, and could not "cover" them immediately, we would buy an extra 100 gold Britannias or similar to cover the metal price risk. Mostly though, if we sell new gold Britannias, for example, and ETA is 4 to 6 weeks, we simply buy them, and pay for them, so that the deal is covered, and this makes no difference to our profit whether gold goes up or down in the interim. Most (about 99%) of our stock is not hedged. This does mean we have a shared experience with most of our customers.

No, if we are holding stock was spot goes from £1350 to £1150, we make a "paper" loss of £200 per ounce on our stocks, with the same in reverse when gold goes up. There is no way we could make this up with higher premiums. If we increased premiums from say 3% to 23%, we would wait a long, long, time before we sold anything. Our premiums are relatively unaffected by actual price levels, and much more by supply and demand. Even then, it would take a big change for us to shift our premiums by more than about 1%. As a dealer who "makes a market", we need volume trade, preferably in both directions, to operate profitably. There are times when all goes quiet, and we just ride these out. Having a numismatic side, and a wide range of stock and "products" helps out. If we can keep purchases and sales in approximate balance, then we make our money by trading the premium, rather like a casino or bookmaker. If we sell an ounce that we bought when spot was £1350, for £1150 plus 2%, then buy another ounce at £1150, we are happy. As gold has increased in price more than it has decreased in the last 50+ years, then our stock-holding account will be in profit on a long term basis. I don't go out and celebrate when gold goes up £100, and neither do I think about jumping off Blackpool Tower when it goes down £100.

Ah, TetraphenylPhosphonium TetraphenylBorate... now all is clear, thanks! T.M.F.A.

I'm missing the allusion there.

I recently wrote a Newbie general advice page: https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/newbies-investment-guide/1008 It's not the first I have written, but an updated version, aimed at covering about 90% of commonly asked questions, and was prompted by a few similar newbie questions recently on TSF. Hopefully you should find it free from hype. Feedback welcome. P.S. I can recommend a good dealer! 🙂

WTF are the TPTB?

That was about 1964 to 1966. There were quantitiy discounts, £37.50 per 10, £365 per 100, and £3500 per 1000. https://24carat.co.uk/collectingcoinsframe.html Milk? dunno, beer? about two shillings a pint (in a pub). Where have I heard that before?