LawrenceChard

By the time I get to 1000 years old, I will have stopped answering the phone too.

That would probably have been his third, fourth, or fifth mistake. The whole video was also littered with errors and omissions from everybody in it.

The taboo language problem, combined with extreme risk of a typo, swayed us to avoid stocking the 2017 King Cnut coins, or King Canute as the Royal Mint rather prissily calls him. I don't know if anybody read a Jeremy Clarkson article a few weeks ago in the Sunday Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/even-the-great-british-nickname-is-an-affront-to-henry-the-humourless-and-inclusive-izzie-0d66qfkjr talking about nicknames, in which he refers to "King Cnut the Anagram".

Looks like we have been rumbled! Funnily enough our Niton XRF test did show it as 90% cocoa solids.

Having seen that, I would not recommend Windsor Mint for anything, with the possible exception of deportation. However, in their defence, I feel compelled to point out that their rare chance to own a 2013 sovereign is for an extreme rarity, possibly unique. As you can see from this screenshot, it is dated 2014, making it without doubt the rarest 2013 sovereign in existence! 🙂 It is rather quirky that WM have described the coin's face value as "Sovereign", rather than £1. I would agree that its denomination should be deemed correct as a sovereign, but denomination and face value are not always one and the same thing.

Looks like TSF censorship at work. OK, an anagram of carp (we are back to fish again).

That's a c**p answer! 🙂

That's a decent explanation, BTW: Anyone got any suggestions what grade "C" stands for?

I prefer to rely on Oxford English Dictionary, although it is a much more difficult read. Although it's getting late... A singular item could also be bulk, for example a 10 tonne lump of gold would be bulky. Coin blanks could also be considered as bullion, as could scrap gold. Ingots before they are rolled out into sheets are definitely bullion. On a slight tangent, I thought I had recently read something about salt, boiling, bouilon, and bullion, so I Googled "bullion salt" without the quote marks. Google responded "Did you mean: bouillon salt", but did not give me an option to say "no", or to search for "bullion salt". That's really frustrating. I could try shouting at my monitor, but it probably won't help much.

Fine, but you must have known what you meant when you said: "They don't offer to buy back proof sovs/numismatic coins at below spot which is equally more shady imho." and I was asking you to clarify which of the two was more shady.

Lead or pig iron can be classed as bullion. To qualify as "Investment Gold" for EU and UK tax purposes, gold coins must be at least 90%. It's different for gold bars. https://chards.co.uk/blog/what-is-investment-gold/428

Yes, just as a donkey can be sold as a thoroughbred racehorse. It looks like the opinion of whichever of our team wrote it that it should not be. As I have not seen the particular coin(s), then I don't know if I would agree. I am sure our writer did not intend to say it must not be sold as bullion, rather that we think it should not be. If it makes it any clearer, you can drive at 75 m.p.h. in a 30 limit, and some people probably do, but it is not something I would recommend. I can also claim to be the King of China, but I am not. 🙂

You need to set up as a dealer, and show us how it should be done! 🙂 But you didn't explain or clarify which of the two you thought was shadier. 😒

That is slightly strange wording, which I would have queried if I had seen it first, but I think the rest of the page make it reasonably clear: "We do not recommend these coins as an investment item and they should not be resold as bullion coins. They have defects such as deep scratches, mount marks, polished or red spots." and "These coins are what some of our competitors sell as 'bullion' with little quality control, which is why some of our competitors sometimes appear to have lower priced bullion 50 pesos coins than us. If you can buy these coins from less than our price, it is probably because they are substandard, possibly even fake. It seems some of our competitors, mainly newer ones, can't tell the difference or don't care." ...and I just spotted another example of strange wording there. I will tag @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer into this thread, and hopefully someone other than me will proof-read the page, and make it clearer.

