They are selling them for $29.95 + $9.95 postage and papackaging (Excessive for a coin weighing 28 gramos)
The coin is tacky, a crown sized coin , gold plated alloy (Read nickel or copper or maybe even cheap ass Aluminium brass - basically muck metal). Its worth about $5 on a good day and it does not even look very well made and poor portraiture (Not sure if its made by some private mint - like the one that makes all those bogus nation sets like Cherokee Nation, Greenland and Tokelau).
Notice how they play up the word "Gold" like the famous World Trade Centre dollars.
And a cypher is covered in Rhodium - some rare metal apparently.
The Bradford Exchange has a very poor repuation selling expensive and chintzy junk like painted vases, Kinkaid paintings and little statuettes - all of which have no second hand value and the high Postage and Packaging costs. If they ever sell coins like Littleton Coin Company and National Mint its over priced rubbish.
Even worse is the flier says its the first of a series and each coin will cost just $80 each plus the postage and packaging at the same rate (We don't use the word "shipping" in New Zealand). That is a complete rip off and the wording makes it sound like being invited to pay this much for more of the same (Base metal coins dipped in light gold and with tacky colour bits on them). They throw in a nice case as free, but the puffed up prices or each coin means that its included in the cost (Actually banned under our Fair Trading Act) and no doubt you will have to buy at least 3 coins to get it.
Would you consider this an honour to pay $90 (About 55 Euros, 50 Pounds, 60 US dollars) for one of these chintzy $5 coins. This was in both National sunday papers, so no doubt many bunnies will buy them and years later wonder why the coin dealer either does not want them or offers 50 cents for it.
What do you guys think of this rubbish advertising. I have to bin it now as my partner will probably see it and buy me one.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
We get lots of that rubbish over here in the sunday paper color inserts as well. Endless Franklin mint crap, coins,plates, statuettes, gew-gaws of all descriptions, all "stricktly limited edition"- limited that is to as many as they can sell. I love the $9.95 postage and handling, that is also universal. It's in your business plan - your shipping department is not a cost center, it is a revenue center!
Also "newly discovered" lots of two or three year old US Mint bullion coins (readily available at spot plus 5 from many reputable dealers) for sale for twice or more bullion price, and so on.
Taking money from suckers is big business everywhere. their credo , "a sucker is born every minute" is probably an understatement.
Jamais l'or n'a perdu la plus petite occasion de se montrer stupide. -Balzac
Pretty much except this coin they only say its gold plated and gold layered. The Fair Trading Board would be after them if they said it was a gold coin.
Still words like "Layered in 24 Carat GOLD" would suggest to people with IQs the 80s and Blind elderly people who will most likely buy it, that this is something quite precious when its clearly not.
I mean those Postage and Handling/Packaging fees are more than the wholesale cost of the item.
How it works. Say the Bradford exchange buys 20k of the 29,999 coins at say NZ$5 each, they will pay $2 per coin for delivery from mint, storage and cost of advertising, another $1 or so to package and send the coin to the buyer. Thats a spend of $8 per coin, $2 less than the postage fee. Refunds always exclude the postage and handling fee and you have to pay to send it back, so any further cost ($29.95 for this coin and $79.95 for subsequent ones) is pure profit.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
It is rubbish, I agree on that. But I think not any serious coin-collector will wast his money on it. And
if somebody likes it, why not? It is not compulsory to buy it...
Quote: "yvon"It is rubbish, I agree on that. But I think not any serious coin-collector will wast his money on it. And
if somebody likes it, why not? It is not compulsory to buy it...
Its the little old ladies wasting their pensions buying them as investments for their grandchildren that makes me feel sick. They take them to a dealer to get them appraised and the poor dealer has to explain that they wasted their money and that they should have just put the money in the bank. Some people do buy these objects because they genuinely like them but they are few and far between.
Re - reading the ad, they play up the "Gold" factor and many people with little intelligence or time would be fooled by it. These coins are not even circulating and what they don't mention, is the actual face value is One Crown (Which may have been 5 big shillings back in the old days), but now is a measly 25 Pence.
