Magritte

The returns process is fairly straightforward - it just takes a few weeks for the replacement to arrive!
 

Well, if anyone wants to see what the 1 oz and 10 oz silvers look like in the flesh then join me at 5pm for a live premiere of both coins!
Its a 20 minute video showcasing all these coins have to offer and also some vital feedback for the Royal Mint on the buying process. 
Hope to see you all there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC1Mrws0BW8
 
 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder for these - but I think this is a very good release for the first in the series.
Considering most of the regular Queens Beasts gold proofs took a week to sell out usually the fact that the gold proofs have not sold out in 2.5 hours does not concern me.
I would be concerned if I was an eBay flipper trying to cash in on some mad hype, but I'm not.
This series has a great potential for both a financial return on its investment as well as a big tick in the box for collectability which is why I bought them and why I plan to hold them for a good long while.
Who knows, in 5 years we might have series 3, the king's beasts if Queenie isn't with us anymore.
Also, elephant in the room, if Queenie dies before this set is complete then there will be an interesting design decision for the series to change monarch halfway through.
Lots going in this coins favour and if all that is against it is that the design isn't stunning then so be it. 
Remember, the Queen's Beasts had some really not great looking beasts too. Not every coin can be as sexy as the lion or Griffin - but I can guarantee that some of the coins in this series will be.
Just my 2¢ - anyone that has bought and changes their mind can always return to the royal mint too, these coins are different to bullion and can be returned as per consumer rights.

It used to be possible to take a guided tour round the Royal Mint when it was still at Tower Hill in London. I took one in the 1960s. This was round the actual factory.
The "new" tours do not allow visitors into the main production areas, only to a viewing area of the "telling" room.
When the Royal Mint Experience opened, the RM issued an inaccurate and misleading press release claiming that the public could now take a tour of the Mint for the first time in the Mint's 1100 year history.
I pointed out at the time, not only the Tower Hill tours, but the fact that there were tours of Llantrisant in its early years, from about 1969. I do not know how long these operated for, but it is possible they were discontinued on Health, Safety, and Insurance grounds, possibly after and because an RM worker got killed in an industrial accident, probably due to negligence. The RM was never prosecuted for this, possibly because it has or had Crown immunity.
It should be quite safe to watch the video though! 😎

Most mints issue reports including their mintage figures, although in recent years, some mints seem to be delaying or avoiding publishing these figures.
Our own British Royal Mint used to issue an annual report, which I used to read. Each report included mintage figures for UK coins for the most recent year. It appear to have stopped publishing mintage figures for many coins, but bullion ones in particular, because of concerns about market intelligence and competition.
Proof coins should not be affected, but I think the publication of their mintage figures has also been delayed.
I believe some people have submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and you may find some of the answers online.
Publishers of coin magazines and books used to publish mintage figures, but they are affected by the above considerations.

Here's my views on it...
UK pays vat so 20% tacked on straight away then dealer has a shop to run and wages to pay so they tack on their own premium on top (some dealers RIP the absolute arris out of it though but people still buy)
Silver on the second hand market at the time of writing can be had for approximately £23-24 per ounce,  which equates to roughly 30%
Silver cannot be had much cheaper unless seller is desperate or really generous. 
The miners are getting the bare minimum for their products so we can take them out of the equation. 
Silver for as long as I've been collecting has traded on the secondary market for £4-£5 over spot which ain't too bad considering that's from the mine to your hand.
The only plausible way to get silver relatively close to spot, is to either marry a miners daughter or live in a vat free country like Estonia. 
As for the spot price....some would argue it's a controlled/rigged market by the big bullion banks and all of us know its undervalued in comparison to gold.
Most stackers are of the belief that silvers day will come and we will have true price discovery as the spot price is a load of sheet, if or when this happens then today's prices will seem cheap. 
Its anyone's guess when this will happen though.
 

Dragging my Ryanair carry on bag past customs might be a problem then 😂😂
I stayed very close to the European Mint in Tallinn the other week beautiful City 👍

WOW - in a good way.
That's all I need to say right now. 
Unboxing video tomorrow.
 
