I am new to silver. I am focusing on ASE but wanted to pick up some coins of the world I will say that nothing beats the ASE. Beautiful design an quality production. Canadian Maple: not impressed. Milk spots on both edge and face. The Queen has no detail. A lot of little scratches on face and edge. I will give the detail of the leaf high marks. Very let down overall. At one time I was thinking of adding a tube a year. Pass. Austrian Philharmonic: nice coin. Great finish and detail. The smooth edge different but I think takes away. It would be cool with texture or a design or maybe writing to honor Austrian composers Figi Taku: I love the turtle side. Great detail and contrast. The coat of arms side no so much. I guess they can't help having a plain coat of arms. The turtle side makes it Mexican Libertad: so much like the ASE in the look of the finish plus both have an old world feel with the different Liberty versions. I really like this coin. The coat of arms side gives it a buried treasure pieces of eight feel. I think this one was my favorite of the four and if I get a non ASE tube it will be the Libertad. Any suggestions for the next four?
I agree with your views of the ASE, Libertad, Taku and Maple Leaf. I really like the first three and am not a fan at all of the Maple Leaf from a quality standpoint. It could be a nice coin, but they don't care about its quality. The Philharmonic doesn't really do much for me. All of the coins you have mentioned so far keep the same design every year, which gets a little long in the tooth. In terms of the next four, I would look at the China Panda, Somalia Elephant, Australia Kookaburra and Australia Koala. These all change their design every year which makes things more interesting. The premiums will most likely be more than you have paid for the coins you have already acquired, but that's the price of variety. If you want another coin that is nice, but keeps the same design every year, look at the Armenia Noah's Ark. The ASE and the Libertad are the all-around best, though, for me.
I have one Panda in my stack, along with some ASEs and Maple Leafs. While I like the design of the ASE, I think the Panda is absolutely stunning.
I like Maples more than ASEs. The Maple leaf design is just stunning. Not a huge fan of ASEs although I do buy them because they're so liquid.
I like the Kook I would suggest that. Also the Lakota Crazy Horse provident metals says this is used as real currency ...not real sure though but it looks nice.
I collect the ASE, Maples, Libertads, Britannias, Kookaburras, Koalas, Pandas, and recently the Takus. Each of these has something that I like otherwise I would not be buying them. It's hard to pick a favorite out of all them. It just depends on my mood!!
China has many different types, and even shapes, you can collect. The other cool thing they change the picture on the coin every year and there's always commemoratives coming out. The China market is very speculative with some issues doubling or tripling in price in just a few years (these are rare examples). In addition, the Chinese people may have an affinity for a specific year or design that is culturally significant to them but isn't to us so you have to take a lot into consideration and do your research. The market there for collecting, and speculating on these coins, is relatively new to them creating a yet to mature market. Which, for the astute investor, there are a number of very undervalued years that can be collected affordably with an expectation for large % increases in price. Some of the Lunar series only had 6,000-8,000 coins minted for a given year. And that's serving a domestic market alone of what 1.2-1.4 BILLION people? I prefer the Pandas because of affordability, marketability and, well, I just think they're cute. If you want to buy a Panda let me know.
Maybe you could pick some up from the continents you're missing: Australia - Koala Asia - Panda South America - Suriname Map Africa - Somali Elephant
The Perth Mint hands-down is minting some of the weirdest silver coins in the world. I don't know what they're smoking down there but their designing coins right afterwards.
I collect the silver eagles and modern commemoratives, But just purchased a 2014 Brittania and looking to buy the 2014 Brittania error mule coin for the right price
IMO, it doesn't really matter when it comes to mass produced bullion. They're never going to be worth significantly more than melt value. Yes, you will have certain items selling out thereby creating a temporary frenzy and price appreciation. HOF coins are a prime example. But in the end, people will realize that there are thousands (or hundreds of thousands or millions) of mint condition coins out there and prices will drop back to melt value. Having said all that, I like Maples the most. If someone is willing to sell spotted maples for melt, I will gladly buy them. : )
