LawrenceChard

18 hours ago, Solachesis said:

The Aladeen has recently found a new home, after its previous owner, on his second holding of said coin finally managed to shift it. 

This lucky person rightfully changed their profile picture to the Aladeen. But, they used the obverse and not the reverse side, tut tut.

The Aladeen is a glorious coin, which has not been truly appreciated, so I will give you all a history lesson.

In 1979, the Iranian people said "enough" out with the Pastramis. Lead by papa Khomeini, a new coin was born, the Aladeen. 

It's a lustrous coin that I recommend every user hold in their hands at least once. So far, since jailbreaking it from Atkinsons, this coin has passed hands 6 times I believe. It is a majestic coin, so much so, that I was going to buy it back for a third time. 

I have lost about £30 on beautiful coin, but I don't care. The Aladeen is a joy, even the resident hoover bought it twice. 

When I have enough spare money and don't impulse buy anything else, I am ringing Chards, and I will acquire the Khomeini head Aladeen, as an obverse of a mullah is clearly much better than ornate calligraphy.

The current Aladeen owner will likely sell it soon, as is the way, I implore you...experience this coin in hand.

Are you sure the one you bought is genuine?

 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎

17 hours ago, DavidK said:

Looking to Identify Silver Plate Mark on 2-Handle Tray

Does anyone know the name of the company that used this mark on silver plate? Thanks for any help you can provide.

No.

Well, I don't anyway.

And I now have a crick in my neck!

😎

12 hours ago, Investack said:

Just bought this bar from a friend at a well established, reputable bullion dealer (tested) in the southern hemisphere.    According to https://allengelhard.com/the-collections/ag-12-kilo-kilo/ , there were less than 100 made.   Anyone familiar with this bar and the years it was produced?

11 hours ago, CollectForFun said:

Never mind, just noticed there are several variants and yours is with a dot in 1.KG, so <100 is correct.

I do not entirely trust or believe much of the information on the  All Engelhard website, although it is an interesting site with some useful information, or it was when I last looked at it, although that was not recently.

😎

9 hours ago, artalien said:

That's a very generous offer James. I have thought for a while now that this PM game is a lot like the drug dealing scene, grams, shady deals in car parks etc. Get thee behind me .....

(joking ofc)

I have done, or at least completed, deals in car parks before now!

In the UK, it does not usually need to be done in the shade, because our weather is seldom so hot!

😎

5 hours ago, westminstrel said:

In the Gazette Proclamation for the British Monarchs - Charles I coin, there’s a strange description given for the cupro-nickel coin which doesn’t match the descriptions for the rest of the denominations.

It states:

For the obverse impression Our effigy with the inscription “· CHARLES III · D · G · REX · F · D · 5 POUNDS ·” and the date of the year;

For the reverse either:

(a) a depiction three lions passant guardant, being that quartering of Our Royal Arms known heraldically as England and the inscription “FIVE POUNDS”; or

(b) a depiction lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter-flory, being that quartering of Our Royal Arms known heraldically as Scotland and the inscription “FIVE POUNDS”; or

(c) a depiction of a dragon passant, being Our Badge for Wales and the inscription “FIVE POUNDS”; or

(d) a depiction of a celtic cross charged at the centre with an annulet therein a pimpernel flower and overall an ancient torque, symbolising that part of Our United Kingdom known as Northern Ireland and the inscription “FIVE POUNDS”; or

(e) a depiction of a lion, a unicorn, a stag and a dragon surrounding a crown accompanied by the inscription “FIVE POUNDS”.

 

Source: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4277741

These designs seem like something that would work for a Coronation themed range of coins. Thoughts?

Thanks for spotting and posting this and the others as usual.

...

... and I though I was going to have a nice quiet weekend!

😎

9 minutes ago, Darr3nG said:

I'll take that as a "yes"!

😎

12 minutes ago, Petra said:

Not sure, but, are you the oldest?🤔🧐😁 (in more than one way😁🧐🫢)

Yes and no.

