2008 Austrian Silver Bullion

[Twoshadows]

I have just leared that Austria has finally jumped on the bandwagon and started producing a silver bullion coin to go along with the U.S., Canada, Australia, China, and Great Britain to name a few! Seeing how the 2008 is the FIRST year of issue I will be needing to get my paws on a few of them. I am already seeing a price of over $33 being advertised here which is tad bit out of line so I thought some of our members on the other side of the big pond might keep and eye out for the bullion coin and going prices and keep US posted on such? Sure would appreciate it!

[Paint Your Wagon]

I have just leared that Austria has finally jumped on the bandwagon and started producing a silver bullion coin to go along with the U.S., Canada, Australia, China, and Great Britain to name a few! Seeing how the 2008 is the FIRST year of issue I will be needing to get my paws on a few of them. I am already seeing a price of over $33 being advertised here which is tad bit out of line so I thought some of our members on the other side of the big pond might keep and eye out for the bullion coin and going prices and keep US posted on such? Sure would appreciate it!

I think they are available for 6 weeks now and I posted 6 cheap shops on Coinpeople forum at the time
They sold more then a million allready and in Europe essentially cost the same as a Silver Eagle that is like 16 euro apiece since we have a silver tax which is different in every European country

However the wrapping is a disaster
I saw reports from switzerland that a box of 500 had about 7% shaking out of their wrappings and they were selling the coins in two categories
Unwrapped or damaged and prime quality

It is reported that the Austrian mint is trying to get adequate wrapping or tubes by April
So myself I will not touch them before I can get something better then MS60 with real bangs and scratches

I bought my last lot of Silver Eagles here but of course no Eagles and no Maples left in Europe neither

http://www.muenzdiscount.de/shop/index.php/cat/c7_Muenzen-1oz.html

More expensive but reliable

http://www.argentarius.de/shop/index.php/cat/c2_Silber.html/XTCsid/b1e7c8fd4e067220f679c9b75ea672df

Totally sold out now

http://www.geiger-edelmetalle.de/index.php/cat/c2_-b-1-oz---Bullionmuenzen-b--.html

14.70 Euro but at least three weeks delivery queing

http://westgold.de/

Available by 20,100,500 quantities
http://silber-philharmoniker.cshop.de/index.cgi?pid=3065&cart_id=2915440.15646&catid=&angelbote=1


Since these people change price daily and since the guy I bought from during 4 years now his dead and his son refuses to sell outside germany I have bought from several of these guys and they are all on the list of "good" dealers in my German forum
However be prepaired for mailing cost to be a big part of the coin ( I do not have one but if I had it would cost me 15 dollars to send it by registered mail )
I finally sent that crucifix to an american costing me 40$ in mailing cost and he promised to send a bottle of perfume back which he did'nt so I kind of stopped posting on that forum too

[Twoshadows]

Thanks for the information Paint Your Wagon. I have started my search!

[Paint Your Wagon]

Oh my god
Somebody allready did a 5000 coins only gold application series of the coin
juck

http://cgi.ebay.de/Wiener-Philharmoniker-2008-mit-Goldapplikation-999-Gold_W0QQitemZ110238659599QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110238659599

[Twoshadows]

Well I got my grubby little hands on a couple of the new Austrian one ounce bullion coins. Found a couple here in the states that were not too over priced, especially with the price of silver at the time of buying them and the current value of the U.S. dollar compared to the Euro. Nothing like starting a new series!

[Paint Your Wagon]

Well I got my grubby little hands on a couple of the new Austrian one ounce bullion coins. Found a couple here in the states that were not too over priced, especially with the price of silver at the time of buying them and the current value of the U.S. dollar compared to the Euro. Nothing like starting a new series!

Congratulations Terry
I did not even see them in real life so I surely do'nt have one yet
Were they sold repacked in airtights or in the original bad wrapping from the mint ?
I now think silver and gold may make another low before the end of the month so I will be hesitating between buying then or wait for an improved shipping wrap

[Twoshadows]

They were in their original mint packaging which was already cracked and brittle. I do believe the Austrian mint needs to find another "softer" package. I have already removed them in favor of airtites for maximum protection. Will buy a few more of these 2008's if the price is right as the first year of issue may be a factor years from now. I also might add the plastic wrap was a huge detraction to the overall beauty of the coin, which I could not see, until it was removed from the bad packaging.

