Royal Mint - Great Engravers 2021 - Gothic Crown information

[SilverDrum]

1 hour ago, Hanz said:

Today I wrote to my account manager, tryingmy luck for a quartered arms Gothic Crown. She said none was available but offer a three coins gothic crown set for £40k.

Phoned customer service, checked stocks for portrait and quartered arms Gothic Crown. Both were still available in 2oz and 5 oz. I managed to put an order in for each 2oz and 5 oz, respectively. Feels unreal. Unbelievable. 

Should have asked about some Una's whilst you were speaking with that amazing person! Congrats on getting all of those  

[dikefalos]

1 minute ago, SilverDrum said:

Should have asked about some Una's whilst you were speaking with that amazing person! Congrats on getting all of those  

As they confirmed me the arms, i asked for Una. Seems to be a popular coin, it's sold out.🤣

[dirt94]

5 hours ago, Hanz said:

Today I wrote to my account manager, tryingmy luck for a quartered arms Gothic Crown. She said none was available but offer a three coins gothic crown set for £40k.

Phoned customer service, checked stocks for portrait and quartered arms Gothic Crown. Both were still available in 2oz and 5 oz. I managed to put an order in for each 2oz and 5 oz, respectively. Feels unreal. Unbelievable. 

What time were they available at today? Were they available online or just over the phone with your account manager. I would’ve loved to have gotten a 5 oz of each but missed out on them.

[Hanz]

My accounts manager told me that none of the Gothic Crown were available. However, customer service over the phone told me Gothic Crown 2 and 5 oz were available. I paid for them but have not received confirmation. Not sure if the purchase will materialise. 

[westminstrel]

9 hours ago, Hanz said:

Today I wrote to my account manager, tryingmy luck for a quartered arms Gothic Crown. She said none was available but offer a three coins gothic crown set for £40k.

And did you go for it? 😜

[JeffM]

14 hours ago, westminstrel said:

And did you go for it? 😜

If he did, he may need to skip lunch for the day.

[westminstrel]

4 minutes ago, JeffM said:

If he did, he may need to skip lunch for the day.

Just lunch? And just one day? 👀 

[JeffM]

53 minutes ago, westminstrel said:

Just lunch? And just one day? 👀 

Yes.  The man is wealthy, but not quite THAT wealthy!!

[paulmerton]

On 25/03/2022 at 16:44, paulmerton said:

Just received my 5oz and 10oz silver portraits. Both also have really obvious scratches in the fields. The 5oz also has a massive scratched area on its capsule, and the thin cardboard box that the 10oz coin came in was already open at both ends and all bent up as a result.

I can't tell if they've stupidly sent this junk out as new, or whether they've tried to send me someone else's returns in the hope that I wouldn't notice. Either way it's annoying. 

Just collected my replacement 5oz silver gothic portrait... and it has a clearly visible dent in the field on the reverse. 

Also got my replacement 5oz Henry VII coin... which has a really obvious mark on the matte field of the King's side.

Third time lucky? This is getting rather onerous now 🙄

[JeffM]

2 hours ago, paulmerton said:

Just collected my replacement 5oz silver gothic portrait... and it has a clearly visible dent in the field on the reverse. 

Also got my replacement 5oz Henry VII coin... which has a really obvious mark on the matte field of the King's side.

Third time lucky? This is getting rather onerous now 🙄

OMG, this is awful!  I feel bad for you.  The RM simply does not learn....or care.  This is why I no longer buy coins directly from them.  Being in the U.S., that would prove to be a real hassle returning coins to them.

When I order coins from a dealer, I kindly ask them to please inspect them prior to shipment, and I cite all the RM QC issues.  They seem to understand and do comply with my request.

[Spanishsilver]

Wow £475 delivered. 
 

[Slam]

Anyone received 5oz coins recently?

Stunning set of 5oz coins received today but shame about the quality. 😭 

Missing frosting around Rims and dings on the QA, missing frosting and black bits on rim of Portrait but portrait herself looks stunning though. 

Still looks stunning as a set.

In 2 minds to keep or try for exchange. 

[paulmerton]

Some advice please:

I've got my third-time-lucky replacement 5oz and 10oz silver portraits back, and while they're much better than the first and second attempts, they are still not great.

But where do I draw the line? Are these now deemed acceptable, or should I ask for a replacement on these ones as well? I'm not particularly happy with them, but I don't want to waste any more time if the mint isn't likely to do anything about it after returning both coins twice already.

--

The 5oz has two obvious dents/dings/flecks(?) near the 2021 (they don't disappear with a hand blower):

And the 10oz has this mess on the edge (also doesn't blow away) and lots of parallel line marks across the field:

There's also a fair amount of tiny scratches and other small marks across the field on the gothic side, again it doesn't blow away:

[paulmerton]

Forgot to mention, my 5oz also arrived in a wonky cross-threaded capsule again! 🤦‍♂️

Not a great thing to do to a threaded screw shut capsule.

