MILK SPOTS! The Royal Mint must be STOPPED!

[365DaysofSilver]

2 minutes ago, Petra said:

The Canadian Mint actually only admits that their patented method only ‘reduces’ milk spotting and if it is going to happen then it will just take longer to show.🤔

My 2023 Brits already have really bad milk spots, my 2021 maples still don’t, so even if it takes longer for them to appear at least  it gives me more time to sell them on without taking a hit on the premiums. 

[sixgun]

43 minutes ago, Anteater said:

But was it because of a petition? I'm not saying that the situation couldn't be improved (even if milk spots weren't eliminated completely) but that I doubt a petition will have any impact.

i have no idea if there was a petition sent to RCM. i know i stopped buying RCM product unless it was spotted coins i was actually buying and then i paid scrap silver prices. 
Perhaps @BackyardBullion could do an episode on milk spotting and the milk spotting petition. 
The more noise being made the more likely those who could do something will do something.
The more coins that get sent back. The more dealers who make a noise.
i remember i bought 2 tubes of Somali Elephants - i opened the tubes after having had them for months - half of them were spotted. I was crushed. 
If the price of silver were to start rising this makes milk spot a bigger kick in the guts. Coins have become more expensive with Brexit as many UK collectors have no choice but to pay VAT. If at some future date i were paying say £40 or £50 a coin for a few Britannias or similar and then discovered they were all milked up i would be really pissed off.

[kimchi]

9 minutes ago, Mothballjim said:

I did make a video a while back on how to remove milk spots but even once they are removed they can still come back.

Why bother to remove milk spots (that will come back anyway) from bullion? You are only introducing micro scratch marks from the eraser/rubber by doing so (and more surface contaminants).

4 minutes ago, Petra said:

The Canadian Mint actually only admits that their patented method only ‘reduces’ milk spotting and if it is going to happen then it will just take longer to show.🤔

Some coins will spot regardless of the best of conditions, some might not spot at all unless kept badly.

You are absolutely right, with known (and expected) spotting examples, if you store them right you are giving them the best chance to remain spot free until you wish to sell

[sixgun]

1 minute ago, kimchi said:

Why bother to remove milk spots (that will come back anyway) from bullion? You are only introducing micro scratch marks from the eraser/rubber by doing so (and more surface contaminants).

Does it come back if you say removed it with a soft rubber?

[365DaysofSilver]

1 minute ago, kimchi said:

Why bother to remove milk spots (that will come back anyway) from bullion? You are only introducing micro scratch marks from the eraser/rubber by doing so (and more surface contaminants).

Some coins will spot regardless of the best of conditions, some might not spot at all unless kept badly.

You are absolutely right, with known (and expected) spotting examples, if you store them right you are giving them the best chance to remain spot free until you wish to sell

Personally I think it’s a waste of time removing them if they are in your long term stack, but people do it in order to sell them for more. People will pay less for the same coin if it’s covered in milk spots compared to one that is not. 

Just now, sixgun said:

Does it come back if you say removed it with a soft rubber?

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. 

[365DaysofSilver]

This is the latest video I uploaded on milk spots. You can see by the comments how many people are unhappy with the RM..

 

[sixgun]

The answer usually given is that it is bullion, as if it is ok then.

The value of a coin = the value of the metal + the collector value of the coin.

By saying - oh but it's just bullion, the mint is saying their coin has no value, it is some tatty shlt that doesn't matter. To me it feels like they are saying, more fool you for buying our coins. It absolutely sucks. This issue has gone on for years and years. It isn't as if there hasn't been ample opportunity to do something about it. Whoever is in charge of QC should be sacked on this sort of issue b/c this is stealing £millions in value for collectors.

Edited January 8, 2023 by sixgun

[365DaysofSilver]

3 minutes ago, sixgun said:

The answer usually given is that it is bullion, as if it is ok then.

The value of a coin = the value of the metal + the collector value of the coin.

By saying - oh but it's just bullion, the mint is saying their coin has no value, it is some tatty shlt that doesn't matter. To me it feels like they are saying, more fool you for buying our coins. It absolutely sucks. This issue has gone on for years and years. It isn't as if there hasn't been ample opportunity to do something about it. Whoever is in charge of QC should be sacked on this sort of issue b/c this is stealing £millions in value for collectors.

100% agree with everything in this comment.
If as they say it’s just bullion, which is almost saying to expect it. Then why keep releasing new designs on coins, if you are expected to not be able to see those designs, in a few weeks time due to the amount of milk spots that cover them. 

[365DaysofSilver]

41 minutes ago, sixgun said:

i have no idea if there was a petition sent to RCM. i know i stopped buying RCM product unless it was spotted coins i was actually buying and then i paid scrap silver prices. 
Perhaps @BackyardBullion could do an episode on milk spotting and the milk spotting petition. 
The more noise being made the more likely those who could do something will do something.
The more coins that get sent back. The more dealers who make a noise.
i remember i bought 2 tubes of Somali Elephants - i opened the tubes after having had them for months - half of them were spotted. I was crushed. 
If the price of silver were to start rising this makes milk spot a bigger kick in the guts. Coins have become more expensive with Brexit as many UK collectors have no choice but to pay VAT. If at some future date i were paying say £40 or £50 a coin for a few Britannias or similar and then discovered they were all milked up i would be really pissed off.

That’s not a bad idea, if @BackyardBullionmade a video then it would add to the noise being made. They have to listen if enough of a fuss is being made about it. 

