Buy 1oz Perth Lunars. The Series II Lunars have a thickness of 2.6mm while the Kook and Koala are 4mm thick. http://www.perthmintbullion.com/au/Buy-Silver-Coins/1oz.aspx?size=18
Interesting topic, I am going to continue to buy the non certified silver but if anyone is looking for a future business then something along the lines of slabbing coins might be worth looking into. A third party certification company who will check the precious metal, confirm that it is genuine and then encase it in a tamper proof slab. Someone with the money to make sure that it is hard to countefeit the packaging, someone with a decent reputation who people would trust. It might work out to be cheaper that a certificate and less likely to be lost. I usually end up keeping the metal in a safe and the certificates and boxes on a shelf somewhere else. Actually, is it too late to copyright that idea?
Theres definately an opening in the grading /testing / slabbing here in oz for someone with a bit of commonsense ,business nouse. & knowledge of coins
Gidday Mate, Yes you are right to think so! I understand all the opposing arguments that do not support your theory. However I proved this in Gold over the years on ebay. The main reason is more and more new buyers are coming into and climbing on board the bullipn wagon. They prefer pretty Pamp Suisse Certified Ingots /bars so in three years you may have 75% new buyers with 50+ of them too lazy or too busy to research The opposing views or how to spot a fake. I hear your a bit of a legend around this forum mate and Well deserved from what I have read. I have my own legend story but that's another story for another time lol Regards Vern
This was one of the reasons I started stacking PM 1 oz silver kooks. It's legal tender meaning heavy penalty for counterfeiting (especially in Oz), smaller market compared to US silver eagles and China silver panda's, and time & effort vs. risk & reward. Hardly worth the effort to forge a 1 oz silver kook I'd say. More reward for counterfeiters in gold, bars and other more internationally recognised round or coins with a lot less risk. Besides cost, this is another reason I've not gotten into gold bars and coins yet. However, for the rich folks (strong hands) it makes sense to store their wealth in gold bars. When SHTF, it's one private plane or boat out of the country with a suitcase full of gold bars. Then onto building a new empire and they will be a millionaire again in no time and possible a billionaire later on.
VicBitter---Sorry to be the one to say it, but fake kooks are out there. See http://www.brotherjohnf.com/forum/Thread-1-oz-fake-kookaburra-silver-coin The counterfeiters/fakemakers are doing knockoffs of almost everything (including 1oz silver bar knockoffs) these days. I think the only level they haven't gotten down to yet is fractional silver, but they'll probably get there next week.
Premonition- Pm really start being noticed by population. Gov secretly promotes a flood of fake pm's to the market People begin getting ripped off on mass. Gov comes up with a plan- to keep the people safe - ban all physical pm trade unless carried out through authorized dealer. Add a service fee tax. Must show id. Presto. Everybody is happy and gov back in control.
Thanks for the link Fat Freddy. I hadn't seen that video before. All my silver is from Bullion Bourse anyways... I would actually worry about the quality of fakes getting better. It wouldn't surprise me if good and better fakes start coming from private mints operating in a more corrupt country or government.