Recent Goldline Order

[JohnGardener]

This morning in my mail I signed for my long awaited backage from Baird & co.

When I opened it, much to my surprise, I found 30 1oz silver coins as opposed to the 50g gold bar I was expecting.

I'm sure that my order will be sorted at some point, but I shall certainly have to wait till after new year.

Has anyone else ever had their orders jumbled by B&co and knows just what sort of procedure I'll have to endure?

Cheers

JG.

[Take Me Back To London!]

I read this the other day in the Telegraph and it reports that Bairds have been selling a lot of silver.

The full article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/gold/6827616/Buyers-spurn-gold-for-silver.html

Buyers spurn gold for silver

A leading bullion dealer says that there has been a marked interest from investors for silver in recent weeks.

By Emma Wall

Published: 12:05PM GMT 17 Dec 2009

Is silver the new gold? Photo: REUTERS

Investors are looking to silver as an alternative to gold with a leading dealer reporting that one-ounce silver rounds are outselling anything else by a factor of 10 to one.

"Silver rounds" – which look like coins but are not legal tender – are selling well at the moment, according to Alex Baird of Baird & Co, the bullion dealer. "One-ounce silver rounds at £14.50 with a box are outselling anything else by a factor of 10 to one," he said. "They are significantly cheaper than silver coins." **

** Should that be be in comparison to gold coins?

I have had half a dozen orders over the years from Bairds and I have never had any discrepancies. However, I do now video, no matter from whom, when I receive and open a packet as well as filming its contents.

What is the postage rate on your packet as 30X 31.1g rounds are a lot heavier than a 50g bar?

Please let us know how you get on.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Take Me Back To London!

[endgame]

This morning in my mail I signed for my long awaited backage from Baird & co.

When I opened it, much to my surprise, I found 30 1oz silver coins as opposed to the 50g gold bar I was expecting.

I'm sure that my order will be sorted at some point, but I shall certainly have to wait till after new year.

Has anyone else ever had their orders jumbled by B&co and knows just what sort of procedure I'll have to endure?

Cheers

JG.

I bet the other guy was quite pleased with his package. Paid £450 foor 30 oz of silver and got £1000 worth of the unspeakable stuff.

[JohnGardener]

Indeed I wager the other customer may have been very happy. But s/he may have ordered the rounds for x-mas presents etc. so it may cause equal inconvenience.

The value of stamps on my package was £9.15.

I was quoted £7.50 for postage.

I did think the package was heavy, but this being my first order from B&co I accepted that they may have included some flyers, marketing material or the like.

No doubt I shall be recording any future openings in the same way. Thanks for the tip.

JG.

Edited December 21, 2009 by JohnGardener

[Mish Mash]

Out of interest, are these rounds supplied in any kind of plastic coin case type whotsit? The one thing that puts me off physical silver is worrying about the stuff tarnishing.

Do these rounds fit standard 1 oz coin cases? (if there is in fact such a standard size)

[thod]

The problem, even with recorded delivery, is that you do not know if the contents are as expected. I expect they get a lot of cases of people claiming never to have received the item or that the item was different. After all who would not want to swap 30 ounces of silver for 50g of gold. I would guess it would depend on their records of events.

[JohnGardener]

Received an e-mail from B&co;

They said that they had 2 orders with the same surname and that it was indeed a mix-up at their end.

They apologised and stated if I posted back the parcel, They would send out my order with a cheque to cover my postage costs.

Also, the coins (~400mm in diameter) were in individual plastic pockets (square ~500mm x 500mm) , though a couple coins do appear to have slight marks on them.

The company appears to be very reasonable so far, but, It shall be into the new year before this is fully resolved (meaning I have my hands on my order).

Cheers

JG.

Edited December 21, 2009 by JohnGardener

[Mish Mash]

I expect they get a lot of cases of people claiming never to have received the item

A variation on this happened to me. I ordered a book and it never arrived. The guys I ordered it from were all ready to ship another one out when the person the book had been delivered to got in touch with me. The post office had delivered to 17 ##### Road, not 171. Honesty prevailed in this case but you can see the possibilities.....

Also, the coins (~400mm in diameter) were in individual plastic pockets (square ~500mm x 500mm) , though a couple coins do appear to have slight marks on them.

Cheers m'dears.

Must be similar to the plastic pockets those old commemorative 1977 Silver Jubilee/1981 Royal Wedding coins that I've got came in.

[Gman]

Received an e-mail from B&co;

They said that they had 2 orders with the same surname and that it was indeed a mix-up at their end.

They apologised and stated if I posted back the parcel, They would send out my order with a cheque to cover my postage costs.

Also, the coins (~400mm in diameter) were in individual plastic pockets (square ~500mm x 500mm) , though a couple coins do appear to have slight marks on them.

The company appears to be very reasonable so far, but, It shall be into the new year before this is fully resolved (meaning I have my hands on my order).

Cheers

JG.

B&Co dont have the customer service like coininvestdirect as I have dealt with them both for over 2 years. The last batch of Krugers I bought from B&Co were all marked and not to my liking at all. The stuff I get from coininvest was better quality IMO.

Also they expect you to pay by CHAPS on a big order and still charge big delivery prices whilst coininvest do it for free. Would I buy from B&Co again ? No I wouldnt.

Just my ten pence worth dealing with bullion dealers.

[johnny5thumbs]

This morning in my mail I signed for my long awaited backage from Baird & co.

When I opened it, much to my surprise, I found 30 1oz silver coins as opposed to the 50g gold bar I was expecting.

