2016 10-oz BU Kook, purchased from a large, reputable US dealer.. Already sent a message re: exchange/return. Has Perth Mint been testing out a new "cutting-edge" experimental die which utilizes sandpaper? Yet another nail in the coffin re: modern coins, for me..
Wrong capsule size causing scuffing of raise parts during shipping/ movement? If these coins are sold as bullion coins then I think purchasers who expect totally flawless coins really need to buy graded bullion coins,they have already travelled half way around the world before being handled and shipped again to the buyer. There are proof and high relief coins in presentation condition needing no grading at all for collectors who want the best quality. PM 10 oz silver bar $226au 10 oz kookaburra coin $250au thats only $2.50au extra premium per ounce for a designed and minted coin over a cast bar that needed nothing but a stamp and quick buff. Hope your exchange works out to be better though.
Seeing it in person with both the naked eye as well as with a 5X loupe, it looks to be a lot more harsh than just a bit of rubbing against acrylic during transportation. Besides, even if that were actually the case, shouldn't there be a little bit of quality that ensures capsules actually fit the coins? I realize the caliper has only been in use by Man for approximately 2,600 years, but they might want to look into getting trained in that. Anyway, I'm buying something new -- kind of expect it to look somewhat new when you first get it, you know? Regardless of the type of product, Ag or not. Otherwise, I'll save my money & head on over to the melt bin for 10 cents over spot. As for being "only bullion," getting really tired of that parroted weak excuse. Should enough buyers wise up & cause a drop in modern coin sales because of constant shitty quality, be sure to tell the CEO's of these mints & dealers that it's "only fiat." And yes, I blame the dealer as much as the mint, as it shouldn't have left the dealer's door. Then again, it shouldn't have left the mint's door, either, to begin with. Thanks, though, it should work out fine. Might even shoot for a refund or chargeback. And then spend the proceeds on something other than modern coins..
Fishtaco, couldn't disagree with you more. If that is the quality you're expecting from a premium coin, I have to imagine you work for them? I mean, come on man, smell the roses. We don't spend premium dollars to get a coin in this condition. That is utter bullsh*t. Stop defending your bosses. That quality is unacceptable even for generic silver round standards, never mind a 20 - 40% hike in premium cost for most Perth Mint stuff. Have your boss call me, I'll set him straight. :lol:
+1. I too am getting sick of people parroting the "its only bullion" excuse for serious quality control issues. The mints need to understand that trust is far easier lost than gained.
Yeah that looks awe-full. Bullion or not it is unacceptable. Especially since the damage occurred on the shiny part!
It's not only the Australian Mint, it's also the Canadian Mint, bought the new 1oz Maple leaf Howling Wolf 2016 series coin, with a big scratch on the cheek of Elizabeth, the dealer claims they come out of het tube this way. So what, i pad over $30 for the coin, isn't it normal that the coin should beokay without scratching on it. It's getting a roulette in buying this coins if they are good or not.. The Mint has to secure the coins to keep the quality 100%. Collecting Maples is really getting unmotivating.
If I was paying spot I would say bring on the scratches but when your paying 3-4 over spot it should be free of scratches and damage at purchase. If I buy a new matchbox car I expect it to be mint...
There is no way that 10oz coin came out of the Perth Mint like that, each of them are hand packed there is no machine packing, so such an obvious scratch on such a large coin would be noticed. Dealer should do a swap for you IMO.
The dealers need to make up their minds. Are these bullion coins? If so, then sell them at bullion premiums, not semi numi premiums. The spread is too wide on most PM coins for me to take a risk. Gatito Bandito, you should name the dealer and report back whether or not they will replace the coin and on what terms.
@Bron I agree in so far that these examples of bad quality delivered by the mint(s) must not happen! It is possibly it did not happen in this case (10oz as posted before) at the mint. But shit happens...sorry for that expression but I can proof it. But is also an opportunity for Perth Mint to improve your quality inspection and system! Last year at World Money Fair in Berlin I had a meeting with Ron Currie, your former Marketing and Sales Director. I showed him two Koala Perth Mint silver coins with misstrikes which should not have passed the quality control but they have passed it! Human beeings are no machines and even a quality system does not prevent from mistakes. After Ron has inspected these two diifferent coins (one is a 1oz Koala High Relief of 2012 and one is a bullion Koala 1oz of 2013. On the first coins there seems to be a add on of silver which came on the blanket or was on it already as the striking started. The 2013 misstrike was due to you former used masking technique of striking a coin serveral times as Ron explained. This process has changed after that coinage he remarked. The 2012 proof-misstrike seems to be a single fault and the "masking" fault has happerd at least for about 100 coins. The guy who presented them to me bought 4 tubes. And about half of them are looking like the following pictures no. 3 to 5. I own two of them as an evidence. The "add on" is at the "I" at Australia: And the two extending lines below 2013 are shown here: If you are attending WMF 2016 in Berlin I can arrange a meeting with you to present you the 2013 koala coin.
