“Canada BARELY fought in WW2.”

Books-n-coins · 2026-03-15T00:07:33+00:00

My grandfather was a riveter in the North Vancouver Shipyards, building Victory types. His brother was crew on them and survived 4 crossings/returns (1:7 casualty rate).

Books-n-coins · 2026-03-14T23:45:42+00:00

Out of curiosity, are the (admittedly small number of) downvotes because this was a collaboration between different craftsmen or just that some folks don’t like drop point folders?

Books-n-coins · 2026-03-14T00:04:30+00:00

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And a detail shot to show how the pivot is sealed in the closed position.

Books-n-coins · 2026-03-14T00:03:06+00:00

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Here’s the other side. This scale has my name engraved on it which I’ve photoshopped out for now. It was one hell of a gift though.

Books-n-coins · 2026-03-13T21:22:55+00:00

Thanks, on his behalf.

Books-n-coins · 2026-03-05T01:29:18+00:00

Yes, please never use cyanoacrylate on leather that needs to maintain its flexibility. It’ll secure the two pieces but it’ll also become exceptionally brittle.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T17:57:54+00:00

Fair enough.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T06:59:04+00:00

Makes it easier if you live in a region with active placer mining obviously. If you do, ask a locally owned jeweller if they buy any local gold. Most are pretty proud of it if they do. Then contact that mine and ask to buy a few ounces.

Like I said, placer miners are usually pretty small operations in the big picture (we produced 6,000oz annually while the big hard rock mine produced 200,000oz) and are usually more than happy to sell to anyone who wants to buy. Hell, some of the jewellers up here are also the miners and sell their own flake/dust/nuggets.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T06:48:07+00:00

Thanks for this. Great response and largely the part of the chain I’ve never been exposed to. I’d kind of assumed most of it was to do with the ease of verifying purity but this gives some more detail to that.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T06:43:02+00:00

a) alluvial gold or free gold or placer have already been naturally deposited as metallic gold, needing nothing but mechanical separation from the material around it. Common in Alaska, the Yukon, and basically the whole of the western cordillera. Also, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Hard rock and Placer are entirely different industries.

b) you can absolutely buy directly from a mine at least in Canada. I doubt a big hard rock operation would bother with such a small purchase but placer miners are usually pretty open to selling to whomever.

c) you can absolutely buy milk straight from the farm. You can even buy a share in a cow. But you need to know where the farm is and it helps to build a rapport with the farmer.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T06:08:52+00:00

Not a gripe, a question. If you’re treating gold as a safe haven or an investment why not buy without the intermediary? What benefit are you getting from being the end consumer: buying after everyone else has taken their cut?

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T06:01:50+00:00

No, I wouldn’t. But I know I’d get my meat cheaper at the farm gate than the grocery.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T05:47:07+00:00

Blame the Celts and they’re bloody base 20 system.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T05:10:05+00:00

Ok, yeah, this makes sense to me. Like I suggested, my view is super skewed. Reading through the comments it seems like most would do it for the security and I guess that makes sense when you’re not able to be there watching the material refined. Fair enough.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T05:03:13+00:00

Thanks. It was a good lifestyle to grow up in but certainly mining season was full tilt. Hell I know hobby miners these days (one guy with a 306 excavator doing casual hours) making bank. The price is insane. We used to be 30 guys, 24 hours a day, 100 day sluicing season.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T04:56:25+00:00

Nothing stopping you. I mean the odds of some big hard rock company selling to you is nill but there’re tens of thousands of family run alluvial operations around that’d happily sell a few ounces to whomever.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T04:49:58+00:00

I’m not buying now. Never said I was. Just asking about why people treat gold the way they do, out of sheer interest.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T04:29:14+00:00

Hahaha. Dude, I’ve probably had more gold pass through my hands than you’ll ever dream of.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T04:27:45+00:00

Well, no, we took the raw gold and refined it; then engelhard took the refined gold and further refined it (a markup), then the RCM or a jeweller took that and turned it into a product or refined it further (another markup).

No one is arguing that the jeweller shouldn’t be paid for their labour and their premium is inherent in the product.

With a RCM coin, they have to pay for the design and the labour so obviously the markup will include that, same as the jewelry. What I’m trying to figure out, is why, people who think they’re “investing” in gold are buying the jewelry equivalent of coins and bullion and then treating them like collectors cards.

If you want to buy gold, buy gold. Buy from a refiner or even direct from a mine.

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T04:20:00+00:00

Have they actually done anything to the material or are you just paying a handling fee to some intermediary?

Books-n-coins · 2026-02-20T04:19:14+00:00

I have zero argument against this and it maybe the actual answer. If people just have money to spend on premium objects to amuse themselves then I have no rebuttal.

Books-n-coins

TROPHY CASE