Best looking portraits on coins?

[Oxford_Collector 0]

I wonder if when we hit the CuNi phase a lot of the magic went out of of it all? No longer the treasure chests of pirates past, may as well be plastic now, with integral security chips.

I think of how much more inspiring it must have been to be working with precious metals; the engravers, the mint workers, surrounded by all that gold and silver. The magic and mystery of man's second greatest attraction must have brought some special energies to the creative table?

I know there are many, many, many, people who collect the post 1920 coinage, but I just cannot get excited about it! Do you think the mint cranks it up a gear for the modern gold and silver strikes? Do you think CuNi is a factor affecting inspiration?

Yes, I too struggle to get excited about debased coinage, most of my post-1920 coins are American for that reason (and the fact that they had great designs up to about 1947...)

The modern Gold and SIlver Britannia bullion cons are quite nice, mind...

[Peckris 579]

Miss Denmark...:

Susan B Anthony's twin!

[Generic Lad 25]

While not a portrait, how did this end up being an official Royal Mint product?

Really? Rules of soccer on a coin? Not to mention that apparently the rule has since changed.

When I saw it on eBay I thought that surely it had to be some commemorative issue from the Isle of Man or something... But... Wow. Terrible is the only way to describe that!

[Cerbera100 0]

While not a portrait, how did this end up being an official Royal Mint product?

Really? Rules of soccer on a coin? Not to mention that apparently the rule has since changed.

When I saw it on eBay I thought that surely it had to be some commemorative issue from the Isle of Man or something... But... Wow. Terrible is the only way to describe that!

Good old olympic junk!

[Coinery 926]

While not a portrait, how did this end up being an official Royal Mint product?

Really? Rules of soccer on a coin? Not to mention that apparently the rule has since changed.

When I saw it on eBay I thought that surely it had to be some commemorative issue from the Isle of Man or something... But... Wow. Terrible is the only way to describe that!

Good old olympic junk!

Another nail in the coffin for twenty-first century CuNi!

[Generic Lad 25]

I wonder if when we hit the CuNi phase a lot of the magic went out of of it all? No longer the treasure chests of pirates past, may as well be plastic now, with integral security chips.

I think of how much more inspiring it must have been to be working with precious metals; the engravers, the mint workers, surrounded by all that gold and silver. The magic and mystery of man's second greatest attraction must have brought some special energies to the creative table?

I know there are many, many, many, people who collect the post 1920 coinage, but I just cannot get excited about it! Do you think the mint cranks it up a gear for the modern gold and silver strikes? Do you think CuNi is a factor affecting inspiration?

Yes, I too struggle to get excited about debased coinage, most of my post-1920 coins are American for that reason (and the fact that they had great designs up to about 1947...)

The modern Gold and SIlver Britannia bullion cons are quite nice, mind...

See, the thing I don't like about the Britannias is that they have such an absurd premium. Amazing design and I picked them up every chance I could back when my coin shop treated them like generic bullion... Since then they've matched prices to what they sell for online...

But really, the high premium makes them too annoying to use as an investment. An Eagle I can buy for ~$35 with silver at $34 an ounce, some more exotic bullion I can buy for ~$36-37, interesting mid-grade "junk silver" like standing liberty quarters, mercury dimes, walking liberty halves, Morgans, etc. for ~$36 an ounce if I shop around. But a Britannia, even a common date sells for $46+ when silver is $34 an ounce.

[Oxford_Collector 0]

I wonder if when we hit the CuNi phase a lot of the magic went out of of it all? No longer the treasure chests of pirates past, may as well be plastic now, with integral security chips.

I think of how much more inspiring it must have been to be working with precious metals; the engravers, the mint workers, surrounded by all that gold and silver. The magic and mystery of man's second greatest attraction must have brought some special energies to the creative table?

I know there are many, many, many, people who collect the post 1920 coinage, but I just cannot get excited about it! Do you think the mint cranks it up a gear for the modern gold and silver strikes? Do you think CuNi is a factor affecting inspiration?

Yes, I too struggle to get excited about debased coinage, most of my post-1920 coins are American for that reason (and the fact that they had great designs up to about 1947...)

The modern Gold and SIlver Britannia bullion cons are quite nice, mind...

See, the thing I don't like about the Britannias is that they have such an absurd premium. Amazing design and I picked them up every chance I could back when my coin shop treated them like generic bullion... Since then they've matched prices to what they sell for online...

But really, the high premium makes them too annoying to use as an investment. An Eagle I can buy for ~$35 with silver at $34 an ounce, some more exotic bullion I can buy for ~$36-37, interesting mid-grade "junk silver" like standing liberty quarters, mercury dimes, walking liberty halves, Morgans, etc. for ~$36 an ounce if I shop around. But a Britannia, even a common date sells for $46+ when silver is $34 an ounce.

