Mints and experiences

Do you ever buy directly from mints?
I do and here are some of my experiences. Do you like to share yours?

Sometimes I order some doubles, just to swap.

Austria:
I bought from the Austrian mint both online and in person.
In my opinion coins are beautiful.
Copper coins, 5€ and 10€ denominations are packet together. This is bad for non circulated coins :(
Other coins are in a well done package.
Shipping and handling cost for online purchase is high. I had 20 Euros expenses for 34 € value.

France:
Everything I got was well packet. Shipping from France to Italy was about 30 Euros.
Sometimes, depending on promotions, you can get some coins at face value. I got this:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces196046.html
at 20 Euros.

Italy:
I ordered a long time ago, cannot find prices. Too often new coins are out of stock as soon as they go online. They must do something about this. Perfect quality and very good package.

Portugal:
I had my order in March 2021. I was surprised by shipping cost, about 7 € for a 100 € order value. Now prices are risen :(
Anyway I had several coins at face value. Some 2 € commemorative and various coins at 7,5 € and 5 € face value. The dark side: worst packaging ever. Silver coins stuck together with no protection at all. Scratch and marks on brand new coins!

San Marino:
Not very fast in shipping, at least in Covid times, but everything was fine. Shipping in Italy was not so expensive, about 10 €. Taxes are acceptable.
Coin perfectly packaged. Will buy again for sure.

British Pobjoy Mint:
Nice coins, good prices. Bad surprise after Brexit: I had to pay again to receive my coins. Before Brexit was a nice place to buy. Now too expensive for EU.
Anyway coins where very well packed and shipping was fast.

Hungary:
Very good shipping and package. Also some coins are at face value and sometimes good promotions. Shipping was about 23 Euros for me. Good package.

Royal Dutch Mint:
Just ordered. Also some coins at face value. Shipping in Italy at 9€!

On this page I’m collecting some information about mints:
http://en.muninn.land/index.php/Mints_(active)
Feel free to copy.

Luca.

I have bought from several mints myself

- US MINT : usmint.gov
Ordering from the us mint us very easy, though prices have increased in the last couple years. Shipping to Canada is expensive though, minimum $18USD and then UPS customs over and above. Whenever I’m in Washington DC, I go to the US mint store which is really nicely done up.

-RCM: mint.ca
the RCM used to have a 5 pack of the new commemorative coins they’d issue at face value; you just had to pay a little for postage. That was discontinued though and you’d have to buy full rolls now at a significant premium. Else they’re quick to ship and their contact/support is very responsive. I’ve done the tour at the ottawa mint too and again they have a very beautiful shop over there

-Indian mints (Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad): SPMCIL.in
ive been buying from the Indian mints since 1993. Initially you had to keep an eye out in the newspaper for the advertisement and mail your order in, or if you were lucky to be in either Calcutta or Mumbai, depending which mint issues the coin, then you could line up at the entrance gate to the mint building to place your order in person. The websites were introduced in the early 2000s and they are constantly improving. Only Calcutta and Bombay issue actual new commemoratives. Hyderabad just reissues whatever NCLT Bombay and Calcutta may have produced. Noida does not issue NCLT at the moment. Bombay and Calcutta do have mint stores at their respective mint buildings as well. I went to the Bombay store during its inaugural day and was the 2nd person ever to place an order over there. It’s not that fancy and back then they only accepted a certain number of people each day for a few hours.
What really has improved though Is the speed at which they deliver the sets once you book online. Previously you had to wait an entire year or more, then it slowly became around 6months or so and in the last couple years, you actually get the set within a couple months. That said. The websites are still difficult to navigate and placing orders is way harder than it should be. You need an Indian address visa/MasterCard credit/debit card to place an order though they do have a couple sets available for foreign buyers at an even higher premium

Luxembourg mint: I placed a order for their first niobium 5€ coin. It reached fairly quickly but postage was high at nearly $20 for the one coin

san Marino mint: same as Luxembourg, but postage did not high me as bad

Monnaie de Paris: ive never ordered online from them, but I’ve visited their shop in Paris a couple times which is very worthwhile

Royal mint: I’ve ordered a couple times online from the Royal mint and their postage is high, but reasonable compared to others imo. I did the Royal mint experience tour in Llantrisant earlier this month and it was well worth it. Their shop is great too

Japanese mint: I went to the Japanese mint shop in Tokyo. It was extremely pathetic. More like a shed with a few coins displayed and an elderly store clerk who didn’t speak any English and was less than helpful

Thai mint: visited the Thai mint shop in Bangkok. Similarly bad experience as Tokyo. While the shop is nice, the clerk over there was incredibly rude for no apparent reason. She must have got off the wrong side of the bed that morning and decided to take it out on me

srilanka reserve bank store: visited the shop of the Sri Lanka mint in Colombo. It’s very much like a throwback to the 1990s in Bombay. It’s not really a shop, but part of a larger antiquated hall with office desks for government employees. However the clerk was very helpful and patient. He took out several available coins from the cupboard, wrote down the prices for each, let me decide on them and then write out the receipt. Thankfully no one else was there and I don’t think that us generally the case. Overall it was a good experience and price wise the coins felt like good value for money

Mexico mint shop: visited the Mexican mint shop in Mexico City. It’s a nice shop, but mostly geared towards bullion coins. No one spoke English, so it was a bit of a dud visiting there imo


RAM: I’ve ordered online from the Australian mint too. Like RM and RCM, the service is good and postage is high, but ok compared to some other mints

Adding experience for Netherlands:

Total value of coins: 42.85 €
Shipping cost to Italy: 9 €

Order done 20 January, delivered 27 January.
Good packaging and got some coins at face value:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces187324.html
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces187324.html

Positive experience.

