Pete

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

When I had a claim against the Royal Mail I had to produce evidence of value.
If you post an item with £1,000 insurance that does not mean you can claim £1,000 it only means up to £1,000
The problems you can face are how to prove value.
This is easy if you sell something for say £600 and can show a payment from your buyer on a bank statement ( this was what I did ).
If you sell on eBay or any other web based platform they will require details of the transaction.
But if you sold privately say at a discount, or part traded with other goods, or maybe offered on a sale or return basis prior to receiving payment - you could Google search for the same item and copy the details showing an image and a price to establish value.
I would argue the claim / loss not necessarily at the transaction price but at its replacement value.
Being honest though is always best policy.

Nice platinum collection you will have mate once you hit I presume what will be 20 beasts and 2 completers. Some value in one set alone. 

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

The first in a new series following on from the very popular Queens Beasts - The Tudor Beasts.
The one ounce Platinum 2022 Lion of England dwarfed by its 10oz silver cousin.

Applying acid to any coin will create a glaringly obvious defect and if you are in doubt about authenticity and you can return for an exchange or refund, the seller will definitely not want to know with a big blemish that wasn't there before.
You don't test sovereigns or any 22ct gold that you want to keep using acids and 24ct will not react at all unless it is fresh aqua-regia.
Seek out the obvious tests - weight and dimensions first and if there is any doubt try a specific gravity test.
Failing that take it to someone who can test / verify with the proper kit.

I don't get hung up about toned silver as it really is a kind of rust.
During the 40's and 50's when London was choking in dense fog ( pollution ) and every building was jet black from soot caused by burning coal, your silver in those days would have toned rapidly. Even indoors - coal fires and parents that smoked back to back cigarettes - your nice shiny silver would quickly tone.
Some will call this "patina" so the latest iron bridge over the Grand Union Canal, unpainted, is showing a lovely patina but to most people looks like common rust.
😀

I don't get hung up about toned silver as it really is a kind of rust.
During the 40's and 50's when London was choking in dense fog ( pollution ) and every building was jet black from soot caused by burning coal, your silver in those days would have toned rapidly. Even indoors - coal fires and parents that smoked back to back cigarettes - your nice shiny silver would quickly tone.
Some will call this "patina" so the latest iron bridge over the Grand Union Canal, unpainted, is showing a lovely patina but to most people looks like common rust.
😀

This is very easy to answer.
Nearly all fiat currencies are being devalued by quantitive easing ( basically printing more paper ) and rising inflation.
Your silver will hold its value so in effect will rise in fiat terms.
So to summarise - PMs will rise in price BUT this is due to the purchasing power of money falling i.e. devaluing.
Governments love this because taking out a 50 year loan at 0.1% interest means the billions borrowed will be repaid by peppercorns.

