airborne1092
Hero Member
Two days after Christmas and I was wasting time on the internet. I was looking at the State of Baden-Wuerttemburg mint site. The spot price for silver was, iirc, around 31.00/ozt. The site had content in German, but you could change it to English. I was feeling sad that the .8 oz of .999 Ag minted coins were being sold for 29.90 Euro. It was then I realized that the English portion of the site still listed it at 15.90 per coin! I confirmed with the financial dept (i.e. wife) that we could afford to take a measured risk. I was banking on the idea that it may in fact be a separate company that provides billing from the mint that actually ships the product - that they basically receive an order and ship whatever was placed. So, I place my order for four coins at 15.90 Euro per coin and crossed my fingers.
Fast forward a week, I called my wife and asked her to check the account. Sure enough, the charge went through, two days after the order was placed. Last time I ordered some coins from them, they arrived on my doorstep via DHL three days later. I was bummed as I started thinking of how to approach my neighbor who can speak better English than I can German, and ask if he'd be willing to call and straighten things out for me. I figured the pragmatic Germans would simply wait for the 'buyer' to call and plus-up the money side of the order if there was a mistake to be rectified.
Fast forward another week, and my wife called me at work. I had just closed out a real busy week, and having forgotten about the coins for the time being, she was calling to ask if I could pick up some more salt to melt the snow and ice from our portion of the sidewalk and walkway. Oh and by the way, DHL delivered a small box today! She said she had checked the account again, and there were no additional charges posted. Early that next week, I went back to the internet and visited the State mint website, with this who story still on my mind. Trying to get back into their online shop, I kept getting dumped back onto the start site, with merly a link to an online form. Looking closer at it, I understood that for anyone to make further purchases, you have to fill out the form and send it in stating the type and quantity you wish to purchase. They would charge you account the appropriate amount and ship them out after the order was processed.
Apparently, they got burned and sold a bunch of Ag well under spot becasue of a programming error, and now they (apparently) are short on Ag and/or do not want to make the same mistake, ever again, and as of now offering sales only via postcard.
Apparently folks made out and basically bought the B-W State mint out of Ag.
All said and done, I would say I got 2.4 ozt of Ag approximately 20 USD under Spot, not to mention the artistic value of the coins.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
Fast forward a week, I called my wife and asked her to check the account. Sure enough, the charge went through, two days after the order was placed. Last time I ordered some coins from them, they arrived on my doorstep via DHL three days later. I was bummed as I started thinking of how to approach my neighbor who can speak better English than I can German, and ask if he'd be willing to call and straighten things out for me. I figured the pragmatic Germans would simply wait for the 'buyer' to call and plus-up the money side of the order if there was a mistake to be rectified.
Fast forward another week, and my wife called me at work. I had just closed out a real busy week, and having forgotten about the coins for the time being, she was calling to ask if I could pick up some more salt to melt the snow and ice from our portion of the sidewalk and walkway. Oh and by the way, DHL delivered a small box today! She said she had checked the account again, and there were no additional charges posted. Early that next week, I went back to the internet and visited the State mint website, with this who story still on my mind. Trying to get back into their online shop, I kept getting dumped back onto the start site, with merly a link to an online form. Looking closer at it, I understood that for anyone to make further purchases, you have to fill out the form and send it in stating the type and quantity you wish to purchase. They would charge you account the appropriate amount and ship them out after the order was processed.
Apparently, they got burned and sold a bunch of Ag well under spot becasue of a programming error, and now they (apparently) are short on Ag and/or do not want to make the same mistake, ever again, and as of now offering sales only via postcard.
Apparently folks made out and basically bought the B-W State mint out of Ag.
All said and done, I would say I got 2.4 ozt of Ag approximately 20 USD under Spot, not to mention the artistic value of the coins.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
