Mint brand price disparities

[tallyhojim]

I've noticed that some brands of foreign government minted coins are always cheaper than other foreign government minted coins.

For instance whenever I look on European Mint, I notice that Royal Canadian Mint/Perth Mint/Austrian Mint is always lower priced than US Mint and Royal Mint.

Why is that? Is there a difference in coin strike quality? Difference in where the silver was sourced?

And whilst we're on the subject of minted bullion, I like the idea behind the Mexican silver Libertads having different weight denominations such as 1oz, 1/2oz, 1/4oz, 1/10oz, 1/20oz. Pity the Royal Mint doesn't do something similar.

[5huggy]

Queens Beasts - RMint = 10oz, 2oz 1oz 

[Gildeon]

9 hours ago, tallyhojim said:

And whilst we're on the subject of minted bullion, I like the idea behind the Mexican silver Libertads having different weight denominations such as 1oz, 1/2oz, 1/4oz, 1/10oz, 1/20oz. Pity the Royal Mint doesn't do something similar.

It does in proof coins, look at Queen's Beasts and Britannias. 

[Frost]

I would like to hear an expert thought, also wonder why prices differ.

[flim]

vat are not the same in each locations

shipping & insurance differences

metals spots and volume pricing 

there are so many variables that make them non-uniform

[Bimetallic]

At its core it's supply and demand, but that just sort of pushes the question back.

First note that Britannias are among the cheapest government minted silver coins in the US. But Eagles are the most expensive here as they are in Europe.

The US Mint almost certainly charges the highest markup to distributors: $2.00 over spot per silver Eagle, no matter the quantity.

Minimum order is 25,000 Eagles.

There are only about five or six US Mint authorized purchasers / distributors for silver Eagles (gold is a different list, though with some of the same firms). So you've got a fixed $2.00 markup and a small number of players. It's rare to find silver Eagles for less than $3.00 over spot in the US, well maybe $2.75. It must be worse abroad.

[Au79]

Would that suggest price disparities occurs somewhere from the mint to just before the customer purchase the precious metals? 😄

[RacerCool]

3 hours ago, Bimetallic said:

At its core it's supply and demand, but that just sort of pushes the question back.

First note that Britannias are among the cheapest government minted silver coins in the US. But Eagles are the most expensive here as they are in Europe.

The US Mint almost certainly charges the highest markup to distributors: $2.00 over spot per silver Eagle, no matter the quantity.

Minimum order is 25,000 Eagles.

There are only about five or six US Mint authorized purchasers / distributors for silver Eagles (gold is a different list, though with some of the same firms). So you've got a fixed $2.00 markup and a small number of players. It's rare to find silver Eagles for less than $3.00 over spot in the US, well maybe $2.75. It must be worse abroad.

Yeah Eagles are always the priciest of all government bullion.  Maybe they're trying to pay down the absurdly high debt the US gov't has? 🤔

Ha, yeah right. Who really knows.

[Au79]

The top dog has the right to demand the best ain’t it?

[tallyhojim]

13 hours ago, Bimetallic said:

At its core it's supply and demand, but that just sort of pushes the question back.

First note that Britannias are among the cheapest government minted silver coins in the US. But Eagles are the most expensive here as they are in Europe.

The US Mint almost certainly charges the highest markup to distributors: $2.00 over spot per silver Eagle, no matter the quantity.

Minimum order is 25,000 Eagles.

There are only about five or six US Mint authorized purchasers / distributors for silver Eagles (gold is a different list, though with some of the same firms). So you've got a fixed $2.00 markup and a small number of players. It's rare to find silver Eagles for less than $3.00 over spot in the US, well maybe $2.75. It must be worse abroad.

Who are they? And why can't the US Mint not sell to all dealers and not just a few (I'm guessing those "authorised" dealers have political old skool connections)? Selling to all dealers at the same rate would in my limited mind create more healthy competition.

[SilverB]

The royal mint does do 1/2, 1/4, 1/10 though? https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/gold-coins/

 

 

[Bimetallic]

12 hours ago, tallyhojim said:

Who are they? And why can't the US Mint not sell to all dealers and not just a few (I'm guessing those "authorised" dealers have political old skool connections)? Selling to all dealers at the same rate would in my limited mind create more healthy competition.

They're listed here: https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/us-mint-has-12-authorized-purchasers-for-bullion.html

The list combines gold and silver distributors, maybe platinum too.