kimchi

Martin at Silver Trader UK has them at £35.69 delivered. Reduction if you buy more than 1 and pay by debit card.
https://www.silvertrader.uk/product/2023-american-eagle-1oz-silver-bullion-coin/

Patiently waiting for the bullion bull release and the RM come up with these ffs. 
Harry Potter now Disney, with all the QC issues you would think they have enough to worry about.
You couldnt make it up.

Hello everyone. @ChrisSIlver and I are very happy to announce the official release of the 2023 1 oz Silver Forum Bars!
There is a lot of information to disseminate so please bear with us, some of this might be relevant to different people. I have broken this post up into different sections for ease of reading. 
If you have any questions please feel free to ask here on this thread or via PM. 
First, here are some glamour shots of the 2023 1 oz forum bars!

Changes for 2023 
2023 Sees one design change. The serial number of each bar has been changed to 001/250. Previously this had been "No. 001" and we believe the inclusion of the total mintage on the bar itself adds value to the limited feel and nature of these bars. 
The Year Date letter has also changed as is does every year, this year "y" is the year date for 2023. 
We think these are by far and away the best iterations of the 1 oz forum bars to date and I am very honoured and privileged to continue to work with @ChrisSilver, The Silver Forum and ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL MEMBERS out there!
What are The Silver Forum Bars all about?
The Silver Forum hand poured products (in all their sizes) have been created as a way to draw the silver forum community together but also as a fundraising and brand awareness raising exercise. Some of the proceeds from the sales goes directly to the forum and helps greatly with running costs and keeping the forum the way we have become accustomed to. Silver Premium, Gold Premium and Platinum Premium and now platinum plus memberships go a long way to helping the running of the forum and to help keep the membership prices as low as practical, The Silver Forum Bars we make help a lot too. 
In addition you are supporting the Backyard Bullion brand and poured silver from us. This is our 7th year producing hand poured silver for the silver forum and it is because of the support we get from members on and off the silver forum that keeps us doing what we do and striving to do better every year. 
These bars are all hand poured, stamped and finished by myself meaning each and every bar is unique in some way. The weights will vary bar to bar (although none less than 1 ozt) and the cooling patterns of the silver will also be unique and different for each one. 
These bars are ready to be shipped immediately.
The bars are all finished and can be dispatched as early as the end of this week.
Hallmarking
As with all of my Hand Poured Silver products these bars have been Assay Tested and Hallmarked by the Edinburgh Assay Office. 
Hallmarking is a very good addition to any poured silver. It is your guarantee that these bars are indeed 999 fine silver and made by me in 2023.
Mintage
The mintage for 2023 will be: 250 bars
Previous years we had mintages were:
2022: 250
2021: 250
2020: 200
2019: 200
2018: 200
2017: 200
As with previous years members with bars from a preceding year have first right of refusal at the same serial number in the current year. 
Serial Number reservations & previous bar ownership
Questions regarding serial numbers and securing a bar are the most commonly asked questions I get. 
The rule of thumb has been and always will be if you own the previous years serial number you have first right of refusal for taking up the bar in 2023. 
For new members or people without a 2022 bar this might seem like you have no chance of getting one - there will always be people who do not/cannot take up their 2022 bars and as such there is always a batch of bars available for new members.
Please comment on this thread or private message me to get your name on the waiting list for a 2023 bar if you do not have one for 2022
Deadlines to secure bars
To claim your existing serial number and bar (if you own a 2022 bar) please contact me and confirm (and pay) before the end of Sunday 21st May 2023. After this date we will not be able to guarantee your purchase and will offer these serial numbers out to members on the waiting list. 
Waiting list for new members/owners
If you would like to purchase a bar past experience has showed me that there will be a lot of demand. As such, we will be operating a waiting list which will ultimately end up in a random lottery to see if members will be allocated a bar. It is the fairest way to do this. 
We will be restricting this waiting list to 1 bar per member to start with to ensure as many different people get access to a bar as possible. 
To be placed on the waiting list, please comment on this thread and we will make sure you are added. 
We will not be contacting people on the waiting list until the first week of June to collect payment and distribute bars. 
Pricing and shipping details
Prices are as follows for the different Silver Forum membership levels
Standard or Non member price - £36 per bar
Silver member price - £35 per bar
Gold member price - £34 per bar
Platinum Member price - £33 per bar
Platinum Plus/Forum Sponsor/Business member price - £32 per bar
UK Postage & Packaging: +£3.50 via Royal Mail Signed for delivery or £8 Special Delivery
FREE POSTAGE on any orders from members with 3 or more bars (UK only) 
International postage: +£15 tracked and insured or £5 for standard airmail
How to buy & What to do
If you have a 2022 bar, get in touch and I will give you your total and away we go!
If you DO NOT have a 2022 bar, put your name on the waiting list!
A few notes on pricing
These bars are not cheap bullion. They are not advertised or sold as investment products but as unique collectable items.
Some of the proceeds from the sales of these bars goes directly to The Silver Forum and keeps it as cheap to use for all of us as possible
Every bar is UNIQUE. These bars are hand poured, hand stamped and polished by me. They take a lot of time and energy and equipment to create. These are premium hand poured silver products, not cheap bullion. They are a way to support the Backyard Bullion business, my brand and most importantly, The Silver Forum. As I said earlier, proceeds from the sale of these bars go towards the upkeep and running costs of this forum. This helps keep membership prices as low as possible for premium and gold premium members and ensures that standard members can still use this forum for free. 
The price also incorporates the Hallmarking costs, this includes postage of these bars to and from Edinburgh and the application of the hallmark.
Standard members - The difference in price is as a way for you to support the forum in a one off style payment rather than signing up for membership. But also please feel free to upgrade your membership to take advantage of the discounts available. 
Forum membership and pricing 
As you can see there are some very good savings to be had for upgrading your membership - so take a look at all of the benefits that are available for Premium Members today!
 
