Pete

Premiums usually stick to high quality bullion silver coins supplied in capsules from the Perth and Royal Australian Mints. Cheap bullion includes popular Britannias, Maples, Philarmonics and many others from all over the World. For some reason American Silver Eagles can often be priced higher than other bullion. Mexican Libertads can sell for high premiums based on mintages. Chinese Pandas also come in caps and are collectible and easy to shift.

Not selling Pt - sorry - long term investment. Thanks @ArgentSmith

As soon as you inform eBay that an item is not as described, eBay almost automatically takes the side of the buyer. Fortunate in your case but if you are the seller and shipping the correct items etc. it can be a frustrating and stressful experience. Judging by your seller's apology it suggests a library or downloaded photo was used which is naughty as you want to see exactly what you are purchasing, not a representative sample. This is especially true with coins as you want to see condition.

Not in the UK unless it remains vaulted unfortunately. Another problem with Pt is the margin which I don't fully understand but it's down to supply and demand. When Pt is relatively cheap there is very little around to purchase. Considering that Pt historically was more precious than gold ( and higher priced ) you would expect margins to be similar to gold, or perhaps a little bit more, but not as high as they tend to be. Having said that people will still purchase Pt with its high margin and VAT included ( me being one ) and you would only loose out big time selling to the trade.

Are these promising signs for those of us steadily growing old, but still nursing big silver stacking losses ? Will this trend continue ?

I had this happen to me also but it was resolved in a week. I guess when a package is x-rayed it draws suspicion as to what could be inside. Unfortunately with all that's going on around the world we all are greatly inconvenienced - e.g. checking-in at an airport.

Silver is a commodity and priced like any other commodity, including coffee and orange juice, according to global demand. Like the UK CO2 emissions effect on the planet, we stackers will not influence the price of silver even if a monster box is up for sale. Only the big boys exchanging paper contracts in the thousands of tonnes make a difference on bullion spot prices. Currently silver is taking a back seat. What is interesting though were the American "experts" ( hah hah ... ), a few years ago, with their daily metals videos on Youtube hard selling silver. Silver was being forecasted to over $100 per ounce - so get it while you can - before China and India take the lot and the mines cannot fill the orders. Platinum is another example. Not so long ago ( in investment terms ) Platinum was priced higher than gold i.e. it was more precious and definitely rarer and more expensive to mine. Why therefore is it less than half the price of gold ? Could it possibly be that gold is overpriced and will face a massive correction at some stage ? Gone are the days of buying a silver coin from the EU at £13 then flipping it in the UK for £25 but whatever you hold hopefully should retain value unlike fiat due to inflation. With the unavoidable VAT on silver ( and platinum ) in the UK you definitely lose 20% immediately selling back to any dealers - unlike gold. Importing silver into the UK is subject to VAT also unless transporting in person within your allowance.

Your minimum price target should be spot + 20% ( to include VAT paid ) so £590 per tube of 25. A dealer will only give you spot and most a bit less so this isn't a good route for you. I would never take a chance on SD shipping goods substantially above their insurance limit. You may find in the small print that doing so invalidates any insurance. Selling at £590 should attract lots of buyers on this site and hopefully they will move fairly quickly. Unfortunately as you are in a rush to sell all your silver then you will need to take the hit on price. If you can hold out longer then ask for higher prices.

Since silver has a fixed well specified density and the weight of 1 Troy ounce is precise, mathematically this means the volume is also fixed. Coins are stamped from blanks rolled into sheets of specified thickness so the only explanation is variable rim thickness. Maybe too much pressure during stamping squeezes a tiny bit of silver to the rim which then protrudes slightly. Measuring centre thickness of coins using a micrometer is tricky due to surface cameo but you might detect a difference. I've seen quite pronounced rims on some coins and also seen rims with a thin shard that peels off like swarf. I wouldn't associate this to a specific year but specific batches.

So true. Great for buyers, less so for sellers. Silver ( and platinum) compared to gold are crazy, so add if you can but is gold likely to see a big correction ? Maybe with geopolitical sh!t, wars etc. gold will continue to rise but I don't understand why the other PMs don't follow.

My suggestion is to check the past few weeks of sold coins on eBay for prices. Unfortunately selling a complete set might result in a lower price that the total of the individual coins whilst you would assume that it would be the opposite. Knowing this I still make up and collect full sets of various coins including the QB. The earlier beasts were at one point getting a high premium but I haven't checked for about a year.

Can I take the RAM Kangaroo 2007 at £35 please.

Saw this appear on TV today and I think it was priced at £390 with free delivery, limited to 1 per address.

This is a fair price for a Vic sovereign and the copper oxide isn't a problem as a dip in acid should clear that. Having been mounted does drop its value if there is obvious damage to the coin but this one doesn't look so bad. This is a bullion price taking no account of age or condition and isn't worth much more than spot, so buy it if you want an older coin in your collection. If you prefer a new coin in pristine condition then see if you can match this price. If this is a private sale then maybe try to negotiate a little and don't forget the cost of insured postage.

The Royal Mint really screwed many of us avid stackers when they announced the new £20, £50 and £100 "legal tender silver coins " before instructing the banks not to accept them. Yes they are half ounce in silver but the £20 value is stamped on the coin whereas the 1 ounce Britannia is stamped £2. The only time I believe, today, you can use the higher value coins is paying a court fine. I wonder if the Inland Revenue accepts them for paying a tax bill ? At the time it cost £20 for a £20 legal tender coin so why wouldn't anyone not wish to buy these.