Advice for a new starter?

[iliria]

Hi all. I live in UK and I've just started the hobby of collecting (investing?) in silver coins (with intention to ocassionally buy a 1/4 oz gold one and some silver bars of various weights ). The silver Lion of England from Queen's Beasts series has got me started. I have been reading quite a bit here and relise that it is a minefield. Any advice the more experienced collectors can give? For example what coins to look out for, what coins are classics, what websites to shop in, etc. I believe that the Australian Kookaburras are held in high regard. Any others from other countries? Any info would be much appreciated.

 

[Bosse68]

Hi, and welcome here
Chinese pandas have a lot of collectors

 

[Golden ChipMunk]

Hi, welcome to silverstackers forum

There are plenty of research materials here.

Coins, Bars and different sizes and shapes

Australian Kookaburras from 1990 to current, Lunars Series I & II , Koalas , Wedge tail Eagles, Stock Horse

Britannia, Kiwis, Niue, Libertad, Panda etc

Other are Kruggerand, Sovereign , Shamrock, Gold Eagles, Gold Maples, Gold Buffalo

 

[iliria]

Thank you guys. I was looking to buy some Kookaburras and on the PerthMint website they're listed as $94 whereas other websites such as JMBullion and Provident metals sell them for $22 - $30. Any reason for such difference in price?

 

[Golden ChipMunk]

Thank you guys. I was looking to buy some Kookaburras and on the PerthMint website they're listed as $94 whereas other websites such as JMBullion and Provident metals sell them for $22 - $30. Any reason for such difference in price?

Ah!!! Proof coins and bullion coins... They are different.


The one call proof comes with certificate and box better quality
The other one just bullion coin.

Some years may cost more.

 

[Commander]

Thanks

 

[Killface]

Thank you guys. I was looking to buy some Kookaburras and on the PerthMint website they're listed as $94 whereas other websites such as JMBullion and Provident metals sell them for $22 - $30. Any reason for such difference in price?

For bullion products from Perth Mint go to perthmintbullion.com

The main Perth Mint website is only collectible/numismatic stuff at high premiums.

Several (Australian) dealers are forum sponsors, all reputable dealers and often cheaper on Perth Mint products than the mint itself.

And: welcome!

 

[mmissinglink]

Welcome to the forum and to the world of coins and precious metals.


My first suggestion for anyone new into this is to try to really understand why you want to buy precious metals and/or coins. That's because the reason will better determine what to buy.

There's so many different products available to buy, it'll make your head spin if you realized it. Every year, many thousands of different kinds of silver coins are produced by the various mints around the world. This doesn't include silver collector or investor rounds,, medals, shapes (like bullets), statues, etc, etc.....so one can easily spend all their money very quickly.

Personally, in terms of modern coins, I have about 2 dozen different types that I like, including the America The Beautiful 5 oz silver coins from the U.S. Mint as just 1 example.

I also love Chinese medals (check out this sub forum: http://forums.silverstackers.com/forum-54-modern-chinese-coins-medallions.html ). Actually, Chinese medals is my first and top love in terms of collector items. The designs of my favorite Chinese medals are exquisite, ultra high relief. The Lunar "Snake Dance" (in massive 1.3 kilo silver size) is one example (this is not my medal, these are pics from another site):

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