Today I Received.....

[augur]

2 full tubes of Beasts from the group order, courtesy of BackyardBullion 

and the new Lion Dollar proof. Thanks for the heads up in this thread from @Lindeman as this was the last 1oz proof at the Mint. Anyone considering to buy at the Royal Dutch Mint: only gold proof and silver piedfort proof remain. 

[FlorinCollector]

Some more 10ps finally arriving. Also my bit from the group order  Also today my Mum and dads first sovereign arrived as I have finally convinced them to save a little in sovereigns for retirement.

[MickB]

40 minutes ago, JCRJM said:

Some more 10ps finally arriving. Also my bit from the group order  Also today my Mum and dads first sovereign arrived as I have finally convinced them to save a little in sovereigns for retirement.

Good idea getting your parents into gold as a retirement plan. My dad hasn't got much in the way of a retirement fund and he's been retired 5 years now. Yesterday I gave him a full sovereign and told him to cash it in whenever he feels like it. His first ever gold coin so he doesn't want to part with it but it's there if he needs it.

[Gildeon]

2 hours ago, augur said:

Does the reverse have cannons, flags and palm by any chance?

Kind of... 

[FlorinCollector]

4 minutes ago, MickB said:

Good idea getting your parents into gold as a retirement plan. My dad hasn't got much in the way of a retirement fund and he's been retired 5 years now. Yesterday I gave him a full sovereign and told him to cash it in whenever he feels like it. His first ever gold coin so he doesn't want to part with it but it's there if he needs it.

Yeh definitely mate. My mum and dad more and more are saying they wish this and that. Especially talking about a new house one day but they only have their pensions. So i was trying to get them to save more so its not just a dream and that they could move into a nicer house one day. 

Its a good feeling when you can do that and knowing he won't be stuck as he will have the sovereign.  

[fehk2001]

1 hour ago, augur said:

2 full tubes of Beasts from the group order, courtesy of BackyardBullion 

and the new Lion Dollar proof. Thanks for the heads up in this thread from @Lindeman as this was the last 1oz proof at the Mint. Anyone considering to buy at the Royal Dutch Mint: only gold proof and silver piedfort proof remain. 

You can still pick them up from post office 

Edited March 29, 2018 by fehk2001

[augur]

5 minutes ago, fehk2001 said:

You can still pick them up from post office 

Here in the UK or in the Netherlands?

[fehk2001]

5 minutes ago, augur said:

Here in the UK or in the Netherlands?

Sorry didn’t say is nethetlands Post office 

 

[Elements]

Great day for me. Courtesy of @JunkBond this 1892 half sovereign arrived today, my first shieldback half...not that I have many halves so a nice one to add to the small collection.

(Bit off stuff on the lense to the left of center, I need a new magnifying one)

[Elements]

Then I think I got a deal on this 1899 Perth mint full sovereign. Not sure the seller new about the scarcity (700kish minted first year for Perth to start producing sovereigns, somewhat scare but not-rare). I’ve been outbid a few times on these at £280-300 so to get it at £240 delivered seems a good deal to me.

 

[augur]

21 minutes ago, Elements said:

Then I think I got a deal on this 1899 Perth mint full sovereign. Not sure the seller new about the scarcity (700kish minted first year for Perth to start producing sovereigns, somewhat scare but not-rare). I’ve been outbid a few times on these at £280-300 so to get it at £240 delivered seems a good deal to me.

 

Nice residual lustre in the protected areas

[Kman]

2 minutes ago, augur said:

Nice residual lustre in the protected areas

Luster or cleaned  looks cleaned to me

[Elements]

2 minutes ago, augur said:

Nice residual lustre in the protected areas

I’ll see if I can get one with my other 1890’s. It’s definately brighter. Still a noob at this but learning all the time

[Elements]

2 minutes ago, Kman said:

Luster or cleaned  looks cleaned to me

How would I tell? Maybe see if I can post some more high res photos

and maybe without sun streaming in from the left. Yeah yeah we do get sun in Manchester- occasionally ?

Edited March 29, 2018 by Elements

[Kman]

1 minute ago, Elements said:

How would I tell? Maybe see if I can post some more high res photos

Soft rounded details and shiny, pitting in the fields

Hows the rim? id guess it's probably an ex-mount  

[augur]

1 hour ago, Kman said:

Luster or cleaned  looks cleaned to me

On the obverse (fields and portrait) it does look cleaned, in the protected areas those parallel streaks are polishing marks on the die surrounded/covered by lustre

Edited March 29, 2018 by augur

[Silvergun]

A 1989 Proof half sovereign

[BackyardBullion]

8 hours ago, LittleJohnSilver said:

Received my very first silver purchase today courtesy of @BackyardBullion and his forum group orders.

