Ahhhhh.... I couldn't help it! There were a few more silver pieces that I had seen on Marktplaats (a Dutch second-hand website) that I just couldn't resist snatching up in our dying days in Europe. Partly, this was due to wanting to get some last minute treats for myself... but also, that I'm leaving behind a group of sellers that I know that I can trust, and that will take some time to build up that sort of trust in a new land.

These four silver pieces came from a seller that lives pretty close... well, a town close by to Den Haag. I had bought some Australian sharks from him years ago, and he was really nice and showed me all sorts of things in his collection. What I found nice about him was that he was really nice, patient and forgiving about my complete lack of knowledge about silver and the prices of various things. I found that there were quite a few people on Marktplaats (and other sites) that would be really quite rude and nasty... when they could have also set a floor starting bid on their auctions as well! Or just let the bid stand and wait... but no, some people feel the need to send a private DM venting and calling abuse.... sigh, yay internet behaviour!

So, the first of the set of four was this nice Australian Kangaroo from 2010. I've seen quite a few of these older Australian kangaroos around the place, but they have been going for more than I really want to pay for silver. However, his time, I thought... why not, I will pick up a nice one from a seller that I like! I sort of like these older designs... they strike me as a touch naïve and simpler than modern ones, I'm not exactly sure why though!

Plus, the seller gave me a nice price on this heavily milked and stained Brittania. Well, it isn't beautiful... but silver is silver, and there is something still nice about having one of these. Pity about the heavy milking...

Another two pieces that he was also selling, I had actually lost the auction with. However, he DM'd me and said that he had another pair of the coins that I had missed out on and would just let me have them for the price that I had bid at (not the higher winning price). Wow, that was really nice of him... and again, this sort of personal trust in relationship between buyer/seller is hard to replace. I knew that he would sell me nice silver... and he knew that I could be trusted with the payment (in fiat...).

So, I picked up this nice china piece... a boy running with a hoop, that was done as part of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I love the little splash of colour on the front side, these are coins that I have been trying to get hold of for quite some time... and seeing as I was leaving, I was prepared to bid that little more than I normally do to try and snag some before I left Netherlands.

There is something also quite appealing about the simplicity of the back side of the silver coin as well. I actually prefer this sort of geometric design on the back in comparison to the English Queen's silhouette! Traitorous me...

Finally, the other piece that he offered me was another in the same 2008 Olympics series... this time, the boy and girl at play version.... and again, with that tiny little splash of colour to the right. Once again, a coin that I had been trying to get a hold of for quite some time... and was a little bit disappointed when I lost the auction... and very pleasantly surprised when he contacted me with a private offer. Honestly, I'm going to really miss these personal buyer/seller relations... and will hopefully be able to set up similar relationships in Australia when I finally get settled over there... I guess I should start looking around on Gumtree to see what is out there!

Anyway... I still have a few more pieces of silver on my hopeful shopping list... I do want some of the lengend/fantasy South Korean pieces... they look awesome. But I'm not sure if things that I purchase in the next couple of weeks will make it to me in time before we leave, so best to play it safe, and skip on the purchases in Netherlands now... and start investigating the possibilities in Australia!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
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Publish0x

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Stoic: A USD maximisation bot trading on Binance using long-term long strategies, powered by the AI/human system of Cindicator.
StakeDAO: Decentralised pooled staking of PoS assets.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.