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 Replies: 20 / Views: 4,079 |
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Valued Member
United States
214 Posts |
Terrible - This year I thought they also changed it to mint to order so it's not limited any longer like they used to be.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
548 Posts |
It pains me to say this because it's my national mint I'm talking about but The Royal Mint f***ing sucks. Everything they sell is hideously overpriced. If I want a 1oz silver proof it's actually much cheaper for me to buy from the Perth Mint and get it shipped all the way to the UK than it is to buy from The Royal Mint. Even taking into account currency conversion fees and import duty it still works out cheaper. And now, in 2013, when the horse has bolted The Royal Mint decides to start selling 999 bullion coins. They've taken the one thing that made the Britannia slightly special (the 958 purity which meant to contain 1oz silver the coin had to be larger than any other bullion coin) and ditched it because they want a piece of a market that has been cornered by Maples, Eagles, Pandas and Philharmonics. It's a joke. Bottom line is The Royal Mint trades on its history, not on the quality of its products. They go on and on about how they've been making coins for 1,000 years and they seem to think that justifies substandard products at high prices. Edited by Demarco Bishopp
04/22/2013 3:25 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1661 Posts |
There are been many complaints about the quality of bullion Brits on various forums and one dealer now even warns about it as well.
Yours does appear to be free of the scuff marks that I have seen others post pictures of, especially on the side with the Queen on it.
Ken
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5202 Posts |
Quote:
Yours does appear to be free of the scuff marks that I have seen others post pictures of, especially on the side with the Queen on it. Do you mean scuff marks like this:  I wasn't overly concerned, since I bought mine as bullion and not as gradable coins, but it's still a bit annoying.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1200 Posts |
"Everything they sell is hideously overpriced." --- "... The Royal Mint trades on its history, not on the quality of its products." D.Bishop---In the course of my entire lifetime of reading, I've hardly ever seen anybody describe anything more accurately, completely and succinctly than you described the British Royal Mint with those two statements. The 2013 Britannias are widely recognized as being an embarrassment to The Royal Mint. The Mexican Casa de Moneda puts out their silver Libertads in those comical open-ended cardboard tubes and ships them in bags and even then the Libs come through their travels (or "travails"?) far less damaged and looking way better than the (formerly) respected Britannias. If that isn't the all-time call for a major reality check over at The Royal Mint, I don't know what ever could be. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1661 Posts |
Yes, that is a good example of the scuff marks. Makes me want to dig my 2013 out that I had since December of 2012 to see how it looks.
Ken
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Valued Member
 United Kingdom
90 Posts |
I haven't had many surface scuff marks on the face, but what in the world would case the edge to end up looking like it was dodgily pressed as two seperate sections?!!?!. Almost makes me want to drill into one and do an acid test.
It's the edge that concerns me the most, as previous silver britannias I've bought we're fine with the edge.
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Pillar of the Community
Japan
666 Posts |
I wanted to replace 1 2013 brit I had ... looks like quality issues are still there ... let my brit stay with the scars on the face of Lizzy in order to remind myself not to go after Britannias in the future
back to my kookas, pandas, lunars ...
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
548 Posts |
I'm adopting a "wait and see" attitude towards Britannias. Until now I've found them attractive because they're my country's official bullion coin and I like how the design changes every couple of years. I'm thinking now that The Royal Mint has tried to enter the bullion market they may stop with the re-designs. That coupled with the decline in quality seen in the 2013 coins may convince me to abandon this avenue of collecting and concentrate on the Pandas and Koalas. |
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
90 Posts |
Just had confirmation from a different dealer who also said their recent coins suffer the same problem. So legit product, just god aweful quality control at Royal Mint. No wonder The Royal Mint aren't selling a proof version of the 2013 Silver Britannia on their own website, only 2012 version, they can't make one of good enough quality! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
899 Posts |
Hmm... I just picked up several of these the other day. I have to say I pooped into this thread to see what the take on them was and was kind of shocked. The ones I got are clean - no scuffs and look polished not wavy. Then again, I did pick them up as bullion coins, not as collector coins, so I wasn't overly concerned with the minting.
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
90 Posts |
@Doug58 the ones I bought before the recent price crash were probably similar to yours. The ones I bought pictured which were minted after are dreadful. Could be your particular stockist had slightly older minted versions.
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Valued Member
Canada
281 Posts |
Quote:
one thing that made the Britannia slightly special (the 958 purity Exactly the reason why I never stacked many Brits 'cause In Canada ANY pm's below .995 in purity is taxable so now, they're a little more desirable being .999 
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1037 Posts |
Thanks for the heads-up. I was going to buy a British coin or two.
I guess I'll pick up a Mexican Libertad.
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Valued Member
United States
214 Posts |
I personally think the Libertad is a better Coin if you want it to go up in Value if your talking about the 2013. The Libertad is usually less mintage. The Brit in the past before 2013 was a low mintage coin.
Can't go wrong with the Libertad
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Replies: 20 / Views: 4,079 |
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Posted 04/22/2013 3:19 pm
