Piggybank

Hi one and all. a few things have been bothering me recently so thought I'd air them 🙂 
This is in noway an attack on any specific member, but simply an expression that hopefully unites and improves the workings of the trade section in the forum. Obviously I'm opening myself up to an outcry of backstabbing from those who find offence in my geniune attempt to improve things for both myself and every single member who makes transactions, either incoming or outgoing 😆 
Can I please make a few simple suggestions to sellers firstly.
1) describe items carefully and considerately but most importantly honestly, so buyers can make an informed decision whether to purchase or not. Stop hiding behind the "bullion bollocks" if an item is marked/toned/scratched then say so. It will save our feelings of joy being swapped for anger when we open your parcel. I can assure you and so can other fine members who list this way ( your items will still sell if priced accordingly)
2) whilst it's each individuals perogative to price how they see fit, take a second to look round the forum and gauge a realistic average? Otherwise the only thing you will be selling is "Bumps" 
3) packaging, take a second to think about the item's journey, will your coin/bar or whatever the contents survive a 5 a side at the local sorting office? I can't fathom some of the careless decisions made by sellers I've purchased from on here. Thankfully its a small number but it has cost you a repeat buyer! Can we all agree not to stick item's directly to cardboard with brown ****ing tape?? Wrap in bubble wrap or even a clean sock first, the amount of capsules I've had to replace is uncalled for.
4) feedback!! Ohh the elephant in the room has awoke, see the feedback option? Yeah maybe try using it then 🤔 the amount of people recently complaining about not receiving is quite substantial, yes we can all forget now and again, but it's what keeps us all safe at the end of the day. Also newcomers need it to get any kind of standing on the forum. ( if I owe anyone feedback that has left some for me,then just shoot a message please)
5) messages, you know the words in a box type thing, that I know you read? Respond to them out of decency if nothing else, even if it's to tell me to f#ck off.
6) have you got what your selling? Sounds obvious but apparently not. I'm not overly keen on buying items you think/hope you may be getting in. Makes you look both incompetent and risky.
7) keep buyers in the loop, do not take my/their money and ignore for days, I understand fully that postage isn't an exact science and life can kick us in the proverbial, but at least tell me if its been posted and upload tracking if ive/we've paid for it. I'm not keen on guesswork or trying to read between the lines. Most importantly tell me if my payment has been received, think how nervous a newcomer is sending money to "Jack the ripper" on the Internet?
Now I will try and see it from a sellers perspective 😆 
1) buyers ( of which I am) hopefully I've treated you with decency and respect, kept you updated with tracking/payment received etc and dispatched as fast as my timeline allows on any given day, advised in a "honest" manner whether buying from me or not. Although please realise just because you have money, you don't own me. Treat me with the same decency i afford you.
2) Be clear and concise when messaging a seller, your tying up their time ( again referring to no1) all you see is an item for sale. Well try and remember there's a human being selling it. Be polite ( thankfully 95% of buyers/seller's are) and you will find the seller might just go that extra mile 😉
3) Be a man/woman of your word?? Yes this goes without saying in life in general, but here I am feeling the need to remind people "do/mean what you say"!! Please don't tell me you will do something and then ghost me, at the very least put me out of my misery!!
4) research what you are buying and " ask yourself "can you afford it? Don't get caught up in what other people are buying, do not feel obliged to buy today out of FOMO and then have to sell tomorrow at a loss. Please for the benefit of yourself and your family have a semi coherent plan ( I know this is rich coming from someone, with the attention span of a goldfish) but I've heard/witnessed a fair few newcomers get caught out by this. Do what's right for you and you only. Otherwise you will end up bitter/in trouble financially. 
