ziknik

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You say they went white?? - can you post a pic?

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Oh no, I didn’t think of taking a snap. I’ve wiped them all now and the white stuff has pretty much come off.

They looked like they were covered in condensation

But they weren’t wet. I never took them out of the pack I got them in.

the new bags should be ok as they are made from polypropylene.

I’ll keep an eye on them, they will be sleeping in my bed for a while

I don’t mind buying capsules for my one ounce coins as I haven’t got many. But I have a hell of a lot of pre-decimal coinage and I can’t possible put each one in a capsule. I need them bags to be OK

Not sure about why they have changed colour but i use these

 

http://www.coingallery.co.uk/coin-capsules-2-c.asp

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Thanks, that’s really useful, I’ve seen that same guy on ebay. You can pick 20 capsules of any size you want for £5.80

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/20-New-Lighthouse-co...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Thanks for the replies everyone

Thats strange. Ive had little bars of silver in those polybags and no problems. I have my philli coins wraped in cling film, so I better check they are ok. Perhaps its what you stored them near that has effected them but you would think the polybags are airtight.

The coins were in a plastic envelope like this.

I've now moved them in to a bag like this.

OMG: My beautiful Britannia’s have gone WHITE.

I’m going to cry

After typing the post above, I decided I needed to see my coins.

I had 4 Britannia’s in little plastic coin envelopes like the one below and they’ve changed colour, they smell different and they’re a bit sticky to touch. I have thrown away the envelopes and wiped one with a tissue. The wiped material has a slight green tint on the tissue.

What’s happened?

Should I wipe them all or is it better to leave it now?

Are THESE plastic pockets from Staples suitable for coins?

Should I punch or kick [to death] the prat who sold me the envelopes?

I also had one eagle in the exact same coin envelope and it is fine

http://www.predecimal.com/plastic-coin-envelopes-p-46.html

is there any particular advantage to buying one silver coin over another?

Why would you buy a Brittania at £2.60 more than a philharmonic?

are there tax benefits that i've missed out?

Assuming you are a UK tax payer: There is no Capital Gains tax to pay when you sell a Britannia.

There is also an issue limit. There are only 100,000 2009 Britannia’s. CID told me that all of these have been produced, there will be no more produced this year. I don’t think any other Bullion coin has an issue limit.

EDIT: Also, I think the better looking coins cost more. The Koala and Kookaburra must be produced in the same place by the same staff yet the ugly Koala sells for way less than the beautiful Kookaburra

There was a beautiful coin Poll on here but I can’t find it. I think Britannia was first with Panda second

Images courtesy of Airdale Coins http://www.airedalecoins.co.uk/catalog/index.php

Britannia’s are available at CID!

£14.19 at the moment

Beg to differ. I used to work in the supply function of a major oil company and I can assure you that there was signficant storage capacity that COULD be used to support trading functions. The fact that this capacity is not declared to the wider markets just made our trading activities even more profitable - imperfect knowledge.

I can imagine that it probably is cheap and easy to store your oil in your oil tank farm if you are an oil company.

And it’s probably cheap and easy to store your oil in your oil tanker if you own an underutilised oil tanker.

Even better if you have both I suppose. Off topic either way, I best shut up.

Here’s a couple of links to news stories that were posted here a while back. Unfortunately, I can’t find the thread.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/de...ge-tankers-opec

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLNE54001...lBrandChannel=0

All that Head & Shoulders talk looks like it was a load of old toot now. I wish I'd got out in March - can't believe I couldn't see the wood for the trees. If this looks like going any further down in GBP I am going to seriously consider pulling out and taking my (now quite small pile of...) profits with me.

It might be worth offering up your gold for sale on here if you have decided to get out.

This is an odd story. The line I have bolded below doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8126671.stm

Page last updated at 12:31 GMT, Tuesday, 30 June 2009 13:31 UK

 

Audit fails to find missing gold

 

An external audit of the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) has failed to find millions of dollars' worth of "missing" gold.

 

Auditors Deloitte were asked in May to investigate a discrepancy between the amount of precious metals on the mint's inventory and in its actual stockpile.

