G'day. I've stumbled upon this site a few times now looking for info on coins and it seems like a pretty cool place (correct me if I'm wrong). So here I am. About me - I live in Queensland and have always had an interest in coins/collectables and other shiny things but never really acted on it. The last month or so I've been lurking around the internet, gauging the market I think you'd say. I am interested in war related things (I guess due to family, particularly dad being a history teacher) and to start off I've decided to collect the Famous Battles in Australian History set, from the Perth Mint. I've managed to get the 1st 2 coins in the series for under retail price on eBay so far. I've also taken an interest in Mexican Pesos and the PM's Kookaburras. I think I'll be sticking to silver stuff too, for $$ reasons. While I'm here I may as well ask a few noob questions. Here it goes. The kookaburras come in 2 forms, standard and proof finish? I can assume the proof ones have limited mintages and come in display cases, the others don't? Are there any particularly rare PM kookaburras? - specific year/privy mark combo? Hope everyone has a nice day.
The kookaburras come in 2 forms, standard and proof finish? correct I can assume the proof ones have limited mintages and come in display cases, the others don't? incorrect bullion version have limited mintage also Are there any particularly rare PM kookaburras? - specific year/privy mark combo? not really oh and welcome
Welcome. There were some rare kooks but now some years with low mintages have been reminted so they are not so rare now. People never really took to the privies.
Thanks for the posts guys. Another question if I may. What's the deal with premium silver? Anything I should know regarding it as a new stacker?
Silver premium is the amount one pays over the spot (international market) price. Say spot price is $27 per ozt (troy ounce) and you buy a one ounce Perth Mint souvenir trinket thing for $85 you have paid a $58 premium on your silver. Why? Because when TSHTF and you have to sell or trade it, it will only be worth melt value. When you count wealth in ounces, premium matters. Welcome to the forum.
Right, thanks for that. The impression I've got is that everyone here is more into bullion > numismatic items. Which makes sense for the reasons you said. In relation to bullion silver though, if someone were to say they want to to trade x for 2oz of premium silver. What does that mean? Is that related to quality of silver (eg. mined in Aus vs China)? Or is it just that some bullion coins are better? From reading around someone mentioned that ASE's are premium as are pamp bars. What makes this silver worth more? I think its best to learn as much as I can before I start buying, that's all. I appreciate your help everyone.
The "quality" of silver bullion is measured in "fineness", which is the percentage of actual elemental silver in the object. Typically, bullion products are "three nines fine" or 999 which signifies 99.9% Ag (elemental silver). However some products are 9999 (99.99%) pure, such as the Canadian Maples and such products, or even 99999 (99.999%) pure. Sterling Silver on the other hand is manufactured for robustness in handling and is 92.5% Ag. Some circulation coins like pre1966 50 cents pieces (Australian) are less pure, again for greater resistance to wear. I guess people could talk about a Maple being a premium coin to a Kookaburr or a something in Sterling Silver, but this isn't standard terminology, just expressive of there being a difference in fineness. Ag is Ag, regardless of where it comes from, but some people like Chinese products like Panda coins and pay a Premium for them. Like I said, if measuring wealth in ounces, a lower premium is important to maximise the ounces you get for your fiat currency. Many people start stacking bars for this reason, then look to coins after establishing a core position. But if you want to flip numis then none of that should matter because it's all about the bullion in times like these.