Richard Lobel of Coincraft is older than me, but CoinCraft is a numismatic dealer only, and has a "no bullion" policy. The do not even handle new Royal Mint coins or sets, or slabbed coins.

The Royal Mint claim to have been established for about 1100 years, but they have only dealt in "collector" coins since 1970, and investment bullion coins since 2000.

So yes, I and Chards are the oldest in just about every way.

If anyone can think of a challenger, please let me know.

I would still prefer to be the youngest!

😎

4 minutes ago, Spyder said:

To begin with, supermarkets do not sell one fish finger and a discount for ten.

No, I do not dislike or have problem with ChardsCoinandBullionDealer. To be fair Chards are the cheapest most time, but that was not what I am saying.

I would prefer to see headline for one coin first, and then I can venture further to see extra discount for quantity. 

You could lead the campaign and be the first bullion dealer to advertise the real price for a single sovereign. Silver, would not matter, as buying a single 1oz would be pointless when adding VAT and postage.

Thanks for your very kind answer.

1) I am sure you understood my point about fish fingers.

2) 😎

3) One coin first. On most of our pages, for example https://www.chards.co.uk/2023-king-charles-iii-silver-britannia-bullion-1oz-coin/17653, our single piece price is shown first:

and although we have not shown the price inclusive of postage, we have shown Total (Inc. VAT) and Est UK Delivery next to each other.

4) Real price for a single sovereign?

On this page: https://www.chards.co.uk/2022-gold-bullion-sovereign-elizabeth-ii-memorial-coin/18111

I like to think we do make things as clear and transparent as possible.

Way back in 1998, when we launched our first website https://24carat.co.uk/, it would have been very difficult for us to provide this level of technical ability on our website. Even so, if I may be permitted to brag slightly, we were the first and only coin dealer to have anything approaching a decent, modern website, and I am going to claim that we had the best coin / bullion website in the world at the time.

Even in 2000, when we had added 2 more websites, we did not at first have live precious metal price feeds, shopping carts, checkout.

We certainly did not have a "mobile friendly" website until relatively recently.

Our "Chards" website is still in a process of continual improvement, and we still have some way to go with our IT systems, which of course have to communicate and integrate with our website.

Most of our customers probably have no idea how much we spend annually on IT, systems and website development. I still blink and shake my head when I think about the amounts involved.

It makes me wonder not just:

Why Are Chards So Cheap?

but also:

How Do Chards Manage to Remain So Cheap?

and still pay ourselves and make a profit...

But we do!

Thanks again for your response.

😎

1 hour ago, Lyrinn said:

In before some other cheeky monkey says "Is postage included?"

1 hour ago, Darr3nG said:

Beat me to it... I was searching for a suitable animated gif! Thanks @Lyrinn!!! 

1 hour ago, Lyrinn said:

1 hour ago, Gordy said:

no such thing as free postage!!!! 😂

It's funny you should say that!

I did consider mentioning "free postage" in my OP, but decided it would detract and distract from my post.

I also realised that I could rely on at least one person out there to mention it, and you didn't fail me.

In the reply I just did to @Spyder, one of the comparisons I did was against a dealer who offers so-called "free delivery".

Just for once, to keep it simple, I did my comparison on the basis of customer in store and taking delivery over the counter. I am not sure the first competitor offers this, but the second one does not. you would need to add postage to their price. I was unable to complete the comparison because they required me to log in and proceed to checkout before I be advised about the postage cost, and that was after I had to add to basket to see price inclusive of VAT.

If you buy between 2 and 4 pieces from the first dealer, you will not be given any discount or rebate on the postage they will have saved per addiitonal coin.

Although I used a silver coin for the purposes of my example, I could have equally used a one ounce gold Britannia, or a gold sovereign, and the results and conclusions would have been similar.

Thank you for asking the questions.