 

Deloitte concluded that the unaccounted for difference "does not appear to be an accounting error" and identified security as an area for consideration.

 

The RCM said it was not yet clear whether any gold was actually missing.

 

"All customer holdings and metal deposits entrusted with the Royal Canadian Mint are secure and have been fully accounted for," it said in a statement.

 

The RCM provides storage for RCM-branded precious metals, as well as producing coins for Canada and dozens of other countries.

 

Criminal activity?

 

Deloitte found that there was a difference of approximately 17,500 troy ounces of gold, or 0.32% of the mint's production in the 2008 fiscal year, that was unaccounted for.

 

It said that there was also an unaccounted-for difference related to silver.

 

The RCM said the total amount of unreconciled precious metals was worth about 15.3m Canadian dollars (US$13.2m; £8m). It intends to file an insurance claim to cover the amount.

 

The mint has already requested the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to assist them with the matter - a move which has prompted speculation that the mint may have been the victim of a gold heist.

 

"You don't call in the federal police if you've got an accounting problem," said New Democrat MP Thomas Mulcair.

 

The auditors recommended that the mint review its security, in addition to reviewing its technical operations and accounting of prior periods.

Interesting you should mention oil. I spoke to a colleague today who used to work in the shipping industry as an engineer but still keeps up-to-date with the field. He told me that the number of tankers full of both crude oil and refined products waiting for the price to increase is phenominal. He told me of one ship parked for the last 6 months with 2+ million barrels of oil. Apparently, bought by Morgan Stanley for $40 a barrel, sold recently for $65 or so. He said the standing costs are about 30K per day for the ships but the maths work out nicely.

Easier and cheaper with land-based tank farms

It's not. This subject has been covered before

u4d18 is right.

There are no spare tank farms. There are plenty of spare ships when the oil price falls

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Wow £5.70 that's a nice 2006 price!

Didn’t you also fill your boots at sub £6?

From G0ldfinger’s signature

I have some more silver to buy, does anyone think we'll see <£8/t oz?

I think it is possible.

Last year my lowest priced purchase in GoldMoney was £5.70 (including the fees).

An £8 low this year would be a 40% increase (in the low) in a year. Sounds too much.

FWIW, I am averaging in over the whole year.

I’m going to buy some 2009 Britannia’s when they are available on the website. I have been bleating at CID to get them for a 6 months and I feel obliged to buy them now.

Phillies are looking attractive at 11.47 and I will probably pick up a few 2009 coins that are missing from my collection.

VAT will be increased in January. This makes 2008 a better buying year than 2009.

I am not sure if the price will tick down a bit over the summer. Last year I got phillies for under £10. I would be surprised if that happened again.

EDIT: Having said that, there was a shortage of coins last year. This year there seems to be less supply issues. This could mean £10 or less will happen again

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1) I see coininvestdirect add VAT. Does this mean there are no additional import duty charges for those in UK?

That’s right

2) What is your exit strategy? With goldmoney its a simple click of the mouse but if you have taken delivery how do you intend to sell? Ebay fees are outrageous. And spreads to sell back look equally large IMO.

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I only have a small collection. I use mostly Goldmoney

With my coins:

I’m going to wait till the price is £[insert high number] an ounce and then offload them on ebay

OR

I will use them to buy food when the state collapses

OR

I will leave them to my children when I die.

where do you buy them from? i am looking for a place to buy silver coins at a reasonable margin.

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http://www.coininvestdirect.com/main.php

£12.29 a couple of days ago

£11.48 an OZ is very good! Got them at £12.80/£13 a couple of months ago thinking that was cheap....

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Thanks

bah! that sucks giant balls - i just received my now overpriced philies today (insert angry face here).

How much were they a few days ago? £11.49 €13.51 $18.94 at the moment

Dear Ziknik,

 

This email is to let you know that we just purchased some 1oz Silver Britannias 2009 from the British Mint.

 

Therefore they should be available on our website very soon, probably in the beginning of next week.

 

As we don't have a fixed date for the delivery of the coins and/or their availability on our website I would like to suggest you to visit our website everyday from tomorrow onwards as these coins will be available pretty soon.

