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Reputation Activity
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west6 reacted to chrisdobb in Newbie questions re organising gold coins
My coins are all in airtite capsules, each capsule has a small sticker on it and this shows a number, this number is duplicated on the invoice that came with the coin, and this invoice is scanned and filed as a PDF.
This way I can keep a detailed excel sheet recording the ID number of each coin together with the spot price when I bought it, the price I paid and the current price, against spot, I just need to enter the spot price as it changes I can then see my +/- at a glance, works for me.
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west6 reacted to Paul in Whats the biggest gold piece you own?
2oz is the sweet spot for the average man. Weighty enough in hand, but still possible to strike a private sale with the right person
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west6 reacted to GoldDiggerDave in Purchasing proof gold coins. Is it really worth it?
Each to their own, for me stack as much bullion gold as I can and buy the right proof coins. It’s a win win. And let’s face it give it long enough and spot is likely to surpass the price you paid for the proof coin at some point.
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west6 reacted to FourNinesFine in 'Royal Arms' silver bullion coin
As ever @LawrenceChard, you are the oracle.
NGC should have changed the 'First Strike' designation to 'Extra Virgin'. The Olive Oil people have had thousands out of me that way!
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west6 reacted to LawrenceChard in 'Royal Arms' silver bullion coin
Don't get me started about so-called "First Strikings"!
"First strike is a marketing term used by third party coin grading services which refers to coins which were struck first by a mint. The U.S. Mint maintains that there is no widely accepted and standardized numismatic industry definition of First Strike coins. Several coin grading companies have decided that a "first strike" coin is one that shipped from the mint in the first month of the new minting.
Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_strike_(coinage)
I will include the rest of the page text:
"No U.S. Mint First Strike Program
The U.S. Mint has stated that they do not keep track of which coins were struck first. The mint has dates on the packaging for the coins, however they also state that the shipping dates do not reveal exactly when the coins were struck.
Lawsuit
In 2006 a Miami lawyer filed a 10 million dollar lawsuit in a Miami court, alleging the "First Strike" label is deceptive. The lawsuit was filed against the two coin grading companies: Numismatic Guaranty Corp., (NGC) based in Sarasota, Fla., and Professional Coin Grading Service, (PCGS) of Newport Beach, California.
In 2007 NGC settled the lawsuit by paying money to collectors and the attorneys. They also designated 447,500 dollars for consumer education.
Marketing
The lawsuit revealed that the designation of "First strike" is essentially a successful marketing tool. There is essentially no way to know when a coin was struck. While PCGS retains the use of the term, NGC has changed their designation from "first strike" to a more accurate description: "Early Release"."
In other words, it's a marketing gimmick intended to fool suckers into paying extra thinking that they might be getting something better or different.
You might want to read more of my thoughts here:
https://taxfreegold.co.uk/firststrike.html
And somewhere I wrote about millennium year 2000 "First Strike" bullion sovereigns being marketed way back in the day.
😎
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west6 got a reaction from monkstax in Rectangular Dragon-Perth Minth-2020 question
2022 version is on pre order now. Also gold bullion version.
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west6 reacted to Spanishsilver in Rectangular Dragon-Perth Minth-2020 question
Finally all together 😊
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west6 reacted to Lyrinn in Cast or Minted Gold Bar?
You see, the flaw here is that you buy the 1oz coin, using this very logic.
Then you buy a 50g bar - surely, this helps. No, not even close. Maybe you need one cast and one minted bar?
So, you then buy another 50g bar. Well, now you have 100g. Ah, but it's only a single 100g bar, that must be the real magic.
You then buy the 100g bar. Feels great in hand. Yet, somehow, the void doesn't quite seem filled...
Then you start to wonder about the 250g bar... Oh... and then there's the 1kg bar... and the 400oz bar...
https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/bullion-bars/gold-bars/400oz-gold-bar-cast/
Stacking PM's is probably something one could class as an addiction...
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west6 reacted to Britannia47 in Cast or Minted Gold Bar?
You are right about 'awesome to hold' - something so small but so relatively heavy! Dimensions are :- 45mm x 25mm x 5mm thick, or equiv to nearly 13 - 1/4oz gold Brits. Its my heaviest piece of gold (so far) at 3.2t oz. Note colour of the Gillick Sovereign - just as they should be!
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west6 reacted to Hunter87 in Do you have a Pocket Piece?
When you guys loose your items I hope I’m the one that finds them.
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west6 reacted to dikefalos in Today I Received.....
You are sooooooooo right. Here 1 & 3 OZ silver, one of my absolute favorites i bought like 2 years ago.
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west6 reacted to richatthecroft in Today I Received.....
A perfect ten!
Only just got around to grading my 2017’s and all 10 came back 70’s and consecutively numbered 🤩
The Five and Three Coin Premium Sets are getting squirrelled away again but please get in touch if anyone requires a 2017 2 Sovereign as the latter pictured example is going up for sale, as is the Half Sovereign 👍
And also returned fresh from NGC is my 1817 Sovereign resplendent in its new jacket and labelled with its references 👍 I can now see it, the old slab was opaque and somewhat scratched.
And finally, my 1935 Proof Crown- I think harshly graded but I would say that, wouldn’t I. Nevertheless, it’s a beautiful Crown 😃
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west6 reacted to SlowFrog in Today I Received.....
Received this today! Gorgeous and heart-breaking in equal measure. Such a shame about the damage but it doesn't take away my enjoyment too much.
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west6 reacted to Heirlooms in Today I Received.....
What a sight. The 2014 1oz Gold Globe Britannia PF70.
