KevinFlynn

Thanks @Alunfor getting this 11 slot Queens Beast box out to Spain for me the coins look so much better now🤩

I bought this when  under the influence of the amber nectar , to say it was a shock when it arrived is an understatement lol. I thought it was the cheapest 1oz I’d ever seen . 🤣

Been following the page for a year and buying slowly since the end of last year (both gold and silver UK coins).  Still a real beginner but enjoy reading others opinions on what to buy and why.  I hope to start buying on this site but am being  a little cautious as of now.  
So far 90% of my monthly purchases have been from "Bullion by Post", or auction sites - just because I am trying to be careful.
Obviously welcome any free advice and am reading lots of post trying to learn from those with more experience.

Two low mintage sovereign alternatives.quite pleased to add both to my sovereign varieties collection 

Two low mintage sovereign alternatives 

The 3rd installment of Perth S3 lunar, in 1/2, 1, 2oz. 

And the full series so far. Being Perth, the others are still as clean and spotless as the ones that fell through my letterbox this morning... pay attention Royal Mint!

Only 9 more years to go!

I know many people have been waiting for information on this.
Time to register your interest. 🙂
https://www.royalmint.com/invest/bullion/uk-coin-ranges/the-royal-tudor-beasts/royal-tudor-beasts-bullion-register-your-interest

A dream!

Great collection! And a nice way to stack two kilos of silver 😗
Have you been collecting for a long time, or did you need to work your way back? I guess the older ones carry quite a premium?
A question on packaging: every Silver Pandas come in a capsule? What is with the sheets on the older ones? And is keeping the trays I have seen somewhere worth it?

Great collection! And a nice way to stack two kilos of silver 😗
Have you been collecting for a long time, or did you need to work your way back? I guess the older ones carry quite a premium?
A question on packaging: every Silver Pandas come in a capsule? What is with the sheets on the older ones? And is keeping the trays I have seen somewhere worth it?

Thanks for a holiday reading idea.

I've just noticed that the red wedding SIXPENCE is 22ct gold with a weight of 5.59gms whereas the Christmas yellow SIXPENCE is .999 fine gold (hence the colour) and weighs 6.19gms.

Came this morning.... cheers buddy....

It depends on where you keep them. Minted bars, especially highly finished ones, should be protected against scratching, so some kind of cushioning as you say is good.
Keeping them protected from dampness is an idea, some people go to great length (vacuumizing), but I think that putting some silica gel pads into the same compartment should be enough.
I only own poured bars, I'm keeping them in a safety deposit box, wrapped in velvet cloth. I haven't really seen them in years.

What's Your Silver Story?
 
By: Jordan Graveline
 
Everyone who has a fascination with silver and gold (or any other precious metal), has a story of how that fascination came about. Maybe your father or grandfather had an old coin collection that you stumbled across as a child. Perhaps you grew up liking pirates and were obsessed with tales of buried treasure. Maybe your fascination began because of an attraction to some shiny family heirloom tucked away in an old dusty attic. Regardless of how your fascination materialized, we all have a story to share. My story comes in two parts that were separated by years and then came together like land and the edge of the sea.
The first part to my story takes place as a child of 9 or 10. I enjoyed going for walks to the convenience store with my grandmother after church. She would give me a dollar and tell me I could get a candy bar or two. I was always excited for our walks, not just because of the candy, but because I got to keep any change leftover. I would rummage through the change and try to find the oldest pennies or nickels in the bunch. My grandmother was born in 1920 and I was determined at my young age to find something that was older than her. It was like a game for me, but it was also history in the palm of my hand. Looking for the existence of something that had been around the longest and changed many hands over the years. One day, the game got very exciting when I found a dime in my change that was from the year 1940. I was very happy and I showed my grandmother that I was getting close to finding something older than her in my change. She smile at me and said I was only off by 20 years, but that was indeed as close as I had ever gotten at the time. This went on for years and I would typically keep the oldest pennies, nickels, and dimes. Little did I know at the time, but that 1940 dime was made of silver.
The second part to my story takes place when I was 24 years old. It's not as reminiscent as part one, but it's the connection between the two that sparked my interests. In my twenties, I enjoyed picking up friends in my car and heading out to our local coffee shop. There we would share in stories of how our week went, some political topics, or just funny things we thought the group would laugh at. On one particular day, I paid for my coffee and received 30 cents change which I promptly placed into my pocket without looking at it. A bit later when I got home, I pulled the changed from my pocket and realized the queen's head was not on the back of one of the coins. As I examined the coin, I found it had the same head as the old 1940 dime I had from my childhood. Curious, I went online to see what the value of the coin could be worth and I came across a few different responses. The first was in relation to the condition of the coin (numismatics). An uncirculated coin was worth $XXX.XX (I can't remember). That didn't matter though because the coin I had was clearly circulated and pretty heavily at that. So I looked at the melt value of my coin and found it's value to be worth approximately $1.80 Canadian at the time. I laughed to myself because the coffee I had bought that day was $1.70 CAD. I found it amusing to think that I had bought something valued at $1.70 and then I get back my change valued more than the product I had just paid for. 
The connection between the dime from my childhood and the quarter from my twenties is that these two coins were both made of silver. That connection sparked an interest which ignited a fire into the realm of silver. The rest, as they say, is history. So what's your silver story?
 

