sixgun

You didn't think @Happypanda88 would be stupid enough to reveal the actual location of his stash, did you?
He has obviously now invested in a submarine instead!
😎

I'd start worrying - looks like No Worries got towed away.

I am indeed female. But I'm a northerner so please do throw your uncouth language my way! I'm finding the forum (mostly) really friendly and love that people are happy to help each other. I guess it's because we are like-minded and interested in the same thing. Us landlords get a bad rap - but we are also grafters who love to help each other (it's a tiny minority and exaggerated TV shows that give us a bad name!) But other forums (e.g. Amazon sellers) always have a few unkind keyboard warriors which prevent me wanting to contribute. So I didn't speak up on The Silver Forum until now (after stalking you all for a few weeks and realising you're a nice bunch that don't bite😆)
I also feel we have never left the 2008 mess (the low interest rates and masses of quantitative easing says it all) and I also think there is an impending large drop in property value coming - who knows whether in 6 months or a few years time. Thankfully I purchased all properties before the hikes over the last few years so am happy to ride out the dip as long term they're amazing investments (but not for 5-10 years is when I'll see the rewards - it's a loss for many years thanks to Stamp Duty, refurbs etc). Also, when house prices crash more people want to rent.
I'm going to go mostly for sovereigns as you have all suggested and will set alerts for new posts - thanks for the tip! I've also saved that link and will check it out this evening 😊

@katyc - is this Katy C?
Are you a woman? - by that i mean adult human female.
To avoid any claims of non disclosure and despite the avatar image i am an adult human male.
i ask the question out of some curiosity b/c the vast majority of members here are men - it appears to me to be one of the differences between the sexes - men collect precious metal coins and bars whilst women don't. It would be good to see more women here - but i must warn you that the language can be uncouth at times.
We have had a few women members but in my experience they are few and far between.
You can set the UK trade forum to send you an email whenever a new post appears - these emails were a bit slow to reach my email box in the past but i think they are pretty quick these days.
My view is that the economy is sliding into an abyss. i have said this for months - if not years. In reality there has been a recession since 2008. Property prices have been pumped up by off the scale immigration, cheap credit and foreign money coming in. Personally i have seen a number of boom and busts in property so the potential for a bust in UK property prices seems more than an off chance in my mind. If i had 10 properties i would be looking to sell some whilst i could. There might be a whole lot of tax and other reasons a person would not want to do that but i do see property prices coming down as the recession bites and interest rates climb. Property prices are set at the margins - it does not need too many forced sales and bank 'repossessions' for a snowball tumble to take place (not that the banks ever actually possessed the property or the currency they allegedly lent).
As far a buying gold - i would buy small coins not ounces - get sovereigns instead - they are easy to sell come the day you decide to.
If you want a yield on gold and silver you might look at https://kinesis.money - i am something like a founding member. The project has been slow to get going but is now starting to get into gear. Last Friday the Jakata Futures Exchange listed the KAU - this is the gold token which is title to ownership of 1 gram of vaulted gold. This is the start of a series of projects in Indonesia, some with the Indonesian government. 

I'd start worrying - looks like No Worries got towed away.

i hadn't noticed this before but yes quite a few of the listings say 20% VAT will apply. 
Now this should be the case if a seller had had a turnover of more than £85 000 in the year and was registered for VAT.
It would not matter if they were businesses or private sellers - if they don't have enough turnover there is no obligation to register. People and companies don't usually registered unless they have to.
i don't know but i would be surprised if all the VAT charging sellers had needed to register so i wonder if Ebay is getting involved somewhere.
Selling platforms can charge VAT on behalf of a seller - they take away some of your VAT paperwork. Looking at some of the 20% VAT sales they don't look like sellers who would go over £85000. This is odd. Another reason not to bother with Ebay. 
 

This is true - indeed we are a sad crew - we pretend we have precious metal when in fact we are penniless paupers. i have lost count of the number of tragic boating accidents i have suffered, it has given me PTSD.

This is true - indeed we are a sad crew - we pretend we have precious metal when in fact we are penniless paupers. i have lost count of the number of tragic boating accidents i have suffered, it has given me PTSD.

This is true - indeed we are a sad crew - we pretend we have precious metal when in fact we are penniless paupers. i have lost count of the number of tragic boating accidents i have suffered, it has given me PTSD.

Hi @katyc  You're not alone, lots of others (including me) did exactly the same thing before discovering the forum.  Going forward I'll now only consider gold rather than silver. With what I spent on premiums and vat buying silver as a newbie before joining the forum I could probably have had at least a couple of sovereigns more than I have..never mind, we live and learn.
I suggest watching Mike Maloney's "Hidden secrets of money" series on youtube.  There are 9 episodes which explain the economics of currency and pms very well. It's a fascinating watch and a real eye opener although I admit I skipped the episode about crypto.
Why sovereigns?   Because they are lauded as "the worlds favourite coin" and very easy to move if you need to resell.
I wonder what you call a secure location..?   You could always get a safe...  
Most people on here in fact own no precious metals at all and boating accidents are very common!
😝

i hadn't noticed this before but yes quite a few of the listings say 20% VAT will apply. 
Now this should be the case if a seller had had a turnover of more than £85 000 in the year and was registered for VAT.
It would not matter if they were businesses or private sellers - if they don't have enough turnover there is no obligation to register. People and companies don't usually registered unless they have to.
i don't know but i would be surprised if all the VAT charging sellers had needed to register so i wonder if Ebay is getting involved somewhere.
Selling platforms can charge VAT on behalf of a seller - they take away some of your VAT paperwork. Looking at some of the 20% VAT sales they don't look like sellers who would go over £85000. This is odd. Another reason not to bother with Ebay. 
 

