What’s Your Favourite Mint?

[Serendipity]

What is your favourite Mint? My favourite Mint without any doubt is the Perth Mint for sheer variety and the quality of their products. All my favourite coins from the silver Kookaburras, Koalas and the limited edition Star Trek coin that you see on my profile are Perth Mint coins. I’m also thinking of getting a 2oz Perth Mint gold Lunar coin.

[KitboyE17]

Scottsdale for Silver

RSA for Kuggerands 

[MancunianStacker]

Polo but I’m also partial to a Fox’s Glacier (from time to time). 

[Draconicus]

Mine it's the Perth Mint.

In second it's the Austrian Mint.

[Stuntman]

Royal Mint for me, but I'm also partial to an After Eight.

[Cornishfarmer]

Perth mint dropped the ball with the new queens head.       The Bavarian mint it is for me with the Somalian coin coins 

[ifing]

Perth mint is solid

but I also like Elemetal Mint, la casa de moneda de Mexico.

[CadmiumGreen]

The Royal Mint...and Andes mints are deliciously addicting.

[AgCoyote]

1.Perth Mint- I think they have some natural advantages in terms of variety as Australia provides so many cool possibilities.

Pros-The quality is very high for the most part. The product line is consistent. You know you are getting lunars, Kooks/Koalas every year. I love the Kooks/Koalas. So far I'm enjoying the Next Gen and Birds of Paradise series as well.

Cons- In the US, their 10 ounce cast bars aren't widely available. Their one ounce minted bars are nice, but it'd be wonderful if they could produce these in 10 ounce bars as well. I also wish they'd embrace the darker and more dangerous side of Australian wildlife more often. An annual saltwater crocodile coin in 1 and 10 ounce coins would be great.  An annual 10 ounce Great White Shark coin would be cool.  Another con is the Kangaroos spot but they look marvelous when they're in great condition.

2. Royal Mint- They're very close to being number one.

Pros- The product line gets better all the time. I love the Royal Arms bullion coin and hope it will serve as a dual national bullion coin with the Britannias. The Britannia Bars are stunning. The QB series might be the best out there. The Valiants are amazing and bring a much needed silver version of the Sovereign.

Cons-It'd be nice if their capsules were easier to open. Other than that I can't think of many cons. Everything about the RM seems to be getting better so I'm excited for the future.

3.Royal Canadian Mint

Pros- I really like the finish on their silver. It just seems darker and looks cool.  The security features on the Maple Leaf are very nice. They produce a lot of variety so there's bound to be something for everybody.

Cons- Where the Perth Mint really excels(consistent product lines with new designs) is where the RCM could stand to improve the most IMO. Canada like Australia has a lot of unique and cool wildlife. Sometimes the RCM will do something spectacular like the 3/4 oz. Wolves and then they for stop making them for no apparent reason.  If Perth has Kooks/Koalas, why doesn't the RCM have an annual Canadian Goose/Polar Bear coins with new designs annually available in 1 and 10 ounce coins?

4. KOMSCO

Pros- Limited mintages. Cool balance between a mythological figure(Chiwoo) and the Tiger. The designs are stunning and fresh.

Cons-Expensive. I don't think they'd suffer if their mintages were a little higher. It might be a good thing as it'd encourage more collectors thus creating strong markets for future products.

[AndrewSL76]

Perth Mint - their 20oz bars are stunning. 

I would love to be able to say the UK Royal Mint, but the way they have recently gone about business has totally put me off.

[TonyS]

Pressburg mint for me. The Chronos and Equilibrium coins are a joy to behold.

That said, over 50% of my stack is Canadian.

 

Am I a traitor to my country?

[danmc82]

Perth and Royal.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

10 hours ago, AgCoyote said:

Cons- Where the Perth Mint really excels(consistent product lines with new designs) is where the RCM could stand to improve the most IMO. Canada like Australia has a lot of unique and cool wildlife. Sometimes the RCM will do something spectacular like the 3/4 oz. Wolves and then they for stop making them for no apparent reason.  If Perth has Kooks/Koalas, why doesn't the RCM have an annual Canadian Goose/Polar Bear coins with new designs annually available in 1 and 10 ounce coins?

Really couldn't agree more with this and it seems bonkers when you consider the amount of proof or commerative coins the RCM churn out. Hopefully in the future they do pay more attention to the bullion side of things and give us something along the lines of what you suggested.

[NorthEast]

Komsco mint all the way

[augur]

Monnaie de Paris – they are even older than the Royal Mint albeit only by 22 years. 