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Had I bought "X" at the time "Y" then I could easily sell and make a nice return.
Unfortunately with PMs you are banking on 2 things - spot price and collectibility.
When spot rises appreciably all bullion coins rise in value so if you can buy relatively cheaply during dips then in theory you will be able to realise a profit when selling. The tricky part is knowing a dip meaning a sharp rise thereafter - those of us who bought silver 10 years ago are still licking our wounds. Familiarise yourself with the charts. Even if you succeed in buying at some lows the very difficult next stage is figuring out when to sell and you will never predict the peaks. If you sell too early and prices continue to rise then you will never forgive yourself and equally holding for a peak might see you losing all your gains and you will kick yourself for being greedy.
Semi-numismatic and numismatic coins are like art.
Their price is reflected in scarcity and demand and just because you reckon a coin is worth "W" it doesn't automatically mean there are buyers out there prepared to pay this at the time you want to sell. Some methods of selling will also take a chunk of change from your gains.
Some stackers have been fortunate in buying certain series - Queens Beasts for example - but how can you predict which series is going to be highly desirable and there are so many mints today issuing new series every month.
Before Brexit you could buy a few tubes of nice silver 20-25% cheaper than you could obtain from any dealer in the UK.
It would be so easy to sell and make a return of say 20% but not anymore.
Selling prices will also vary day to day and I see some coins selling on eBay one day for £40 and a week later the same coin for £120 so what is the current price ?
I have coins that had I sold around the time I bought them would fetch well over £200 each but today I might only get £35 which is close to what I paid.
Selling individual coins also takes time and effort.
Photographs, listings, researching the prices, wrapping, posting etc.
In order to make £5 profit selling a one ounce silver coin probably takes a minimum of 30 minutes of your time, maybe more, so that's not even minimum wage.
It takes much less time if you have a production batch of course.
Finally to sell these days you have to be competitive so be prepared to operate on modest margins and provided your time is free then yes you can make a few quid 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Had I bought "X" at the time "Y" then I could easily sell and make a nice return.
Unfortunately with PMs you are banking on 2 things - spot price and collectibility.
When spot rises appreciably all bullion coins rise in value so if you can buy relatively cheaply during dips then in theory you will be able to realise a profit when selling. The tricky part is knowing a dip meaning a sharp rise thereafter - those of us who bought silver 10 years ago are still licking our wounds. Familiarise yourself with the charts. Even if you succeed in buying at some lows the very difficult next stage is figuring out when to sell and you will never predict the peaks. If you sell too early and prices continue to rise then you will never forgive yourself and equally holding for a peak might see you losing all your gains and you will kick yourself for being greedy.
Semi-numismatic and numismatic coins are like art.
Their price is reflected in scarcity and demand and just because you reckon a coin is worth "W" it doesn't automatically mean there are buyers out there prepared to pay this at the time you want to sell. Some methods of selling will also take a chunk of change from your gains.
Some stackers have been fortunate in buying certain series - Queens Beasts for example - but how can you predict which series is going to be highly desirable and there are so many mints today issuing new series every month.
Before Brexit you could buy a few tubes of nice silver 20-25% cheaper than you could obtain from any dealer in the UK.
It would be so easy to sell and make a return of say 20% but not anymore.
Selling prices will also vary day to day and I see some coins selling on eBay one day for £40 and a week later the same coin for £120 so what is the current price ?
I have coins that had I sold around the time I bought them would fetch well over £200 each but today I might only get £35 which is close to what I paid.
Selling individual coins also takes time and effort.
Photographs, listings, researching the prices, wrapping, posting etc.
In order to make £5 profit selling a one ounce silver coin probably takes a minimum of 30 minutes of your time, maybe more, so that's not even minimum wage.
It takes much less time if you have a production batch of course.
Finally to sell these days you have to be competitive so be prepared to operate on modest margins and provided your time is free then yes you can make a few quid 

This is the site I use
https://www.britannia-uk.com/
Hope its helpful
 

Toning silver is caused mainly by pollution and more common when exposed to sulphur e.g. smoke.
All Pandas are placed in capsules at the mint so it is not that common to see toning in coins of this age.
You can dip toned coins in products like e-Zest that will in about 3 seconds remove this toning but this product sold in the UK is 10 times the cost in the USA so perhaps not worth the expense.
Whether to challenge the seller is entirely personal choice and depends on the price paid and what costs & hassle would be involved in debating or returning etc.
These cannot be described as mint condition without mentioning toning.

I came across this Youtube video showing some fake PAMP gold bars in Veriscan packaging.
Okay the expensive XRF tester showed the fake straight away.

BUT .....
Would you have spotted this ?
I know the fake bar is thicker but unless you had a genuine bar to compare alongside as in the video, I wonder ( and it is kind of scary ) how many people / stackers might have been fooled.
Appearance and packaging is excellent so be careful.
 
 

Your nearest dealers are likely to be in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham and there are several.
HGM is in Hatton Garden London so the closest to Oxford City.

Toning silver is caused mainly by pollution and more common when exposed to sulphur e.g. smoke.
All Pandas are placed in capsules at the mint so it is not that common to see toning in coins of this age.
You can dip toned coins in products like e-Zest that will in about 3 seconds remove this toning but this product sold in the UK is 10 times the cost in the USA so perhaps not worth the expense.
Whether to challenge the seller is entirely personal choice and depends on the price paid and what costs & hassle would be involved in debating or returning etc.
These cannot be described as mint condition without mentioning toning.

Toning silver is caused mainly by pollution and more common when exposed to sulphur e.g. smoke.
All Pandas are placed in capsules at the mint so it is not that common to see toning in coins of this age.
You can dip toned coins in products like e-Zest that will in about 3 seconds remove this toning but this product sold in the UK is 10 times the cost in the USA so perhaps not worth the expense.
Whether to challenge the seller is entirely personal choice and depends on the price paid and what costs & hassle would be involved in debating or returning etc.
These cannot be described as mint condition without mentioning toning.

Your nearest dealers are likely to be in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham and there are several.
HGM is in Hatton Garden London so the closest to Oxford City.