5) feedback, ohh here he goes again lol. If a seller has taken the time to ( hopefully from now on) carefully package and efficiently deliver your item safely and satisfactory, then "Yes you guessed it" then please leave feedback 😊 for me personally, it's an indication of deal complete and I can now dispose of your postage receipt, that otherwise I have to safely keep for up to a month, in fear you may tell me in a week or two you haven't received yet. 
6) be realistic/sincere with offers, I love £10/£20 off for buying in bulk as much as anyone, but being offered £350 on a item that could be scrapped for £400 minimum is an insult, yep it actually happens. 
7) pay on time or at the very least give a rough time frame for payment. Do not drag out payment for hours and hours ( unless agreed with seller in advance) then expect the seller to run to the post office as soon as the money hits their bank.
( THIS PART IS FOR THE NOISY BANTER BRIGADE ) Which I hold my hands up to being a part of 😆 
Its come to my attention that a few members have stopped/or at least thought twice about continuing to sell on the forum. I as much as anyone likes light hearted fun,  but sometimes this spills over onto sales posts, random comments can cause unfair bumping of posts and can especially lead to prospective buyers walking away. This is especially true during auctions, usually 6 pages of noise and only 2 bids, people could be excused for not knowing the current high bid or find it too exhausting to find. If we can help a sale which many of us has done ( and I will continue to do) then by all means work away, but if there's no intention to buy or cannot add value to the post, we should take our juvenile noise to the aptly named NAUGHTY BOY STEP 😉 
Anyway enough negativity, there's some amazing sellers and buyers on here, people whom I'm proud to transact with on a regular basis, people who I trust unequivocally, and whilst I've yet to experience an issue with those people/members, if I did, I just know deep down I'd be looked after. Let's all strive to be like them? 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I'd say all of the UK's current issues can be laid at the doorstep of three eras.
1) The Atlee government came to power after WWII. The country was broken and close to bankruptcy (but then so was Germany - who took a different path to us).
A bold vision was taken by the new Labour Government - wholesale nationalisation. Their ideals were genuine and sincere, to improve the lot of the working classes (and everyone else too - trickle up if you like). The NHS etc. 
But as good as it might have started out, it had an unintended consequence.
The complete nationalisation of all those industries left them in a position where they could rely on Government funding and assistance to survive rather that having to innovate and stay competitive.
Megoliths like British Leyland became zombie companies relying on state aid.
The other consequence was that bringing politicians into running companies brought in opportunities for them to either make a mint on the side or call in the bean counters and cut, cut, cut. See Dr Beeching, Ernest Marples or the fact that Harold Macmillan became known as Mack the knife.
2) The 1970s saw loss after loss, so then came Thatcher in the 1980s and decided to sell off all our industries and utilities to foreign investors. It was cheaper, quicker and easier to cut the dead wood and just buy it from abroad. Rather than actually identify areas for growth, support and invest in those and build new industries.
Unfortunately, closing down or selling off all these companies, also meant that we became a service sector economy - a nation of bankers, shopkeepers and middlemen - buy from abroad, whack on a profit and sell on. You can't run an economy long term like that. Any issues in the country you're buying from and you are directly affected with little control to stop it. See Germany's current problems with buying all their gas from Russia.
3) 2007-2008 saw the banking crisis and the creation of quantitative easing and vast currency creation. Turning the UK into a zombie economy.
The other day on the TV there was a politician saying, "we need to make credit easier for people to get, so they can pay the bills". Now if you can't see what's wrong with that, then there's no hope really is there?
So everything these days is based on debt and obtaining credit - so no real growth or assets then? No actual wealth creation?
This is before we get to uncontrolled immigration and housing/NHS pressures (another unintended consequence of the Atlee government making the welfare state and NHS so appealing).
I don't really see any answers to these problems and the politicians are the greatest instrument in all of this.