I’ve owned the smaller sizes but always wanted the 1oz. Will stay in my collection for the foreseeable and potentially beyond. Is this Jody Clarks best ever design? Its probably a toss up between this and the completer. For me this is most certainly the best Britannia design so far and going by the last few, will probably be the best for a while. Beautiful, strong, elegant, realistic (not cartoon like), lady like, symmetrical I could go on with the superlatives. Next task, find a 2oz gold completer!
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west6 reacted to LawrenceChard in Serration Count on Gold Sovereigns - The Number of Grains on Milled Edges
I can't remember the first coin we decided to count the edge serrations on. It may have been a Krugerrand, or it could have been a sovereign.
I can remember getting complaints from the staff member I tasked it to. Despite him being someone with a University degree, albeit in history. I had to nanny him by working out ways to accomplish the task. The simplest method was to use a very fine tipped pen to mark the starting point, and then to mark every tenth ridge around the coin. There was a lot of grumbling, many recounts, and a few second opinions. Clearly there had to be a better method.
I asked our photographer (at the time) to take our usual macro photos, but place the coin on a reflective concave surface, so that the edge serrations were clearly visible. You would have thought I had asked him to undertake a moon landing! Again, this was someone with a (master's) degree in photography. I had to provide the ideas about what he could use, and then I had to find the actual objects to try out. Once we had taken the shots, I had to "invent" ways to mark out the serrations, and to clearly show the count. Eventually, we got the images I wanted.
As we have recently done a number of serration count images, and also denticle counts, I thought it worthwhile to create a new topic / thread, so here goes:
Edge serration count on a 2022 (bullion) sovereign. I should mention that there are 108 serrations, as shown.
More to follow, but all TSF members are welcome to contribute.
🙂
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west6 reacted to daca in Today I bought.....
Decided to buy some playing around gold, casted bar (I'm always annoyed that I cant play with my coins)
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west6 reacted to sixgun in Today I bought.....
An interesting vintage bar. Cascade Refining. Just got it off the forum. They didn't make many of these odd weight bars.
The serial number on the bar is the date when it was cast so in this case the 14th April 1989.
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west6 reacted to Silverman2U in Today I bought.....
Mmmmmm. Now that’s something beautiful.
A nice solid chunk of metal and easily liquidated. Great choice!
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west6 reacted to LawrenceChard in Royal Mint Stopped Trading Bullion
Because they are not up to the job!
I also just started a similar topic / thread:
With a few brief comments.
@ChardsCoinandBullionDealer continued to trade bullion normally, despite it being one of the most volatile days we can remember.
If investors want to deal with an experienced, professional, and reliable bullion dealer, they know where to look, I hope!
😎
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west6 reacted to UAL787 in Royal Mint Stopped Trading Bullion
Bet when gold goes down to pre-invasion prices it will magically allow you to buy/sell again😋
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west6 reacted to Lr103 in Royal Tudor Beast Lion of England 2022 BU
I think the design is ok, and I certainly prefer the Queen's Beasts to this point as far as designs go, but I'm still buying the bullion. I think it's very hard to go wrong at new release, even if you hate the design (assuming you want to buy metals, as you are still exposed to spot price changes). As an example, here are the current prices at SDBullion (where I bought) for a single coin:
1oz gold 2022 Tudor Lion: $1,946.99
1oz gold 2022 Britannia: $1,952.70
1oz gold 2022 Eagle: $1,982.86
1oz gold 2022 Maple: $1,964.70
1oz gold 2022 Kangaroo: $1,952.70
You get an oz of gold (same story with the silver, and 1/4oz gold) for less than other bullion, plus a free embedded option that a premium will develop. This was also true of every one of the Queen's Beasts...they were cheaper than other bullion at release, and of course a nice premium did in fact develop. And if there is never a premium, this coin is not going to be worth less than other of the other coins above. The other coins will also almost certainly not develop a premium. So assuming you want exposure to gold or silver, I think these are a great buy.
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west6 reacted to CANV in Palantir Bought $50M in Gold Bars in August
Probably using it to pay secret agents
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west6 got a reaction from Arganto in Gold ingots from SS Central America shipwreck (with photo)
I went to LPM to pick up some of my purchases last Friday, and happened to note two gold ingot were on display. They were salvaged from the SS Central America shipwreck. I did an internet search: the gold ingot and coins were shipped from US western coast to eastern coast New York (through Panama) and was sunken in hurricade at the North Carolina coast in 1857. The golds were salvaged (twice) in 1990s and 2014. These two ingots bear the refinery name (Kellogg & Humbert Assayers) and the weight (oz), the purity, and the then market value (using 1oz = USD20.67).
One bar weights 102.36 oz, that's quite a trunky stuff! For the web search I did, the 100+ oz don't turn up quite often.
The SS Central America wreckage gold is a "famous" one and often offered at auctions or the coin dealership. So they are not that "rare", but it's still an interesting experience to me that I can look at the two bars quitely and took some photos to enjoy.
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west6 got a reaction from Johnboysilver in Gold ingots from SS Central America shipwreck (with photo)
I went to LPM to pick up some of my purchases last Friday, and happened to note two gold ingot were on display. They were salvaged from the SS Central America shipwreck. I did an internet search: the gold ingot and coins were shipped from US western coast to eastern coast New York (through Panama) and was sunken in hurricade at the North Carolina coast in 1857. The golds were salvaged (twice) in 1990s and 2014. These two ingots bear the refinery name (Kellogg & Humbert Assayers) and the weight (oz), the purity, and the then market value (using 1oz = USD20.67).
One bar weights 102.36 oz, that's quite a trunky stuff! For the web search I did, the 100+ oz don't turn up quite often.
The SS Central America wreckage gold is a "famous" one and often offered at auctions or the coin dealership. So they are not that "rare", but it's still an interesting experience to me that I can look at the two bars quitely and took some photos to enjoy.
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