TeaTime

I see colourised coins as a way of enhancing, what is usually, a poor or muddled design. A bit gimmicky. I have occasionally wondered what would happen to the printed area if the coin was dipped. Would like to see a colourised coin after a few years when natural toning has occurred... In short; I do not like them !

I was gifted the first silver proof £1 (1983) coin in 2000. My first purchase was a Charles II Crown - and i still have it !

Depends if you want them and for what reason. If it's to sell on then anything over 8g has to be hallmarked to be sold legally in the UK as silver. What guarantee will you have that they are actually sterling silver ? (There is a lot of (almost certainly not silver )white metal pendants/chains coming out of China stamped 925 - a quick look on Ebay shows similar items selling at £2-£3) If they are to be gifts then the actual manufacturing/material cost seems reasonable for bespoke items in such a small amount. Just make sure the recipients are not allergic to any metals typically found in Chinesium* *Not a real word

Very canny - collectors of Roos, Kooks & Koalas will want one (or more) of these for completeness...

For me; Trying too hard and not quite getting it... Does it really need a Britannia, a lion, stylised waves and a sailing ship (Golden Hind) ? The company logo reminds me of something that i can't quite put my finger on ! I'd take a few at £60 a pop, free postage 😁

Wow, that's a complex question.... Gold by volume is almost twice as heavy as silver - so, for example a cubic centimetre of silver would weigh 10.49g and the same in gold would weigh 19.32g. That would be for pure silver and gold. So you would need 78g of pure gold to make up the same volume as 43g of pure silver Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver. 9ct gold is 37.5% pure gold - usually alloyed with silver. Assuming, in the end product, that 62.5% of it is silver . . . . and that's where i give up. BUT - gold is heavier than silver so it stands to reason that, regardless of purity, you will need more gold than silver to make an equivalent sized piece.

Or, if feeling extravagant - a pack of Stuyvesant to share amongst friends. LOL

I have been collecting US quarters for a number of years and that is the first time i have noticed the lower case 'u' used in the lettering. Looks like i haven't been scrutinising my coins as diligently as i thought...

Not sure if i'm missing something obvious but the 1oz 2024 Britannia coin on the RM site is currently listed at £800.66. https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-coins/platinum-coins/britannia-2024-1oz-platinum-bullion-coin/ The same coin in a blister pack is listed at £847.28. https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-coins/platinum-coins/britannia-2024-1-oz-platinum-bullion-coin-in-blister/ That's a hell of a price for the packaging considering the premium for the blister pack on the same gold coins is less than £2. Oh, and i'm assuming they're gonna add VAT to that too 😕

he he he - i can guarantee that the UK does not get preferential treatment. I NEVER receive the e-mail notifications. Every time i log on to my account the notifications are switched off. I then switch them back on again only for them to default to 'you are currently opted out of notifications' as soon as i log off. As for signing up for a particular release - again, i never receive the notification. Horrendous site. I basically use TSF as my source of information.

Not the best design but, too me, not unappealing. Ordered the 2 coin set as these always sell out quickly and seem to hold their value.... Lucky i logged on to TSF this morning or i would never have known these were up. On another note - the Lion & Eagle bullion ouncers landed today. Very quickly despatched and well packaged and riddled with milky badness (i would say spots but these are more like splashes). Looks like i will be force-toning these at some point. 🙄

Well.... It is a lion and it is a depiction of Una so the description seems accurate 😁. It's no different to the Britannia coin depictions that vary from quintessentially beautiful women to Les Dawson in drag. Probably.

Twenty years ago i could get a new sovereign from my local dealer (Dorset Coin Co) for £60. (According to the BoE inflation calculator that £60 is the equivalent of £103 now) .. That advert appears to be a complete rip-off !

And again, despite signing up for a notification, the RM sent me no email for this release.... Absolutely shambolic.

Imagine looking at a group of twenty of the same coins that have come directly from the mint. After grading the first 5 or 6 as PF70 it would be a very focused person who wouldn't think 'maybe i'll grade the next one at 69 just for a bit of variety' ! I genuinely believe that a lot of the 69 grades are down to the whims of the grader rather than quality of the coin...

I did wonder what the RM would do to continue the silver bullion bar issues following the 3 graces. The option of a gothic bar to follow the coin release was probably not going to happen due to fitting a circular design into a rectangle ! A few different interpretations of Una & the Lion would be welcome by me (keeping fingers crossed they don't bring out a bad 'un).... No different really to the yearly Britannia proof designs. In this instance i applaud the RM for milking it 🙂

Would anyone ever buy from a seller who stated that insured items lost in post are the responsibility of the buyer ? What a wonderfully innocent world they must live in....

I actually spilt my tea with laughter when this popped on the screen.....

I was being a touch facetious admittedly but the fact still remains - there is very little demand for royalty themed (and especially portrait type) coins. If the RM produced half as many designs but spent twice the time designing them it would help. At least they are canvassing actual collectors to see what hey want. It's a start 🙂

The RM has a history of producing excruciatingly bad (and often lazily designed) modern royal themed coins that appeal to maybe 0.001% of the population.. Yet they still keep making them. Nearly naked beautiful women* is what we want. Get to it RM. * substitute your preference if you must.

Judging by the delays a lot of people have been experiencing in receiving coins, i doubt if the RM are over-producing anything. I would imagine that, excepting popular bullion and base metal issues, the strategy will be to mint to demand. As for dealers offering discounts on RM prices - all that means is that they are getting better deals than joe public. Probably.

May even be contemporary - '...look Reginald, my pound is rather odd'. 'Hand it here Charles, i'll test it with Victoria's hat pin'....

Another factor to consider is that the grade is subjective. A '69' is a coin with 'nearly imperceptible defects'... On another day or with a different inspector the same coin may have been graded as '70'. I have a number of graded coins that have been designated as 69 which i am unable to find any issues with. If a 'defect' has been found why not describe where and what it is ? The manufacturer could arguably state that a third party inspection is only an opinion and, if the perceived defect is so small that it is not readily obvious, could be financially or politically motivated... I do wonder how many '69' graded coins are un-slabbed and re-submitted in an effort to gain a different result. Each time generating profit for the grading company. That in itself tells me that there is no real belief that the grade is unequivocal. The big issue here is maybe not the coin itself but the perception of the difference between the magic '70' designation and any number smaller than that.