Pete

When I started my collection of sovereigns and half sovereigns you had little choice of sellers.
Typically HGM or BullionbyPost who's just flipped their daily inventory paying little to no attention to the era of their stock.
One price and often 3% or even less over spot !
Today is different.
More suppliers, TV advertsing, and these once literally scrap bullion dealers have become "coin shops" seizing the opportunity to add hefty premiums to some of their intake whilst only paying scrap value to sellers. The random lucky dip or best value deals are unlikely to give you anything but basic coins i.e. gold as they will have employed someone to filter their inventory and try to make some higher profit. Whilst I have no problem with this I do dislike that these same dealers make zero allowance when buying your coins knowing they will sell for sometimes twice the price you are being offered.

When I started my collection of sovereigns and half sovereigns you had little choice of sellers.
Typically HGM or BullionbyPost who's just flipped their daily inventory paying little to no attention to the era of their stock.
One price and often 3% or even less over spot !
Today is different.
More suppliers, TV advertsing, and these once literally scrap bullion dealers have become "coin shops" seizing the opportunity to add hefty premiums to some of their intake whilst only paying scrap value to sellers. The random lucky dip or best value deals are unlikely to give you anything but basic coins i.e. gold as they will have employed someone to filter their inventory and try to make some higher profit. Whilst I have no problem with this I do dislike that these same dealers make zero allowance when buying your coins knowing they will sell for sometimes twice the price you are being offered.

I wouldn't discard silver because everyone is comparing market price to scrap i.e. spot price.
If spot is £20 and a 1 ounce coin sells for £35 then most buyers of silver, excluding the banks etc. will use the £35 value and ignore the spot price.
Okay there is a premium plus 20% VAT but that embeds itself to the coin when trading.
Only when you liquidate to a bullion dealer do you forfeit the markup and tax.
What is the value of a bitcoin ?
Probably zero but people will buy and sell at whatever the market decides so that sets the price.
Same with our silver coins and bars except silver has a spot value so isn't zero.
Gold is bought and sold more or less around spot plus / minus single digit percentages.
However there can also be big premiums on some coins between buyers and sellers but when selling back to a dealer this premium is lost also.
For example I saw today on our forum a Queens Beast advertised for just shy of £2,000 when gold spot is £1,320.
Maybe people will pay £2,000 for an ounce of gold but a dealer will only give you £1,295 if lucky, which is 35% less than its "trading" value.
So in conclusion silver is not necessarily that bad even with its VAT and margins and only falls flat selling back to dealers.

I wouldn't discard silver because everyone is comparing market price to scrap i.e. spot price.
If spot is £20 and a 1 ounce coin sells for £35 then most buyers of silver, excluding the banks etc. will use the £35 value and ignore the spot price.
Okay there is a premium plus 20% VAT but that embeds itself to the coin when trading.
Only when you liquidate to a bullion dealer do you forfeit the markup and tax.
What is the value of a bitcoin ?
Probably zero but people will buy and sell at whatever the market decides so that sets the price.
Same with our silver coins and bars except silver has a spot value so isn't zero.
Gold is bought and sold more or less around spot plus / minus single digit percentages.
However there can also be big premiums on some coins between buyers and sellers but when selling back to a dealer this premium is lost also.
For example I saw today on our forum a Queens Beast advertised for just shy of £2,000 when gold spot is £1,320.
Maybe people will pay £2,000 for an ounce of gold but a dealer will only give you £1,295 if lucky, which is 35% less than its "trading" value.
So in conclusion silver is not necessarily that bad even with its VAT and margins and only falls flat selling back to dealers.

I wouldn't discard silver because everyone is comparing market price to scrap i.e. spot price.
If spot is £20 and a 1 ounce coin sells for £35 then most buyers of silver, excluding the banks etc. will use the £35 value and ignore the spot price.
Okay there is a premium plus 20% VAT but that embeds itself to the coin when trading.
Only when you liquidate to a bullion dealer do you forfeit the markup and tax.
What is the value of a bitcoin ?
Probably zero but people will buy and sell at whatever the market decides so that sets the price.
Same with our silver coins and bars except silver has a spot value so isn't zero.
Gold is bought and sold more or less around spot plus / minus single digit percentages.
However there can also be big premiums on some coins between buyers and sellers but when selling back to a dealer this premium is lost also.
For example I saw today on our forum a Queens Beast advertised for just shy of £2,000 when gold spot is £1,320.
Maybe people will pay £2,000 for an ounce of gold but a dealer will only give you £1,295 if lucky, which is 35% less than its "trading" value.
So in conclusion silver is not necessarily that bad even with its VAT and margins and only falls flat selling back to dealers.

