Picked up a dozen or so of these today. What crappy looking coins! The reverse has the quality of some Chinese fakes I've seen, and the goats look like they have some holes in their bodies. I hope these aren't fakes but they weight right and have the right silver "ping" sound. I got them for $1.50 over spot so it's just silver bullion to me. Not anywhere as nice as Australian Lunar coins. Just my opinion. Jim
They are just bullion, indeed. And since they are not widespread and not in demand like the Perth goats, there are no fakes around. A pretty good deal, I would say.
Porcello, I agree it was a good deal. I bought all he had and would have taken a few more. I like the gov minted bullion these days when I can get it cheap. I even put each one in an air-tite for safe keeping. Jim
This is what I usually buy since I'm at walking distance from NZ Mint. I also buy sometimes silver ferns but mainly to give away as souvenirs to overseas friends. I'm not aware of fake silver ferns around, but the lunar has the additional security of yearly design change. I could buy some Niue turtles just for a change, but the Fiji Taku has been copied in the past - maybe it was popular at the time. They all cost the same anyway, and the best bullion alternative without going kilo would be the perth 10oz bar, 80cents less per Oz (NZ$), which is definitely uglier, less liquid, and has been counterfeited before.
Whatever about the Perth range being nicer, that's a matter of opinion and preference (and i also lean towards Perth as it happens). But i would never call them crappy looking coins! There is soooo much worse out there. Are we talking about the same coin below?? Because it happens to be beautifully minted by the NZMint. Contrasting fields of mirror, frosted, and stippled. The goats are also meant to be like that, it is an abstract depiction which offers a different take on the more usual literal depiction. These are quality minted, well designed, low mintage (lower than Kooks), low premium BU. I rate them quite highly.
The goats have holes in them. What's up with that? They just look cheap to me (the reverse). I don't mean any offense. I prefer foreign silver bullion for my collection and buy what I can get locally cheap, so I knew I was going to take these when I saw them, but compared to other gov minted stuff I have seen they rate lower. Sort of remind me of some of those "Merry Christmas" .999 rounds you see. The obverse is not bad though. Just my opinion. Jim