Now, a question from me:

Is Chards the best coin and bullion dealer in the UK?

😎

1 hour ago, Spyder said:

I tell you what I dislike about most bullion dealers, its the headline price and then you click on the listing and see you have to buy so many to get anywhere near that rate.

The price should be the same for one or 100.  If I go the the petrol station, they don't charge me more for ten litres and less for 50 litres. 

Most petrol stations have minimum purchases. It used to be a half gallon, it is now probably 2 litres. I can remember "when I were a lad", it would frustrate and annoy friends with scooters, mopeds, and motorbikes.

Until quite recently, some stores had minimum purchase requirements to use a debit card.

Have you tried buying one fish finger from a supermarket?

I am sorry to hear about your dislikes about most bullion dealers (Does that include @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer?).

It is not just the bullion business, most of the real world operates better with quantity discounts than it would without.

In practice, it is mainly because the bullion business is so competitively priced that there are quantity discounts.

As a quick example, if someone wants to buy 1 x 2023 King Charles III Britannia 1 oz Silver Bullion Coin from us, at our current 1,000 piece price £25.02, we would probably make a loss when we allowed for staff time, and other costs. Even at our single current piece price £25.74, we could certainly think of better things to do with our time.

Of course, if we had customers willing and happy to pay £33 or £33.37 for the same product, as asked by our top two competitors in the top two spots on Google, then we wouldn't need to worry about how many at a time you bought. Even these two outfits do offer quantitiy discounts, at which point, I should go and check their best quantity price breaks...

... back soon...

1) 1000+    £25.60  +  £5.12 VAT =  £30.72

2) £29.35

So, you are correct in a funny sort of way.

You could buy 1 single coin from Chards for the less than if our top two competitors gave you their maximum quantiity discount rate. Incidentally, both of them outsell us by a quite a lot.

There is another quirk which I will leave until later, partly because I need a break, and partly because this post in danger of getting too long!

😎

3 hours ago, ZRPMs said:

Well Battle commenced at 9:34 am this morning with NatWest. They all Know me in the branch. I think I'm known as the awkward b&$t&rd. I approached the desk "Hello Mr ............ how can we help today?". I proceed to tell them I wish to pa mortgage off, Pay a contractor and withdraw £2000. "Umm we may need to take you to a private area." Off we go. I have all the paperwork for the mortgage and it turns out that the mortgage company is a subsidiary of the bank. This will go smoothly I thought. Nope. Was I sure it was what I wanted? Is it defiantly the correct bank/ details/ the right move for me/ uncoerced. Did I feel any pressure making the payment? My god the list went on. In the end I got the mortgage place on the phone. Went through all their security. Please press 1 then 5 then 7 very sorry you have made a wrong choice back to main menu. repeat, you get the drift. Finally get to talk with some one. Do I give authority to discus the matter with a third party. Eventually got the payment sent. They weren't too happy about paying the electricians bill. And as far as the £2000. They would only let me have £1000 as I might end up paying other tradesmen. I did tell them that I failed to see how the way I spent my funds was relevant to them. Any how, That took nearly 2 hours.

" the right move for me/ uncoerced. Did I feel any pressure making the payment?"

Yes, someone from youir mortgage subsidiary told me if I didn't pay off my mortgage immediately, they know where my wife and kids are, if you get my drift. I took that as an offer I couldn't refuse.

As for the electrician's bill...

What? you want some money for yourself? Are you under any undue pressure from yourself? Is your wife leaning on you?

"That took nearly 2 hours" - Sounds relatively quick!

I don't suppose I will be able to able to do a £1.7 million transfer on Monday!

😎

Why Are Chards So Cheap?

This is a real question which our Customer Service Team get asked.

My quick answer would be "We can charge you more if you like!". Of course, this is a bit of a smart-arse answer, but I would say it with a cheesy grin, but then go on to give a serious answer.

It is frustrating to have to answer questions like this, but it is a fact of life for dealers like @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer who have a policy of being competitive.

