Stuntman

Given that I have now managed to buy all the gold/silver/platinum coins and bars that I intended to buy when I started doing this seriously about 5 years ago, I have arguably reached my end goal. However, this 'stack' is now actually 'a collection' which I don't want to sell... So my decision is whether to continue buying, but this time to buy gold just as a stack and not a collection. If I do this, the idea of stacking bullion sovereigns is perfect. I would just keep buying the current year bullion sovereign as cheaply as I could, as often as I could. As well as my physical PMs (which are almost all 'a collection') I do have ETF holdings in all 3 main PMs. I add to these from time to time in my ISA and my SIPP. These investments will be sold opportunistically on the highs. I'm sure I will still add occasional items to the PM collection. All the PMs, whether physical or ETF, are part of a wider set of diversified assets including cash and shares. And I'm currently overpaying my mortgage and ensuring that I have 2 years of living expenses saved in cash. I'm in my 50s and intend to stop working within the next 5 years.

Excellent news that these are coming - apart from the dent it will make in my bank balance 😁 Assuming that I can get them, I would love to own the 1 oz gold and 10 oz silver versions, and maybe the 1 oz silver as well. I have the above versions for the Una & The Lion bars and still think that they are lovely.

I've posted this before, but if you like this garter design and want something with a bit of age, the silver Crowns from 1818-1820 fit the bill very nicely. I paid £120 for this 1820 example from a reputable coin dealer about 7 years ago and I probably overpaid. It's still very lovely, and strikes a nice balance (in my opinion) between having had some proper circulation whilst not having lost too much of the design detail.

^^^ Who is going to post the 1817 in 'Today I Received' then? If it's just been sold, it is very likely to have been to someone who's been reading this. (Am definitely not the buyer!)

In my opinion, the price being asked by Atkinsons doesn't appear too out-of-line with the auction prices for similar coins. Given that this coin will hold niche appeal to their average customer, you might even be able to negotiate with them over the phone a bit on price. Good luck with your decision.

This is my usual go-to resource if I want a sense of auction hammer prices for similar items (remember to add buyer premiums and any other charges to get an idea of actual buying prices): https://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&searchterm=Sovereign+1817&category=9&searchtype=1

Personally I wouldn't, because I don't think it is value for money in that condition for the price, and I don't think that it would give me enough pleasure of ownership aesthetically to justify spending that much on it. But it's a pretty cool piece of history, especially being an 1817 (the first of the modern sovereigns) so I would completely understand someone else coming to the opposite conclusion. That's probably the entry-point for these sorts of coins nowadays but it does seem expensive to me.

Wow @LawrenceChard, that 1903 half crown is very lovely! Apparently they are harder to come by in this condition than the 1905. (I have a 1903 - see below - but nowhere near as nice as yours. Beautiful coin!)

Wow! Lovely, thanks for sharing. Fascinating to see the XRF analysis results too. How did you come by it, and is it for sale? Not that I'm in the market... 😁 Oh - and whereabouts is the 'S' mint mark on the obverse? I couldn't spot it at 12 o'clock where I would have expected it to be. EDIT - is it just to the right of the cross at the top of the crown and before the 'H' of HENDRIC?

I'm someone who almost always buys bullion coins rather than proofs. If I can buy the new bullion coin and bar releases I want from other UK precious metal dealers, then I do. But some of these items are rarely if ever stocked or distributed by them. For these items I do still use the Royal Mint, but because I dislike their online bullion buying process, I only do so if I have no practical alternative.The information that would be interesting to me is whether the likes of Chards and Atkinsons are ever offered the opportunity of stocking and distributing any bullion release that they want from the RM. For example, the Una & The Lion bars when they were released, more of the platinum bullion coins and bars, more of the 10 oz silver coins and bars etc. If this was/is indeed possible, I would very happily make all future bullion purchases through Chards, Atkinsons or BBP for example and cheerfully ignore the RM website. But of the 4 coins that I have bought so far this year, 3 of them were through the RM because they were not actually available anywhere else in the UK at the time I was looking to buy them a couple of months ago, and I don't think that the availability situation has changed much since then. The 3 coins I am specifically talking about are the 2022 double sovereign, 10 oz Silver QB completer and 1 oz Platinum QB completer. Having checked just now, BBP has two of these coins in stock and one out of stock, Atkinsons only has one of these coins listed but it is out of stock, and I couldn't find any of them listed on the Chards website. So effectively I would still have buy from the RM if I want these items. It's probably fair enough if the RM wishes to control the sales of its proof coins and restrict the mintages to create the buying frenzy and secondary market pricing. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's their own decision to make.