Happy 2nd Anniversary to me! Nice to see it all together again (if only for a brief photo op)
Added just over 4.2oz of bullions to last years 7.5oz plus a proof 1/2 2022 Sov so happy with that.
Still need to work on getting my first 1oz coin thou!! 
Onward and upwards!! 

Having the bulk of my wee stack in one place is rare so I took the opportunity to take a few pics before they went on their merry way again.

Proof half sovereigns are under-rated in my opinion. Some of the mintages are way lower than the proof sovereigns. Great collection!

I think it is the Pound in free-fall after this morning's give-away mini budget.

This is huge. The chance of a serious war is higher than it has been for decades - both sides are talking nuclear. This is when gold comes into its own. Except the paper price in dollars is falling - China doesn't believe this nonsense. Gold will be arbitraged West to East. 

One of the photos I keep seeing on the news is this one, which makes me see this set in a different way now.

I'm also proud to have bought the piedfort sovereign two weeks ago rather than slating it and piling on last night only because of what has happened.

I may divide opinion posting this, but I think I feel as many others do on this forum, despite the news as of late, that today’s news has been a shock.
This is a huge shock, albeit expected, given HM The Queens ageing years. She’s the only monarch that those under 70 years old has known.
I’ve read some not so many dislikable and distasteful comments on the forum today.
But, I think, no matter what one’s own option is that HM The Queen has given so much to all of us. A duty to the end.
But above all she was a mother, grandmother and a great-grandmother mother.
I’ve looked in and out of the forum this afternoon and this evening. But no matter wether you’re a modern stacker, an old stacker, a collector of Gillick sovereigns or modern releases, be that the Tudor Beast’s or The Monarchs collection with Edward VII resale imminent.
Many people, like myself of this country and also most people of the forum, feel a ‘shift’, a change, has happened today. Within a day a changing of the guard as it were.
HM The Queen’s passing is a great loss to our country of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
I wasn’t sure wether to share this with the the wider forum but I will, as I feel I’m mostly amongst friends, but HM The Queen awarded my grandfather with his MBE some 20 years ago.
It was the happiest day of my grandfathers life.
He said to me “She was gracious, warm, kind and showed an interest in my achievement at the same time.”
We are at the end of an era. Regardless of what we collect or stack, we are at the end of a remarkable era.
I watched the news today, as many others did, the announcement of HM The Queen’s passing and I’m not ashamed to say, I shed a tear when the news was announced.
But, albeit a fictional character, Padding Bear had the right words for HM The Queen’s reign at her Platinum Jubilee in one sentence “Thank you Ma’am, for everything”.
Lastly, I’ll leave this photograph of HM The Queen.
How beautiful she looked. How beautiful she’ll remain.
This is very odd to write on the forum, but here goes.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
 

Both spam and corned beef are incredibly cheap. I used to work in the food industry and, in the 80s, they did open tins of corned beef from World War 1 and it was perfectly edible. Similarly, they are supposed to have found edible honey in Egyptian pyramids.
However, for those of you who are adventurous, these are delicacies. First take a thick slice of spam or corned beef, coat it in batter and deep fry. When cooked, drain on tissue and put in a well fired roll. Add ketchup or brown sauce to taste and voila - a dish fit for hungry kids and far better than a Big Mac. 

We're already there... it's a matter of how bad it gets now.  Glad I bought a couple more Sovs last month.

FT: Bank of England increases interest rates by 0.5 percentage points
Britain faces a protracted recession and the worst squeeze on living standards in more than 60 years, the Bank of England warned on Thursday, as it raised interest rates to their highest level since the global financial crisis.
 

glad to see they are blaming the english and not the rest of us! 😛
 
It is a tiresome trend at the moment that absolutely everything has to be apologised for, re interpreted with various topics shoehorned into every story.
 
 
( always prefered a topic to a marathon )

Thank you.
 I think the lighting I used to take the photo flatters the 1817 Sovereign somewhat- but it is just lighting, the photographs weren’t filtered or photoshopped- the photos below are perhaps more representative.  
It was designated MS62 by NGC- lovely eye appeal 👍.  I Have recently had the Sovereign re- slabbed as the old slab was scuffed. 

 
 

Agree about it having always been rigged. Also agree regarding debt obligations and thankfully, I have none. I don't necessarily think it'll be a SHTF event. It's often the case that these things are viewed in black and white but I reckon it'll be far more nuanced than that with some opportunities for those that have been diligent. It'll be as controlled as they can make it, and for those that aren't putting their eggs in one basket and have a store of metals, some cash, some land or other items of value then I reckon they'll be better positioned through any transition.
I do agree that should such an event happen that it'll be rigged in favour of those at the very top and they'll likely sweep in to buy up anything going. All guesswork but for me, it's a case of 'something really terrible is gonna happen' and what am I gonna do about it within my limited means. I'd rather do something.

I’m am what most would describe as a prepper, and yes I have distrust in the government and the banks.
if you think a bit of silver or any PM will save you in a SHTF event then you are simply kidding yourself. Especially if you still have debt obligations. 
 