[365DaysofSilver]

6 minutes ago, Mothballjim said:

That’s not a bad idea, if @BackyardBullionmade a video then it would add to the noise being made. They have to listen if enough of a fuss is being made about it. 

Here we go 🤞🏻

[BackyardBullion]

1 minute ago, Mothballjim said:

Here we go 🤞🏻

LOL

Rumbled.

I mean, yeah I could make a video about it. 

Done many before

Nothing ever changes...

rinse and repeat.

[365DaysofSilver]

Just now, BackyardBullion said:

LOL

Rumbled.

I mean, yeah I could make a video about it. 

Done many before

Nothing ever changes...

rinse and repeat.

Don’t you think maybe a petition could be the game changer though, if enough people sign it? It’s nearly got 100 signatures already and that’s just with me promoting it on my small YouTube channel. 

[Anteater]

2 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

rinse and repeat.

Maybe if they did more of that when minting there wouldn't be so many milk spots

[BackyardBullion]

8 minutes ago, Mothballjim said:

Don’t you think maybe a petition could be the game changer though, if enough people sign it? It’s nearly got 100 signatures already and that’s just with me promoting it on my small YouTube channel. 

Honestly, not a snowballs chance in hell. 

[SiCole]

Only way to change it is not to buy from them and in a large scale and inform them why. Unfortunately for this argument they seem more popular than ever.

[365DaysofSilver]

3 minutes ago, SiCole said:

Only way to change it is not to buy from them and in a large scale and inform them why. Unfortunately for this argument they seem more popular than ever.

Once I’ve got my 1/4 gold king Brit & 10 silver king Brits. I won’t be buying anything else from them. It’s a shame but I’ve had enough! 

[ZRPMs]

Petitions I think would only draw their attention. What I'm trying to say is that they will look in the mail bags and say "oh yeah it happens, we'll see what we can do". It might Help. In the case of the Royal Canadian mint. I think it started to hurt their margins. I remember at one point as soon as you mentioned Maples people laughed and said "Nah, don't need any milk". They've not eliminated the spotting but I have to say they really attempted to do something and the maples are now ok. Certainly better than they were.

The Royal Mint probably think is currently not affecting the bottom line enough to actually give it more than lip service. If people stopped buying from them so much they may listen more to the reasons. I know its hard not to order when collecting coins from the different series that come out but market forces are might powerful in terms of persuasion. If we could switch to gold fractional of the same series rather than the ounces of silver. They may say "s#!t, None of this silver is moving. Perhaps we'll have to look at this annealing process."

[LawrenceChard]

3 hours ago, SheepStacker said:

It's not a Royal Mint exclusive problem. Silver Krugs, Philharmonics, Eagles, Maples, they all milk. They're bullion coins. You're buying the metal.

9,000-6,000 BC: Cattle as the First Form of Money
The first and oldest form of money is actually cattle. It included cows, camels, goats and other animals.

Apparently, they all milked!

😎

[SheepStacker]

Just buy silver bars instead. Toned bars look cool, and they're cheaper

[BullionBuyerUK]

I've got several tubes of kangaroo's from the last 3 years, every single one of them is covered in milk spots. 

Coins from the New Zealand mint, some have milk spots on, as well as my philharmonics. The royal mint coins probably do seem to be the worst, but that said I do have many coins from the RM that are issue free.

Until ALL of the mints stop producing coins with milk spots, and people stop buying from the RM because of this, nothing will happen 

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by BullionBuyerUK

[Petra]

Just now, BullionBuyerUK said:

I've got several tubes of kangaroo's from the last 3 years, every single one of them is covered in milk spots. 

Coins from the New Zealand mint, some have milk spots on, as well as my philharmonics. The royal mint coins probably do seem to be the worse, but that said I do have many coins from the RM that are issue free.

Until ALL of the mints stop producing coins with milk spots, and people stop buying from the RM because of this, nothing will happen 

 

There’s only so many ways to skin a cat …. They no doubt all use the same process for making silver coins🤔

[BullionBuyerUK]

Just now, Petra said:

There’s only so many ways to skin a cat …. They no doubt all use the same process for making silver coins🤔

Yes, exactly my thinking. I think the step between annealing and pressing the coin is to add the milk spots 😐

[SheepStacker]

26 minutes ago, BullionBuyerUK said:

the step between annealing and pressing the coin is to add the milk spots

at least you know they're real

[365DaysofSilver]

1 hour ago, ZRPMs said:

Petitions I think would only draw their attention. What I'm trying to say is that they will look in the mail bags and say "oh yeah it happens, we'll see what we can do". It might Help. In the case of the Royal Canadian mint. I think it started to hurt their margins. I remember at one point as soon as you mentioned Maples people laughed and said "Nah, don't need any milk". They've not eliminated the spotting but I have to say they really attempted to do something and the maples are now ok. Certainly better than they were.

The Royal Mint probably think is currently not affecting the bottom line enough to actually give it more than lip service. If people stopped buying from them so much they may listen more to the reasons. I know its hard not to order when collecting coins from the different series that come out but market forces are might powerful in terms of persuasion. If we could switch to gold fractional of the same series rather than the ounces of silver. They may say "s#!t, None of this silver is moving. Perhaps we'll have to look at this annealing process."

Wise words!

[Solachesis]

I look at photos of my coins more than physically viewing them, take a picture in the light at an angle where any milking doesn't show up, and voila, your coins look lovely and beautiful every time you want to look at them 😎