I only had experiences with two mints in terms of online shopping, one in real life

US Mint: Never brought from the US Mint, but my mother did, for my 15th Birthday in 2019. The product I got for my birthday was the 2019 P & D Uncirculated Set that included the 2019 Uncirculated West Point Penny in an envelope. I still have my West Point Penny in the packaging but the sets are a little worn out. They gave me a very good experience since I wanted a Uncirculated set and they gave me a bunch of cool catalogues in the mail. However I visited their Philadelphia location in real life during my Thanksgiving vacation a few months ago in November 2021 while visiting family, sadly they were closed due to the virus but I took a cool picture of myself in front of the building. Welp at least I made the pilgrimage to the Mint!

Royal Canadian Mint: This one I actually brought with my own money in 2017, I ordered the 2017 Canada 150 Uncirculated Set to get some Canadian coins. Sadly I was a dumb 12 year old back then so I took em out of the set, though I kept the carcass of the set. However the RCM also gave me a good experience, sadly I was very far from Winnipeg when I visited Niagara Falls, Ontario a few months later.

I have visited Monnaie de Paris in France back in June 2022 (hope to go back because we have booked for Next year as well). They had a good selection of coins mostly for the Paris 2024 Olympics which I bought the €10 silver coin And a 2022 coin set.

 

I have bought from the Royal mint twice (one yet to be delivered) and I would say that there are quite good as well but in terms of online service because I yet to visit the mint itself but from watching videos and touching the subject of the royal mint in one of Business lessons I do want to visit it in the future.

Nice list you have compiled, have you in question got a list of countries/mints that you don’t know if they sell coins because back in August I did one and with the list you have I did correct a few errors in my research.

Worldwide collection

Nice list you have compiled, have you in question got a list of countries/mints that you don’t know if they sell coins because back in August I did one and with the list you have I did correct a few errors in my research.

I will be happy to expand my list. Any suggestion is welcome.

Hardly found this topic not to open new one :) 

 

Just recently got nice experience with one of European mints and mint shops - in the last order from there I found the newest coins have worser condition of strike (It is my humble opinion, but i think it is) and even one coin had dirt on that (in capsule actually!). 

I immediately sent them an email with info about that and with my criticism about worsening condition with the same high price per coin. 

.. and I got a message back soon: 

"We are very sorry to hear that you have received coins that do not meet your expectations in terms of quality. We appreciate your feedback and will take it forward in our company.

To make things right, we will be sending you a new architecture 2€ coin free of charge. There is no need to send back the dirty coin. 

We apologise for the inconvenience and hope to serve you better in the future. "

Well, very unexpectedly nice reply and follow-up action, I should say! This makes my trust in them even higher. 

LucazeoDo you ever buy directly from mints?
I do and here are some of my experiences. Do you like to share yours?

Sometimes I order some doubles, just to swap.

Austria:
I bought from the Austrian mint both online and in person.
In my opinion coins are beautiful.
Copper coins, 5€ and 10€ denominations are packet together. This is bad for non circulated coins :(
Other coins are in a well done package.
Shipping and handling cost for online purchase is high. I had 20 Euros expenses for 34 € value.

France:
Everything I got was well packet. Shipping from France to Italy was about 30 Euros.
Sometimes, depending on promotions, you can get some coins at face value. I got this:
N#196046
at 20 Euros.

Italy:
I ordered a long time ago, cannot find prices. Too often new coins are out of stock as soon as they go online. They must do something about this. Perfect quality and very good package.

Portugal:
I had my order in March 2021. I was surprised by shipping cost, about 7 € for a 100 € order value. Now prices are risen :(
Anyway I had several coins at face value. Some 2 € commemorative and various coins at 7,5 € and 5 € face value. The dark side: worst packaging ever. Silver coins stuck together with no protection at all. Scratch and marks on brand new coins!

San Marino:
Not very fast in shipping, at least in Covid times, but everything was fine. Shipping in Italy was not so expensive, about 10 €. Taxes are acceptable.
Coin perfectly packaged. Will buy again for sure.

British Pobjoy Mint:
Nice coins, good prices. Bad surprise after Brexit: I had to pay again to receive my coins. Before Brexit was a nice place to buy. Now too expensive for EU.
Anyway coins where very well packed and shipping was fast.

