Lawrence Chard's Insight into Recent Events

Our Examination of Past Events

We understood that many of the world mints and refiners were working flat out to meet demand, with many of them facing production problems, delivery delays, and staff shortages.

During the first few weeks of March 2020, we were still able to source most of our important bullion products, but we then became unable to get delivery dates for most products. During our 60 years in business, we had experienced a similar situation before during the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis. In January 2008, at its peak, the UK interest rate stood at 5.50%, before dropping to 0.50% in February 2009.

This meant we were no strangers to unprecedented times, whether they involved UK recessions caused by pandemics, high inflation, or high interest rates. During this period, we had to make some pricing adjustments to some of our highest-demand products. Additionally, we had a dedicated staff member working to source supplies, as stock was taking longer to arrive due to Covid-19.

Which Coins Were Available?

With longer delivery times for products, we recommended considering our past-dated bullion products, such as minty coins and secondary market ranges, if you wished to invest during those challenging times. For items that we typically expected to source within a reasonable timeframe, we were willing to sell 'short'. However, if any delay was anticipated to be more than a few days, we strived to maintain full transparency. We provided an indicated or estimated delivery date and would only proceed with the sale if our customer acknowledged and agreed to the terms.

Secondary Market & Minty Coins

Among the typical coins that we offered in secondary market (SM) condition were the following, to name a few: sovereigns, Britannias, Krugerrands. Additionally, the three gold coins just mentioned were also available in minty condition: minty sovereigns, minty Britannias, minty Krugerrands.

For more information, you can refer to our bullion coin types info page, which explains the difference between the following bullion coin conditions: latest year, minty, and secondary market.

Commemorative & Numismatic Coins

For collectors, we offered a range of Commemorative coins and numismatic stock, including some of the highest grades available. However, it was important to note that these coins were not intended for investment purposes, as their prices significantly exceeded the intrinsic bullion value compared to bullion options.

New Current Year Bullion Coins

Under normal circumstances, we could typically replace 'new' current-year bullion coins within days. However, given the past market conditions, this was not feasible. Nonetheless, we were ready to sell for future delivery, pending customer agreement. Please understand that we would have much preferred to sell you coins or bars which we had in stock, or could source quickly, than on the then current ‘emergency’ basis.

This Gave You Three Main Options:

1. Buy our ‘best value’ bullion items, but be prepared to wait an indefinite time for delivery. 

2. Wait for current year bullion items, be prepared to wait an indefinite time for delivery

3. Or pay slightly more for our collectable or numismatic items.