AppleZippoandMetronome

Earlier in the year Erdogan asked citizens to sell gold to support the Turkish Lire.
Turkey has cut rates sharply over the last three months which (as the Turkish people know all too well) will ramp up inflation which has long been an enemy of the Turkish people.   To be able to cut rates he fired treasury officials who wanted to follow a policy of defending the Lire.
Yesterday, Erdogan commented that Turkey is “fighting an economic war of independence” and crashed the Lire by 15 percent.  This brings the decline of the Lire to around 40 percent this year against most currencies.  
Turkey currently has an inflation rate of 20pct, and that’s only going to go up….  
I can see few better examples of why citizens of any country should hold gold.

Hi Everyone, 
Newbies to the forum here .  Excited to join after lots of our customers have mentioned this fantastic forum for many years. 
HGM are really interested to look at what deals we can offer to the forum members directly, and we will aim to tailor these based on your feedback. 
Looking to really cater some nice deals directly to forum members 👍
All The Best, 
HGM  🦁
 
Hatton Garden Metals, UK Based 

A Chards customer just sent us part of an e-mail response they received from the Royal Mint, about the design of the "billion" sovereign being the same as the proof version.
We assume they meant "bullion"!

Looks like we need to create a "billion sovereign" image.
I wonder what the issue limit will be.
😎
The text was:
"Good morning,
I can confirm that both Proof and Billion will have the same design".
Kind Regards,
Allyson
 
Edit 22nd November 2021:
This mornng I received a further e-mail, from a Royal Mint source which included this rather ambiguous and confusing content:
"The bullion sovereign launching in January has been the same for many years and been different to the numismatic version. The emailer confirming this launch should be out today... The coin is beautiful!"
This appears to contradict the information given recently that the bullion and proof designs would have the same designs.
It is possible that this latest e-mail is intended to mean that the release dates are different, but all should become clearer very soon.

So here’s what I have calculated based on mintage figures shared here and elsewhere.

As you can see, they’ve held back 110 of all denominations except the Sovereign of which they’ve held back an odd 340.
I suspect some will be for the Trial of the Pyx, some for important people, and some of the Sovereigns may be part of a “set” next year paired with some other older Sovereigns of QE II’s reign, and/or paired with the inevitable Strike on the Day Sovereign.

Just seen that this has gone live now. A broad selection of coins are available - many with low starting prices. 
Of interest to the Three Graces/Great Engraver collectors - they have a 2oz Silver Proof Three Graces, 2oz Gold Proof Three Graces and a 10oz Gold Proof Three Graces........all in PF70UCAM..............
They also have some nice Trial of the Pyx coins for those who missed that release as well as some other nice items that sold out quickly!
Gah!!

This is a good question.
For older numismatic coins I've personally approached it with a balance of wanting a good grade but still wanting to buy at a price I feel isn't artifically inflated. Anything I buy along these lines I am planning to own for a very, very long time and I don't know what the market will be like come selling time. Maybe it will be the same as now with the most perfect grades selling for unreasonably high prices above slightly lower grades but I'm not confident of that so I really don't want to buy into what could be a fad today with the potential downside of losing out big long term. Its important to note I do believe higher grade coins should have a higher price just not the unreasonbly higher prices we see today.
For modern numismatics I think the market in graded coins is almost entirely a fraud. Someone on here (really wish I could remember the user name - apologies for not!) made a topic asking if PF69 coins are cheap in comparison to PF70s. Given you can pick up PF69s for generally cheaper than a raw coin I would say they are a good buy in todays market so if I was willing to put money into modern graded coins this is where my money would go. I class the hype around modern PF70s as a fad that won't last. My opinion of course - many I'm sure will disagree.
For bullion products we stack...  all about the price and going as low as you can manage

This is a good question.
For older numismatic coins I've personally approached it with a balance of wanting a good grade but still wanting to buy at a price I feel isn't artifically inflated. Anything I buy along these lines I am planning to own for a very, very long time and I don't know what the market will be like come selling time. Maybe it will be the same as now with the most perfect grades selling for unreasonably high prices above slightly lower grades but I'm not confident of that so I really don't want to buy into what could be a fad today with the potential downside of losing out big long term. Its important to note I do believe higher grade coins should have a higher price just not the unreasonbly higher prices we see today.
For modern numismatics I think the market in graded coins is almost entirely a fraud. Someone on here (really wish I could remember the user name - apologies for not!) made a topic asking if PF69 coins are cheap in comparison to PF70s. Given you can pick up PF69s for generally cheaper than a raw coin I would say they are a good buy in todays market so if I was willing to put money into modern graded coins this is where my money would go. I class the hype around modern PF70s as a fad that won't last. My opinion of course - many I'm sure will disagree.
For bullion products we stack...  all about the price and going as low as you can manage

I think that job would be up there with the worst jobs imaginable. I would actually feel sorry for them.

Looks like the Mint have got their act together with their email notifications for a change😁

I just hope they don't go down the same road as the Royal Canadian Mint when it comes to commemoratives. The RCM releases so many different items I think its become hard to take them seriously which is a shame since some of the releases are very, very nice. The Royal Mint with its history really needs to hang on to its image of perceived quality and heritage. It would be a shame to see that reduced to the production of trinket items purely to pad out the balance sheets.
As I'm sure all of us who have bought coins from the RM and sent them back will agree they really need to focus on their quality before anything else. Again I think their history and heritage means they have a good reputation throughout the world however that won't last if people keep having bad experiences.