15 lovely 1 ounce 2018 silver Britannias.

First impressions, I am very impressed with the care and consideration taken with how the package has been wrapped. I have to admit I wasn't expecting that level of packaging and only expecting a jiffy envelope. Even down to how the brown tape was applied was done with attention to detail. Inside the tube of Brits were further protected by lashings of bubble wrap and loose fill foam. And sat right on top of everything was @BackyardBullion business card acting as a greeting to the shiny contents hidden below.

Considering it came as part of a massive group order from gs.be, this entire first impression actually made me feel as though I had just received a personally prepared professional order as though it was an individual order.

I have made an unpacking video using my El Cheapo Vodafone smart phone but it was done with one hand so is a bit wobbly. Will upload that asap. In the video I was talking rather quietly due to the adjoining walls with my neighbours being on the slim side. Don't want anyone to overhear me talking about gold or silver.

On to the Brits.

Off the bat, I was quite taken at how heavy the silver tube was containing said coins (a tube I was not expecting!). After opening it up and emptying it's silver contents onto bubble wrap to avoid getting scruff marks on the coins surface from my DIY work bench, I then hesitated in picking them up with my mitts through fear of getting smudge marks on them.

Then I thought "Sod it" and duly picked them up! Having that full weight of those 15 coins pulling down into the palm of your hand is quite an experience, and considering I've never held silver before, it definitely has it's own unique texture and balance. I then held a stack of normal fiat £2 coins in my hand and it just felt "meh".

Even hearing them clinking against each other as I thumbed them over one by one created it's own distinctive sound that I had never heard before. I have worked with many metals over the years - steel/tungsten/ali/iron/zinc etc - and this silver clinking sound was in a world of it's own.

I then set about weighing them with my new 500g 0.01 scales that arrived with the same RM courier. I'm guessing the scales are slightly out of calibration as each coin came back with a reading of 31.34g -/+, with the ozt reading 1.10-/+. Or maybe I need to read the scales instructions to see if they require calibrating first!

Either way, even with the slight over reading on the scales, every coin came back with the same reading. Worst case scenario I can't calibrate them, I can just use the actual reading weight as being true to 1 troy ounce/31.104g and calculate from there.

All in all, I am chuffed with my first silver purchase. More will definitely be following.

Edit: Can't upload pics as......I don't know. Just won't let me. Maybe too large a file at 1.6mb?

Thanks so much for the feedback and review of the packaging!

I am a firm believer in quality packaging - as you can tell!

Making it safe and secure is important but as you say it is all about the quality of service that myself and Mrs BYB want to offer. If it is wrapped well and does not clink around with the sound of silver then it is much less likely to get looked in by a cheeky postie!

Glad you had such a great experience for your first silver purchase - you are hooked now!

[CutOfJib]

Got a couple of things in the mail today, among them a nice and shiny German Mark from 1907.  MUCH more exciting though, I received my first of 2 of the new Niue Islands Goddesses series coins that I purchased and it is absolutely stunning! super high relief.  I don't always go for gilded coins, but it really adds a lovely flair to this one and I'm excited to have it in my collection.  Beautiful wooden display case and a mintage of only 500 pieces for this first in series, I really think/hope this one will do well!

[Silverclown]

It’s a really nice coin

[TheGoldSovereign]

.

Edited April 10, 2018 by sg86

[CoinStruck]

This week received in the post a 1983 half proof sovereign I purchased in an auction and the 2005 half MS66PL sovereign from a US SilverForum member. Was delighted to also receive a 1964 Kennedy Half dollar from the US SilverForum member as a souvenir from the US, my first US coin! Very generous indeed. 

In addition now have my first Queens Beast, the 1/4 oz gold proof. 

A great week. 

Kevin 

PS sorry for the poor photo quality, this is my first photo post and so hope I will improve over time. 

[richatthecroft]

Nice little haul there Kevin.  Nice touch receiving the Kennedy Dollar. 

[Lindeman]

1 hour ago, sg86 said:

More shields!

Soooo ...... just another routine 39 sovereign pickup for about £10,000 then @sg86.? 

Congrats - big respect. 

[Elements]

20 hours ago, Kman said:

Soft rounded details and shiny, pitting in the fields

Hows the rim? id guess it's probably an ex-mount  

Rim looks similar all the way round, 3 phots are roughly 120degree rotations.

more high res photos arranged. I could do with buying a new lense, this has lots of small scratches on