Hungary:
Very good shipping and package. Also some coins are at face value and sometimes good promotions. Shipping was about 23 Euros for me. Good package.

Royal Dutch Mint:
Just ordered. Also some coins at face value. Shipping in Italy at 9€!

On this page I’m collecting some information about mints:
http://en.muninn.land/index.php/Mints_(active)
Feel free to copy.

Luca.

Well, talking about my experience with mints and orders there: 

1) Austrian mint - website shop always more the HIGHEST quality and quick and good shipments within Europe, price for the shipment is moderate. I usually buy there once a year, when all 4 new coins (2x5 EUR and 2x10 eur in Copper) are available.  

 

2) Portuguese mint - website shop always nice. Low shipment prices (about 10 EUR) inside Europe. Though package of coins is not nice - with no invoices or nice packaging - just in some paper packs, though envelope is ok and it were no problems with shipments and ordering. 
One problem with that mint - coins are running out of stock EXTREMELY fast (especially 2 euros). They have no limits so people order a lot. You should be fast to get coins you need. However some older coins are available now.  Website design little bit outdated and not nice and easy. 

 

3) The Royal Mint of UK - pathetic, but nice online shop. Stock is always in a good condition, all the recent coins available. Wide selection. Prices are ok, though 50 pence and 1 and 2 pound coins are quite expensive.  Shipment price due to Brexit is quite high  (about 12 pounds!), but they ship well, pack well and I have no issues with them, cause 5 pound coins are very hard to swap or buy at reasonable prices except from the Royal Mint.  

 

4) Dutch Royal Mint of the Netherlands - great online shop with very attractive prices and good packaging and invoices and etc. Wide selection of coins, especially other countries, Euro zone.  Like them a lot, regularly do orders there. 

 

5) Royal Mint of Denmark stopped their online shop after new King was announced. Previously it was nice place with good prices, good packaging and etc. its a pity to loose such resource. 

 

6) Hungarian mint - CRAZY online-shop. shipment prices even in EU are CRAZILY high (like 30 EUR for an order equal to 100 EUR!).  Price of coins is fine, but design of the shop is not nice. It is better to buy coins at their new Mint Museum and shop in reality if you are in Budapest. 

 

7) Finnish Mint stopped to sell coins and delegated that to some private company. This company has limit of coins per order, they ship only inside Finland and price for coins is very high. Shipment price is high as well, even inside Finland.  Website is fine, and customers support is well. But now they issue only 2-EURO coins and no 5 non-silver coins anymore. Its a pity :(  

 

8) Mint shop of Estonian mint. Never ordered online but physical shop in Tallinn inside the Eesti Bank museum is WONDERFUL! Centre of the city, very nice prices, free to access reasonable open hours. Quite wide selection of coins of Estonia with no limits. 

 

9) Italian and French online shops of mints are very expensive - not worth to try. 

 

10) Georgian mint in Tbilisi (capital) previously were selling coins online, now as I understand you need to come to their real shop in Tbilisi (away from city center) in a bank building. selection of coins is limited but price is good. 

 

11) Armenian bank has its own shop (i would say it is a cashier) in the middle of the city Yerevan (capital) where you can buy coins in reality. BUT - you are not buying but just exchanging banknotes on coins, and you will get mix of old and new coins, so it is not possibly just to buy new UNC coins, its like a lottery :)   Strange approach. May be they have website/online shop, but never tried. 

 

12) Polish mint sell coins in the main Bank building in the city center of Warsaw (capital). Previously you could buy many coins (especially 2 zloty there) but now, they are limited and usually sell coins when new coin is released, though a lot of collectors and traders buy coins very quickly there). I remember that they sell coins not every day.  Price is 1:1 - so you literally exchange banknotes on coins :) 

 

13) Russia has no official shops, though main governmental banks like Sberbank are celling coins. They are not celling regular series or sets, usually there are just Silver or Proof coins. Sometimes they sell silver and proof coins of other rare countries like from Africa or Oceania who order the mintage in Moscow, rare one, but I dont like such coins. Prices are quite high, but not so high. Selection of coins is limited and depends from bank to bank. 

Since my last post, I’ve been to a couple more mints/ mint adjacent places…

 

Portugal: the mint itself in Lisbon is off limits AFAIK. from the outside, it looks like a quaint art deco or maybe 50s style while building. However there are several INCM stores spread throughout portugal, and you can always find the newer collector coins even at face value . Overall very good experience.

 

Azerbaijan: I went to the Central Bank in Baku. You need your passport and have to tell security exactly which coins you want. They will then call someone in the back office and you will have to keep the cash ready. No plastic. Then someone will come and lead you through the turnstile, then down to the basement, then to the back entrance and out the building only to enter again through another door where they handle the money. All the while that person holds on to your passport. They will have the coins ready for you and you pay the cash. You still have to wait for a while as they will print the receipts. Very time consuming; I was there a little over 45mins. Unfortunately they don’t speak English, so it was a lot of pictures and online translations through my phone. It was a little unsettling that they held my passport all throughout that time. But in the end, I bought a few collector coins and I have this story to tell ;)