I just hope they don't go down the same road as the Royal Canadian Mint when it comes to commemoratives. The RCM releases so many different items I think its become hard to take them seriously which is a shame since some of the releases are very, very nice. The Royal Mint with its history really needs to hang on to its image of perceived quality and heritage. It would be a shame to see that reduced to the production of trinket items purely to pad out the balance sheets.
As I'm sure all of us who have bought coins from the RM and sent them back will agree they really need to focus on their quality before anything else. Again I think their history and heritage means they have a good reputation throughout the world however that won't last if people keep having bad experiences.

I just hope they don't go down the same road as the Royal Canadian Mint when it comes to commemoratives. The RCM releases so many different items I think its become hard to take them seriously which is a shame since some of the releases are very, very nice. The Royal Mint with its history really needs to hang on to its image of perceived quality and heritage. It would be a shame to see that reduced to the production of trinket items purely to pad out the balance sheets.
As I'm sure all of us who have bought coins from the RM and sent them back will agree they really need to focus on their quality before anything else. Again I think their history and heritage means they have a good reputation throughout the world however that won't last if people keep having bad experiences.

I just hope they don't go down the same road as the Royal Canadian Mint when it comes to commemoratives. The RCM releases so many different items I think its become hard to take them seriously which is a shame since some of the releases are very, very nice. The Royal Mint with its history really needs to hang on to its image of perceived quality and heritage. It would be a shame to see that reduced to the production of trinket items purely to pad out the balance sheets.
As I'm sure all of us who have bought coins from the RM and sent them back will agree they really need to focus on their quality before anything else. Again I think their history and heritage means they have a good reputation throughout the world however that won't last if people keep having bad experiences.

I just hope they don't go down the same road as the Royal Canadian Mint when it comes to commemoratives. The RCM releases so many different items I think its become hard to take them seriously which is a shame since some of the releases are very, very nice. The Royal Mint with its history really needs to hang on to its image of perceived quality and heritage. It would be a shame to see that reduced to the production of trinket items purely to pad out the balance sheets.
As I'm sure all of us who have bought coins from the RM and sent them back will agree they really need to focus on their quality before anything else. Again I think their history and heritage means they have a good reputation throughout the world however that won't last if people keep having bad experiences.

I think its important to note it didn't start this way with the original Una coin. It wasn't an instant sell out. I hummed and hawed over buying it for more than 24 hours before pulling the trigger and it was available for a while after I ordered one. Had the RM been aware of what it would become I'm sure they would have increased the mintage and price much as they did with the 3 Graces. I'd be surprised if both aren't pushed a little higher still for the next release and I'm sure the next being a two coin release plays into their decision to go with the Gothic Crown. With the exposure the original Una has given the RM and how that has almost certainly driven sales for other coins - especially in the 2oz proof format - I suspect they've done just fine out of it.

I think its important to note it didn't start this way with the original Una coin. It wasn't an instant sell out. I hummed and hawed over buying it for more than 24 hours before pulling the trigger and it was available for a while after I ordered one. Had the RM been aware of what it would become I'm sure they would have increased the mintage and price much as they did with the 3 Graces. I'd be surprised if both aren't pushed a little higher still for the next release and I'm sure the next being a two coin release plays into their decision to go with the Gothic Crown. With the exposure the original Una has given the RM and how that has almost certainly driven sales for other coins - especially in the 2oz proof format - I suspect they've done just fine out of it.

I think its important to note it didn't start this way with the original Una coin. It wasn't an instant sell out. I hummed and hawed over buying it for more than 24 hours before pulling the trigger and it was available for a while after I ordered one. Had the RM been aware of what it would become I'm sure they would have increased the mintage and price much as they did with the 3 Graces. I'd be surprised if both aren't pushed a little higher still for the next release and I'm sure the next being a two coin release plays into their decision to go with the Gothic Crown. With the exposure the original Una has given the RM and how that has almost certainly driven sales for other coins - especially in the 2oz proof format - I suspect they've done just fine out of it.

Cat is out of the bag! It is a two stage release so those worried about initial costs can relax!

Ah, of course - both sides of the coin.
I hope they give options for those lucky enough to get the first coin to get the second otherwise it's going to be a 2nd hand bloodbath for completing a set of the two.....

I bought a couple of modern gold coins at pf70 way below release price. So i was extremely happy! 
there were many modern coins being sold at cost or below cost..

Another side of it - and this is the reason pawn shops are able to operate as well - you're pretty much guaranteed quick cash with a dealer and sometimes if you don't have a cash buffer that access to instant cash can become more important than the losses you might incur. As much as we all love silver I do really wish this topic would get discussed more often especially with newer members. As important as I think both gold and silver are - having a rainy day fund in cash is probably more important. You never want to find yourself suddenly facing a bill that needs to be immediately paid and not have the funds available for it as this is when you'll get desperate and need to liquidate whatever you have likely at steep losses.

Wasn't much I was interested in but what did interest me wound up ending significantly higher than a same coin I picked up recently in a better grade so wasn't about to bid on that. This has sadly been my experience with recent CC auctions. I don't know how it is overall but for several auctions now the coins I've had an interest in have been bid up higher than I could source them for elsewhere. Good for the sellers - not sure what the buyers are thinking.

There are a couple years that are legit rarely seen - as Pete suggests above the Marsh book is a good source of such information to avoid costly mistakes.
Also check out this interesting thread.
 
 

Premiums on mass produced sovereigns is nothing more than a seller trying to make a higher return, hoping someone who hasn't really researched the mintage etc is sucked into buying.
Anything that is rarer - check the Marsh books - is unlikely to turn up in a bullion dealer's inventory.
So if you want to make something appear highly collectible or rare just bump up the price and some will fall into the trap.