The banking system collapses, we see hyper inflation……at that point how can you liquidate your silver  stack and what for? £200 per oz in a scenario where the currency is depreciating  into nothing overnight the £200 might be worth 50p the morning when you wake up.  

in a SHTF event it’s very likely all digital means of money transfer will be stopped or rationed to very small daily amount. 
Some are almost wishing for a reset, I’m inclined to agree there will be one, but I can tell you you will not be allowed to buy a house for 2 grand.  The 99% will be cut out of the system and the 1% will mop everything up.  Some have a dream of holding a bit of PM and over night after the rest they will become rich………this is so moronically short sighted. 
 
folks the game was rigged before you were born and will continue to be rigged long after you are gone. 

ive more than a few quotes now in the precious metals market analysis repertoire now !
"Wake me up when it gets to £50oz" if i recall it was i said 
 
" Mike Maloney said i could buy a house with 500oz of silver " was another 
Well, i should have a street by now, but ive got a down payment for Wendy house currently and a wasted near 15 years of investing in silver 

What I've noticed in just the past four years, is that the Royal Mint has vastly increased the number of releases and the number of variations in these releases.  Whilst some coins will be "hits", I fear a lot more will be "misses" and will lose the original premium paid and languish at scrap value.  I think collectors are becoming more selective in what they buy, and so, yes, I see a collapse in the market for some modern coins - increasingly new releases are not selling out despite the tiny mintage figures.

That’s a very good point. It probably was a lie that got out of hand.
The coin that really stands out for me as ‘hypocrite’ and I know many people love it, but it’s the 1oz gold USA Buffallo.
It depicts a Native American surrounded by the words ‘liberty’. 😬
It’s a beautiful design, well designed and executed, but the word ‘liberty’.
It’s a big insult to Native Americans, liberty is the last thing they got.
Awkward or what.

It's a natural evolution of the space, it's really early days with many different use cases that is not necessarily related to gold. Think of gold and it's journey to from when it was discovered to where we are today, it has shaped the world we live in and has intrinsic value based upon its history. 
Take this forum as an example. How many times do you visit? Before tsf was here, where did you go to discuss precious metals? And where can you see it going next? This is essentially a virtual pub where "almost" everyone has a common interest, we even have a virtual market place to exchange physical products, can that be improved on? 
I think the digital world has a long way to go and it maybe the equivalent of a historic youngster buying a sovereign for £10. 

No, the above was a list of forecast popular activities.
We will stick with our established coins and bullion business.
Mind you, we do have some ideas for eventual expansion and diversification:
Coins
Holidays
Alcohol
Relaxation
Driving
Sex
Of course, we have a ready acronym for this:
C.H.A.R.D.S.
😎

i don't like Queenie on the Maple but in general i am not interested in the Queen side. 
i don't believe people will stop collecting when Charles III or George VII comes to the throne.

At least we don't have an old-style absolute monarchy, where your above disclosure would have sealed your fate.
Our constitutional monarchy seems to work quite well; at least we avoid things like US Presidents including Trump the Terrible. Many other countries are much worse. Our royal family probably provides good value and a degree of long term stability. Of course, they are human beings with all of the attendant failures, and a degree of privilege probably compounds the situation.
If the UK has a political or constitutional problem, it is probably because we have a rather polarised opposition party first-past-the-post system, where government flip-flop between two extremes, whereas a proportional representation system would tend to produce more sensible centerist government. While not perfect, this is almost certainly better than changing direction every 4, 5, or so years, with very little incentive for longer term planning.
😎

I think changing the monarch on the obverse will just mean coin collectors will go out and buy more coins, there are so many completists out there. I'm pretty sure whether you are a monarchist or not doesn't have much of say in whether you collect coins or not.
There's so much to like about collecting coins, the art on the coin, the history, the variety, every imaginable price point, having the base metal value to fall back on.
For me there is a big correlation between the price of precious metals and how popular coin collecting is at any one time, higher the price of the metal, the more people find it an attractive hobby.
I'm not so worried about youngsters not collecting coins at the moment because later in their lives they can always start, I'm sure many of the forum members took it up later in life after realising the benefits of holding precious metals as a part of their savings and then moving into collectables, it's just a natural progression.
My main worry would be if everyone in the world moved over to digital currency and circulation coins disappeared, I think it would have an impact on coin collecting but not kill it off, and I'll be long gone if that ever happened so not a major concern for myself.