Absolutely true so my suggestion is to fill up the 'piggy bank' then only open it when you can buy several coins, gold or silver and amortise shipping costs.

You need to compare prices daily.
Surprisingly I bought some sovereigns from them a couple of months ago as marginally cheaper than Atkinsons.
Service was excellent and delivery fast.
They even supplied the coins in black pouches which I reuse to protect 10 oz silver bars in storage.

I just bought a Perth Mint 2019 Platinum Dragon. I hope they release more of these dragons with different designs. This is actually my first piece of platinum. I think the hold up for me has been aesthetics. Most of the platinum coins are either bullion designs like with Britannias or Philharmonics, or those American Eagles where the statue of liberty looks ugly.  

Unless you have a decent amount of silver ( maybe 1,000 ounces or more ) as @Tn21 states, just hold on to it, and if / when you can buy some yellow metal then go ahead.
If you can sell at a profit then realise some profit and buy something else but you might just be rearranging the furniture.
No-one knows where gold will be in a day, week, month or year and it can fall just as much as rise.
Waiting on dips to buy and peaks to sell is easy with hindsight but unless you can travel into the future there is no right time to trade in gold.
Silver for many seems to have more upside potential and percentage swings can be interesting.
Don't ignore that silver spot was 50% higher than it is today whilst gold is trading fairly close to historic highs.
Will silver rise or will gold fall ?
Get these predictions right and you can become quite wealthy.
Buying small bits of gold or a 1/10 ounce can work out relatively expensive adding in SD shipping on top.
 

Very difficult to make a comment as to whether genuine or fake.
Personally I would be curious for 2 reasons.
1. On the obverse the colon " : " after IMP is missing.  
Without comparing to one of my vaulted coins I cannot be 100% certain though.
2. The numbers for the date 1915 don't look aligned and the correct sizes.
Also impossible to tell from the pictures but there does seem to be the indications of a poorly stamped "M" Melbourne mint mark.
How do you know for sure that this coin is 917 finesse ?
How was this determined ?
Diameter and weight in spec so how about centre / average ( avoid rim ) thickness ?
If fake alloy then this will be measurably thicker and you might wish to make a specific gravity test to confirm.
Failing all the above if this is 22ct gold, yet a fake, then its still worth its weight isn gold as this item isn't really worth more than spot to any dealer.

Unless you have a decent amount of silver ( maybe 1,000 ounces or more ) as @Tn21 states, just hold on to it, and if / when you can buy some yellow metal then go ahead.
If you can sell at a profit then realise some profit and buy something else but you might just be rearranging the furniture.
No-one knows where gold will be in a day, week, month or year and it can fall just as much as rise.
Waiting on dips to buy and peaks to sell is easy with hindsight but unless you can travel into the future there is no right time to trade in gold.
Silver for many seems to have more upside potential and percentage swings can be interesting.
Don't ignore that silver spot was 50% higher than it is today whilst gold is trading fairly close to historic highs.
Will silver rise or will gold fall ?
Get these predictions right and you can become quite wealthy.
Buying small bits of gold or a 1/10 ounce can work out relatively expensive adding in SD shipping on top.
 

When it does happen Pete. I will look at making an amendment to the foam base for those that want it of course, I'm already working on a solution for the 1oz proof collectors to adapt the foam to accommodate 11 coins. There is space for this on all the boxes I've produced, in the case of the 10oz the simplest most cost effective solution will be to place 6 coins in the base, which will then allow the completer to sit in the middle of the removeable wooden tray and be the center piece. So its not the end of the world for any of my customers. Just got to wait and see and give me the time to sort out a solution when the time comes...
 
 

NOT COOL at all.
I have a lovely heavy bespoke wooden box from @Alunthat does not have the space for an added coin.
Hope it NEVER happens.
PS I just received my gold completer coin and although the concept is nice you really need a magnifying glass to appreciate the details.
In my opinion far too much crammed on to a small area.
Would be great on a 10 oz coin but back to my point ....

NOT COOL at all.
I have a lovely heavy bespoke wooden box from @Alunthat does not have the space for an added coin.
Hope it NEVER happens.
PS I just received my gold completer coin and although the concept is nice you really need a magnifying glass to appreciate the details.
In my opinion far too much crammed on to a small area.
Would be great on a 10 oz coin but back to my point ....

NOT COOL at all.
I have a lovely heavy bespoke wooden box from @Alunthat does not have the space for an added coin.
Hope it NEVER happens.
PS I just received my gold completer coin and although the concept is nice you really need a magnifying glass to appreciate the details.
In my opinion far too much crammed on to a small area.
Would be great on a 10 oz coin but back to my point ....

