Ok the title was clickbait because you might have wondered what crazy was posting stamps on a coin forum. These are too nice to post as bullion as they were clearly made for collectors and they are not coins or medallions so I guess this is where I should post. I've asked this question elsewhere and I always get great opinions on this forum. A local dealer showed me these sterling .925 silver stamps that had just come in as bullion. He had paid under spot rate and intended to melt them saying he didn’t think his customers would be interested in them. I said I was one customer that was interested and bought them a little over silver spot rate. I thought they were exquisite. Here they are. As usual better in hand than my photography. I have absolutely no interest in collecting stamps as I consider them vulnerable certainly to someone like me and easy to damage stain or lose. Famously I lost an autograph of the Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame. It’s not actually lost, it will be in the pages of a book I read 12 years ago but the problem is I don’t know which one and its not in any of the obvious ones. Hopefully it will turn up or my descendants may find it. Little bits of paper and me don’t mix well. Back to these “stamps” they are proof state and hallmarked, there are a couple of fingerprints I will try and remove with acetone. What went through my mind when I was shown them was the Nelson and William Hunt debacle when they manipulated the silver market in 1979 and it rose from $6 to $50 before collapsing losing 50% in one day called “Silver Thursday”. Around this time, I started working in the nonferrous foundry business, and a metal smelter I knew was melting beautiful 17th and 18th Century silver artefacts such as Candelabra, Salvers, Goblets, Cutlery sets etc with people cashing in on achieving higher prices for scrap than they could sell as “unfashionable antiques”. Even crucifixes went into the melt, and nothing was sacred. I saw some of this and was disgusted and mortified but did not have the disposable income to buy anything. By coincidence, last night I viewed a YouTube video with some clown breaking open a pre-1965 tube of silver dimes and explaining that the face value was only $5 but he could melt them, and they would be worth $150.00. I could tell by the way he was handling them and talking about them that there was absolutely no intent to consider any numismatic value. Some of the coins were early and each could have been a history lesson to someone. Maybe they don’t have great numismatic value now, but I think it’s a shame to destroy them and maybe there should be a law to stop it? I did a little research and learnt that it is permissible to melt pre-1965 silver in the USA but illegal to melt nickels and dimes because the nickel and copper content sometimes is worth more than the coin and this could have an adverse effect on the Treasury. In the UK it is illegal to melt any coin of the realm of any date or time. Offenders face big fines and can be jailed for up to two years. Individuals can ask HM Treasury for a license in theory, but they are only granted to the Royal Mint for recycling purposes. The crux of the matter is that the coins I saw being broken from the rolls could still be used as bullion so there is no need to melt them, and to allow it, is destroying history. I can appreciate that bars are easier to stack than coins but once the coins are gone, they are gone. This could drift into politics, and I don't want to go there in respect of freedoms but is it a good thing to melt coins that are legible as we are losing some history? In my opinion, it is not a good idea, nor was it a good idea to destroy beautiful works of art in 1980 to make a fast buck. If we consider Marc Antony Fleet denarii these were still circulating 100 years after being minted because of their silver content and it doesn’t appear that there was wholesale recycling of them from the condition and number extant. What do you think?
I believe that high precious metal prices are more harmful to numismatics than helpful. Thanks for sharing!
First I love the stamps that you got. Second, I feel like American dealers don't usually melt coins because they are easy to sell because they are a recognizable amount and people like to buy them that way. Like there are people who buy silver to prepare for a time when they think money will be worthless and silver will be used for purchases, and they want to have it in spendable pieces, not big bars. I know that a lot of dealers will buy foreign silver and just melt it down and I think that's the real tragedy because they neither know nor care what they have. I'm sure so many collectible coins have met their fate there. One coin shop near me is like this. The foreign silver they buy just goes in a melt bucket and it goes to the refinery. I hate to think about what goes in there.
Somewhere I have a bag of similar items, but with (if I remember correctly) US presidents on them. The ones I have are .999 silver, with an antiqued finish.
You don’t show the other side. If your dealer bought and sold them as bullion and they are .925 Sterling as stated then they are just that. A novelty item of Sterling silver minted in the likeness of a postage stamp. One is dated 1924. It’s not a stamp, it’s bullion. Probably made by the Franklin Mint or someone like that. They are very interesting but they are bullion. Enjoy by them. I would!
Good point, @green18 and thanks for pointing this out. TBH If something is longer than a couple of sentences I write in word and cut and paste because in the past I have posted things in mid debate and by the time I finish I have "missed the boat" and everyone has moved on.
Thanks for commenting @Collecting Nut . Here are the reverses which are hall marked .925. The 1924 dated one is a reproduction of the stamp on the right below. These are not negotiable currency so not coins and could be considered bullion but from my perspective as they were accompanied by historical notes and are facsimiles of another collectible I would call them medallions. I'm glad I saved them from melting and I will enjoy them and should probably not be so impulsive. I believe I am in your club @Collecting Nut a "Borderline Hoarder".
I believe the RM to the left of the .925 stands for Royal Mint. A nice way to produce and sell silver at a good profit is to manufacture something like this. It’s a fancier form of bullion.
Yes a cute way to get you to part with your money and it is a fancier form of bullion but a bit more advanced and interesting than the usual rounds or bars! I still call them medallions. The Royal Mint is two hours from me and I know people who work there. A friend of mine was the Master of the Mint who organized much of their move from London. Sadly Joe died a few years ago but he used to tell me some fascinating stories about their operations. They have a full time marketing department coming up with ideas from everything from Star Wars to Rock Stars. If there is any conceivable interest that they can use to sell something they do. They also now retail collectors antique coins with the strap line "buy from the original makers". They are similar to the US Mint churning out year sets with "limited editions" of only 500,000 sets! My late father bought a lot of year sets in the 1970's and 1980's mainly for interest but also for investment and when it came to realise them they were worth around 20% of what he originally paid 40 years previously. Not the greatest of investments and shame he didn't spend the same money on old coins. As a government organisation they are probably the only government funded organisation that can offer a return to tax payers as they certainly know how to make money in both respects. Their revenue last year was $1.9 billion US but this is dropping as they stopped making foreign currency in consideration of the global decline in the use of cash. That's a whole different debate.
I think the Royal Mint produced a limited number of sets of these and many other forms of silver. Some even in fancy felt-lined wooden cases. Not sure if this is the entire set or not but they are nice and are considered collectible. Nice that you rescued them from the melting pot.
Yes, high bullion prices are locking a lot of collectors out of the market, and they are contributing to melting, which is reducing the number of potential collector pieces available in the future. When I was starting to collect a gold type set in the 1960s, the high retail price for a $20 gold piece was $75. That got you a genuine coin (important in those days because the counterfeits from the mid East were common.) in MS-64 or even 65. Of course that assumes you were buying from an honest, knowledgeable dealer. Today it's got to be a bit north of $3,700. Even if you use the "10 % rule" that means that in 1960s dollars, a double eagle would cost over $370. Back then, i could not have afforded that price. I'm sure that many collectors can't afford to pay $3,700 +. High bullion prices are ruining the coin collecting hobby.
RM means responsibility mark, which supposedly means the maker/importer has registered their hallmark or design. 925 is the fineness. The three castles hallmark stands for Edinburgh castle. Not sure about the lower case letter … may refer to date of manufacture or weight. Mike
