There is more than Australia. I can think of four Chinese zodiac right off the bat - Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Canada. Plus Laos and Macao. For all I know Mongolia and North Korea do them too.
Australian Lunar series one and two. This is primarily an Aussie forum...we collect The Perth Mint Lunar Series and...many Chinese folk buy Perth Lunar coins...actually the Chinese market is huge. Baoquan coin investments buy a lot of Perth's lunar coins. The monkeys are being released as we speak. (In China)
<- north korean lunars, only missing the 2000 lunar series 6 Kim Il-sung on white dragon. Throw a price at me people..
Why would it be a joke? It's a fact. Edit To explain. The series two Perth Mint 2016 coins, are released in China before they are released in Australia. Baoquan Coin Investments are a key sales company for Perth's coins.
Holdfast writes: "This is primarily an Aussie forum." Ambiguous to me. You could mean any of three things... 1. Most of the forum participants are Australian citizens, residents or of Aussie heritage 2. The subject of this sub-forum is Perth Mint coins 3. The management/ownership of this forum, the ISP or the advertising base (is there one?) is Australian.
What is a fact - the stock market huge losses or the 'release of monkeys'? You could mean the next year coins are monkeys. Heck, I don't want to pump up this forum with filler chit chat. I will save my comments to coin collecting related investigative matters. Getting back on track... Have members of this forum found accurate, up to date and detailed published information on Perth Mint lunar series - perhaps a reference book updated every year, or a subscription newsletter service? Maybe out of Australia by someone nit selling coins themselves. Just studying the Perth Mint's own data I came up with dozens of questions. Examples... 1. What are the top five collector countries for Perth Mint? Where is the largest collector base outside of the obvious ones - nations with large ethnic Chinese population? 2. Has anyone 'crunched the numbers' in order to develop a mathematical formula combining technical analysis (buyer and seller transactions) plus other relevant factors (AUD FXS, maximum mintage, add years since last mintage, spot price of relevant metal, ebay/retailer/major online dealers averages of selling prices, etc etc) for estimating the most likely coins for short and long term appreciation? Impossible if course, but I mean a scientific/economic assessment of this collectibles market (such as was done with coloured stones in the 1980s - before it crashed btw!) 3. As a general rule, which holds value better - low sales of a high maximum mintage or medium sales of a more moderate mintage? 4. What are the similarities in the policies and business behaviors of Perth Mint versus Casa de Moneda (Mexico) and the Royal Canadian Mint? Which ones are owned/operated by the state, which are private businesses and which have any connection to the money supply of their respective countries. So, my interests are collectibles, economics, finance and politics - and where they intersect. A coin is not just a coin. I don't have great confidence in the numismatic integrity of Perth Mint so far. I just noticed that the print-out I did on mintages is from 22 Nov 2012! Perhaps there are updates and I am working from an outdated web resource? Trying to get a handle on the business angle I end up just buying what I think looks attractive and I get the best deal on.
I fell in love with the Ukrainian Ox coin. These are half-ounce Ag925 coins limited mintage. I find the designs refreshing I really don't like many of the Perth Mint lunars except for Dragons and Snakes, and coloured coins leave me cold. Somewhat disconcerting to see a year of the Cat following a Tiger, but apparently the cat is a rabbit substitute. They are small coins, there isn't an infinite number of sizes and variations, and the primitivist designs appeal to me. Ukraine 5 Grivna 2006 Year of the Dog Lunar Proof 12,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2007 Year of the Pig Lunar Proof 12,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2008 Year of the Rat Lunar Proof with Diamond 15,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2009 Year of the Ox Lunar Proof with Rubies 20,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2010 Year of the Tiger Lunar Proof with Citrines 20,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2011 Year of the Cat Lunar Proof 20,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2012 Year of the Dragon Lunar Proof with orange Zirconium 20,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2013 Year of the Snake Lunar Proof with Zirconium 25,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2014 Year of the Horse Lunar Proof with Zirconium 25,000 mintage Ukraine 5 Grivna 2015 Year of the Goat Lunar Proof with blue Zirconium 20,000 mintage
baoquan is indeed bought a lot Perth mints lunar color and repackaged it. You know their welcoming in china and the market price ?
Lunar silver that I am collecting:- Perth mints Bullion :- 1 oz and 1 kg - at reasonable bullion price and appreciate in value in term of semi-numic. However, It might not be the case for KG which I treat it as display item. 10 KG is too big and high premium in Singapore so no buy. China scallop proof silver - lowest mintage as compare to other shapes. reasonable issue price at around AUS 170-220 including shipping. The price is double than Perth mints silver proof lunar BUT value appreciation also higher. In my view and experience it is easier to liquidate it too. Loas Lunar is beauty BUT Jade is individual price which quality control is hard. 12 lunar might not get consistent color tone of jade. Singapore Lunar not famous in overseas at all. Series one and 2 resell price suck and not many buyers in market except you sell super low. Canada look okay BUT hard to liquidate at good price. UK so so only and not familiar with the market.
Im off to laos in 5 days time never thought about getting any silver while i was there in fact part of the plan was to get away from the whole scene but now im intrigued. Any advice on what to look for im starting out in luang prabang but no real plan after that. After my last trip to Vietnam im well aware of the dodgy indo french pieces but what are worth trying to find and where should I look. Im glad my girlfriend cant read this post