NOT COOL at all.
I have a lovely heavy bespoke wooden box from @Alunthat does not have the space for an added coin.
Hope it NEVER happens.
PS I just received my gold completer coin and although the concept is nice you really need a magnifying glass to appreciate the details.
In my opinion far too much crammed on to a small area.
Would be great on a 10 oz coin but back to my point ....

My experience is that if you want an almost instant sale offer your gold on this forum for spot price.
That also depends on the coins of course and if 22ct - 24ct
I found selling to HGM the quickest alternative and received money in the bank on the same day they received the gold.
Generally you can expect 97% or maybe a little better and you can get an estimate / quote on-line.
If popular gold coins like sovereigns etc you could ask 2-3% over spot and maybe catch a buyer in 24 hours.
Any higher and its hit and miss I'm afraid.
As you are a new member you will most likely be asked to ship your gold before receiving payment and if so only sell to reputable members who could be trusted.
Taking into account this fact and that you NEED to sell, if you cannot trust the forum buyer(s), then on this occasion sell to the main dealers - HGM, Chards, BbP and avoid the hurdles & worries.

As others have said people should avoid putting themselves into a financial vulnerability where an emergency forces a sale of PMs - lesson learned !!

My experience is that if you want an almost instant sale offer your gold on this forum for spot price.
That also depends on the coins of course and if 22ct - 24ct
I found selling to HGM the quickest alternative and received money in the bank on the same day they received the gold.
Generally you can expect 97% or maybe a little better and you can get an estimate / quote on-line.
If popular gold coins like sovereigns etc you could ask 2-3% over spot and maybe catch a buyer in 24 hours.
Any higher and its hit and miss I'm afraid.
As you are a new member you will most likely be asked to ship your gold before receiving payment and if so only sell to reputable members who could be trusted.
Taking into account this fact and that you NEED to sell, if you cannot trust the forum buyer(s), then on this occasion sell to the main dealers - HGM, Chards, BbP and avoid the hurdles & worries.

As others have said people should avoid putting themselves into a financial vulnerability where an emergency forces a sale of PMs - lesson learned !!

Interesting read but I've seen this kind of stuff before.
One day silver is in huge demand and the price rocketing, next some global event ( totally unrelated ) is attributed to its collapse in price.
Gold has had a good run and is predicted to fall this year according to the same article - I hope so because I need to buy some gold coins but not at current prices.
However there is an equal probability that gold will rise and someone will Google an event and link the price of gold to this as well !!
If I was building a warehouse capable of storing 15,000 tonnes of metal it would be Lithium.
With all the electric cars being built and the need to reduce petrol cars on our roads I suspect there isn't enough Lithium mined and recycled to make all these wonderful batteries.
Not sure our political elite, trying to combat global warming, have thought about this - have they ?
 

If you use bank transfer, how will it go belly up?
Your issue selling here is you do not have a trading record for potential buyers to refer to. The risk is squarely with the buyer, you have the cash before the goods leave your hands. 

I ordered one from Atkinsons who were slightly cheaper than the RM direct and I avoided this nonsense of adding cash to your account before ordering.
Atkinsons also accept credit cards with no extra costs so defers the pain by a month or thereabouts.
Hope to see it in a week

Just because you made a nice profit on your shares doesn't mean they cannot go higher.
You also state that gold is looking undervalued.

Personally I say the opposite - with global recovery starting as some countries conquer covid there are big opportunities for some stocks to propel and I am waiting for gold to fall a bit as it has had a good session of late.
If you are wanting to lock-in your gains then sell the quantity of shares representing your profits and buy something else.
No-one unfortunately knows the future prices of PMs so half will be correct and half incorrect in their forecasts.

Just because you made a nice profit on your shares doesn't mean they cannot go higher.
You also state that gold is looking undervalued.

Personally I say the opposite - with global recovery starting as some countries conquer covid there are big opportunities for some stocks to propel and I am waiting for gold to fall a bit as it has had a good session of late.
If you are wanting to lock-in your gains then sell the quantity of shares representing your profits and buy something else.
No-one unfortunately knows the future prices of PMs so half will be correct and half incorrect in their forecasts.

A real sneaky move by the RM.
The greyhound was the LAST Queen's Beast coin ref -
"The 2021 UK Queen's Beasts The White Greyhound of Richmond 1oz Gold Coin is the tenth and final release from the exclusive Royal Mint bullion range. "
So you completed you set and bought a nice wooden box.
Then out pops an ELEVENTH coin with this text -
The 2021 UK Queen's Beasts Completer 1oz Gold Coin is the eleventh and final coin in the highly popular Queen’s Beasts series of bullion coins from the Royal Mint.
Mea Culpa !!

Na they cost way more I think 300k upwards!