I hadn't noticed this either, but a quick look around and I found quite a few listing with VAT to be added on.
But I did stumble across this on one listing 
Hopefully that explains it.

Its good to be back.
Miss you too buddy. 

i hadn't noticed this before but yes quite a few of the listings say 20% VAT will apply. 
Now this should be the case if a seller had had a turnover of more than £85 000 in the year and was registered for VAT.
It would not matter if they were businesses or private sellers - if they don't have enough turnover there is no obligation to register. People and companies don't usually registered unless they have to.
i don't know but i would be surprised if all the VAT charging sellers had needed to register so i wonder if Ebay is getting involved somewhere.
Selling platforms can charge VAT on behalf of a seller - they take away some of your VAT paperwork. Looking at some of the 20% VAT sales they don't look like sellers who would go over £85000. This is odd. Another reason not to bother with Ebay. 
 

Yes Estonia now charges 20% VAT on silver however you will be exporting the silver out of Estonia. As such you should be able to reclaim the VAT at the airport or whatever system operates in Estonia. i know for example there is an VAT reclaims office at Alicante airport in Spain - i sat outside it once whilst waiting for a plane. You needed to provide all the bills with VAT invoices. You'd need to research this to see what you need to do in Estonia - you need to know this at the time you buy the goods at the shop. So it doesn't matter what the VAT level is, if you export the item it can be exported VAT free by reclaiming VAT and in some shops not paying it in the first place.
That it is 0% VAT in Norway doesn't matter - it is the same, just you don't need to reclaim the VAT.
The issue arises when you hit the UK border. If you declare the silver and you have above a certain amount then HMRC will want to charge you VAT. This would go for silver from any country being imported into the UK.
Pre-Brexit when the UK was in the EU and Estonia charged 0% VAT, you could buy the silver 0% VAT in Estonia and take it wherever you wanted inside the EU without paying any extra VAT. You had already paid the 0% VAT - i.e. 0.00€.
So for example i can buy silver coins from goldsilver.be and have them sent to Spain - there are no taxes charged - it is like the 'good old days'. However if i put a UK address to send the silver it might well get intercepted by HMRC at the border and it will have VAT and brokerage charges to pay. There is a workaround - i could have GS.be send the silver to Ireland, then i pick it up and take it into N. Ireland and i bring it into the UK as personal baggage. As you might imagine that is a costly exercise and only worthwhile if i brought in a lot of silver. Bringing a lot of silver might then alert HMRC as i came into the UK b/c i cannot bring the silver in commercially, only as a personal item.
You could buy silver VAT free in Guernsey except i think it is tricky to get the likes of GS.be to send to Guernsey. i know UK dealers will export to Guernsey VAT free. Then if you wanted to bring it into the UK there is the issue of HMRC at the border. i have never made this trip and i don't know what customs is like. You might be able to sneak it through but again you are taking a risk and it is smuggling. Making these trips and all the arrangements is going to be expensive - at the end of the day in the majority on occasions it just isn't worth the time and costs - plus it is smuggling.
So in summary the issue isn't about getting silver out of a country 0% VAT - if you know the system and have the correct paperwork, you can do that is perfectly legitimately for most countries i know. It is getting the silver into the UK 0% VAT. You can legitimately bring a bit in without VAT, - i forget how much it is, perhaps another member knows - you can do the N. Ireland route. But most times the process is costly and most times you are smuggling and taking a risk. 
i can buy silver at GS.be cheaper but it is stuck inside the EU. If you are not fussy and you keep your eyes open as a premium member on TSF you can get good priced silver. i pay very close attention to this sort of thing - i buy for UK and EU delivery. i would say 19 out of 20 times it isn't worth the hassle and certainly isn't worth getting caught out at customs.

At least 3 bars 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165583269590
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165578230965
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165629123343
and probably more will trickle-down in time

Yes the assay office marks can and are in any order but i find there is a tendency to be in the order i find them on the hallmark websites. We really weren't sure of what any of the marks were at one stage, then when we decided on Birmingham the order matched that on the hallmark website i was looking at. It reassured me a bit we were moving in the right direction but as you say the order is not fixed. 

