Wedding & Fine Silver Sets

[eccentric]

I've just re-organised all my coin displays and realised that I never really look at the coins in my Wedding and Fine Silver Set boxes - I've probably opened them only three or four times since I bought them.  This is a pity as they are beautiful coins.  For this reason, I'm seriously considering removing all the coins and disposing of the boxes as I'm really only interested in the coins, not the packaging.  This raises the question of whether there is a market for these empty boxes - particularly the wooden Silver Set boxes - without the coins or, for that matter, the coins without the boxes.  While I could consign them all to storage for the foreseeable future, they all take up a lot of room and, while the wooden boxes in particular are beautifully made, they are all cumbersome to have around.  Has anyone else taken the plunge and disposed of packaging - in particular the Silver Set boxes - in favour of having the coins permanently on view?

I removed all my $1 silver proofs from their boxes as soon as I acquired them and these boxes have been sitting around for years as well.   I doubt if I will ever put the coins back in the boxes as I have no intention of selling.

Interested to hear opinions on this.

[eccentric]

Just realised I mentioned this back in February.  Just reorganised everything and was confronted by the same problem and forgot about my last post.  Some good advice back then, so please ignore this!  Apologies to all!

[colour]

I can relate to double posting. lol

I even did a lame search which makes mine sadder!

Have a really nice Christmas.

[eccentric]

Thanks for that - all the best to all for Christmas.

[trout]

I just received this email from Dion Buck at RAM.
It makes interesting reading and I think it is worth sharing this information :good:

Hi Trout,

Our term for the wedding set finish up until 2009 (i think that was when it finished as gem and went to proof in 2010) was Gem Uncirculated. Other parties may refer to this finish as specimen, this term is subject to a little variance in meaning across the industry but is mostly approriate i guess, but I'll explain the nature of our term Gem Uncirculated.

The dies for these coins were polished to the same quality as proof dies, however no frosting was applied - to maintain the uncirculated appearance. The proof polishing process is extremely labour intensive, done by hand with tiny tools under binocular microscopes. The blanks used for Gem Uncirculated coins were proof blanks, of a higher quality than circ/unc blanks. The blank preparation process for proof coins was also followed, which uses a variety of techniques to purify, or clear the blank surface of defects (pickling, burnishing, heat treatment etc.). Finally the coins were struck as per proof coin process, on a proof press, hand loaded and inspected, struck four times precisely, and then encapsulated. These coins were absolutely unique, and while I never got around to asking all purchasers, I had a pretty strong inkling that more collectors bought this set, than wedding go-ers. Why are you getting this message? you partook in a thread that had some sort of technical fuzz out last year, and I have never been able to read it, or reply until now. I'll either delete or lock the thread but i wanted to share, as the Gem finish was one of my favourites!

Thanks, dion.
------------

[runway]

Thanks Trout for sharing.
Never heard of Dion Buck and what's he mean by delete or block thread?... is he admin here?

[Robster]

Is this concerning PC.G.S. descriptions?. :scratch_one-s_head:

[trout]

Is this concerning PC.G.S. descriptions?. :scratch_one-s_head:

yes

[JeffH]

Well trout, very interesting and certainly confirms your opinion on the "specimen" quality of wedding sets.

[trout]

Well trout, very interesting and certainly conforms your opinion on the "specimen" quality of wedding sets.

I am amazed that a large majority of Australian collectors are unaware of these coins and have probably never even seen one.

These coins in the wedding sets pre 2010 have to be some of the finest examples of decimal coins ever produced by RAM.
These are so far quite easy to get hold of at the moment But with the low mintage numbers these will become quite "Tough" to get in the future I imagine.

This is why I think that these should be graded SP by PCGS, That way collectors will know what they are .

[Mister T]

Interesting reading.

[Robster]

Kudos for pushing the 'barrow' on this subject.! "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck....................................:angel:

[robbiegal]

I just received this email from Dion Buck at RAM.
It makes interesting reading and I think it is worth sharing this information :good:

Hi Trout,

Our term for the wedding set finish up until 2009 (i think that was when it finished as gem and went to proof in 2010) was Gem Uncirculated. Other parties may refer to this finish as specimen, this term is subject to a little variance in meaning across the industry but is mostly approriate i guess, but I'll explain the nature of our term Gem Uncirculated.

The dies for these coins were polished to the same quality as proof dies, however no frosting was applied - to maintain the uncirculated appearance. The proof polishing process is extremely labour intensive, done by hand with tiny tools under binocular microscopes. The blanks used for Gem Uncirculated coins were proof blanks, of a higher quality than circ/unc blanks. The blank preparation process for proof coins was also followed, which uses a variety of techniques to purify, or clear the blank surface of defects (pickling, burnishing, heat treatment etc.). Finally the coins were struck as per proof coin process, on a proof press, hand loaded and inspected, struck four times precisely, and then encapsulated. These coins were absolutely unique, and while I never got around to asking all purchasers, I had a pretty strong inkling that more collectors bought this set, than wedding go-ers. Why are you getting this message? you partook in a thread that had some sort of technical fuzz out last year, and I have never been able to read it, or reply until now. I'll either delete or lock the thread but i wanted to share, as the Gem finish was one of my favourites!

Thanks, dion.
------------

struck 4 times as well, not just the die finish for sp.
what does Dion do when he's at home?

[trout]

struck 4 times as well, not just the die finish for sp.
 what does Dion do when he's at home?

He is one of the "Big Wigs" at RAM and a nice Bloke.

[robbiegal]

oh ta