Depends where you buy them from I guess! BTW would love to be able to get Silver Eagles for only $35, they're much more than that in the UK, but then silver coins and bullion incurs 20% Value Added Tax here (unlike gold). On Coinvestdirect (who I have used in the past for bullion coins purchases) these are the current prices (including UK VAT at 20%) per coin:

Silver Britannia 2012: £30.74 ($48.17) NB: the Royal Mint shop charges an outrageous £58.50 plus p&p!

Silver Eagle 2012: £28.64 ($44.88)

Silver Philharmonic £28.02 ($43.91)

There's not a huge difference, though I still I wouldn't buy Britannias in bulk as investment bullion though, in the past I tended to go for Austrian Silver Philharmonicas for that purpose (when they were £16.50 each, not now) or Silver Eagles (nicer coin, but a little more expensive and arguably bullion is bullion...).

I did buy a single nice 1998 Britannia (which has the classic design) at the London Coin Fair recently for £30, which is more or less what you would pay for single Silver Eagles on eBay in the UK, so I thought was a decent enough buy.

[Generic Lad 25]

I wonder if when we hit the CuNi phase a lot of the magic went out of of it all? No longer the treasure chests of pirates past, may as well be plastic now, with integral security chips.

I think of how much more inspiring it must have been to be working with precious metals; the engravers, the mint workers, surrounded by all that gold and silver. The magic and mystery of man's second greatest attraction must have brought some special energies to the creative table?

I know there are many, many, many, people who collect the post 1920 coinage, but I just cannot get excited about it! Do you think the mint cranks it up a gear for the modern gold and silver strikes? Do you think CuNi is a factor affecting inspiration?

Yes, I too struggle to get excited about debased coinage, most of my post-1920 coins are American for that reason (and the fact that they had great designs up to about 1947...)

The modern Gold and SIlver Britannia bullion cons are quite nice, mind...

See, the thing I don't like about the Britannias is that they have such an absurd premium. Amazing design and I picked them up every chance I could back when my coin shop treated them like generic bullion... Since then they've matched prices to what they sell for online...

But really, the high premium makes them too annoying to use as an investment. An Eagle I can buy for ~$35 with silver at $34 an ounce, some more exotic bullion I can buy for ~$36-37, interesting mid-grade "junk silver" like standing liberty quarters, mercury dimes, walking liberty halves, Morgans, etc. for ~$36 an ounce if I shop around. But a Britannia, even a common date sells for $46+ when silver is $34 an ounce.

Depends where you buy them from I guess! BTW would love to be able to get Silver Eagles for only $35, they're much more than that in the UK, but then silver coins and bullion incurs 20% Value Added Tax here (unlike gold). On Coinvestdirect (who I have used in the past for bullion coins purchases) these are the current prices (including UK VAT at 20%) per coin:

Silver Britannia 2012: £30.74 ($48.17) NB: the Royal Mint shop charges an outrageous £58.50 plus p&p!

Silver Eagle 2012: £28.64 ($44.88)

Silver Philharmonic £28.02 ($43.91)

There's not a huge difference, though I still I wouldn't buy Britannias in bulk as investment bullion though, in the past I tended to go for Austrian Silver Philharmonicas for that purpose (when they were £16.50 each, not now) or Silver Eagles (nicer coin, but a little more expensive and arguably bullion is bullion...).

I did buy a single nice 1998 Britannia (which has the classic design) at the London Coin Fair recently for £30, which is more or less what you would pay for single Silver Eagles on eBay in the UK, so I thought was a decent enough buy.

Hm, interesting, over here (at least in my state) coins are generally tax exempt, no matter if they are gold or silver, and even at the places that don't recognize that rule (flea markets, some antique stores, etc.) sales tax is rarely more than 7% and 9% if you are in a larger city. And of course generally buying things online make things sales tax exempt, unless you are in the state where the store was located.

Some places online sell Eagles for absurd premiums, but I've got 2 local coin dealers (one specializes in coins the other specializes in jewellery) that sells Eagles for about $1-2 over spot. Of course proof Eagles are quite pricey (but nice!) and run anywhere from $50-80 depending on the year and quality.

I haven't really been able to find many "exotic" pieces in stock in stores, Eagles are everywhere, Maple Leafs are fairly common, you see a Britannia once in a blue moon, you can find a lot of Australian coins but they have absurd premiums (higher than Britannias in some cases!) and, in my opinion, worse designs. Libertads are available every now and then. Pandas are scarce, but you can find them if you are willing to pay the premiums. But Philharmonics along with St. George the Victorious (Russian Bullion coins) are nearly unheard of. I think I've found a gold Philharmonic at one of my local dealers once (but of course I didn't have the cash on me to buy an ounce of gold ).

