Royal Mint definitions of face value and legal tender

[Arzosah]

I know, its The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/saving ... uyers.html but they do seem to be on to something. Basically it refers to this sort of coin: http://www.royalmint.com/shop/Britannia ... ilver_Coin.

Its a £50 silver coin, but it a collectable - they've apparently altered the definition so that not only is it not entering general circulation, it can't be used. There's a lot of really circular sentences that I'd be ashamed to write about whats legal tender and whats not. Face value, it turns out, is not face value. Definitions and warnings have apparently been updated on the Royal Mint website in the last few days.

I hope none of our members have bought this crap. I knew they were tourist versions of the bullion coins that most of our members buy, but I didn't think they were such a blatant ripoff. One more institution fails the integrity test.

[dangerman]

Yep, rip off merchants. I like the idea of precious metal but I'm not thinking that I'd rather buy scrap and just have it melted down locally into bars.

[preparedsurrey]

It's still saying legal tender on the website

"This legal tender £50 coin has been minted in fine silver to Brilliant Uncirculated standard"

If anybody did buy one then they changed if it's legal tender or not surely you would have a case for your money back?

[Brambles]

It does also say say that it is a commemorative coin and "This coin has been designed to be a limited edition collectable or gift and will not be entering general circulation. As such, UK shops and banks will not accept it. for full information and T&C’s regarding legal tender http://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/polici ... guidelines "

The problem with melting down scrap is you remove the hallmarks, once they're gone it then starts costing money to have the metal tested for purity and assayed. If you want to buy scrap pm, keep it in it's original form.

Also, there is nothing wrong with bullion coins and bars. A lot of us buy bullion coins.

[preparedsurrey]

Neither use nor ornament then really, makes you laugh doesn't it "legal tender" but nowhere including the mint will accept them!!

[Brambles]

Neither use nor ornament then really, makes you laugh doesn't it "legal tender" but nowhere including the mint will accept them!!

I think the operative word in the description is 'commemorative'

I'm not sure, but I think someone on here bought some.

[pseudonym]

Although the coin states £50, nowhere on it does it say the purity or troy weight of the coin.

An accompanying certificate says it is .999% and 31 gms.



*All my coins have purity and troy weight stamped on them.

[Arzosah]

The problem with melting down scrap is you remove the hallmarks, once they're gone it then starts costing money to have the metal tested for purity and assayed. If you want to buy scrap pm, keep it in it's original form.

Thats a good tip.

Also, there is nothing wrong with bullion coins and bars. A lot of us buy bullion coins.

Absolutely! The pure stuff that all of our members hopefully buy, if they buy it, even has a different website name - royalmintbullion - which is where the Britannias etc are sold from.

[raz]

its the same problem they had with the 20 pound coin they ended up being worth a fiver when traded in because most banks refused them.. the post office still take the coins at face value but its getting to be a pain in the proverbial. these coins are more targeted for collectors i have 10 of them but i also have the 20 & 100 coins i can afford to sit on them and hope they gain value in the collectors market over the nxt 30 years, if not no real loss i still have all my other coins.. any coin you buy from the royal mint should be viewed as lottery coins you could be onto a winner but chances are its a dud worth a less than you payed

[nickdutch]

interesting point of view. When I DO buy silver coins (and its very rarely that I buy any PM) I "account" for it in terms of its melt value not face value and I don't tend to buy the coins that are likely to have collectors value. If you get lucky when you retire and they do have value then you are in luck, but until then, just be patient. That was my attitude.