Piggybank

Proof half sovereigns are under-rated in my opinion. Some of the mintages are way lower than the proof sovereigns. Great collection!

I think it is the Pound in free-fall after this morning's give-away mini budget.

This is huge. The chance of a serious war is higher than it has been for decades - both sides are talking nuclear. This is when gold comes into its own. Except the paper price in dollars is falling - China doesn't believe this nonsense. Gold will be arbitraged West to East. 

One of the photos I keep seeing on the news is this one, which makes me see this set in a different way now.

I'm also proud to have bought the piedfort sovereign two weeks ago rather than slating it and piling on last night only because of what has happened.

I may divide opinion posting this, but I think I feel as many others do on this forum, despite the news as of late, that today’s news has been a shock.
This is a huge shock, albeit expected, given HM The Queens ageing years. She’s the only monarch that those under 70 years old has known.
I’ve read some not so many dislikable and distasteful comments on the forum today.
But, I think, no matter what one’s own option is that HM The Queen has given so much to all of us. A duty to the end.
But above all she was a mother, grandmother and a great-grandmother mother.
I’ve looked in and out of the forum this afternoon and this evening. But no matter wether you’re a modern stacker, an old stacker, a collector of Gillick sovereigns or modern releases, be that the Tudor Beast’s or The Monarchs collection with Edward VII resale imminent.
Many people, like myself of this country and also most people of the forum, feel a ‘shift’, a change, has happened today. Within a day a changing of the guard as it were.
HM The Queen’s passing is a great loss to our country of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
I wasn’t sure wether to share this with the the wider forum but I will, as I feel I’m mostly amongst friends, but HM The Queen awarded my grandfather with his MBE some 20 years ago.
It was the happiest day of my grandfathers life.
He said to me “She was gracious, warm, kind and showed an interest in my achievement at the same time.”
We are at the end of an era. Regardless of what we collect or stack, we are at the end of a remarkable era.
I watched the news today, as many others did, the announcement of HM The Queen’s passing and I’m not ashamed to say, I shed a tear when the news was announced.
But, albeit a fictional character, Padding Bear had the right words for HM The Queen’s reign at her Platinum Jubilee in one sentence “Thank you Ma’am, for everything”.
Lastly, I’ll leave this photograph of HM The Queen.
How beautiful she looked. How beautiful she’ll remain.
This is very odd to write on the forum, but here goes.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
 

Both spam and corned beef are incredibly cheap. I used to work in the food industry and, in the 80s, they did open tins of corned beef from World War 1 and it was perfectly edible. Similarly, they are supposed to have found edible honey in Egyptian pyramids.
However, for those of you who are adventurous, these are delicacies. First take a thick slice of spam or corned beef, coat it in batter and deep fry. When cooked, drain on tissue and put in a well fired roll. Add ketchup or brown sauce to taste and voila - a dish fit for hungry kids and far better than a Big Mac. 

We're already there... it's a matter of how bad it gets now.  Glad I bought a couple more Sovs last month.

FT: Bank of England increases interest rates by 0.5 percentage points
Britain faces a protracted recession and the worst squeeze on living standards in more than 60 years, the Bank of England warned on Thursday, as it raised interest rates to their highest level since the global financial crisis.
 

glad to see they are blaming the english and not the rest of us! 😛
 
It is a tiresome trend at the moment that absolutely everything has to be apologised for, re interpreted with various topics shoehorned into every story.
 
 
( always prefered a topic to a marathon )

Thank you.
 I think the lighting I used to take the photo flatters the 1817 Sovereign somewhat- but it is just lighting, the photographs weren’t filtered or photoshopped- the photos below are perhaps more representative.  
It was designated MS62 by NGC- lovely eye appeal 👍.  I Have recently had the Sovereign re- slabbed as the old slab was scuffed. 

 
 

Agree about it having always been rigged. Also agree regarding debt obligations and thankfully, I have none. I don't necessarily think it'll be a SHTF event. It's often the case that these things are viewed in black and white but I reckon it'll be far more nuanced than that with some opportunities for those that have been diligent. It'll be as controlled as they can make it, and for those that aren't putting their eggs in one basket and have a store of metals, some cash, some land or other items of value then I reckon they'll be better positioned through any transition.
I do agree that should such an event happen that it'll be rigged in favour of those at the very top and they'll likely sweep in to buy up anything going. All guesswork but for me, it's a case of 'something really terrible is gonna happen' and what am I gonna do about it within my limited means. I'd rather do something.