 

Please note that we will not have a large amount of coins available. That is the reason why I'm suggesting you to visit our website frequently as the demand for 1oz Silver Britannias has been quite high.

 

Should you have any queries please feel free to contact us at anytime.

 

Kind regards,

Sara Espírito Santo

EDIT: And phillies are on special offer too

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wouldn't mind trying some TA on the gold/silver ratio, anyone got the data handy?

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http://www.lbma.org.uk/stats/silvfixg

http://www.lbma.org.uk/stats/goldfixg

So it would be 18% if you werent trading?

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Yes that’s basically right. Minus your buying price from your selling price and then take off your GCT allowance (approx £9.6k).

You pay 18% of whatever is left

Consider it done. PM sent.

I’ve just realised that my plan will not work in GoldMoney because HMRC will deem you to have sold your gold at the point you make the gift.

If you expect to make future gains in GM, gift some of you gold to your trusted family members NOW!

EDIT: scrap that, you can gift to husband/wife without trouble. Why can't they make it simple

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page6.htm#12

double post

I'm sure this has been mentioned before, but I assuming holding gold through Goldmoney one will be taxed at your marginal income tax rate, i.e. 30/40%?

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You will only pay income tax if you are trading in your GM account.

I’m not certain how HMRC define ‘trading’. But I know it is your own responsibility to declare that you have been trading and pay the taxes accordingly. Personally, I don’t class a few buys and sells in a year as trading.

Is there a way for it to be viewed a money as aposed to capital gains on speculation/or I guess more favourably from a tax standpoint?

You could Gift £9k of gold to me.

£9k is under my GCT limit, so I could sell the gold tax free. Later, I could choose to gift you £9k.

These would be completely free, un-linked & independent gifts. There cannot be an agreement in place so this could only work with someone like me who you can all trust.

The only problems are

1) If HMRC can prove you evaded tax

2) If one of us die within 7 years of giving the gift

Another way would be to give the gold to your wife/husband or children but I am sure everyone will agree that it is a better idea to give gold to Ziknik

PM me if you want to give me gold.

wrt techincals, silver has also impressed me today* ditto palladium, tentative bottom?

 

should give it a few days really but fomc meeting tomorrow (i think) remember the last one when they announced QE, ag/au took mysterious dives pre announcement only to rally back stronger post announcement

 

and you can check the facts there aliveandkicking if you so wish

 

*kiss of death

 

edit. palladium seems to be bouncing off a rough trend line at present

It's on Wednesday. The press release will be on Wednesday (24 June) at 19:00-19:30 British Summer Time

Keep meaning to look at averaging into GM (I already have a core holding). Do they now allow Direct Debits from the Uk or do you have to go through the painful clearing / waiting process every month?

I don’t think you can D/D into GM.

The waiting period is only 1 working day if you have a 'fast payments' bank account

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If you hold a short silver position electronically what is the gain per annum if there is one?

 

Thanks

There’s no gain for holding short positions at the moment (and the fees on long positions are reduced). This is because LIBOR has been screwed down.

This is how it usually works

If you go long; you pay them: LIBOR plus their standard fee

If you go short; they pay you: LIBOR minus their standard fee

Standard fees are around 2-3% and LIBOR is less than 2%

Is anyone watching BBC Breakfast? They’ve been doing a gold report for around 10 minutes.

“The gold price is rising” over and over again.

They went to a gold selling party where the featured guest didn’t look like they wanted to sell because “The gold price is rising”.

Followed by an interview with a guy who recommended keeping hold of gold because “The gold price is rising”

And then on to a guy who remodels / reshapes gold.

If there is no demand for copper there will be no demand for silver either. Silver is an industrial and jewellers metal.

The investment demand is key right now. If it falls off the silver price will plummet.

Personally, I think the investment demand will rocket. Many on GEI have got in way ahead of other investors. Have a look at the numbers in Double-Agents post below.

interesting excerpt from the 2009 GFMS Silver Investment Report:

 

Silver Coins

 

A cursory glance at the global totals might suggest little change in world coin fabrication over the majority of the past two decades, save for 2008. In 1990, total coin output stood at 34.0 Moz (1,058 t) and world minting staged a near uninterrupted period of growth through to 2004, drifting lower over the following three years before sharply recovering in 2008. From a world production level of just 37.8 Moz (1,176 t) in 2007, initial estimates for 2008 show the global figure gaining by over 25 Moz to 63.0 Moz (1,959 t), predominately due to strains in the global financial system sparking a tremendous wave of investment.