 

I've just received this email from European Mint with regards to a Law change: Titled: no more VAT free silver in 2022
As expected for many years, due to the pressure from Brussels, the Estonian Government will introduce a new VAT Act amendment in 2022, the new amendment wants to effectively end the VAT-Free Silver, Platinum and Palladium in Estonia. 

Estonia is currently the only EU country which has a VAT Act, which legally allows people to buy precious metal coins without VAT, that same law will now come to an end in 2022, and a new more restrictive law will come into place! 
So much for Brexit being an issue, the EU were onto this anyway!

Its not the only option though as @Minimalist has mentioned a tarrif system could be a solution. The problem is the west doesnt now produce hardly anything now its all done in china. If we produced more goods and services we'd prosper, but we cant becuase we are enslaved in financial economic ponzi scheme. I gaurantee you the tariffs would be a lot cheaper if the mises model were adopted.

You're missing my point. If we had a sound economic system based on sound money, ie Mises, not the Keynesian drivel. Debt wouldnt be around and there would be no need to for anyone to pay taxes. Public Services would be treated as a business and therefore self sufficent and everyone prospers. The top 1% dont pay taxes - the game is rigged!

Taxes are actually a bi product of a failed economic system, and the higher they go, the more failed the system is. If you didnt have central banks you wouldnt have taxes. We dont have central IT workers, we dont have central anything else except the central line that runs through london, Think long and hard about that!

I have often been accused of too much of a rule follower - but lets be quite honest, HMRC are always in the know about what is meant to be paid to them and they will always catch you in time. 
Anyone who fudges the rules or their own books to make themselves pay less tax than they should is just asking for trouble. 

Claims for personal injury by mobile phone using pedestrians as they wont hear the car coming 😂

With the Trial of the Pyx they always have some extra coins minted from the batches they make of a certain release. 
It is why you might see "limited edition mintage 6000" & "Maximum coin mintage 6010" The extra 10 go to the Trial.
So these usually are very rare items in the sense only a small number go through it. 
But, are they collectable and worth the premium? I kind of feel no to be honest. 

I don't think that this would actually work. 
Push back on them when they get it wrong, congratulate them when the get it right, that does way more in my opinion. 

I've been boycotting them the last 10 years, and they haven't noticed yet! 😎

Is that what you always say when you turn up at the ski resort in your speedos? 😂

hey everyone these are my homemade coins that are made from 999 silver some weights vary between 2.9 to 3.1 grams I've used the old medieval way to make them the hammered style to bring the medieval feel to the modern times. as you can see i've added the Nottingham castle to represent my home city of Nottingham. whats everyone thoughts on them any advice is welcomed 

