No idea. But, when I started stacking silver I touched/held every piece I bought (long before knowing anything about proof/BU/etc.)... loved it... there's something really nice about holding pure silver (or gold) in your hand. One of the first sales I had was here on the forum, and the buyer was very upset that the "bullion" silver was handled/tarnished, but when offered a full refund on return didn't accept.   My advice is, if you intend to sell it for profit in the future the more "mint" in packaging it is, the better. Same price, but no hassle!

Thanks @Darr3nG, I have no plan to sell them unless I have no choice sometime in the future. Do you know why they never seem to be for sale in the packs except at the Mint? I understand with the coins, where people may have bought by the tube, but things like the 1oz 3 graces bar are all over the place not in the packet. I missed the Una & the Lion one which I would have liked to get, but only see it for sale elsewhere in a clear little plastic box if at all.

Absolutely not. Keep it in the mint packaging, unless you have no plan to sell...

Harry Potter is Wonga? What???  It makes total sense...

That Harry Potter was always a wrongun!

I'm sorry if this is a dumb newbie question, but e.g. I bought a 5g gold bar (the only purchase I regret, should have got a small gold coin instead) & a 1oz silver 3 graces bar from the Royal Mint. Both came in a card & they didn't seem to have any other way for me to buy them without being in the cards, so I never took them out. When I see these items for sale anywhere else, they are never pictured in those cards. On the Mint website, they also have things like a Sovereign sold sealed on a card, but nobody seems to ever advertise those second hand sealed up like that. Why is that? Is there some disadvantage to having them sealed in their original Mint packaging other than the extra space they take up?  

Fill yer boots: