Pete

Received today from @Pete. Been after the 1997 1oz Proof for a while. Now my date run is complete 😀
 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Seeing a couple of Geiger bars sell recently the Forum I just brought mine out for fresh air.

 

Yes - USPS ends up becoming Royal Mail so there is an automatic charge of £8 to pay plus 20% VAT on the declared value including shipping.
You will get a card through your door advising that you need to go to your RM collection point and pay to receive the package.
If a courier is used and the sender has only paid to the UK port of entry then charges can be in the many tens of pounds plus VAT - needs to be a service paid door to door which often isn't that different to the port.

Good move Chris to create this new section - thanks

This beauty has just arrived from America
This is now my favourite coin I have currently
 

This is a grey area indeed.
When you buy postage and see there is a £50 cover for loss then surely sending a collectible item would be covered.
The small print excludes cash and coins which I would interpret as 'spendable money' or money in circulation that would buy stuff.
What would happen if you posted a rare copper coin of say £40 value or one of the Royal Mint commemorative £50 coins that are not accepted by banks and traders ?
The copper coin is not made of valuable metal.
What about a medal that is an alloy of silver and copper maybe 50% each ?
I would challenge the interpretation of the terms on the basis that your lost "coin" was not a monetary coin spendable in the shops.
However I feel you might be up against the mighty corporate force fields.
As for using SD this is definitely the best way but it is rather expensive for low value shipments.

A real paperweight purchased at the wrong time when silver was over $40 per ounce - ouch !!
 

There are different grades of clear capsules.
The very best are generally scratch resistant ( to a degree ) and the cheap cloned ones are generally scuffed in places even before you get them out of the bag.
Regardless of the capsule, your coin will definitely benefit from its protection.
When I get new coins I put them in good capsules and then place the cap inside a small ziplock bag just to protect the capsules from rubbing as they are just stored loose in a box.
One problem with this approach is the poly bags tend to be a bit slippery together, so if you try to pick up a few coins they tend to scatter in all directions.

There are different grades of clear capsules.
The very best are generally scratch resistant ( to a degree ) and the cheap cloned ones are generally scuffed in places even before you get them out of the bag.
Regardless of the capsule, your coin will definitely benefit from its protection.
When I get new coins I put them in good capsules and then place the cap inside a small ziplock bag just to protect the capsules from rubbing as they are just stored loose in a box.
One problem with this approach is the poly bags tend to be a bit slippery together, so if you try to pick up a few coins they tend to scatter in all directions.

Received an order from the European Mint today, unfortunately I'm having mixed feelings about it with the history I'm already having with them.

So far I have placed and received 2 orders. The quality of the coins were good, however some of the coin capsules these coins were in have seen better days, which to me doesn't seem to be the result of damage caused by the travel from Estonia to the Netherlands, but the result of somewhat lacking quality control at the side of the European Mint.

I contacted them about it, they said it's normal (something that already wasn't quite boosting my enthusiasm), but as they like to keep their customers happy, they'd pop in some replacement coin capsules with my next order to them.

Ordered this 10oz Queen's Beasts Falcon and five 1oz Rectangle Dragons last week, and they arrived today (at least kudos for having gotten my order within a week), along with 3 capsules to replace the capsules the 10oz Queen's Beasts are in that have seen better days.

Somewhat sadly the result is similar to my previous 2 orders; the coins are in good condition, and that's the most important in the end of course , but the coin capsule of the Falcon isn't perfect (still acceptable, but definitely also not new), and the 3 replacement coin capsules definitely aren't new either, and one of them even has scratches on it.

All and all, it's luckily not as bad as with @Pete, who received a tube of Britannias from the European Mint that look as if somebody has been using them as plectrums to play guitar, but it has become clear to me the European Mint currently has some issues with their quality control. So I'm inclined to take my near future business elsewhere for now.

I recieved this this 3 coin Perth Mint Kookaburra 3 coin 2000 proof set. With only 128 sets around.
Unfortunately i have to send it back to Australia because the 10oz has quite a big milk spot. 😓😪

 


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.

Finally !
This is not exactly a pretty coin but it certainly is expensive for 5 ounces of silver.
The illusive "Hawaii Volcanoes" from the America The Beautiful series.
I've been monitoring eBay USA for over 3 years and was fortunate to find a seller who didn't default to the rip-off Global Shipping Program.
Very happy with what it cost me only frustrated that it was serious doubloons per ounce compared to others in the ATB series.
Set is now complete and I discontinued collecting the later series after I released how many coins there would be.