I have had a few kilo 2012 dragons look just like the OP pics. There was also another kilo dragon listed on ebay with "blemishes on queens cheek" sold about 4-6 months back from memory, looked just the same. The tolerances of the caps to coin surface is minimal just takes a slight curvature in the cap and this could happen, though I couldnt spot such curvature with my eye in my cases. I ended up selling mine at spot to a friend who wanted some bullion, but got bullion with a nice pic on it, I could get pics if needed. These would have been bought here in OZ from dealers. I only would have paid $30 or so over spot anyway, so no big loss, but when I purchased them spot was much higher. So IMO they probably didnt leave the mint looking like that, it is contact with capsule in transit that is the issue, quality control issues with cap manufacturer, or wrong cap used, I dont know cheers grant
Bron I have news for you. I bought 5oz monkeys and 10oz 2016 kooks from a reputable dealer. The coins arrived in sealed boxes with blue strapping. I was there at the store when they were delivered. I was given a full box an yes there were several damaged and scratched coins. The dealer was happy to swap them out. Secondly I bought 2x 1kg 2016 kooks from the Perth mint shop directly. I picked the coins up and they were scratched far worse than those pictures above show. I asked the person behind the counter about these marks and was told it was only bullion?? I refused to accept them and they were swapped. Thirdly I have 1 kg monkey and a mate of mine has another and both have a scratch in exactly the same place - near the Chinese lettering. What are the odds? Quality control ? Not so much. The coins are great but I warn people to examine each one very carefully as quality control is not what it used to be. Oh and by the way 2years ago when we had those meetings at the PM for SS that are now no longer, I got a gold 1oz snake with a large mark on the face, I asked the person serving me to swap it which she did and the next coin had the same mark. She then opened a new roll and gave me a perfect copy. It is easy if you are on site but those ordering by post or in different geographic regions, this is grief that no one wants. Saying that the RCM coins are as bad if not worse is no justification for poor quality control. By the way Bron if you want me to post pictures of the scratched 1kg monkey - happy to oblige and I am sure my mate will be happy to send me pics of his one. By the way the reason I still have it is that there are no 1kg to swap out?
The 1oz bullion are a lot smaller and high volume, so I can see them slipping through, but the 10oz and kilo are so much bigger and in lower volume that I'm suprised obvious damage makes it through.
Ronnie, you nailed, and is the reason my focus in 2016 are Pandas from here on in. I think Perth Mint are killing their customers, unfortunately. They are throwing quality out the window for greed. Sad day at the Perth Mint. I hope they one day earn my trust back. I'm finished with them. And I say it is total bullsh*t when they make the claim, 'it's just bullion.' If it is just bullion, then charge 17.00 bucks for the POS bullion that would be the equivalent of a Maple or an Eagle.
The 5oz, 10oz, and 1kg coins are annoying but we can detect these issues early. What about the 2oz,1oz and 1/2 oz. most of us buy those in rolls as this has added value which guarantees that no one has been opening the airtites and messing with the coins. Without breaking them up we have no idea of quality or hidden damage to these smaller coins. We could all be sitting on a time bomb waiting to blow up one day when we break open these rolls to sell or grade. I cant even swap a damaged 1kg Monkey today (currently in production), what will happen years down the track when we open these rolls to find problems we never anticipated.
Broke open a 2008 Series II silver 1oz mouse roll recently and found at least half the coins had exactly the same error. Nicked ears on 10+ coins. Good news is they still sell for >$10 over on ebay. Bad news, they don't sell for $30 over. Someone wasn't paying attention in 2007!
In Perth Mint's defense, I've probably sold 1,500 Series II 1oz lunars since 2008. Only 3 coins with flaws, until I came across these 10 wounded mice. In a monster box of Canadian 1oz Grizzlies I bought, over 50% of the coins were either scratched or milk spotted.
Right, we all know about the Grizzlies, and we stay far away. We didn't know about the Mouse, and we kept buying at a premium. As I said, until they can prove otherwise, I'm finished with PM. Those markings are nuts I tell you. Just nuts. I can't begin to tell you how many kook rolls I have. Geepers, creepers. Looks like I'll just be selling rolls for 20 or 30 over spot per coin with the wrap still on. What I don't know won't hurt. But I ain't buying any more. Whew.
I have not bought a bad Perth Mint coin other than the FWS milky which I knew was a bullion grade non encapsulated investment silver coin so really didnt expect much. My PM coins have enjoyed much less shipping/handling plus careful packaging/handling by the sellers but if you visit Perth mint you will see that all these bullion coins encapsulated or not are just bullion coins,the price between bullion and proof/collector versions reflect this fact at the mint. The display Kangaroos behind the glass case in the PM sales desk room are even scratched and nicked but people still complain about its quality? Now just because PM quality of their bullion coins as been much better than some other famous mints in the past it still doesn't make them flawless grade coins, they are bullion grade coins only! first strikes get sent to be graded so the purchaser can decide which grade to buy. How many PM coins turn up with this kind of scratching and scuffing? this may well have got past PM quality control but it got past quality control of either or both the mint and re seller. Why did the re seller send out this coin in this condition? was it caused through mishandled transport? oh no its the mints fault from start to finish because they can no longer mint a bullion coin with above bullion coin quality. lol