[Paint Your Wagon]

I read today that a german shop is allready selling them in tubes but the shop does not state it are maple tubes or original austrian tubes
Most german "collectors" are repacking into empty maple tubes at about 1.35 Euro per tube
Yes on ebay there is a market now for emty maple tubes

The Austrian mint promised a tube by april/may with 25 tubes to a box
At the moment the 500 box is a joke too cause it is made of cardboard 
and the coins are jingling free in the box

Tubes should result in less of the coins being damaged

[Twoshadows]

Have you seen a U.S. Silver Eagle tube? Square and stackable! Guess I should start selling them on Ebay! 

[Paint Your Wagon]

Have you seen a U.S. Silver Eagle tube? Square and stackable! Guess I should start selling them on Ebay! 

The Germans want the Maple leaf tubes cause those have the right dimentions ( I never saw one but I saw the green stoppered Silver Eagle tubes)
They are getting kind of desperate now even buying apothecary potion pots and putting the links to them on their forum
They take the coin to an apothecary to get the right size. It is reported for Philharmonikers the right size will hold 12 coins

http://www.fa-ars.de/index.php?cat=c106_Salbendosen-30-g--35-ml.htm

[Twoshadows]

Do you know the size of the Austrian Philharmonics? While I did stick mine in an empty airtite it is not the correct size. The Austrian bullion is much smaller than our eagle but much thicker as it just does fit in an airtite. Our eagles are 40mm and our old silver dollars were 38mm. The Austrian appears to be in the 34mm to 36mm range but I have not seen the actual measurements for the coin.

[Paint Your Wagon]

Do you know the size of the Austrian Philharmonics? While I did stick mine in an empty airtite it is not the correct size. The Austrian bullion is much smaller than our eagle but much thicker as it just does fit in an airtite. Our eagles are 40mm and our old silver dollars were 38mm. The Austrian appears to be in the 34mm to 36mm range but I have not seen the actual measurements for the coin.

It is reported as 40mm WRONG

http://www.weinmuenze.de/Muenzen_Praegestaette_Oesterreich_Muenze.html

The Austrian Mint itself says 37 mm

http://www.austrian-mint.com/cms.php?referer=cms.php%3FpageName%3D154&pageId=154&muenzsuche=philharmoniker&muenzeId=609

[Paint Your Wagon]

Please note that the Austrian mint is now supplying 20 coin tubes with a gray cover and the stamp of Austria on them

Plastic wrapped coins are still offered as an option by the mint

Many coin dealers still have a stock of the non tube kind so they try to get rid of those first .
Since more then 1 million were sold in 3 months I guess that demand is pretty low right now

I put an order in with the specific request to get tubes ; I was quoted 14 days delivery delay which tells me they have to buy
them first before being able to sell them
In view of the more then 10% price reduction of silver I do not mind to wait with a fixed price confirmed 

[Twoshadows]

There are plenty of Eagles for sale over here but they are silver bullion that was purchased while prices were up. Still looking at $20 to $22 Eagles as dealers are stuck with coins purchased at over $20 level. Could take months for our Eagles to come back down to market levels and by then silver will probably be on the way back up? No one wants to take a loss so the market is pretty much frozen right now.

[Paint Your Wagon]

There are plenty of Eagles for sale over here but they are silver bullion that was purchased while prices were up. Still looking at $20 to $22 Eagles as dealers are stuck with coins purchased at over $20 level. Could take months for our Eagles to come back down to market levels and by then silver will probably be on the way back up? No one wants to take a loss so the market is pretty much frozen right now.

There are close to a dozen internet shops in Germany
Competition seems gentlemenlike but tight
Most change their prices every evening after the US market closes
Since they hit 14 euro per coin ( tax of 7% included) I took the chance of buying
Some try to get up to 1 euro more for coins in tubes ( that is 20 euro per tube ) but I got the tubes at the regular price
I fully expect the price low in gold and silver to come in between today and the first week of may because the dollar is due for a bounce