 
Payment Information
We can accept payment via PayPal, Banks Transfer or Credit/Debit card (Phone call will be required to complete the transaction)
If you would like to order a bar please PM or reply to this thread and we can link up with payment information. 

Just wait for them to be released separately in the course of the year
 
"Will the coins in the 2023 Annual Set be available to buy individually?
Yes, each coin as part of The Royal Mint’s 2023 Annual Set will be available to buy individually throughout the year. Individual dates will be revealed throughout the year.
Register your interest to be notified about individual launches- The Royal Mint | Register Your Interest"

I believe these will be in the 5-coin set:
75 Years of the Windrush Generation 50p 75 Years of the NHS 50p Centenary of the Flying Scotsman £2 JRR Tolkien £2 75th birthday of Charles III £5

I suspect one of the £2 coins will be the JRR Tolkien monogram coin commemorating 50 years of his death in 1973.
It was announced in the Gazette a while back.

All three of my replacement premium proof sets are going back again. They are absolutely shocking - various dents, foggy smears, tiny hairs and other small objects struck into the coins, and this... 
I can't even built a single full set of good coins between them.

I have 2 of these but when I took out to list they had a lot of frosting missing and didn’t look fit enough to list so didn’t.       If I ended up with 2 like it I expect a lot of others were the same. Could be only 150 or so in perfect condition 

The last time I looked the Mint said that BUs are struck 3 times, and Proofs are struck up to 6 (and of course you would expect more attention to the dies, and to QC although we know that can be hit and miss to say the least). Whether that's actually the case or not I've no idea. With the 2017 I agree it's indistinguishable in quality (and the 'error' CoA didn't help! 🤣 ). So I think we can put that down to the Mint making them just like a Proof - the error Cert certainly suggests some serious internal confusion!
My 2018 Sapphire Coronations are a bit different, definitely almost proof, but a lighter strike. Slightly more subtle (less contrast) than a full proof, very elegant in a way, and that's why it's one of the favourite modern Sovs I have (most eye appeal for me)
I only have the 2017 and 2018 so can't really comment on any others, except that I just personally wasn't attracted to the Mattes.

