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I've been a past customer of Golden State Mint, and always quite pleased at the quality of their bullion products. They are one of, if not, the best independent bullion producing mints, and if you meet their minimum orders of 100 oz (free shipping) they have some of the lowest premiums per stamped rounds.
A couple of months ago, I finally got around to inventorying four boxes of fractionals I have bought over the past year or so, and found that the count was shorted on maybe half a dozen 1/4 oz pieces. This morning, when I called to order some one ounce round designs, I mentioned this to Andrew Pavlakos, the proprietor. He was astounded and apologetic that this could have occurred, as several safeguards are in place to prevent this from happening. Double checked, box weighed upon packaging, all under "surveillance."
I assured him I wasn't looking for any kind of renumeration, because, for all he knew, I could be making it up as some kind of scam. He poopooed that idea and wouldn't let me order without reducing the seniorage from $1.79 to $1.00 per coin. He didn't have to do that, as I told him, I AM a happy customer and plan on making major purchases from him as time goes on. I relayed to him that his Buffalo Rounds are fetching $3 premiums now, and that in my estimation they are the most widely traded silver round after the American Eagle. I could hear the pride in his voice as he confessed that his Dad developed that round clear back in 1981, and in his words "there's probably quite a few of them out there by now."
Just wanted you guys to know there are honorable men with integrity in the coin business.
Last edited by beauanderos on Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Thanks for the integrity check. Frankly I've observed far more honorable people in these industries than not. But even with that there are still levels of integrity, and Mr. Pavlakos appears to be at the highest end. That's worth knowing, and I'll keep that in mind as I consider future purchases. Perhaps others here will also do that.
In the game of Woke, the goal posts can be moved at any moment, the penalties will apply retroactively and claims of fairness will always lose out to the perpetual right to claim offense.... Bret Stephens The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it. George Orwell. We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. Ayn Rand.
the "solution?" About $120 discount on today's order
I was in too much of a hurry while ordering earlier to realize the magnitude of his gesture. You can rest assured my continued patronage will be the result.
mtldealer wrote:Will they give you a discount if I tell them I was recomended by you? Cause I'm heading over to there site now.
If you make a purchase from them... I will give you a discount of $20 worth redemption towards any of my future weekend silver sales. Offer valid to first three respondents.
Just curious, how much of a backlog do they have now? I wanted to place an order last week, but was told it would be 8 weeks. BTW, they are going to launch a retail website sometime soon without the 100 oz minimum.
SoFa wrote:Just curious, how much of a backlog do they have now? I wanted to place an order last week, but was told it would be 8 weeks. BTW, they are going to launch a retail website sometime soon without the 100 oz minimum.
Andrew told me today that he likes to say eight weeks, so that he can surprise people with faster shipping times. He says eight weeks is the worst case scenario. It's not his production time that's the issue, it's getting raw stock in.
I didn't know about a retail shop site being developed. That would really increase exposure to his bullion, but he'd have to price his items so that he didn't wash out his reseller's (Provident and others) markets.
beauanderos wrote:I've been a past customer of Golden State Mint, and always quite pleased at the quality of their bullion products. They are one of, if not, the best independent bullion producing mints, and if you meet their minimum orders of 100 oz (free shipping) they have some of the lowest premiums per stamped rounds.
A couple of months ago, I finally got around to inventorying four boxes of fractionals I have bought over the past year or so, and found that the count was shorted on maybe half a dozen 1/4 oz pieces. This morning, when I called to order some one ounce round designs, I mentioned this to Andrew Pavlakos, the proprietor. He was astounded and apologetic that this could have occurred, as several safeguards are in place to prevent this from happening. Double checked, box weighed upon packaging, all under "surveillance."
I assured him I wasn't looking for any kind of renumeration, because, for all he knew, I could be making it up as some kind of scam. He poopooed that idea and wouldn't let me order without reducing the seniorage from $1.79 to $1.00 per coin. He didn't have to do that, as I told him, I AM a happy customer and plan on making major purchases from him as time goes on. I relayed to him that his Buffalo Rounds are fetching $3 premiums now, and that in my estimation they are the most widely traded silver round after the American Eagle. I could hear the pride in his voice as he confessed that his Dad developed that round clear back in 1981, and in his words "there's probably quite a few of them out there by now."
Just wanted you guys to know there are honorable men with integrity in the coin business.
thank you Ray.....one little bright ray of hope. That's all one needs in a day. Just ONE bit of good testimony in a day filled with grim testimonies. You're a pal for sharing.
so if I may, let me share?...nothing like you did, but...its all I got. Maybe you can paint a picture with your mind.
I took down a pretty big sugar maple, that had its top ripped off by the 2005 tornado, an F3....a NICE piece of wood.
what you do is, you fell the tree, then you limb it. (got some REAL nice walking sticks out of this one....lemme know....price?....please, stop)
then you have to get the log out of the forest, so you get a logging chain, wrap it around the log, i'm talking 24 inch diameter, piece of wood, 12 feet long....and the other end of the chain, gets put on the "clevis" of your tractor, set the tractor in low, and off you go. Then you bring it up out of the forest, and get ready to biscuit it. What that means is, you saw it into roughly 16 in long "biscuits", which are going up to where the hydraulic ram splitter sits.