 

My grandmother on her 100th birthday

Yes, this is true, but I don't know a lot about this. Peter Anthony notes on NGC's entry that it comes in a "variety of lustres" but I don't think I'd be able to correctly identify one variety from another without a direct comparison. There are of course many differences between individual coins, for example, 1990 large dates come in that satin finish on the frosty parts which is typical of early pandas, and a far brighter more brilliant frosted version but that's not a recognised variety although the difference is striking. 
I might add the mirrored surface 1989 eventually if I come across one which has a noticeably different finish to those I own.
My collection indeed has morphed over the year, and I've replaced individual coins with higher grade ones if I have come across one for sale, so I expect that to continue for some time, for example my Shenyang 1992 is a bit rough so I could replace it with a better example. And I am on my 4th 2000 frosted version before I found the one which now holds that place!

Thank you! I have only been collecting since August 2020, so had to hunt them all down. It was a combination of sellers on TSF and Facebook groups and eBay. I have paid up to £160 for some of these (the 2000) but most of them pre 2005 are around £60-£80
Yes, every panda comes from the mint with a capsule but only the older ones pre-2006 have seals (though it is becoming increasingly rare to find them in their original seal). The seals were originally in sheets of 10 which were then cut up into singles. Now they come in these trays of 15 for bulk sales - keeps the capsules from scratching each other. The trays are very useful for storing post-2006 or older unsealed pandas.

In a sturdy chest buried on a desert island with a map to remind you where you left it. 😁
Sorry I couldn't resist...
On a serious note though avoid any containers or plastic wallet/pages etc. that contain PVC, this can leach out and damage the surface of coins.

About a year ago I first started taking an interest in 1oz China silver pandas after someone on the forum listed a short date run of recent years which I snapped up.
Once I'd decided to start collecting a date run I quickly amassed a few more years, and it was about that point when I discovered that some years are particularly hard to find, and also when I discovered that there are different varieties of each coin. But it was too late for that - I was hooked! I posted this thread: 
 
It became something of an obsession, but armed with Peter Anthony's panda book I persevered.
A year on, my collection has reached this stage, and I have only three coins still to find. Some coins have been peculiarly elusive, like the 2007 of which I eventually picked up a bundle of 15 which had been imported from China!
1989, 1990 and 1991
The series of 1oz bullion pandas strictly began in 1989. It is convenient for the panda collector to remind themselves of that, because although there are silver pandas going back to 1982, they are either not 1oz or not bullion, so they don't count!
1989 had only 1 variety, but I have collected two so as to show both sides. After this there are two or three varieties for each year up to 2003. This is because they were minted at three different mints: Shanghai (which are on the top row) and Shenzyang (bottom row). The Shenzhen Guobao mint-coins only began in 1999.

 
1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995
In 1995 for the first time there were 3 varieties. The bottom one, the "micro date" is one of the rarest varieties of panda. Both came from the Shenyang mint

 
1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999
I have still to source a 1998 Large date and the extremely rare 1999 large date with the serif on the 1 (which I believe was the first silver panda minted at Shenzhen Guobao).

 
2000, 2001, and 2002
The gap here is the Shanghai-minted 2000, which in contrast with the frosted-ring Shenzhen Guobao panda had a mirror-finish ring on the date side. This is one of the hardest-to-find and most expensive panda (aside from the silly-money 2003 with small D)

 
2003, 2004 and 2005.
2003 had two versions - one with a mirror/satin texture of bamboo in the background to the right of the panda and one with a more frosted finish.
Although the others from 2002 to 2005 all had the same design, they have come from different mints as seen from the edge of the seals. I am endeavouring to collect one of each so still looking for sealed 2003s. 

 
2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
These were not issued in seals any more.

 
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. 

 
2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
For the only time in 2015, the panda did not show the weight, "Ag" and purity on the coin, but was still 1oz of 999 silver. This was a highly controversial change, so in 2016 they put these details back, and replaced it with another controversial move - they went metric and decreased the weight to only 30g of silver!

 
2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
This is as far as I've got so far, but I should be able to add 2022 in the next couple of weeks when the very first ones arrive from China in a very fun new design!

 
Many members of the forum have helped me greatly in assembling this collection. A special mention should go to @DavePanda who has given me loads of invaluable advice, lent me his Peter Anthony book, and sold me many of the coins in the collection.

As has been said, Gold Eagles are not the shiniest of coins. What you posted looks just like a Gold Eagle, matte finish and all.
Let us know how you feel after your assessment.
 

I just ordered it, I'm excited 😁
We have a quiet Halloween weekend ahead at a somewhat remote place. Good for resting and reading.

As has been said, Gold Eagles are not the shiniest of coins. What you posted looks just like a Gold Eagle, matte finish and all.
Let us know how you feel after your assessment.
 

It depends on where you keep them. Minted bars, especially highly finished ones, should be protected against scratching, so some kind of cushioning as you say is good.
Keeping them protected from dampness is an idea, some people go to great length (vacuumizing), but I think that putting some silica gel pads into the same compartment should be enough.
I only own poured bars, I'm keeping them in a safety deposit box, wrapped in velvet cloth. I haven't really seen them in years.

I'd be very interested in state not knowing the amount of precious metals I own.

I'd be very interested in state not knowing the amount of precious metals I own.