It's also possibly the visible tip of the proverbial iceberg. What about the 90% of potential customers who choose to buy their investment gold, or other PM, from the most expensive source perhaps because they feel safer (Safer being ripped off?).

I can understand that some people are quite rightly cautious about buying from the cheapest source.

Perhaps what we should be explaining to people that:

If you are buying investment gold, then you should be trying to avoid paying too much for it.

We are not "too cheap", it is others who are "too dear".

You can come and see us if you want, and even collect your bullion at the same time.

We have been around for longer than any other coin and bullion dealer in the UK.

We could make more profit if we charged more, but we prefer to take a longer term view, and have happy customers who will come back to us, and also recommend us.

-----

What else have I missed?

😎

1 minute ago, Bigmarc said:

Yes same here, most of the take aways round here are cash only, also a few barbers. I live 5 mins from m25. 

The barbers probably don't take cards, because the banks take a "haircut"!

😎

6 minutes ago, Bigmarc said:

I moved from Barclays last year to metro. I tried to buy a car from a private sale on a Saturday. The funds had left my account and not reached his account for 5 hours. It was like a Mexican stand off as I had paid but he was not. The worst bit about it was Barclays call center is closed at weekends so no info. In the end I proved his account was working buy sending him £1 from a different account. 

I hope you didn't buy a "Metro"!

😎

On 17/02/2023 at 12:22, Cornishfarmer said:

Funny that I’ve had 4 conversations in last couple days about banks and many companies and individuals doing cashless.  All 4 said that they have never seen so much cash floating about for payments. The banks charging so much to deposit cash is making a bigger and bigger black economy in their eyes.

interesting in my local town, with  the takeaways, 4 take cash only 4 cards only and 2 take both.    Not sure if that’s the same everywhere but it’s what’s happening here

I could understand "Card payments preferred" during the Covid pandemic, but I dislike "Card payments only".

I have much empathy with "cash only", for whatever reason.

It has become harder to pay only in cash, particularly with the huge rise in online shopping. It it very difficult to book a flight, hotel, car hire using cash, as most of it is done online.

Whenever business is done face to face, its strikes me as unfriendly to demand card payment only. It is almost certainly done because it saves costs for the business, but **** the customer. Great attitude!

Remaining flexible, and accepting multiple payment methods makes the most sense to me.

Before anyone else points this out, we at Chards have discouraged or refused credit card payments for many years now, partly because they used to be such a rip-off for merchants (think commission rates up to 7+%).

When the EU trumpeted about capping credit card charges, they conveniently forgot to mention that at the same time, they allowed banks to increase their debit card charges. These used to be as low as 10p per transaction, and now cost upwards of 0.3%, which makes little difference on small transactions, but punches a huge hole in gross profit margins on transactions such as investment gold. A £100,000 transaction (not uncommon) now costs over £300 in card fees. If the dealer is making a 2% margin, that works out at over 15% of the profit. Working on a 1% GP, it would cost over 30% of the profit.

The customer / buyer does not see this, and paying by card can be quick and convenient, but any dealer who accepts DC payments for large amounts has to factor in this extra cost, and usually just increases his prices, so it is ulltimately the consumer who pays it, even though they hardly ever realise.

Whenever we implement any policy, such as preferred payment methods, there is always a valid reason, and we are always happy to share the reasons with our customers.

😎

16 minutes ago, Petra said:

I’ll bring my bag full round to do some shopping at yours🫢🤔😮

Lovely!

Yes, we do still accept cash, even though too much of it creates extra work.

Our preferred payment method these days is bank transfer.

😎

13 hours ago, Bogart said:

Random Rant

Seething having just put the phone down on an obnoxious creature at Lloyds bank. Was trying to pay Fadeinstar on here for one of his Sigma machines.

Went alright told all was hunky dory until I get a message saying ring us. So ring them they are not happy to whom I am trying to pay the money.