I’m am what most would describe as a prepper, and yes I have distrust in the government and the banks.
if you think a bit of silver or any PM will save you in a SHTF event then you are simply kidding yourself. Especially if you still have debt obligations. 
 
The banking system collapses, we see hyper inflation……at that point how can you liquidate your silver  stack and what for? £200 per oz in a scenario where the currency is depreciating  into nothing overnight the £200 might be worth 50p the morning when you wake up.  

in a SHTF event it’s very likely all digital means of money transfer will be stopped or rationed to very small daily amount. 
Some are almost wishing for a reset, I’m inclined to agree there will be one, but I can tell you you will not be allowed to buy a house for 2 grand.  The 99% will be cut out of the system and the 1% will mop everything up.  Some have a dream of holding a bit of PM and over night after the rest they will become rich………this is so moronically short sighted. 
 
folks the game was rigged before you were born and will continue to be rigged long after you are gone. 

ive more than a few quotes now in the precious metals market analysis repertoire now !
"Wake me up when it gets to £50oz" if i recall it was i said 
 
" Mike Maloney said i could buy a house with 500oz of silver " was another 
Well, i should have a street by now, but ive got a down payment for Wendy house currently and a wasted near 15 years of investing in silver 

What I've noticed in just the past four years, is that the Royal Mint has vastly increased the number of releases and the number of variations in these releases.  Whilst some coins will be "hits", I fear a lot more will be "misses" and will lose the original premium paid and languish at scrap value.  I think collectors are becoming more selective in what they buy, and so, yes, I see a collapse in the market for some modern coins - increasingly new releases are not selling out despite the tiny mintage figures.

That’s a very good point. It probably was a lie that got out of hand.
The coin that really stands out for me as ‘hypocrite’ and I know many people love it, but it’s the 1oz gold USA Buffallo.
It depicts a Native American surrounded by the words ‘liberty’. 😬
It’s a beautiful design, well designed and executed, but the word ‘liberty’.
It’s a big insult to Native Americans, liberty is the last thing they got.
Awkward or what.

It's a natural evolution of the space, it's really early days with many different use cases that is not necessarily related to gold. Think of gold and it's journey to from when it was discovered to where we are today, it has shaped the world we live in and has intrinsic value based upon its history. 
Take this forum as an example. How many times do you visit? Before tsf was here, where did you go to discuss precious metals? And where can you see it going next? This is essentially a virtual pub where "almost" everyone has a common interest, we even have a virtual market place to exchange physical products, can that be improved on? 
I think the digital world has a long way to go and it maybe the equivalent of a historic youngster buying a sovereign for £10. 

No, the above was a list of forecast popular activities.
We will stick with our established coins and bullion business.
Mind you, we do have some ideas for eventual expansion and diversification:
Coins
Holidays
Alcohol
Relaxation
Driving
Sex
Of course, we have a ready acronym for this:
C.H.A.R.D.S.
😎

i don't like Queenie on the Maple but in general i am not interested in the Queen side. 
i don't believe people will stop collecting when Charles III or George VII comes to the throne.

At least we don't have an old-style absolute monarchy, where your above disclosure would have sealed your fate.
Our constitutional monarchy seems to work quite well; at least we avoid things like US Presidents including Trump the Terrible. Many other countries are much worse. Our royal family probably provides good value and a degree of long term stability. Of course, they are human beings with all of the attendant failures, and a degree of privilege probably compounds the situation.
If the UK has a political or constitutional problem, it is probably because we have a rather polarised opposition party first-past-the-post system, where government flip-flop between two extremes, whereas a proportional representation system would tend to produce more sensible centerist government. While not perfect, this is almost certainly better than changing direction every 4, 5, or so years, with very little incentive for longer term planning.
😎