If the coin was used at face value, thats the equivalent of 48 cents NZ, 32 cents American and not many eurocents. You are paying 100x Face Value for this coin, which essentially has no precious metal content (Gold plate is very thin and has virtually no metal value beyond a few cents). Have you noticed many of these gimmick coins (Colourised, funny metals etc) have face values of $1 or less, some maybe up to $5 and even precious silver rounds can have face values that low (Maples and Walkers are $1) but these have $15 or more metal value.
Bascially its overpriced play money and nothing else, its a worthless piece of junk marketed as a collectible and has no practical use even as coin of the realm (The Tristan Da Cunhans use the Sterling Pound and have their own circulation coins and notes, equivalent to the British pound).
The most arrogant part is them "Inviting certain clients to buy more of these precious coins at the low price of $79.95 each + $9.95 Postage and Handling per coin". Its not enough people are ripped off, but now its considered an honour?
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
Quote: "DecimalHunter"
Its the little old ladies wasting their pensions buying them as investments for their grandchildren that makes me feel sick. They take them to a dealer to get them appraised and the poor dealer has to explain that they wasted their money and that they should have just put the money in the bank. Some people do buy these objects because they genuinely like them but they are few and far between.
Thats why in Australia we call them "Grannybait".
Mike
Master Referee - See my profile for what I collect.
Thankyou, I'm an old granny and it is pretty disconcerting to hear that such aspiring young people are being fooled by those old tricks (& blaming grannies) which are old hat to me. Whether it's facebook, tinder, gumtree, amazon etc, please read the descriptions and do some research prior to purchase of anything so any blame or insurance can be correctly placed. Naturally there is a law of averages, however we can displace that to our advantage (if ever only so slightly) with a bit of practice & knowledge. Kind Regards KK.
Well, Bradford I feel there is a good side. I only think their display box and the magnifying glass with rosewood handle is nice. I used to spen hours looking at their catalog. Because their packaging is very presentable.
Be kind to people. Sharing is Caring. Collect what you like and not by the Crowd.
To seek for perfection, it is too painful and there is a very high price to pay. To seek for something comfortable is more easy. To seek for nothing is even more easy.
That was great, that London Mint exchange or whatever it was called sounds dodgy as hell.
Why the hell would someone pay that much money for a tiny gold coin. The fact they change addresses is dodgy too. We have a similar mint here called New Zealand mint, which sells overpriced silver rounds ($30 for a one ounce silver kiwi - silver is about $21 - $22 in our money an ounce).
Paul does not look short of a bob though, he has a nice house and judging by his girth, he is not starving in any way. He is exactly the stereotype of grannybait though, maybe quite wealthy - but not that bright (His job was considered blue collar).
I mean all that chintzy junk I may buy but at cheap secondary market prices (Overpriced collectables seldom have a secondary market - NZ post issues limited edition packs of stamps every 3 months and they are in bound books with slipcases and feature special sheets - they cost $250 or so each - dealers buy them in at like $25 each and sell to us for $50)
My chintzy PNG coin set cost me $50 postpaid - it has $45 worth of silver in it and 6 unc coins so probably about the right price, back in 1976 some fool probably paid the equivalent of $50 to $80 back in 1976 in their dollars (Like $300 - $500 now) and had they held on to it, lost heaps on it. The dealer who sold it to me, probably got it at a knockdown price (Maybe $20 or $30), or bought for even less as part of an estate lot.
I will buy only stuff at prices I think things are worth and most of us probably do too, but people like Paul will keep these dodgy companies alove forever.
I love coins. Especially silver, gold and anything really old.
Member of the Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand and the Auckland Numismatic Society
i almost threw up. Bradford exchange is selling American Innovation dollars for 23 dollars!!!
everyone else is selling them for 2.95-4 dollars.
i know certain places charge more for a product but this is sick!
there has to be a number of poor ignorant people out there that buy from this rip-off store
or they wouldn't be charging such ridiculous prices.
wow!
"A Fool and his money are soon parted."
Sadly this isn't restricted to coin sales.
Offer the right words, and one can cheat populations out of anything.
Including a nation.
A smart man learns from his mistakes. A smarter man learns from someone else's.