It is likely that they tried to persuade the customer that the £319 bullion sovereign was not a very good investment, and that the proof sovereign. was a much better investment at £899. We have evidence that they have done this before, and it is my belief that this is almost certainly their standard practice. While there is nothing much wrong with trying to "upsell", it is dishonest to mislead people and try to pressure them into clearly over-priced alternatives. I also guess their salespeople get commission for pulling a "switch", or at least have targets wich they are expected to meet. BbP are our second biggest UK competitor, and I do have some reservations about them, but I would not accuse them of fleecing anyone, and I have some no evidence of them using "bait and switch" or lying to customers. It is not clear what your last sentence means. Do you mean that because H&B don't offer to buy back, they are more shady? or do you mean that dealers who do offer to buy back are more shady? In my opinion, dealers who offer to buy coins are providing a service. Prices and percentages are almost certain to vary between different dealers, and certainly there will be many who only offer very low prices. If you try to sell coins to jewellers, you are likely to be offered between 50% and 75% of the intrinsic value, although some do offer more. Most coin dealers will offer much more, perhaps between 90% and 100%, but obviously some will be offering less than 90%, some more than 100%. Much depends on what the coins are, how the dealer feels about the coins, and whether he wants to buy them. It would be harsh to criticise any dealer for offering 98% or 99% for gold sovereigns, even for the current year, especially if the owner has been carrying them round in his pocket, or failing to conserve them in some other way. I think it is much more reaonable to criticise "dealers", or more accurately Coin Marketing Companies, who are reluctant to buy coins (or even buy back coins they have sold). This includes The Royal Mint, H&B, LMO, Westminster, Hattons, Jubilee Mint, and the rest. What they are offering to pay is effectively 0%, and that is much worse by far than 99%, or 90%, or even 50%! I believe the reason that many CMCs refuse to buy or make offers, is because this would expose their margins, and expose them to criticism, dislike, and more from their customers. They choose to stay out of the fight. This is a little cowardly in my opinion.

Thanks for posting that BBC YouTube video, it a good link to send people to. I have seen it before, but forgotten about it. There are quite a few errors in it, both by Gloria and the auctioneer guy, Anyone who the "expert" dealer was, and which company?

Are the "tilted" people the ones who lean over backwards to be helpful? 🙂... or who have a little list? On a slighly more serious note: "Whether people get conned in paying over the odds IMO if their fault" Yes strictly speaking it is, but every week we get offered modern issue coins that people have bought from Coin Marketing Companies, knowing little or nothing about coins. Our staff and I do feel a lot of sympathy for them, along with frustration, and some anger, that they have been ripped-off, usually by people who also know little or nothing about coins. Typically the victims are older, and use print media more than online. We often have to try and break the bad news to them as gently as possible, often they have realised before they get to us, which makes our job a little easier. Quite often, we end up sourcing some interesting modern issues, including low mintage, but from Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Gibraltar, Tristan da Cunha, etc. These require time, effort, and patience to re-market, and do not have the secondary market appeal that most UK or other major countries' coins do. When I write "Coin Marketing Companies", I half expect predictive text to make an indecent suggestion which I would not entirely disagree with! 🙂

I think you have it mainly covered, although I would have put the two points in the opposite order.

@ChardsCoinandBullionDealer We can't always guarantee that we will have kilo gold bars in stock; during the last year it varied from 0 to about 10 or 11. We currently have 2 x kilo platinum bars in stock, but they are in storage in Zurich. I am sure you will not be disappointed. We can always find you a stack of monster boxes and other goodies.

I would be delighted for you to fondle a nice pair in our showroom, but be careful about the video!

The Gold:Silver ratio hit 100:1 back around the Bunker Hunt days, having been as low as 13.5:1. Around the 8th of May 2020, it hit an all-time peak of 128:1. This is one short blog we published last year: https://www.chards.co.uk/blog/gold-silver-ratio-and-its-effect-on-silver-price/241 You will find many "facts" about gold, silver, the U.S. dollar, inflation, etc., that are touted by lobby groups, etc., but that are not necessarily factually accurate.

Almost correct. He might have to buy his own fish and chips.

All good sensible advice from ByB, who still has an open invitation to come and visit us in Blackpool, and will be welcome to do a video of himself lovingly fondling a kilo gold bar. We usually, but not always, have one or more in stock, and we do prefer coins, but in one sense they are not as tactile.

All the old gags are coming out now!

I suspect a closer connection than we know. I do sometimes check Companies House, but don't always remember the results.