bought 3 lunar mouse coins, 2 weigh 31.6 g, 1 weighs 31.9 g. Are they possible fakes? BTW, all the lunar coins from different year over weight over 31.4 gram, why they still publish 31.1 g?
Coins need to be at least 31.1g because you're guaranteed 1 troy oz. When making blanks before it becomes the completed coin, there are some slight variances during manufacturing. Any blanks that are under 31.1g are remelted, and any blanks that are 31.1g or higher will go on to the next stage.
All of Perth's Lunar 1oz coins have a minimum weight. Minimum Gross Weight (g) 31.135 http://www.perthmintbullion.com/au/Buy-Silver-Coins/1oz.aspx?size=18
Using the same scale, only Chinese Panda coins are exactly 31.1 g. All other silver eagles, kookaburras, lunars are at least over 31.2 g.
did not find this Lunar Forum, posted on Silver Coins Forums before found here. The scale is accurate. All my Chinese pandas weigh exactly 31.1 g. Other silvers such as eagles, kookaburras, lunars are at least over 31.2 g.
When silver was $4-$5 an ounce, and premiums $10 an ounce, it wasn't considered worth the effort to perfect the weight, as long as it was a minimum weight. Giveaway didn't really become a material issue until the price of silver rocketed.
sconejon - see this thread, particularly post #11, showing some of the historical premiums for PM bullion coins: http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-47761-who-bought-silver-from-the-perth-mint-in-1990-2000.html So yes, at $5 spot, a 1oz coin would have been sold by Perth Mint for $15
Blown away by that robbery charging 200% premium on a product. Sounds like people that bought at $5 dont really have a lot to brag about.
Pretty sure they would have been making good money off such a huge premium, enough to not have to increase their premium for 20 years. Surely the price of production is higher today and I would expect they are still making a profit.
Wow wow wow, I have always been so jealous of not stacking when I was younger and being able to buy silver at a spot price of $5. Mind you I didnt know about silver investing or any kind of investing back then either. I am so surprised at the $15 cost. What is so good, is that buying low premium silver right now is only costing $7 per ounce more than when spot was $5 , and now it is $20. Geeeeeee I feel sooooooo good about my stack now. Mind you the average cost of my stack is not $22 so I'm not feeling that good. But gee, I dont feel so bad about not buying at $5.
This thread lends to a thought about the average weight of 1 oz Lunar coins per year. Is it possible that during certain years the Perth Mint rounds may have been slightly heavier than other years due to old machinery (like rollers) not working so well and being replaced? I know that .5 or .7 grams is not a huge difference for a single coin but for a tube or box of them....
I must have forgotten it, but now that it's said, I remember that my 2011 rabbit lunars were all overweight, with the same amounts as the topics opening post.