I'm sure that my order will be sorted at some point, but I shall certainly have to wait till after new year.

Has anyone else ever had their orders jumbled by B&co and knows just what sort of procedure I'll have to endure?

Cheers

JG.

Hmm ... 30 pieces of silver. Maybe Bairds are sending you some sort of quasi-religious message.

[JohnGardener]

Got my bar this morning.

Though no sign of the cheque for the postage I had to pay to send them back their silver.

Cheers

JG

[Mish Mash]

Got my bar this morning.

Do these come in any kind of presentation case or other kind of storage case?

[Steve Smith]

Do these come in any kind of presentation case or other kind of storage case?

The goldline ones are sealed im shrink wrapped plasic, along with certificate of authenticity.

[Guest spp]

With a 61:1 Gold to Silver ratio there is only one precious metal I'll be buying....SILVER!

I'd even be reluctant to swap some silver for gold at ratio of around 20:1.

For those of you interested in Silver investing, here's a couple of very good video's on why you should invest in Silver -

Stella concepts 08/01/2010

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/user/stellaconcepts#p/u/2/HnLh17nbxnk

Part 2http://www.youtube.com/user/stellaconcepts#p/u/1/Y0Ii9hFkmKg

[Mish Mash]

The goldline ones are sealed im shrink wrapped plasic, along with certificate of authenticity.

Ta.

[JohnGardener]

Got my cheque for the postage I payed this morning. Issues resolved.

Thanks to everyone that took any sort of interest in my posts

JG

['Bart']

The goldline ones are sealed im shrink wrapped plasic, along with certificate of authenticity.

I guess their silver bars are the same.

I'd really like to buy a bit of silver but am paranoid about tarnishing.

[Steve Smith]

I guess their silver bars are the same.

I'd really like to buy a bit of silver but am paranoid about tarnishing.

I haven't got any Baird siver so I cannot say whether they are sealed or not. However, I've various other bars that are unsealed and it does not seem to be a problem. For "storage", I wrap them in cling film placed in a sweetie tin which double sealed with platic bags and duct tape.

['Bart']

For "storage", I wrap them in cling film placed in a sweetie tin which double sealed with plastic bags and duct tape.

If Janet Ellis or Valarie Singleton had silver, that's how they'd store it.

I guess the important things are to keep the silver away from air as much as possible and avoid handling it too much.

[Mark Uttley]

If Janet Ellis or Valarie Singleton had silver, that's how they'd store it.

I guess the important things are to keep the silver away from air as much as possible and avoid handling it too much.

Here's one I made earlier.

[Old Nis]

I know this is slightly off-topic but as someone mentioned it, I thought I'd pass some comment.

Don't worry too much about tarnishing with silver bullion. I thought this would be an issue until I bought some. The vast majority of silver coins won't tarnish at all provided they are stored in reasonably low humidity conditions. I have proof coins with no particular protection except for plastic pouches (not air-tight), and they show no signs of any tarnish, despite being many years old.

A few pieces of advice, though. DON'T handle any silver with bare hands, or rather, buy plastic resealable bags and use these to store and handle the bars/coins. If you want to keep one bar "for fondling purposes" then that's a good idea. None of my silver is stored without each bar being put into a separate resealable plastic bag. Coins are all stored in coin pouches or coin capsules.

Don't be too concerned about bars getting tarnished though, even if it starts to happen. I have one kilo bar which is very old, which has a true patina from being stored in humid conditions before I bought it. It not only looks more "genuine" than the new stuff, but the slight yellowish patina is impossible to fake and is actually quite a reliable indicator of pure silver. None of my other bars show any signs of becoming tarnished. Proof coins are worth preserving in their pristine state, but I have seen uncirculated silver coins being handled quite freely without any visible sign of tarnishing, so it's more difficult to cause tarnish than you would think.

Two things will definitely cause severe tarnishing of silver, however. The big one is elastic bands. Keep them well away from silver bullion. The sulphur content in the rubber is bad news. The other thing is polishing the bar. This exposes a very bright pristine surface to any atmospheric contaminants. Good silver is like aluminium in that the oxidation is the same density as the metal and will therefore not flake off, and will protect the surface quite well. Pure silver is more likely to stay looking good than .925 sterling silver.

Gold and Palladium seem completely unaffected by handling.

['Bart']

Cheers Old Nis, a very useful and detailed post.

[Quiet Guy]

I haven't got any Baird siver so I cannot say whether they are sealed or not. However, I've various other bars that are unsealed and it does not seem to be a problem. For "storage", I wrap them in cling film placed in a sweetie tin which double sealed with platic bags and duct tape.

Here's a 100g Baird bar. I haven't seen any larger sizes but presume that they supply plastic cases for those too.

['Bart']

Here's a 100g Baird bar. I haven't seen any larger sizes but presume that they supply plastic cases for those too.

Nice pic, many thanks.

Apologies to OP JohnGardener, I'm afraid this thread seems to have drifted way off-topic from its original subject.

EDIT: I see from this guy selling 500g bars on eBay that the larger bars do indeed seem to come in a similar packaging.

[Spot]

For what it's worth, i've been using Baird since about 2004 for Gold and Silver and never had a problem with them.

Very happy.

I had actually sort of forgotten silver tarnished !

My bars are just in the plastic sleeves they came in and I just plonked 'em in a safe and on the rare occassions i've looked at them they still look great. So I wouldn't be too fussed about them getting tarnished.