Edited April 8, 2022 by paulmerton
added pic

[Hanz]

I checked with Royal Mint, both quartered arms and portrait gothic crown still available, only a few quartered arms and quite a number of portrait 5 oz silver proof. I was informed that these will be minted as when customer put in the order. Maybe, any faulty coins should be returned for reminting. 

[Slam]

5 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

Some advice please:

I've got my third-time-lucky replacement 5oz and 10oz silver portraits back, and while they're much better than the first and second attempts, they are still not great.

But where do I draw the line? Are these now deemed acceptable, or should I ask for a replacement on these ones as well? I'm not particularly happy with them, but I don't want to waste any more time if the mint isn't likely to do anything about it after returning both coins twice already.

--

The 5oz has two obvious dents/dings/flecks(?) near the 2021 (they don't disappear with a hand blower):

And the 10oz has this mess on the edge (also doesn't blow away) and lots of parallel line marks across the field:

There's also a fair amount of tiny scratches and other small marks across the field on the gothic side, again it doesn't blow away:

Sorry to hear and see that you had problems with your coins multiple times. 

On your coins did you also have lots of missing frosting/black bits around the rim's?

Although I am not experience collector, my rule of thumb now is that, keep the coins for few days, up to a week, if I dont enjoy the coins and it bugs me too much, then try for exchange or refund. (Thats the plan anyways.)

The ding next to 2021 does it show with the naked eye? If so then I think be too much to bother me I think, although it is on the back of the coin so might not bother me too much. 

Thanks 

[paulmerton]

Just now, Slam said:

The ding next to 2021 does it show with the naked eye? If so then I think be too much to bother me I think, although it is on the back of the coin so might not bother me too much. 

Yes, I noticed all these things with the naked eye - didn't even crack open the loupe - so I guess that answers that question then. Thanks! The streak lines go across the whole coin but didn't show up too well in a photo. They make it look like it's been wiped with something. I didn't notice any missing frosting, but I didn't bother looking too hard for that after seeing the more obvious flaws.

Thanks for your thoughts. Does anyone else think these visible to the naked eye issues are unacceptable?

[kimchi]

3 minutes ago, paulmerton said:

Thanks for your thoughts. Does anyone else think these visible to the naked eye issues are unacceptable?

Can you get any closer magnification on the 5oz to see if they are indeed stubborn flecks (that Conservation would remove if you are grading anyway)?

The 10oz I would not accept.

[paulmerton]

18 minutes ago, kimchi said:

Can you get any closer magnification on the 5oz to see if they are indeed stubborn flecks (that Conservation would remove if you are grading anyway)?

The 10oz I would not accept.

Thanks, I feel comfortable returning the 10oz now without worrying about seeming too fussy.

As for the 5oz, I wouldn't normally use this scale of magnification to look for defects - but you're right - it's useful for determining the nature of the defects!

This is the one to the right of the "2021" - looks like a dent to me. As much as I'd rather it wasn't there, it's quite interesting to see close up.

To my surprise, the mark under the first 2 of 2021 is actually a cluster of scratches. For avoidance of doubt, these are scratches on the coin rather than the capsule (the microscope thing is shooting through the capsule, but the depth of field is incredibly shallow at this range so any scratches on the capsule would not show up).

Does it seem reasonable to return both then?

[JeffM]

The problem is that the RM will never guarantee you a perfect 70 coin with zero blemishes.  While they should strive for perfection, they don't.  QC is almost non-existent because of the sheer volume of their productions.  It's strike the coins, very quick inspection for obvious blemishes, stick it in a capsule, and then it's out the door.  As you are seeing, there is a very good chance that a replacement will be just as blemished or even worse.  If any mark is visible to the naked eye and it bothers you, ask for a replacement.  I think that expecting perfection may be a thing of the past.

[TeaTime]

Agreed - the only way to determine if it's worth sending back is to look at the coin several times. If the defect irks you and detracts from your enjoyment of it then it should go back. If it doesn't then keep it....

 

 

[Chrisplym]

@paulmerton That looks like a serious piece of kit! I am impressed 👍

[paulmerton]

11 minutes ago, Chrisplym said:

@paulmerton That looks like a serious piece of kit! I am impressed 👍

It was only £14 on Amazon! It has various software issues, though - like when it saves a photo to the MicroSD card it gets the aspect ratio wrong and you have to go into and back out of the menu to take more than one photo otherwise it only saves the first one. Videos aren't too bad for the price, but for some bizarre reason the file sizes are all the same regardless of how long the video is.

Still worth £14 though 😄

[Paul]

Coin cabinet premium auction sale today . 

£12k for a pf70 gothic milled edge  2oz sold today . Not to bad to I suppose @Frenchie

[Paulo]

I think this is a plain edge, as per the photo and the description

But,does not mention this in the heading description, someone got a bargain? wish I had £12000