New for 2013 £20 for £20 Silver Coin from the UK Royal Mint.

Britain Version of $20 for $20

 

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I'm interested in this coin - but do I understand correctly that it is only available to UK buyers? Humbug to that...

 

Wow I would buy that if I was into British coins... or I would get them and sell it for silver. If only I had money

 

I mean, even with the exchange, this would be no more than an ASE and it's a first time issue. It'd be neat to say you had one, right? Plus that's one of my favorite reverse designs.

 

Can you go to the store and spend it as $20 in the US?

 

Well, it's a half ounce, so there's always that... You'd be spending $34 or so for a half ounce troy.

 

No... it's a British coin.

 

Why? The Canadian Mint basically does the same thing - their $20 pieces issued at face are "Canada and US only". But just as people outside North America can buy them (at higher prices) elsewhere, people outside the UK can buy this one elsewhere.

The French Mint also has a "silver and gold at face" program - and they do it similarly: You can pick the pieces up at major post offices in France ...

Christian

 

I was debating with myself whether to put this thread in the bullion section, but I decided as the face value far exceeds the silver contest that this is more than a bullion coin.

I'm going to start off with the bad news, the coin is available exclusively on the Royal Mint Website, and is for UK buyers only.

I imagine this is because that the coin is for sale for £16.67 + 20% VAT which makes £20. Overseas buyers would not have to pay the VAT. I can't see the RM selling a coin for less than face value.

Specs:
Mintage : 250,000
Diameter: 27.00mm
Alloy: .999 Silver
Weight: 15.71g




I have searched this forum to see if this thread already exists and couldn't find one. I apologise if I have missed an existing thread on the subject.

 

I'm lead to believe this has come off the back of the birth of the Royal Baby.

It will also be a series:

The Pistrucci-designed coin will be the first in a series of 20 denomination coins which will be issued periodically by the Royal Mint to celebrate significant events and figures from British culture in the coming years.

If you would rather listen to me talk about the coin instead of reading lol, here are some youtube vids I made.

 

Merged the two topics.

Christian

 

Cheers. I did give the forum a good look, must have missed it.

 

A crown by any other name. A nice coin.

 

No problem, and the videos with your comments are a welcome addition. Now as for why the Royal Mint sells them to UK customers only, well, the Canadians and French (possibly others too) have applied similar restrictions before, but I don't think it has anything to do with VAT.

At least over here (I'm in Germany but I think this is true anywhere in the EU) if a coin is given away at face, there is no VAT involved. Otherwise you couldn't even get cash from your bank without paying an extra tax, hehe. However, as soon as an issuer (mint, central bank, etc.) charges more than face, VAT is applied to the total. The Royal Mint "charges" £20.00 for a £20 coin? No tax. It wants more? Time for taxes ...

What that dealer said about the intrinsic value (only £8 or so) is true of course - from a bullion collector's POV. Everybody else who gets such a coin in the UK knows that, while the "silver value" may never exceed the face value, it will always be worth its £20 ...

Christian

 

I like the detail work very nice.

 

That does make a lot of sense.

However, if you do try and purchase the coin from outside the UK, the total price comes up at £16.67. Which means there must be VAT of some sort being added to the coin to make up the £20 price.
My opinion is that they are probably going to sell these coins at a loss, but then end up with 100,000 people on the mailing list to send catalogues to every month.


As far as what the dealer said. I believe a coin is worth what a collector would pay for it, not a dealer.... whose goal is to get it for as little as possible.
I doubt many people will be daft enough to give away a coin with £20 face value for less than half that.

As it is I have purchased 3 of these coins with the intention of selling 2 of them to pay for the first one.

 

It seems like they are willing to sell to outside UK now. I was able to add the item without doing any tricks. When you check-out, there's no more warning that this is for UK residence only

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-ROYAL-...NTY-POUND-SILVER-COIN-BEAUTIFUL-/331017407360

As much as I would like one this is just to much, plus shipping no thanks

 

Got my hands on one today. I just wanna take it out the blister pack. I wish it was in a capsule instead.

 

Looks like a thickness similar to the 1-pound coin. Very nice!