 

One point worth making, is namely the division between bullion and commemorative silver products. Although a little under half of the global total is accounted for by bullion products it would be misleading to only focus on this segment as many so-called special issues, which might be labelled collector pieces are in fact purchased by investors. And, given that this study is concerned with global investment the following discussion looks at certain key coin products, some of which are not defined as bullion coins, but which nevertheless would be the focus of the investor community.

 

In Europe, the coin market has been dominated by the production of commemorative and collector coins, of which the largest producer has been Germany. Originally designated in 1987 as circulating or legal tender pieces, the coins were minted in silver with a purity of 625/1000. In spite of being circulating coins, each year the entire production consisted of limited issues to mark a given event, and so the number of pieces struck in any twelve month period could vary considerably. This characteristic meant that collectors, rather than investors, proved to be the main target market and so in 1998 the coins’ purity was raised to 925/1000, although investors have also participated in this market. In addition, there has been a broad trend over the past two decades towards raising the number of issues, which, by definition, has lifted Germany’s consumption of silver. For example, during the 1990s, the country’s outturn of coins averaged 4.7 Moz (146 t), compared with 8.2 Moz (254 t) per annum for the current decade to-date (2000-08).

 

Elsewhere in Europe, there has been a general drift towards lower coin production, Spain being the most notable example. Although the country leapt to prominence in 1994, when the 2,000 peseta legal tender sterling silver coin was launched (4.7 Moz, 146 t, were minted that year), it subsequently faded and in 2008, just 0.9 Moz (28 t) of silver was consumed. The notable exception has been Austria, which saw unprecedented demand in 2008, as fabrication of coins skyrocketed from a 2007 figure of 0.5 Moz (16.5 t) to 7.8 Moz (242 t) in 2008, in line with the overall rise in physical investment demand in Europe last year (a trend which particularly benefited the newly launched Austrian Philharmonic one ounce bullion coin).

In North America, the United States has enjoyed a pre-eminent role as the largest global coin fabricator. Stripping out commemorative, and other related pieces, the country would still retain its foremost position. For example, in 2008, output of one ounce Eagle bullion coins totaled 19.6 Moz (609 t), an all time high. Since its introduction in 1986, the US Mint has in total minted 178 Moz (5,526 t) of the Silver Eagle coins.

 

Turning to Canada, minting of the one ounce Maple Leaf bullion coin from 1988-2008 used around an estimated 31 Moz (964 t) of silver. Historically, the bulk of production has been exported to the United States and Europe (especially Germany). Demand for this one ounce coin has grown in recent years as investors have dramatically returned to the silver market. For instance, in 2007 some 3.8 Moz (over 118 t) of Maple Leaf coins were sold by the Royal Canadian Mint, while 2008 saw this figure more than double to an estimated 9.7 Moz (over 300 t).

 

Finally, turning to Mexico, as noted earlier, the country’s coin production is principally accounted for by circulating coins. Specifically, from 1992-94 Mexico’s Casa de Moneda produced around 39 Moz (1,206 t) of 10, 20 and 50 peso coins that were mainly hoarded by the local population. The peak year of output, 1993, saw minting of such coins reach 17.1 Moz (532 t). After a hiatus, a new series of circulating coins was produced from 2004 to 2006, although minting was on a smaller scale. These coins have also tended to be hoarded by the general public rather than used in everyday commerce. Finally, it is worth noting that not only does Mexico have an active ongoing commemorative coin program but also since 1949 has produced a bullion coin, the Libertad, which is mainly sold to local investors. At its height in the 1980s and early 1990s minting of this coin absorbed between 0.5 to 2.5 million ounces per annum. It is significant that demand in 2008 jumped back to above the 1.4 Moz (43.5 t) level on the back of a surge in investment.