You can find most of the rest of them online, but due to shipping and handling along with online dealer's typically higher prices, I don't buy coins for investments online. Collection, yes. Investment, no.

[Oxford_Collector 0]

I wonder if when we hit the CuNi phase a lot of the magic went out of of it all? No longer the treasure chests of pirates past, may as well be plastic now, with integral security chips.

I think of how much more inspiring it must have been to be working with precious metals; the engravers, the mint workers, surrounded by all that gold and silver. The magic and mystery of man's second greatest attraction must have brought some special energies to the creative table?

I know there are many, many, many, people who collect the post 1920 coinage, but I just cannot get excited about it! Do you think the mint cranks it up a gear for the modern gold and silver strikes? Do you think CuNi is a factor affecting inspiration?

Yes, I too struggle to get excited about debased coinage, most of my post-1920 coins are American for that reason (and the fact that they had great designs up to about 1947...)

The modern Gold and SIlver Britannia bullion cons are quite nice, mind...

See, the thing I don't like about the Britannias is that they have such an absurd premium. Amazing design and I picked them up every chance I could back when my coin shop treated them like generic bullion... Since then they've matched prices to what they sell for online...

But really, the high premium makes them too annoying to use as an investment. An Eagle I can buy for ~$35 with silver at $34 an ounce, some more exotic bullion I can buy for ~$36-37, interesting mid-grade "junk silver" like standing liberty quarters, mercury dimes, walking liberty halves, Morgans, etc. for ~$36 an ounce if I shop around. But a Britannia, even a common date sells for $46+ when silver is $34 an ounce.

Depends where you buy them from I guess! BTW would love to be able to get Silver Eagles for only $35, they're much more than that in the UK, but then silver coins and bullion incurs 20% Value Added Tax here (unlike gold). On Coinvestdirect (who I have used in the past for bullion coins purchases) these are the current prices (including UK VAT at 20%) per coin:

Silver Britannia 2012: £30.74 ($48.17) NB: the Royal Mint shop charges an outrageous £58.50 plus p&p!

Silver Eagle 2012: £28.64 ($44.88)

Silver Philharmonic £28.02 ($43.91)

There's not a huge difference, though I still I wouldn't buy Britannias in bulk as investment bullion though, in the past I tended to go for Austrian Silver Philharmonicas for that purpose (when they were £16.50 each, not now) or Silver Eagles (nicer coin, but a little more expensive and arguably bullion is bullion...).

I did buy a single nice 1998 Britannia (which has the classic design) at the London Coin Fair recently for £30, which is more or less what you would pay for single Silver Eagles on eBay in the UK, so I thought was a decent enough buy.

Hm, interesting, over here (at least in my state) coins are generally tax exempt, no matter if they are gold or silver, and even at the places that don't recognize that rule (flea markets, some antique stores, etc.) sales tax is rarely more than 7% and 9% if you are in a larger city. And of course generally buying things online make things sales tax exempt, unless you are in the state where the store was located.

Not the case here - pretty much everything (apart from food, unless eaten in a restaurant, books, childrens clothing and bullion gold coins and bars) incurs "VAT" (i.e. sales tax) at 20% and this is automatically added to the cost of everything (online and offline, basically wherever you buy it) and the price you see of something on the shelf is the price you pay at the counter, usually (not the case in the USA, which has confused me in the past!)

Some places online sell Eagles for absurd premiums, but I've got 2 local coin dealers (one specializes in coins the other specializes in jewellery) that sells Eagles for about $1-2 over spot. Of course proof Eagles are quite pricey (but nice!) and run anywhere from $50-80 depending on the year and quality.

I haven't really been able to find many "exotic" pieces in stock in stores, Eagles are everywhere, Maple Leafs are fairly common, you see a Britannia once in a blue moon, you can find a lot of Australian coins but they have absurd premiums (higher than Britannias in some cases!) and, in my opinion, worse designs. Libertads are available every now and then.

I quite like the Libertads, nice design and slightly frosted finish

Pandas are scarce, but you can find them if you are willing to pay the premiums. But Philharmonics along with St. George the Victorious (Russian Bullion coins) are nearly unheard of. I think I've found a gold Philharmonic at one of my local dealers once (but of course I didn't have the cash on me to buy an ounce of gold ).

You can find most of the rest of them online, but due to shipping and handling along with online dealer's typically higher prices, I don't buy coins for investments online. Collection, yes. Investment, no.

[TomGoodheart 373]

Henry VIII as Adolph Hitler anyone?

I mean, it's not as if his portraits are very flattering at the best of times, but ... really! He doesn't need that!

[Peckris 579]

Henry VIII as Adolph Hitler anyone?

I mean, it's not as if his portraits are very flattering at the best of times, but ... really! He doesn't need that!

More like Henry VIII impersonating Adolf Hitler impersonating Hannibal Lecter