Its good to start around 6:30-7:00, we JUST started moving into spring, mid 60's....so at that time, its 52-57 degrees. When I made a bunch of biscuits, that's when I put them into the bucket of tractor, and move them over to where the splitter sits, I got it on a gravel pad, where in the summer its gets sun coverage for about 14 hours a day to "cure" it (dry it)
so about 11 o'clock something neat happened. the wind had been blowing 5-10 mph, and in one whoosh, the wind went to 30 mph, and stayed that way. What happened is this, we have forecast a blizzard coming our way...oh yes, 30 degree temps, 100% chance of precip, not too sure how far the snowline is coming south, but its coming. Right now as I type, its almost 8 at night, still light, i can see the clouds up north, except they're not the green gray you get in thunder cells, these are the BLUE gray you get in the snow bearing clouds, and the wind?...oh she's still clipping at 30 mph plus....oh boy, I looked up, and the depth of the clouds, they are just stacked WAY north.
I don't know why precisely I shared that...maybe it was this, that moment, the wind did that abrupt change from 5-10 mph to a constant 30 mph plus might be a metaphor.....that 'sign' happened on Wed at 1100, but we wont see the snow until the wee hours of hours of Thursday morning...or maybe it could Thursday at noon. The important thing was recognizing that flip in the wind, which happened in an instant, but what the flip meant didn't happen until LATER.there's something in all that...just like there's something in a son being proud of what his Daddy did.
I love those words and that concept, "honor and integrity"....and for some reason, these beautiful gun grey clouds, wind just a blowing, reminds me of a film, I been telling you to watch, maybe you have already...its a great film....and that was a great post you shared. Love it, neil
neilgin1 wrote:then you have to get the log out of the forest, so you get a logging chain, wrap it around the log, i'm talking 24 inch diameter, piece of wood, 12 feet long....and the other end of the chain, gets put on the "clevis" of your tractor, set the tractor in low, and off you go. Then you bring it up out of the forest, and get ready to biscuit it. What that means is, you saw it into roughly 16 in long "biscuits", which are going up to where the hydraulic ram splitter sits.
If that 24 inch diameter sugar maple is nice and straight, no limbs until the top, has a small core, and wasn't tapped for sap, your burning lumber worth $200 to $300....just an FYI...
neilgin1 wrote:then you have to get the log out of the forest, so you get a logging chain, wrap it around the log, i'm talking 24 inch diameter, piece of wood, 12 feet long....and the other end of the chain, gets put on the "clevis" of your tractor, set the tractor in low, and off you go. Then you bring it up out of the forest, and get ready to biscuit it. What that means is, you saw it into roughly 16 in long "biscuits", which are going up to where the hydraulic ram splitter sits.
If that 24 inch diameter sugar maple is nice and straight, no limbs until the top, has a small core, and wasn't tapped for sap, your burning lumber worth $200 to $300....just an FYI...
Sorry to hijack...great news Ray....
hags
Hags....nice watching my back......this "shug" was wanged by an F3 tornado, top ripped off, AND had a shagbark hickory growing into it.....so yeh, its timber value was minimal, but you did bring a smile to my face, knowing that one of the gang is watching out for me, from making a bad rookie mistake.
the story with this ridge is, in 87, it was a 640 acre piece, dairy and cattle.....owner decides to sell, but before he does, he timbers it ALL....anything worth anything...down. Then in some irony, he called me brother and one of his friends, who were trying to make a go in the firewood business, told them they could have all the tops and anything else they could grab. Then he sold it, to a guy who parceled this ridge into 10 acre places, he cut a mile long private road thru it, folks bought, and sold....and this day, there are 3 other full timers besides me, and about 7 "summer-timers"......you might see them 3 times during the summer, and none of them have wells or plumbing. My woodlot is about 6 acres, and its a mix of shagbark hickory, sugar maple, white oak and black cherry....and since the cutting was done in 87, my mature specimen's are maybe 35-40 years old at most....nothing really to timber cut, especially since I only got 6 acres to heat with, so I have to think hard about how I want to manage cut it. (I have a 45,000 btu LP heater in the new basement bunker, I had dug out, for back up)
the understory is coming up very sweet, bunches of sugar maples and black cherries, but I also got a whole lot of ironwood, in the secondary understory suppressing the juvenile maples and cherries, so I have to tend to the ironwood, which is also a pretty good firewood. My brother doesn't really want me felling trees yet, i'm still a greenhorn, so I watch him, then when they're down, I take care of the rest, limbing, skidding, biscuiting, and splitting. He's got about a hundred and forty acres, 30 tillable, which he bought in 87 for $232 an acre. Wooded ridges with pasture go for $2500 an acre EASY, and these days, around here, you RARELY see anything above 60 acres hit the market. I got lucky. This area also has the distinction of having more organic farmers per capita than any other area in the US....lots of Amish, and a bit north, LOTS of Hmong. (Laotian hill people who fought on the side of the US, during the war in SE Asia)