Yep this makes sense and with less imagination there is an upright anchor - 
- it puts the piece in the range of 1900 - 1949. The order of the marks is then correct.
We just need a better image of the letter mark and it is cracked. Over to you @Cathryn

This is the Age of the Cult. We have the Cult of COVID, the Cult of Climate Change, the Cult of Gender, the Cult of Woke........... and of course the Cult of Silver. 
i must admit i watched my fair share of these silver to the Moon videos - silver will be $30 by the end of the year, it will be $50, it will be $200. We have all heard them. 
Is silver correctly priced? No it isn't. September silver goes into Comex Opex Expiration and rollover in 5 sessions and there is currently a 10c backwardation to spot. Futures do not sell for 10 cents less than spot when in 5 days they expire - the price of spot and futures should be almost equal. That tells you the 'market' is selling the living daylights out of SI futures. Has this got anything to do with the supply and demand for physical silver? No it hasn't. There has been over a 1000 tonnes offtake since SI fell below $19.75. JP Morgan traders may have been convicted but the games continue. They will continue until there isn't a 1000 tonnes of physical to take delivery on. When physical can no longer be begged, borrowed or stolen at whatever the prevailing paper price is, then silver goes to the Moon. At that point fiat will be blowing up. Until that happens keep stacking. Load up to the teeth and then grandma's dentures.

This is the Age of the Cult. We have the Cult of COVID, the Cult of Climate Change, the Cult of Gender, the Cult of Woke........... and of course the Cult of Silver. 
i must admit i watched my fair share of these silver to the Moon videos - silver will be $30 by the end of the year, it will be $50, it will be $200. We have all heard them. 
Is silver correctly priced? No it isn't. September silver goes into Comex Opex Expiration and rollover in 5 sessions and there is currently a 10c backwardation to spot. Futures do not sell for 10 cents less than spot when in 5 days they expire - the price of spot and futures should be almost equal. That tells you the 'market' is selling the living daylights out of SI futures. Has this got anything to do with the supply and demand for physical silver? No it hasn't. There has been over a 1000 tonnes offtake since SI fell below $19.75. JP Morgan traders may have been convicted but the games continue. They will continue until there isn't a 1000 tonnes of physical to take delivery on. When physical can no longer be begged, borrowed or stolen at whatever the prevailing paper price is, then silver goes to the Moon. At that point fiat will be blowing up. Until that happens keep stacking. Load up to the teeth and then grandma's dentures.

This is the Age of the Cult. We have the Cult of COVID, the Cult of Climate Change, the Cult of Gender, the Cult of Woke........... and of course the Cult of Silver. 
i must admit i watched my fair share of these silver to the Moon videos - silver will be $30 by the end of the year, it will be $50, it will be $200. We have all heard them. 
Is silver correctly priced? No it isn't. September silver goes into Comex Opex Expiration and rollover in 5 sessions and there is currently a 10c backwardation to spot. Futures do not sell for 10 cents less than spot when in 5 days they expire - the price of spot and futures should be almost equal. That tells you the 'market' is selling the living daylights out of SI futures. Has this got anything to do with the supply and demand for physical silver? No it hasn't. There has been over a 1000 tonnes offtake since SI fell below $19.75. JP Morgan traders may have been convicted but the games continue. They will continue until there isn't a 1000 tonnes of physical to take delivery on. When physical can no longer be begged, borrowed or stolen at whatever the prevailing paper price is, then silver goes to the Moon. At that point fiat will be blowing up. Until that happens keep stacking. Load up to the teeth and then grandma's dentures.

This is the Age of the Cult. We have the Cult of COVID, the Cult of Climate Change, the Cult of Gender, the Cult of Woke........... and of course the Cult of Silver. 
i must admit i watched my fair share of these silver to the Moon videos - silver will be $30 by the end of the year, it will be $50, it will be $200. We have all heard them. 
Is silver correctly priced? No it isn't. September silver goes into Comex Opex Expiration and rollover in 5 sessions and there is currently a 10c backwardation to spot. Futures do not sell for 10 cents less than spot when in 5 days they expire - the price of spot and futures should be almost equal. That tells you the 'market' is selling the living daylights out of SI futures. Has this got anything to do with the supply and demand for physical silver? No it hasn't. There has been over a 1000 tonnes offtake since SI fell below $19.75. JP Morgan traders may have been convicted but the games continue. They will continue until there isn't a 1000 tonnes of physical to take delivery on. When physical can no longer be begged, borrowed or stolen at whatever the prevailing paper price is, then silver goes to the Moon. At that point fiat will be blowing up. Until that happens keep stacking. Load up to the teeth and then grandma's dentures.

Yep this makes sense and with less imagination there is an upright anchor - 
- it puts the piece in the range of 1900 - 1949. The order of the marks is then correct.
We just need a better image of the letter mark and it is cracked. Over to you @Cathryn

Chester is the assay office where the silver was checked. It came up to standard so received the assay hallmarks. Chester doesn't have an assay office anymore, it closed in 1962.
Yes Sterling silver - silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of another metals, usually copper. The name comes from the Sterling which was an Anglo-Saxon silver coin. As i remember 240 Sterlings weighed 1 lb (pound). There were 240 pennies in the pre-decimal pound and this is where the pound Sterling comes from.

Looks like it is a 1909 BYB.
The wear is least in the top right of the year mark and there is no letter there or indication there ever was. The letter for Chester where this occurs most is the I of 1909.