I think changing the monarch on the obverse will just mean coin collectors will go out and buy more coins, there are so many completists out there. I'm pretty sure whether you are a monarchist or not doesn't have much of say in whether you collect coins or not.
There's so much to like about collecting coins, the art on the coin, the history, the variety, every imaginable price point, having the base metal value to fall back on.
For me there is a big correlation between the price of precious metals and how popular coin collecting is at any one time, higher the price of the metal, the more people find it an attractive hobby.
I'm not so worried about youngsters not collecting coins at the moment because later in their lives they can always start, I'm sure many of the forum members took it up later in life after realising the benefits of holding precious metals as a part of their savings and then moving into collectables, it's just a natural progression.
My main worry would be if everyone in the world moved over to digital currency and circulation coins disappeared, I think it would have an impact on coin collecting but not kill it off, and I'll be long gone if that ever happened so not a major concern for myself.

I think you'll always see ebbs and flows in the market but I don't think it will collapse. I also don't think the monarchy will play any appreciable role in the demand/lack of demand at any point in time. There may be some that care about that enough to boycot coins but they'll be a real minority of a minority and not enough to really matter. Digital assets could become more of a thing in the future but the way they are going I think they're closer to a Beanie Baby fad than a long term collectable.
With regards to proofs (regardless who the monarch is) the old advice was buy them because you really like them with the understanding being they'll almost always depreciate. I think the RM is heading down the same path as the RCM putting out release after release and frankly terribly diluting their brand in the process. The RM is lucky to have its history to bolster its status a bit but it will reach a point that so many releases are put out people lose interest and stuff won't even sell out. We really do need to get back to hammering home that point about proof coins... buy them because you REALLY like them as they'll almost certainly lead to a financial loss.
One thing I think people should avoid - and I've made many posts to date saying this - is the hype train. Modern proofs are a good example of something that was hyped up over the last couple of years which people are now losing loads of money with. If something is being massively hyped up to the point its value has increased when there is no real reason for that increase apart from FOMO you should probably stop and consider how sustainable the prices are before pulling the trigger. Don't get caught up in fads, basically and this applies more broadly to any collectable/asset as well as within the coin world itself.

That's fair enough.
I don't expect anyone to buy from us if they can get a better deal elsewhere, but we do try very hard to provide good reasons to get repeat business.
We also try to treat all customers and potential customers equitably. 
We could offer "loyalty" bonuses, but this might then work against new customers. As we all know, many big companies offer introductory or new customer deals, but these often penalise existing or loyal customers, and this behaviour is probably unethical, and is being made illegal in some cases. People on our (e-)mailing list may get preferential notification of new issues or special deals, but that's about all. 
I do hear many conversations where our customer service team are trying extra hard to help a regular customer or someone who is "very nice". Regular visitors to our showroom may be more likely to be offered tea or coffee. I looked "behind me" before I wrote that, as it seems to be your location. Hopefully we might tempt you to come and visit us one day. I think some of our competitors don't offer collection or showroom facilities, which is possibly why some offer "free postage". We offer "free collection"!
If I am around, I often give free advice, about all manner of things, whether people want it or not!
If you spot errors on our website(s), you may also qualify for free beer, but that is for collection only.
I hope I / we will win you over some day...😎

It's slightly disappointing to hear your slightly negative thoughts about me / us.
Sure we do except as a business to make money (not literally), and be able to generate and retain sufficient profit to grow and ensure we are financially stable. This has the benefit for past present and future customers to know that we are not going to disappear overnight.
I have mentioned it before, but sometimes the very cheapest suppliers are not financially stable, and could go bust or do a runner owing money. The prime example I quote is Harvey Michael Ross of Leeds, who for years was the most competitively priced UK bullion dealer, and also the darling of the financial press whenever they commented about sourcing gold sovereigns or Krugerrands.
This thread contains some information:
Basically Harvey Ross was running a Ponzi type scheme, and ended up disappearing to Brazil, owning £ millions to investors and customers.
If I were purely motivated by money, I could have made about 10x more than I have in about 1/10th of the time, without doing anything illegal, just by being less transparent, ethical, and scrupulously accurate with descriptions.
 

50k max into premium bonds if you haven't already. Then the remainder elsewhere.

I look at the bright side, I've just started, barely have a sovereign, couple of quarters and a handful of silver, let it crash so I can build a stack myself 🤠