My experience with the Royal Mint Historics...

[creative]

...in a nutshell, very pleasant.

I thought I’d give my experience in case anyone else is wondering what the process is.

I recently received a marketing email from the Royal Mint Historics (RMH) attempting to sell a ‘limited stock’ sovereign minted in India. However I wasn’t that interested as it was a lot cheaper elsewhere.

I was in the market for a shield back so I thought I’d get in touch. I spoke with a Nicky Harris from the RMH who was quite helpful in offering me a couple of options. I went for the coin below as it was a decent price and piece of mind that it’s coming from the mint.

It was super easy to do, they sent over a concent form for the payment options, either a 0% or pay in full. Start to finish it all took less than two weeks from order to delivery.

The only downside I found was that I wasn’t able to be provided pictures beforehand as the coins are sourced to order, but some information was provided around the expected quality.

Overall i’m happy knowing I’ve got a nice coin from a good source and while I don’t see myself buying a lot from the RMH I’d happily use them again.

Below is the coin how it’s presented in a flip.

[MancunianStacker]

Lovely coin 😍

So do they just phone around a load of coin dealers asking if they have one in stock and then add a margin on it? 

What does source to order really mean?

At least you know the mint have checked it to be genuine. 

[creative]

9 minutes ago, MancunianStacker said:

Lovely coin 😍

So do they just phone around a load of coin dealers asking if they have one in stock and then add a margin on it? 

What does source to order really mean?

At least you know the mint have checked it to be genuine. 

To be honest i don’t know, I’m guessing they must have partners, like select dealers they work with. I was offered a specific year, so I’m guessing they have some sort of database.

If it was a premium I don’t think much was passed on. As it’s cheaper than I can find it anywhere else for the same quality.

That’s exactly why I went through the mint, the price was right and knowing it’s genuine.

Edited September 11, 2018 by creative

[MancunianStacker]

1 hour ago, creative said:

To be honest i don’t know, I’m guessing they must have partners, like select dealers they work with. I was offered a specific year, so I’m guessing they have some sort of database.

If it was a premium I don’t think much was passed on. As it’s cheaper than I can find it anywhere else for the same quality.

That’s exactly why I went through the mint, the price was right and knowing it’s genuine.

No brainer then! Nice one ☝️ 

[Seasider]

You would think they could run to a box and a capsule.  Does the coin come out of the flip?  If so what is to stop someone separating it from the certificate?  I have a coin from Australia which is sealed in the flip and the certificate has a warning that it is invalidated if the seal is tampered with.  The Royal Mint is obviously more trusting.

[creative]

On 12/09/2018 at 15:07, Seasider said:

You would think they could run to a box and a capsule.  Does the coin come out of the flip?  If so what is to stop someone separating it from the certificate?  I have a coin from Australia which is sealed in the flip and the certificate has a warning that it is invalidated if the seal is tampered with.  The Royal Mint is obviously more trusting.

No it’s just loose in the flip. To be honest it wouldn’t be hard to copy the little card so I don’t think it’s meant to be a certificate, just more for presentation. Also a box would be nice, but then again I wouldn’t want to be paying for a box so I’m happy they basically just sent me the coin.

[Seasider]

2 hours ago, creative said:

No it’s just loose in the flip. To be honest it wouldn’t be hard to copy the little card so I don’t think it’s meant to be a certificate, just more for presentation. Also a box would be nice, but then again I wouldn’t want to be paying for a box so I’m happy they basically just sent me the coin.

Fair enough.  The card does say Certified and Authenticated which a mug like me would think meant the coin had a legitimacy of some sort.  Does it also give a grade for the coin?  I thought some of their historic coins came with a grade.

[creative]

59 minutes ago, Seasider said:

Fair enough.  The card does say Certified and Authenticated which a mug like me would think meant the coin had a legitimacy of some sort.  Does it also give a grade for the coin?  I thought some of their historic coins came with a grade.

Yeah when I first saw it I thought the same. I even searched the postage sleeve for a COA or something to go with it! Yeah they guarantee it is a VF coin. They do all that before you place an order.

[Seasider]

It's a nice looking coin from an impeccable source.  I just wonder why they don't start emulating NGC and PCGS at least authenticating and grading along the VF GVF UNC line and putting the coin in a slab or something tamper proof - they must see there is a revenue stream there at least for sovereigns and other UK coinage.  At the moment if you send them a coin for authentication you get a report or letter and that is it.  But then even slabs can be faked so perhaps they don't see why they should bother.

[creative]

5 hours ago, Seasider said:

It's a nice looking coin from an impeccable source.  I just wonder why they don't start emulating NGC and PCGS at least authenticating and grading along the VF GVF UNC line and putting the coin in a slab or something tamper proof - they must see there is a revenue stream there at least for sovereigns and other UK coinage.  At the moment if you send them a coin for authentication you get a report or letter and that is it.  But then even slabs can be faked so perhaps they don't see why they should bother.

I imagine the last part would be the main reasoning. It would cost a lot to set something like that up and I imagine it’s quite a small market for RM only coins vs NGC’s world wide service. They would be better off partnering with NGC to offer a service like that.

[westminstrel]

20 hours ago, creative said:

Yeah when I first saw it I thought the same. I even searched the postage sleeve for a COA or something to go with it! Yeah they guarantee it is a VF coin. They do all that before you place an order.

Sorry if this is a noob question... I don’t follow grading closely, so could you tell me based on the coin you received how good the VF grade is? I understand it is below Uncirculated, but I feel like Very Fine can be quite subjective, which is why I’m asking. Thanks  

[Seasider]

Your feeling is perfectly justified.  When I was trying to find out about the Australian flip I mentioned above I came across this article by Drake Sterling on grading and the advent of PCGS in Australia.

www.drakesterling.com/coins-for-sale/news-wire/news-wire/australias-professional-coin-grading-service-PCGS

 

[Dan12345]

This is an old topic but does anyone buy old coins from the royal mint? They have some nice coins in stock but all seem slightly over priced 

[SilverJacks]

@Dan12345 I'm sure some do because of the reliability and prestige of The Royal Mint. I have found they have first class customer service and would likely offer money back guarantee if you weren't satisfied. But you're right, they are a tad overpriced and I don't see the advantage in it if you can find what you're looking for from equally reliable dealers.

I nearly bought an old coin from RM last year. I really wanted a $5 indian head but was concerned by it's reputation as a minefield coin so considered RM. Shopped around, found one 30% cheaper from Chard's and it graded higher than expected from RM. If there is anything specific you're looking at from RM, it's worth a phone call to other dealers like Chard's first. I felt like I ended up with more for less...

[dicker]

I don’t buy from them but have seen quite a few for sale on eBay.  
 

What makes me laugh is that many seem to come with an A5 RM card, laser printed with a description of the historic coin.  On quite a few I have seen the printing is not straight where the card has not been loaded into the laser printer straight.  Hopeless that they send stuff like this out.  
 

Best

Dicker

[pricha]

23 hours ago, Dan12345 said:

This is an old topic but does anyone buy old coins from the royal mint? They have some nice coins in stock but all seem slightly over priced 

""Slightly"" ?  £750 for a 1957 ?