Talk about the third degree treating me like a halfwit. What am I buying  am not telling you, no did not like that reply nor a lot of others I gave him.

I would put in a complaint but as our conversation ended with me telling him to f off might not be the best way. I should not have said that to him but

having spent about 30 minutes on the phone to him  I had had enough.

Rant over going for a drink.

That was not really a random rant, it was quite targetted in fact, but none the worse for that.

I sometimes hear similar from the other side.

We often get customers who go to make a bank transfer to us, and get quizzed and grilled by their bank about:

Why do you want to buy gold?

Who are this Chards outfit?

Are they legitimate?

And so on.

Similar happens with debit cards.

Sometimes this happens while they are in our showroom, which is potentially embarrassing for our customer, at other times it happens while they are at home.

I agree it is very frustrating for all parties.

It seems that, although banks are under much pressure to help prevent fraud, they are very inept at doing this in a sensible and efficient manner.

They do in addition have AML responsibilities. These apply not only to the banks themselves, but also to their individual staff members. This probably adds to the caution and confusion.

😎

25 minutes ago, Bogart said:

Should we be surprised not at all. I had a devil of a job the other week to shift a £50 note.

I have hardly any problem spending them!

😎

41 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

Sounds like to need to be sent to NGC, although you may not enjoy being slabbed.

No, but it is inevitable.

After which I would prefer to be cremated rather than interred. It takes up less space, and it sounds much warmer.

Also...

I would then be charred!

😎

1 hour ago, MonkeysUncle said:

Are you proof or bullion?

There are proof versions of bullion coins, which is a kind of oxymoron.

If we look at a defintion of bullion:

"Bullion, a term used to describe precious metals that are valued for their weight and purity rather than for any collectible or numismatic value." Source: https://www.chards.co.uk/guides/what-is-bullion/213

I don't think I would be worth much melted down for my weight (under 70 kilos), so I guess I should opt to be proof, in which case I hope I would rate as 100% proof.

The nexrt logical question is "Am I FDC?"

😎

13 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

Spot the Birdy - Hidden Bird Image in King Charles' Portrait?

This seems to be one of those silly stories, especially when you see it in The Sun newpaper:

With a little imagination, or a lot too much wine, some people have spotted what they think may be a deliberate hidden image of a bird.

We asked our photgrapher to highlight it.

What I would like to know is "What sort of bird?"

Any suggestions?

😎

13 hours ago, Stuntman said:

Long-Eared Tit?

12 hours ago, slack said:

Long tailed tit?

I said "This is a dead parrot", and our photographer came back with what looks like a Norwegian Blue:

😎

36 minutes ago, slack said:

Is it just a reflection or has the long tailed tit done a little something on Charlies ear?

The "wren" farthings of George VI and Elizabeth II may present more evidence of guano:

😎

Spot the Birdy - Hidden Bird Image in King Charles' Portrait?

This seems to be one of those silly stories, especially when you see it in The Sun newpaper:

With a little imagination, or a lot too much wine, some people have spotted what they think may be a deliberate hidden image of a bird.

We asked our photgrapher to highlight it.

What I would like to know is "What sort of bird?"

Any suggestions?

😎

3 hours ago, ChardsCoinandBullionDealer said:

Hello @Oldun

Please send us a direct message with your order number & email address and I shall look into this now. Everyone who has placed an order for the 5 Sov set should of been contacted, so it could of possibly gone into the JUNK folder if we are not a 'safe sender' in your email thread. 

We will keep an eye out for the details you send, and make sure that this is rectified ASAP.

Regards,
The Chards Team

I have not looked at the whole thread, but it sounds like we are working on it.

Pedantic note: I am sure @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer meant "the 5 Sov set should have been", not "the 5 Sov set should of been"!

We do like to get things right!

😎

1 hour ago, SidS said:

I take it the Chinese haven't had a go at this one yet then?

It's possible!

😎