GTG

Jeez... id5, you certainly no your stuff!

Thanks for all the great information id5, with that and a little bit of research I should be able to discern what is and is n't a bargain. I don't have any aspirations to get into numismatics I'm just interested in buying some old British pre 1947 coins for the reason stated in my first post here but thanks for the link anyway. I noticed a kilo of florins went for £147.50 on ebay yesterday which to an untrained eye seems to be a bit expensive. I was aware of the exemption of CGT with regard to sovereigns and the like, I have a few of them already but consider them a bit too cumbersome to use as money should we be faced with a worst case scenario.

It's an interesting subject, would I be correct in saying to able to correctly value coins of this nature comes from experience of actually being in the market or at least an active observer for sometime? Or could someone sitting at home on a computer get a feel for the market fairly quickly and if so, what would be the best indicators to be looking at?

So I take it there are two multipliers, one for the pre 1947 and another for the pre 1920 coins? I'm obviously trying to find a suitable method to establish the current scrap value for different coins, which of course will only be an approximation because of the volatilty of the spot (especially under the present economic climate).

Great, that explains it nicely, thanks.

That's a great help (as are your other posts), thanks very much! 32.15 grams in a troy oz? If I were to buy some old florins and were left with some after the dust settles would a scrap dealer take them and what sort of percentage value of the silver would I get?

Great post bigtbigt, thanks. I believe the custodian is HSBC in New York.

Would I be correct in saying the weight of a florin is 11.3 grams?

Thanks for the replies guys, never thought of our old silver coinage. Off to make some enquiries.

I've got Krugers and British Sovereigns but feel I need to acquire some of the fractional gold coins for ease of use should we face a worst case scenario where retailers will only accept PM coins. I don't want to be in a position where I have to buy masses of say groceries because they are unable to give me change for a sovereign. The bags of silver available in the USA look ideal but as a UK resident obtaining them may be out of the question and apart from that most people would n't recognise them here. The 1/10 coins may be my best bet and if so I'm wondering which ones carry the least premium? I've used ATS up to my £10,000 limit, I liked their service because you can use a debit card and your coins arrive before 1pm the next day. Are there any other reputable dealers in the UK that operate this way? TIA

FWIW, my thoughts exactly. What you have got to ask yourself is, were all the exotic financial instruments we've heard about in existance in past busts?

Depends which argument you subscribe too. If it's inflation then I would say a fixed rate mortgage to protect you from the increases in interest rates to purge the inflation from the economy and a variable rate for deflation. Remember, inflation will devalue your debt as well as your money, which is beneficial if what your buying is not depreciating at the same or a greater rate than your money.

For any PM's doubters please listen to Peter Schiff's latest weekly radio show. http://www.europac.net/radioshow_archives.asp# His interpretation of things and analogies are awsome e.g. his comment on the conservatorship of F&F "everbody (in the USA) who buys a house is in affect issuing a treasury bond" I never thought of it that way before, or the fact that every single mortgage lender is creating a potential liability for the treasury. He goes on to mention how lax standards in lending will result in a similar manner to that which occurred in the securitisation of mortgages. On a different note, it looks like all the ducks are linning up for a bottom in the PM's, oil and their stocks and a top in the dollar. Probability is that it's a great time to go long PM's, Oil and short the dollar, I'll be looking at the indicators on Monday. As DrBubb pointed out, OIH being an important one.

In keeping up with the Jones's we've got our own thread now http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=4175

There's a thread dedicated to the issue here http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index....039&hl=bond

Oh that's what it was, thanks.

Did n't the ECB announce they were going to sell some gold in accordance with the IMF agreed limits? Someone posted the announcement on here I believe.

You could try http://www.livecharts.co.uk/MarketCharts/gold.php IG, think "cartel" and Alibaba and the forty ______ I've also read reports by others saying what you see there is entirely different to the real world.

I thought not, but I had my doubts since you must get a lot of blood rush to the head being upside down and all that

You mean you would doubt the great James Turk? No, actually I guessed you would lift it and put it in your OP with your ETF contribution, no probs either way, what's best for the customer I say

This is a "god send" for newbies Steve, great thread - just wish you'd done it a few months earlier. -------------- ETFs Anyway, cbs7 brought some alternative ETF's to our attention in another thread I'd like to mention the closed end fund of Central Fund of Canada (CEF) is another option, (approx. 50/50 G&S by value) bought like any other stock quoted on AMEX or TSE. Note: It often trades a few percentage points above NAV, I believe this may be owing to the more favourable tax treatment it has over ETF's for US citizens DYOR. Oddly enough I believe it actually gets a "thumbs up" as a credible fund in James Turk's latest book. I hope he's right, I'm in as part of my diversification strategy. Nearly 100% gold, how's that for diversification "diversification is only for those that don't know what they are investing in" Warren Buffet (or something like that).

Exactly, so Mr Thrifty who has been financially prudent and lived frugally to pay down his mortgage and live within his means is going to be paying for Mr Spendthrift who has been using his house as an ATM and enjoyed all the benefits of profligate spending on exotic holidays, SUV's and Plasma TV's etc etc. I read Bernanke and the Fed are just advising banks to give these people a cut on the principle owed so they can afford the mortgage! A part from being grossly unfair that's going to send out a great message to folk, "oh don't worry about getting up to the eyes in debt, if you can't pay the bank will give your principle a hair cut until you can". It reminds me of the privatising profit and socialising losses message!

One thing is certain.... there's already plenty of them around for them to buy never mind the billions that will be added as a result of this bill. We all know which direction the dollar is going in at least the meduim term though. Might try a cheeky long tomorrow.

The adjoining tax haven of Campione D'Italia takes my fancy but with a studio costing CHF 380,000 it's out of my league ATM. http://www.immowehner.ch/Immo/1%20%26%202%...20BEDROOMS.html