Thanks for the FYI, without seeming nosy, what kind of woodlot you got? gratefully, neil
neilgin1 wrote:Thanks for the FYI, without seeming nosy, what kind of woodlot you got? gratefully, neil
Hey Neil,
I figured you had a handle on the timber value vs. the BTU value..... I've made that rookie mistake years ago and burned up some awesome sugar maples that would have been beautiful veneer. My property is ridden with field stone and the roots grow horizontal instead of vertical. The older stalwarts on my property are high wind dominos and it seems I lose a couple each year. The tornado that ripped thru Merrill last year toppled a bunch of my maples that lined the highest point of my property. The trees fell gracefully by ripping the roots from the ground and tipping over, all the tops still intact. I don't think the tornado came as far east as my property, but the high winds sheared away at my ridge. I reached a deal with a local Woodmizer owner and sold some and planked out more then I'll ever need. We're building a new sugar shack this summer with some of the maple timbers...I own a wooded 80 and share ownership of an adjacent 80 with three high school friends/brothers. Our joint ownership land is 50 wooded and 30 tillable, so that land is worked and mine is partially tapped, leaving the old growth maples and stately pines for future harvest. I have a 100' wide swath along both sides of my creek that's never been harvested...some of those trees are easily 100+ years old...a few would require a 5 or 6 person hand holding circle to reach around the trunks...in talking to the forest manager he mentioned the creek bottoms were usually passed up during harvest so as to not disturb the creek...I have a sanctuary of tall pines where the creek makes a 180 degree turn, layered in pine straw and thick enough to calm any gale winds....most peaceful and soulful spot you'll find...I'd of paid up for just those few acres, but they came with the 80 acre package...
alpacafarmer wrote:Thanks for the heads up on Golden State. Just placed my first order with them today and they where very nice to deal with.
I talked with Jim Pavlakos for a few minutes yesterday. He told me I don't have to wait until I have an order to call, that if I ever just want to talk coins or if I have questions to feel free to phone him. I had planned to order today but the dip corrected before I could call in.
neilgin1 wrote:Thanks for the FYI, without seeming nosy, what kind of woodlot you got? gratefully, neil
Hey Neil,
I figured you had a handle on the timber value vs. the BTU value..... I've made that rookie mistake years ago and burned up some awesome sugar maples that would have been beautiful veneer. My property is ridden with field stone and the roots grow horizontal instead of vertical. The older stalwarts on my property are high wind dominos and it seems I lose a couple each year. The tornado that ripped thru Merrill last year toppled a bunch of my maples that lined the highest point of my property. The trees fell gracefully by ripping the roots from the ground and tipping over, all the tops still intact. I don't think the tornado came as far east as my property, but the high winds sheared away at my ridge. I reached a deal with a local Woodmizer owner and sold some and planked out more then I'll ever need. We're building a new sugar shack this summer with some of the maple timbers...I own a wooded 80 and share ownership of an adjacent 80 with three high school friends/brothers. Our joint ownership land is 50 wooded and 30 tillable, so that land is worked and mine is partially tapped, leaving the old growth maples and stately pines for future harvest. I have a 100' wide swath along both sides of my creek that's never been harvested...some of those trees are easily 100+ years old...a few would require a 5 or 6 person hand holding circle to reach around the trunks...in talking to the forest manager he mentioned the creek bottoms were usually passed up during harvest so as to not disturb the creek...I have a sanctuary of tall pines where the creek makes a 180 degree turn, layered in pine straw and thick enough to calm any gale winds....most peaceful and soulful spot you'll find...I'd of paid up for just those few acres, but they came with the 80 acre package...
hags
hags, in the bustle of everyday life. I missed your WONDERFUL reply....BUT I GOT TODAY!!!! at 6 in the morning, Sat 11 May.....just a delight to read, thank you so much, neil
alpacafarmer wrote:Thanks for the heads up on Golden State. Just placed my first order with them today and they where very nice to deal with.
I talked with Jim Pavlakos for a few minutes yesterday. He told me I don't have to wait until I have an order to call, that if I ever just want to talk coins or if I have questions to feel free to phone him. I had planned to order today but the dip corrected before I could call in.
oh that's nice Ray...I hope you two lads had a nice conversation. That's just wonderful. You call him, but me?....I get nothing. Its okay, I understand. i'm not worth the time................................................................................. .......................................(chortle)....that's called "Jewish guilt manipulation"....I AM teasing Raymundo...I just had to write that...sorry.....(laughing)
alpacafarmer wrote:When I ordered they told me it would be 10 weeks for delivery and it showed up 5 weeks.
I think with the sustained (for the moment) price drop some sort of temporary stability has ensued and demand slackened, enabling the fabricators to catch up somewhat with backordered items.
