At the resent Texas Numismatic Association coin show in Arlington, Texas I was able to add two more Pandas to my collection for a reasonable price. One is from the 2012 World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia and the other is a 2015 Bao Bao from the Smithsonian Institution. I was able to buy both at bid sheet. See the pictures below or visit my profile page to check out the whole collection.

So recently I was at a local show talking to a dealer friend of mine. He let me know that he had picked up some pandas out of a large collection he had bought and asked me if I would be interested in buying some. I said sure and started taking a look through what he had, after a few coins I came across the ungraded coin pictured. Something about it caught my eye as unusual. I told him that there was something not right about it and luckily he had a coin of the same year in an NGC holder so we compared the two. After looking at them both I determined for sure that it was a fake and confirmed it with some online research. This coin series is not my friends specialty so it is understandable how it slipped through the cracks. I am just glad that it got spotted and removed before someone got burned. Below I will give some of the difference between the fake and real versions. The first two photos are of the fake, the slabbed coin is real, and the last picture is a stock photo of the real thing.

The Queen's Beasts Series started last year with the Lion of England and is now in full swing with two issues per year with the exception of two years and will run until 2021. The first and last year of issue will only have one coin each. This ten coin series will depict the heraldic Queens's Beasts statues present at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and represent the royal line of ancestry. Each coin will have many different variations of precious metal and precious metal weight. The Silver released issues will come in 2oz & 10oz bullion mint state versions. The Gold released issues will come in 1/4oz & 1oz bullion mint state versions and the Platinum released issue will come in a 1oz bullion mint state version. It is helpful to mention that there is a silver proof version of the Lion of England in 1oz, 5oz, and10oz but this version's design varies slightly and is double the price of it's bullion counterpart.  In my opinion the 2oz silver bullion mint state version is the most affordable  and will be the one I will focus on for this and future posts about this series. You can currently pick up one of the three already released issues for around $60 in Gem UNC or $70 in MS-69 which is a bargain in my book when a 1oz Panda can cost as much as $50 in the same grade. The list below shows the three coins currently released and the future coins to be released in no particular order. A special thanks goes out to JM Bullion for their extensive background information on this series. Please visit there site if you would like more information about the series or individual coin designs.The Lion of England 2016The Griffin of Edward III 2017The Red Dragon of Wales 2017The Falcon of the PlantagenetsThe Black Bull of ClarenceThe Yale of BeaufortThe White Lion of MortimerThe White Greyhound of RichmondThe Unicorn of ScotlandThe White Horse of Hanover