I like the way those interviews were throne together 😉

The first Decimal 10p with the Lion Passant The first Decimal 50p with the seated Britannia The Portcullis design on the predecimal nickel-brass threepence. This would be ace in gold... Maybe the predecimal half crown with the shield design Maybe the predecimal two shillings Maybe the predecimal English and Scottish shillings as a two-coin set (basically the older coins rather than the newer coins, and the definitive designs rather than any of the many, many commemoratives)

I'd say that they are definitely looking to sell (of course), and some of them will be prepared to haggle. There is no harm in asking them what they could do the coin for, if you are going to buy it there and then. In my previous trips there some years ago, some of the dealers wouldn't budge on the coins I was asking for, but others could be moved downwards by 10-25% depending on the coin and probably the time of day. Obviously it also helps if you want to buy multiple coins from the same dealer.

There are are 3 main ones I think - in London, Birmingham (Midland Coin Fair) and... Wakefield? York? Somewhere in Yorkshire, anyway. Here is a link to the dates for the London and Midland Coin Fairs. I've been to the Midland one a few times in the past, but this was 2015-2017. Highly recommended though, if you want to see loads of rare and interesting coins and the dealers are there to sell. Best advice is to get there early, quite often some of the dealers have packed up and left at least an hour before the official closing time. https://www.coinfairs.co.uk/

PF65 or maybe 66? It's a very nice coin and probably Practically As Struck, but perhaps the grader might mark it down for the die polishing lines? I'd be interested to know who your go-to dealer is: PM me please if you're willing to share, no worries if not!

For the OP: I have no affiliation to this business but I have met the owner on a couple of occasions and he has an absolutely encyclopaedic knowledge of UK predecimal coinage going all the way back to Alfred the Great and possibly even earlier. He has some amazing coins in his personal collection and could probably source you any coins that you might have on your wishlist. Rob Pearce at RP Coins. Here's his Hammered Coins link, showing what he currently has for sale: https://www.rpcoins.co.uk/collections/hammered

Thanks @LawrenceChard, I did miss that one first time round. Re Hazel: if you don't hold it, you don't own it 😉😁

Yes. It's a very nice coin, but anyone with a working pair of eyes and some common sense would know that it would not grade as Uncirculated or get an MS grade from a TPG. Rich's coin, on the other hand, is utterly lovely - as I have said on several occasions when he has posted it previously! Very envious of that one 😄

Definitely avoid eBay unless you are REALLY confident in what you are buying. Caveat Emptor and all that.

My uneducated but serious guess is £2,250 per troy ounce.

One person's VF is another person's Unc when it comes to a human being offering an opinion about the grade of a coin. Particularly if you happen to be selling the coin or buying the coin. That's why the TPG companies serve a purpose for some - they will grade a coin according to their own set of criteria, which will be objectively written down, but subjectively applied in each case. Hence why some people may think a coin is under or over graded and then act on the potential buying or selling opportunity. Grading is like dating. You might describe yourself, or your spouse, as 'attractive' (I won't go as far as uncirculated...) but everyone's spouse appears 'attractive' after a few pints... 😉

There are some very knowledgeable folks over on predecimal.com if you want to ask more detailed questions about UK hammered coinage.

Very nice coin, although personally I struggle to see £670 for 1/4 oz of gold to be good value!

My two cents: 1. That Chards link with the difference in grades is pretty accurate IMO - nice work 2. The 1880 sovereign in the Chards link graded aVF/VF is pretty accurate IMO according to the old-skool UK grading system. I think it would get an EF45/XF45 grade on the Sheldon scale, maybe slightly higher if the grader valued the reverse higher than the obverse. And in answer to the original question - I think you may have to chalk this one up to experience. I certainly wouldn't rely on a dealer's subjective grading assessment in the way you are perhaps looking to do. I would evaluate the coin and compare it to the price being asked, and then decide whether I thought that was worth paying. The dealer is offering to sell you a raw coin, not one that has already been third-party-graded.

I have one of the Bullion 2000 Quintuples, it sits nicely with my 21st-century bullion sovs and double sovs. I also didn't know about the 2014 BU sovereign. They did do a 2014 BU double sovereign release, which may be why there is also the BU sovereign for that year. And proof sovereigns, proof reading and degrees proof for alcohol! The proof of the pudding is in the eating...