Betts 1760 Gold One Ounce Bullion "Button" Bars - Good Enough to Eat?

[LawrenceChard]

Betts 1760 Gold One Ounce Bullion "Button" Bars - Good Enough to Eat?

Along with @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer 100 Gram Betts Gold Bars, which we recently showed, we also acquired a small number of some of their one ounce "button" bars, square shaped but with rounded corners, reminiscent of 50 gram Rothschild bars:

and...

Very basic cast / poured bars, but all our staff who saw them thought they looked cute, and almost good enough to eat:

The packaging looks strangely familiar!

😎

Edited January 16, 2023 by LawrenceChard

[Roy]

33 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Betts 1790 Gold One Ounce Bullion "Button" Bars - Good Enough to Eat?

Clearly fakes. 

These Betts 1790 bars are stamped Betts 1760!

😇

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Roy

[James32]

Cast in 1790..stamped in 1760.. if only the Royal Mint was this efficient. 

[Silverlocks]

Has Betts gone under or something?

Their web site's still up.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Silverlocks

[sixgun]

1 hour ago, Roy said:

Clearly fakes. 

These Betts 1790 bars are stamped Betts 1760!

😇

 

That's the wrapper Roy. The 1790 chocolate's inside. 

[Happypanda88]

I think it was made in 1760 with a sell by date 1790.

Clearly it is no longer edible !  😎

Quote

 

 

[LawrenceChard]

10 hours ago, Roy said:

Clearly fakes. 

These Betts 1790 bars are stamped Betts 1760!

😇

 

I should have gone to SpecSavers!

😎

P.S. I was writing it from memory!

[Jake0111]

They are defiantly fake, they are not delicious buttons 🤣

[LawrenceChard]

22 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

Has Betts gone under or something?

Their web site's still up.

I wondered something similar, and took a quick look at Companies House:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01390064

This is for STEPHEN BETTS AND SONS LIMITED.

and has an alert "Accounts overdue
Next accounts made up to 31 December 2021
due by 31 December 2022"

This is not necessarily as bad as it sounds. Many companies file their accounts late, although penalties for late filing has been increasing in recent years.

I was already aware there were multiple incarnations of "Betts", 

There is a Betts History page here:

https://www.bettsecology.co.uk/betts-corporate-history

There is a "Betts Metal Sales" in the USA, and Betts Refining in the UK.

There is also a Betts Investment website, which states its company number as 01390064, the same as Stephen Betts and Sons Limited.

There was a JOHN BETTS REFINERS LIMITED which was "Disolved" in February 2022:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01329560

If you read the auction title and subtitle:

Government Proceeds of Crime Auction of Betts Fine Gold Grade 9999 Bullion Bars
Finance Repossessions

Although it is not very informative, there is nothing about liquidation or insolvency, so I strongly presume that the gold bars in the auction were not directly connected with Betts, except as the original refiners.

I am slightly surprised that I have not seen or heard any news story about a £1 million "bust" of a drugs or money laundering crime syndicate, and hope we might hear more about the background of the auction eventually.

We did not buy any of our Betts bars in the auction, and I do not even know if our supplier bought his in the auction, direct from Betts, or elsewhere, although we did carry out the required level of due diligence before we bought them.

😎

Edited January 16, 2023 by LawrenceChard

[goldmember44]

This looks very cute. I wonder if one could sell it easy again second hand like coins.

 

[Bratnia]

Now feeling much less embarrassed by my greengrocers' apostrophe

[PhilOdgny]

Not sure about good enough to eat, but are they easy to swallow in a pinch? 😂