The 2018 Sapphire Coronation (Marsh and others - I assume they use those figures - say 323, which is a very definite number, I'd love to know where that figure comes from @GoldDiggerDave!) was a strange case. It 'sold out' fairly quickly at the Mint, but not by the crazy standards we've seen since 2019. It wasn't that hard to get them from certain dealers that are not so commonly mentioned on here. The problem was the caps, all came off in transit, in some cases causing damage. Because there was no problem getting replacements from the aforementioned sources I returned a handful before I got ones I was 100% happy with, but in hindsight I was being super picky because of the capsule problem, and wish I'd kept one or two more, as I now believe this one is a 'name your price' coin (or soon will be, within reason of course - personally I'm holding long-term).
No idea what happened to all the returns, or why the stated mintage is so low. Maybe the company I dealt with sold them at discount to their employees (they were pretty clueless) and the actual mintage is higher than Marsh thinks (?).

@kimchi any sovereign with a tiny mintage will be worth a fortune at some point in history, just hope it happens with these SOTD’s in my lifetime.
 
 

The 2018 Sapphire Coronation (Marsh and others - I assume they use those figures - say 323, which is a very definite number, I'd love to know where that figure comes from @GoldDiggerDave!) was a strange case. It 'sold out' fairly quickly at the Mint, but not by the crazy standards we've seen since 2019. It wasn't that hard to get them from certain dealers that are not so commonly mentioned on here. The problem was the caps, all came off in transit, in some cases causing damage. Because there was no problem getting replacements from the aforementioned sources I returned a handful before I got ones I was 100% happy with, but in hindsight I was being super picky because of the capsule problem, and wish I'd kept one or two more, as I now believe this one is a 'name your price' coin (or soon will be, within reason of course - personally I'm holding long-term).
No idea what happened to all the returns, or why the stated mintage is so low. Maybe the company I dealt with sold them at discount to their employees (they were pretty clueless) and the actual mintage is higher than Marsh thinks (?).

Until 2017, all the SotDs were BU strikes.
The 2017 200th Anniversary of the Sovereign SotD was also classed as a BU, but it was quite obviously a proof strike. They just couldn’t call it that because customers would be mad that another, more limited proof 2017 Sovereign got released.

Oh no, so sorry and very sad to hear this buddy, wishing you all power, strength and very best wishes to you and your son at this most difficult of times ❤️
We will try to find you something special 🙏

Oh no, so sorry and very sad to hear this buddy, wishing you all power, strength and very best wishes to you and your son at this most difficult of times ❤️
We will try to find you something special 🙏

That's why religion should be left out of politics. Although I am a self confessed luke-warm royalist, I'm more in the thinking of the founding fathers of the US when it comes to religion and politics.
I've nothing against religion in and of itself (or faith) but it should be a private thing. As Elizabeth I once said at the 1558 religious settlement, "I won't make windows into men's souls". Great sentiment, unfortunately she'd be arrested now for misgendering.
Blessed are the cheese makers.

Thanks James - really appreciate that. I’d purchased one for my son and I but just didn’t realise the Mint didn’t produce sovereigns in certain years. No Brits either as they didn’t Mint until 1987. She was French so maybe some French coins. 🙏

Sorry to read this @lst65  will keep an eye out for anything special from 1970 and give you a shout if something crops up 👍🏼

Thanks buddy. Basically my wife died in January. Her birth year…1970. No worries, thanks for the sensible response and not laughing. 

I'd imagine if there's one to be found for you... this may just be the place. 
Good luck. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Thanks so much buddy. It appears the Mint didn’t do any that year! I’d hoped to get one for her, my son and I. New plan me thinks. 

Royal Mint had the audacity to increase the prices on unsold stock. Hilarious.   P.T. Barnum often quoted "there's a sucker born every minute." Whether he said it or not, it appears the Royal Mint thinks there's enough of them out there.
Now £750 for the 1/4oz proof.

on the theme of Kings... cheese & whey    https://www.topgear.com/car-news/retro/prince-charles-aston-martin-db6-runs-wine-and-cheese   

That made me truckle.