just had an email through from weighton coins, they are about to get 500 2013 silver Britannia's in. they are now in 999 silver and not 995 like previous years. first come first serve basis min order 10 for discount rate of 300 (-royal mint release price is 57.50 each)
Nice, seems to be the same design as last year, any known mintage limit? Also, previous years were 958 silver, also known as britannia silver.
who will order bullion at this price at current levels? collectors? well, I'd wait them to appear on secondary market in several years for less
Royal Mint prices are crazy OTT but ill-informed collectors will pay their prices and get some sort of presentation pack and printed description. Weighton is a good UK supplier as is Atkinsons so keep a watch for prices. Not much to differentiate them at present. Worth waiting a week or two and check out the German suppliers before jumping in with a purchase. Silver has been falling lately so these prices seem somewhat high. Apparently these new 999 fine silver coins can also be ordered in tubes of 20.
Youll be able to get them in OZ for around $40, sounds like your better off importing them from Australia.. we can still get the 2010 for $42 each 1for1
Except for the fact that: Importing silver into the UK may trigger customs to add VAT (at about 20%) + customs admin fee + postal costs.
Hi Bullion Bourse had the 2012s for ages.. they dont seem to be there today.. they were around $40.. cheaper a few months back.. was half tempted but went for reminted kooks and 2011 elephants instead. They were moved to the specials section from what i remember.. id say they were unpopular given how spoilt aussies are for bullion with the PM oversupplying in a major way The 2010 brits i was referring to are: http://bullionbourse.com/#ecwid:category=584916&mode=product&product=11645163 1for1
Dont they have to pay VAT anyway.. dont see any difference? Its more possible to get away with importing silver and not getting caught hence no vat than buying locally in UK where a bullion store will 100% charge you vat. Ditto with imports.. if you exceed the total on an import customs will slam you ... same world wide isnt it? Postal costs were the additonal costs i stated that would still end up being cheaper. The point of my post was to illustrate how cheap Britannia are in Australia (through Bullion Bourse)... everything else in my opinion is "ceteris parabis" 1for1
Unlimited mintage, sold in tubes, huge premium??--No thanks --May as well just buy eagles-----thats all these are now is British eagles/maples
Maybe check out the prices on say Apmex in a year from now and compare the Britannias vs the ASEs and Maples. I have a strange feeling that the Brits will be priced much higher somehow. Let's wait and see !
One thing when there is a change is most people scramble for the last year of something. Or in this case the first year. As this is a major break in the series. I would get some of the new release. Also I would be trying to source older Britannias at close to spot. These will become a collectors item now due to the change. It will create some numis demand because the series has finished. If it is a series you like I would be sourcing old coins now and quickly. Look for lower mintage first and go for it.
IMO Anything Silver and New and English has the touch of Death on it... my bro in UK dosent even bother with Silver after VAT has its wicked way the appeal of silver is lost.. the VAT kills silver demand to a decent extent. In Australia i see people passing up the bristannia all day in favour of lunar/kooks which are usually more expensive.. we can source brits cheap-as-chips but i have still never purchased.. Your speculating a change in demand.. or that they will start to be demanded... bringing the purity up to invesment grade is not a massive change.. they are boring and mass-produced with minimla demand inside or out of UK. If you can get them at cheap local prices why not but $50 each is madness.. we will pay around $8-10 less here and ill wager they will not sell well (they rank outside the top 10 on my bullion list), below ASE and MAPLE as more expensive but just as boring and common) 1for1
Good points, however I think we all agree that the general public is unaware of Silver bullion in general. You would expect that demand to increase. As such so do the number of collectors. Not everyone is just a bullion buyer. Also I wonder if the UK Government is thinking of dropping VAT on Bullion. They realised that their national coin was not .999 as such they have introduced the change. I have not heard anything to back this up, it is just a thought. It is realistic to think this. That way there could be less comeback on the government if people are not penalized for buying bullion ? I am sure a lot of UK buyers would be hopeful this is the case, I doubt it is though
I disagree completely. Changing the purity is a huge deal and the current 958 fineness is probably the biggest reason why they're not that popular here or in other parts of the world. We're not the only ones with a minimum purity for classification as "investment grade" and the lower purity means they have a different tax status which a lot of dealers can't be bothered mucking around with. Just putting the Britannia on par with all the other bullion coins from a tax perspective will have a massive effect on how they're traded. Personally, I think the designs are generally a lot more attractive than some of the other bullion coins out there (Disclaimer: I have a full set of them).
One of the attractions of Brit silver is it is more durable than 999 silver so coins keep their appearance and don't scuff or dent so easily. They are also a little larger to make up the Troy oz in fine silver weight. The prices of older Britannias are already looking high especially the first 1997 coin if you can find one. The switch to 999 for 2013 may not detract Brits from collectors who love the quality and design. The Royal Mint also produces the Ros for bullion collectors but I don't know which is the best seller.