The French Excellence Series series is really pushing the boundaries of design and presentation. Just look at the Guy Sovoy 1 kilogram proof coin/sculpture made of rose, white and yellow gold:

...and talking about presentation, this little kitchen cabinet comes with it...

 

I understand that this is not everyone's taste neither do most mortals have the spare cash nor will to pay the exorbitant premium that the Monnaie de Paris charges. But second hand coins are usually priced more realistic. And these commissioned pieces are a good example of what beautiful pieces the Monnaie de Paris has churned out for other nations it the past:

 

 

[richatthecroft]

La Casa de Moneda de México for indulgence. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4kzFE1xCCMw&persist_app=1&app=m

[RoughDog]

9 hours ago, AndrewSL76 said:

Perth Mint - their 20oz bars are stunning. 

I would love to be able to say the UK Royal Mint, but the way they have recently gone about business has totally put me off.

What puts you off?

One good thing I like is that the queens beast gold bullion is only available in two sizes.  I'm wondering whether that is due to the design and not by choice.

Lunar coins for example are designed so the look good in lots and lots of sizes.  Some would argue too many sizes.

[ilovesilverireallydo]

I second @augur Monnaie de Paris is one of the best design led mints

[AndrewSL76]

9 minutes ago, RoughDog said:

What puts you off?

One good thing I like is that the queens beast gold bullion is only available in two sizes.  I'm wondering whether that is due to the design and not by choice.

Lunar coins for example are designed so the look good in lots and lots of sizes.  Some would argue too many sizes.

I agree with you on the QB coins, they are really well produced, as in my view are the Britannia’s. Not so keen on the Lunar series though. I also think the oriental borders, royal arms and valiants are just flogging PM to death... 

My biggest concern re the RM however is related to the approach to their launches of new non bullion coin ranges at strange early/late hours with no clarity on why house limits are not more clearly explained. I gave up collecting the proof 50p coins when it become difficult to get the new ones. I sold my entire collection including a 2009 Proof Kew. Invested all the money into their bullion (from elsewhere I should add - why does anyone buy direct from the RM anyway?) and believe it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

[AgCoyote]

5 hours ago, AppleZippoandMetronome said:

Really couldn't agree more with this and it seems bonkers when you consider the amount of proof or commerative coins the RCM churn out. Hopefully in the future they do pay more attention to the bullion side of things and give us something along the lines of what you suggested.

I've emailed them my thoughts earlier this year.  Here was their response

 

Thank you for your message and suggestion, which I've passed along to our Bullion team. The Maple Leaf is our iconic bullion symbol. When adding bullion products to our list of offerings, like our recent Call of the Wild series, we consider many factors. We also consult closely with our bullion distributor channel, conduct market research and evaluate the market conditions as part of our planning approach. -TF

If they heard from enough of us perhaps they'd consider it. I think an annual Canadian Goose/Polar Bear(or Wolf/Mountain Lion/ Grizzly Bear/Wolverine/Orca...lots of great animals that are very identifiable with Canada) would sell very well. The ten ounce maples are beautiful, but it's tough to justify getting a 10 ounce maple over a 10 ounce Valiant or Kookaburra.

I bought a 10 ounce silver Royal Canadian Mint Orca that was made exclusively for the broker Lear Capital.  Certainly these would sell prodigiously if it was an annual series with a new design.

[RoughDog]

The gold bullion coin prices from the RM are comparable to dealer prices and the coins are sent individually in capsules. 

I believe that dealers purchase large quantities and the mint ships them in tubes.  The coins are stacked loose in the tubes and can result in minor scuffs. 

Your more likely to get a non scuffed coin direct from the mint.

Don't suppose it matters if stacking for weight or buying proofs.

[Agpanda]

I would like to say China mint, but mi vote goes to Poland mint

[999magnum]

I think he's asking what's your favorite mint as in this type. For me it's Mentos, the freshmaker.

[CadmiumGreen]

So true...

[RacerCool]

On 25/07/2019 at 13:10, ifing said:

Perth mint is solid

but I also like Elemetal Mint, la casa de moneda de Mexico.

I'd probably say the same thing.  I like some of Elemental's coins, and I tend to like Mexico's, though Mexican coins for me are a strange mix of "love it" and "not quite sure what to make of this..."  Maybe that's part of their appeal. 

The US mint can do really high quality work. Even though I don't like that they sometimes reuse designs, a lot of their commemorative and bullion work is excellent. Perth does excellent work too, but I just never got into collecting any of theirs.