that's a fair call, i dunno if would call the gold tigers a failure though. hahah, i'm just determined to pick a fight with you! nah just kidding. the 1oz gold tigers have a hefty premium, i mostly attribute the silver premiums to the unusual sized coins that are now out of production, 5oz, 1/2kg etc. given the explosion of demand for 1oz bullion coins and insane mintages, 300,000 is by default a pretty tiny mintage now so basically all the silver lunars are getting premiums, even the rabbits which i don't rate at all.
Yeah probably a bad example on my part, you're the only person I know who 'likes' the design though. Anecdote evidence isn't the best though haha. Anyway if they do manage to come out with something so bastardly ugly that puts people off, the premiums for the 2012 dragon would plummet like Tiger Airline's stock price. There's a chance, not a large one though. Hard to fail with dragons!!!
Thanks hobo-jo good stuff! Great response by Perth Mint as well Never knew they had such a large Chinese market!!
but since 2004 the coloured versions "haven't" been strictly numismatic versions with box and coa, they were sold in rolls to the overseas market and 'sold at close to metal value', so that's not entirely correct as i understand it. Projack's story about the colour dogs is in direct contrast to what is described here. Just making an observation...
<------ Look +1 =D Slam Wow offer on the whole mintage of 1oz gold dragons. Gold stackers doing a pre-order for the 1oz gold dragons yet? Slam
<Gold Stackers hat on> Sounds like there's enough demand - I'll see if I can get an allocation. <Gold Stackers hat off>
The PM response may answer the question without providing much useful information. So we know that the 9 color set will be sold in China. What about single color versions?
Have they released a picture of the damn design yet? Geeeez it's hard to stay excited about your pre-order without even knowing what it looks like.
The wording only applies to the set of 9. The PM can sell all 9 colors individually and the reply would be 100% honest.What you do not know is, other than the set of 9, how many color versions will be sold? So my question would be that other than the set of 9, how many color versions of the bullion and proof coins will be sold and what quantity is the PM implying when they use the term "tight"? To me, the most valuable part of the PM reply is that they did not mention having to allocate the 1oz silver bullion dragon coins. I find that very surprising and I would be happy to be wrong about my expectation of a sell out on issuance.
The popularity of coloured coins is reflected in the commemorative silver line-up offered by The Perth Mint. So how is the colourisation of precious metal coins achieved? The Mint uses a specially adapted pad-printing technique. It begins with the preparation of four printing plates, known as clichs, each one etched with different elements of the coin design as a series of tiny depressions. Cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink, the base colours from which all others are produced, are mixed and applied to the etched surfaces of the clichs. In the accompanying video you can see how silicone pads are lowered onto the clichs to absorb the ink. Then, in a carefully sequenced process, the pads deposit the ink on the face of a coin in successive layers until the image is complete. Watch the pad-printing of Megatron, one of three 2011 Transformers 1oz silver proof coins: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUyFUumqLPc[/youtube] Special inks are required for optimal quality. As only very small quantities of ink are transferred during the pad-printing process, the pigmentation must be highly concentrated. The Perth Mint mixes its ink with hardener, which cures to leave an exceptionally durable finish, resistant to fading, as well as solvent and chemical attack. Colour adds vibrancy, realism and appeal the results are often quite spectacular.
Hopefully the 4 coloured Dragon variants will all be shipped off to China. Reading between the lines, load-up on the plain bullion 1oz's and forget the rest IMHO.
