Tag Archives: gold

Trust, but verify

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I’ve mentioned in the past that I have a buddy who works in a coin shop. I also mentioned that, from time to time, he’ll sell me gold at spot – no premium. Usually this happens when he gets something in thats a little odd of in an unattractive condition. For example, if he gets a gold coin thats bent… its harder to sell than one that isnt, so he buys it for below spot and then flips it to me.

So..with that backstory done. Here’s todays acquisition:

Its a US Gold Eagle (1 troy ounce) coin. It has some sort of crud or something on it whih makes it aesthetically not as attractive as one that doesnt have such an issue. So, a good question would be how do you know thats a real gold coin and not some made-in-China knockoff thats all over eBay?

Well, my buddy at the shop has a gold tester which you can see in the photo. I don’t have silver tested, usually…. but I always have gold tested. He tests it when he buys it, but I politely insist the he test it in front of me before I purchase. I trust him very much, but theres always the possibility of mixing the coin up with another one. And this keeps everyone on the same page.

The tester isnt cheap, they cost about a grand. But if it keeps you from buying one Chinese carbide-filled ‘gold’ coin, then it has paid for itself…twice.

When I get the opportunity to buy gold at spot, I usually jump on it. I use the money from one of my various savings funds. For instance, I save money over the course of the year for paying my property taxes. If gold becomes available, I’ll convert some of that savings into cash figuring that by the time the taxes come due, the gold will still be worth what I paid or better. And if it dips, I have enough to cover it anyway. But my lizard brain likes having some gold in the safe.

I’d really prefer a smaller fraction of gold…I love me some 1/10 oz… but I almost never get those at spot. They are far too desirable, even at their inflated premium. But, hey, when the opportunity comes to buy gold with no premium…sign me up.

Article – Zimbabwe debuts gold coins as legal tender to stem inflation

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe has launched gold coins to be sold to the public in a bid to tame runaway inflation that has further eroded the country’s unstable currency. The unprecedented move was announced Monday by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to boost confidence in the local currency. Trust in Zimbabwe’s currency is low after people saw their savings wiped out by hyperinflation in 2008 which reached 5 billion%, according to the IMF.
This would, I think, actually make Zimbabwe’s currency more stable than the dollar. Economics and goldbugging are two flavors that are tough to get into one candy. There’s a line in the book The Mandibles where the character is talking about how the independent nation-state of Nevada is on the gold standard..he says something along the lines of ‘Gold is useless..can’t eat it, can grow it, but for some reason it works as money…even if no one seems to know why.’ I’ve often that that gold is about as close as you’ll ever come to a global currency. According to the article, Zimbabwe will sell you all the minted coins you’d like as long as you pay in foreign currency. I wonder how Zimbabwe will acquire enough gold to make a difference in their economy..I wouldn’t want to be paid for my gold in those crappy Zimbabwe dollars. Theyre gonna have to pay in other ways…foreign currency, military land leases to the Chinese, oil, etc. I’d be curious to see where this goes. I suspect what will happen is that this plan, like every other great idea in Africa, will fizzle out from mismanagement and the resources (gold) will disappear into some general or prime minister’s pocket. And the Zim gold coins will become collectors items that are seen ore outside Zimbabwe than in.

Russian ruble pegged to gold?

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This is interesting…….

Russia sets fixed gold price as it restarts official bullion purchases

Opinion: Russia just made a case for owning gold — and nobody noticed

Good for the price of gold! Russia anchors rouble to gold

So, as I read this, it seems that Russian oil will be paid for either in gold or in rubles, rather than dollars, since the rate of exchange is such that you’ll pay less for the oil in gold or rubles than you would in dollars. Or, looking at it from a different angle, the dollar is worth less than rubles and gold.

I need to read more about this…

 

SIlver

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Silver actually dipped below $16.00 the other day for a brief time. At the moment it’s around $16.30. To me, its time to buy. Is the price going to go even lower? Maybe..thats why I wouldnt spend all my money on it right now. And while I can’t be sure it will be going down further, I am confident that, eventually, it will be a good deal higher than what it is now.

When silver is limp, call the Pimp!

(Which reminds me, I need to redo my post about the Metals Pimp) Yay for cached versions!

The Metals Pimp

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Every time I post about  gold-n-silver someone usually comments about “where can I go to get a fair price and ……”. So, I’m making this post and will wind up just putting a link to it in any post I make about gold/silver since folks always seem to want to know a good source.

So… my buddy runs Montana Rarities. He buys and sells gold and silver, as well as, sometimes, doing trades for them as well. (As in, you trade ‘x’ amounts of one metal for ‘y’ amount of the other.) He’s very knowledgable, a straight-shooter, and is far more easygoing and fair than a lot of people I’ve seen in this business.

When he started this business and was looking for ideas, I suggested a subscription plan where a person could set up a repeating transaction once a month and acquire gold or silver. He drafts your bank account for, say, $200 every 15th of the month (you pick the amount and the day) and on the 15th of every month he sends you $200 worth of gold or silver (whichever you specified) at whatever the rate was on that day. Basically, set it and forget it. Here’s a link to the page describing how it works. If you want to sock away some metal without the hassle of following prices, and dealing with shipping and credit card numbers every month, it’s the way to go…a fire-n-forget way of accumulating your stash of metals.

Is he a good value? Well, certainly he’s the best deal in town here. Is he the best on the itnernet? Beats me. I suppose if you order 5000 ounces at a time from APMEX you might get a better deal, but if youre going to be doing a bit less volume than that I’d stack him against anyone. In fact, I usually give him a huge ration of crap about how his premium percentages are smaller than pretty much everyone’s.

Now, sure, I’m biased. I’ve known him for years, and watched him start this business from the ground up….back when a $300 sale was reason to celebrate. Nowadays a $5,000 sale barely raises his heartbeat. Why? Mostly because a lot of those $300 sales turned out to be guys ‘testing the waters’ to see if he was a good guy to do business with. Once they did a few ‘nickle-n-dime’ sales with him and realized how great he was to deal with, the real money started changing hands. Can;t buy that kinda customer loyalty, ya gotta earn it.

Anyway, before you go plunk down your slowly dissolving greenbacks at one of the big-name guys’ websites, check him out and see if you cant get a better value from him. Even if the prices ‘tween the two are virtually the same, you’ll probably get much better customer service from him.