In our post on January 28, 2021 “Gold, The Tried-and-True Inflation Hedge for What’s Coming!” we outlined four reasons that we expect higher inflation over the next several years. The brief bullet points are:
Money Supplies have risen dramatically Commodity Prices are rising again Reduced Globalization as ‘Made at Home’ policies are proliferating Pent up demand Headlines such as this one last week from Bloomberg “Inflation gauge Hits Highest Since 1991 as Americans Spend More” or this one from the Financial Times, “Inflation fears in the UK rocket as supply and staff shortages stymie recovery“, or The Australian Financial Review, “Soaring gas prices add to the energy, inflation crisis“, are becoming regular headlines in the mainstream media.
Why You Must Own Tangible Assets Now
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Not to mention headlines about how inflation measures do not capture the full inflation felt by consumers such as this one from Canada’s Global News, “Consumer Matters: Is Canada underestimating food inflation rates? “
Inflation is NOT Transitory
And it seems that markets are finally catching up to the view that this inflation is not as ‘transitory’ as we have been told.
A Bloomberg article title “Four Charts Suggest Inflation May Not Be So Transitory After All” the first line of the article warns “Before buying central bank assurances that inflation is transitory, here are four charts from various corners of the market suggestion otherwise.” Before going on to say that businesses are upset about the skyrocketing costs of raw materials and that these businesses are feeling pressure to raise their prices.
The four inflation indicator charts are below:
Inflation Indicator Chart 1 Inflation Indicator Chart 2 Inflation Indicator Chart 3 Inflation Indicator Chart 4 So, here is the tricky part for Monetary Policy …
Central Banks are Trapped!
We are reminded by the U.S. Debt Ceiling debate that is consuming Congress and the White house the last several days that the U.S. government debt has been growing exponentially for the last 30 years …. And has more than doubled in the last 10-years to more than $28 trillion. More than $6 trillion above US GDP.
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Click Here to Download Your Copy Now Even if inflation is here to stay, we are not going to see the Fed (or other advanced economies) central banks raise interest rates in the manner of the late 1970s.
Why? Because central banks are trapped, if they raise interest rates quickly this means that the interest payment on this debt goes up quickly and the governments must choose between making their debt payments, cutting other services or raising taxes.
Defaulting on the debt is not a good choice but remember that in this era voters don’t generally re-elect governments that cut services or raise taxes.
Also, not to mention that equity markets quiver every time the central banks mention raising rates, and a large equity market decline is not within the ‘intestinal fortitude’ of the current regime of central bank officials.
Moreover, on top of that, what about the rapidly rising housing prices and the large mortgages, at low interest rates that go along with the surging house prices. Think central bank officials are willing to have another housing crisis on their hands … Us neither!    
So, what does the central bank do … they continue to talk up the transitory nature of the inflation in the economy and they hold the course with slight adjustments along the way.
Who Controls The Silver Market?
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As we wrote in the March 4 post titled “Central Banks Will Still Do “Whatever It Takes”! ” Central bank options are limited, and not only are their options limited but the preferred option is to allow governments to inflate their way out of debt – which bottom line is that more inflation leads to more nominal GDP (actual GDP + inflation)! (The March 4 post discusses the formula for reducing debt to GDP ratios in detail.)
It is not at Tsunami speeds and may not look like it yet, but the tide is turning and so will the ratios of silver to equity markets as inflation takes hold and central banks deal with their limited options! 
Moreover, in the coming economic environment silver surpassing its all time high is being carried with the incoming tide. Gold will also rise with the tide and as it usually rallies first silver is the one to watch as although it lags at the beginning during bull rallies it historically usually outperforms gold.
Such as in June 2020 when gold rallied a significant 20% in two months silver caught the wave and moved more than 65%.

Willow the wisp..... Still have nightmares now.
Edit
Oh and the terrahawks

I remember that used to scare the hell out of me as a kid now I look at it and think what load of naff rubbish

Mime are already developing milk spot's. One of them looks like a scene from the film "there's something about Mary"  💦 🤣

I want to paraphrase something Maloney said in one of his videos on the History of Money. He asked a room full of children which was the odd one out - when shown a picture of US dollars, Monopoly money and a $20 gold coin. They said something along the lines of 'the gold is money because its valuable, the others are just paper'.
Young children are less conversant in the doublethink of modern society and less articulate with repeating semi-truths or even non truths. There is no filter, they just say it as they see it, with little recourse to how their friends/society might always view them.
Now whilst I don't claim to be a Maloney follower in the sense that gold/silver are going to the moon, the anecdote resonated with me.
I've always loved history, and I first became interested in coins as a young child. I blame my gran who was frugal and taught me to save for a rainy day. So yeah I developed a love of money both current and historic. My dad had previously collected coins, mostly farthings, but had some 1887 silver coins too. He gave them me, c.1989/1990. Well that was it, I took a keen interest.
Even as a young kid though I quickly took a shine to gold and silver. He asked me if I want to collect copper/bronze coins and was met with a flat refusal.
In my head the distinction was clear, there's good - quality money, and there's base metal junk. I even looked down my nose at 50% silver as if it was some kind of con trick.
I don't know where this sense or attitude came from but it felt natural, that gold and silver were inherently precious (maybe I'd watched too many Indiana Jones/Goonies type films).
So why do I collect silver? Simply because I always have. I believe silver to be pretty, intrinsically valuable and historically interesting and I like the way it feels.
So why not gold? I can't afford it, is the simple answer. I could (and did) when it was sub $350 an oz. But I sold off what I'd bought in around 2009/2010 just before the peak of the market, made a nice profit too. I haven't bought any since as it's out of my price range.
As for VAT... Buy eight, tenth or twenty-sixth hand silver.
All my silver is over 50 years old.