Schaublin

I agree - cannot articulate precisely why. Sold some silver a few days ago - will hopefully, catch a dip in gold next week - 1380 maybe?

Haven't you been shorting gold and silver for the past 4 years? How has that worked out for you?

Standard article in the Telegraph for the sheeple to frighten them into not buying gold while there is still time to do so. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/persona...overheated.html The article is actually an insult to the intelligence (but I suppose most of them are). Firstly claiming that gold is overbought and heading for a crash and then a few sentences later saying If you bought gold in the Eighties, for example, it hasn't proved to be the most effective hedge against inflation since then. If it had kept pace with prices, it would now be worth about $2,600 an ounce. So, it is both overbought but lagging inflation

Correct, that is why the slippery beach ball (gold) that has been held under water for many years and is slipping through the fingers of a dying Empire, is a good buy. Glad you understand at last

Starting to be irrelevant really. Who would want to swap an ounce of gold for a doomed currency at any number?

Egypt Bans Export Of Gold "In Any Form" The strange thing about this story is that I saw it on Reuters and also Zerohedge but now I can find no trace of it on Reuters and the Reuters link on Zerohedge takes you to a story about UK freezes Gaddafi assets after U.N. resolution

Worth mentioning that bacteria may well play a role in the distribution of gold. Layers of bacteria can actually dissolve gold into nanoparticles, which move through rocks and soils, and then deposit it in other places, sometimes creating purer "secondary" gold deposits in cracks and crevices of rocks. The process overturns the long-held belief by some scientists that gold ore is created only by "primary" physical geological processes. http://news.discovery.com/earth/gold-bacteria-nuggets.html

I take your point about the volume of silver but I have always regarded safes as thief magnets and would never keep anything valuable in them. The ability to sell quickly is a valid point and in the case of silver which may experience great volatility, makes sense but again, this convenience does carry some risk. I don't agree that State confiscation would necessarily mean a Mad Max scenario. Some study of history is helpful in understanding how private property whether it be gold, agricultural land, forestry etc was and will be appropriated by the State in times of stress for 'the general good'. The general public in the UK has no understanding of gold (doesn't own any) and would have no interest if the State decided to 'curb gold speculators who are hoarding gold and damaging the economy'. Bottom line: If it is not known about, it cannot be stolen.

Why not? £100 000 GBP is only 100 OZ more or less. Gold does not have to be stored at home just in a place that only you know about. Of course nothing is without risk - a shocking amount of bullion has been lost in boating accidents from what I read on the Internet As Jake has pointed out, the danger of owning gold through a company - allocated or not, comes not only from dishonesty in the company but also from the State which may decide to confiscate it for 'the general good'.

Yes, but transferring your trust to the auditors still leaves you with the same problem. If you don't hold it, you don't own it - brutally simple but true as it ever was. It is extremely tempting to go the easy route of digits on a screen representing bullion which can be swapped for fiat digits at the click of a mouse but giving in to that temptation has consequences...

No, I had an account at BV but wound it up some time ago. I trust third parties to look after digits on a screen but not physical. Didn't we get to where we are now by people foolishly entrusting their gold to the goldsmith as he had a good safe?

One must begin to divorce oneself from the idea of valuation of an ounce of gold in terms of dollars. I agree that the purchasing power of gold will increase considerably in the future - especially in terms of housing and land and that there will be a 'sweet spot' where: People with cash want to preserve wealth. People who do not understand that the system is FUBAR will see the rising dollar price as a speculative opportunity. Forced sellers of property/land/businesses will not want any residue sitting in cash. But many of the above will buy into ETFs/remote storage and will lose everything anyway. The lack of trust between countries is what will keep gold as the ultimate form of wealth. In the future, those Western nations wanting oil or rare earth metals or anything else for that matter will have to settle in gold because their credit notes will not be accepted.

Indeed, a tiny number of people in the West who have understood the complex dollar/oil/gold merry-go-round have been able to accrue gold at a fraction of its real value. We would not thank the owners of a rigged casino if we noticed that a certain roulette wheel came up with zero more often than it statistically should do - we would just take advantage of it.

Indeed, it can be extremely difficult to stand back from whatever type of insanity is currently gripping the general population. Living in a cave helps No, but I often have trouble with the zip on my jeans coming open by itself Edit: Laura, I thought the whole purpose of going on holiday was to make you appreciate home more - seems to be working out fine but I would recommend 2 weeks in Aberystwyth for maximum effect.

RH, if you are looking in on a read only connection out in the mountains - good luck with your prospecting!

I think RH said he was off to the hills to do some prospecting (or fossicking as he called it). Hope he has more luck looking for gold than predicting the price of silver

Anyone tempted to sit on currency believing that it will increase in purchasing power would be advised to read this article at zerohedge: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-pos...bal-debt-prison So, the question of debt default turns from theoretical to quite imperative. If the Federal Reserve continues buying our debt with fiat, it means that the effects of the debt will only be delayed, the dollar will be dropped as the world reserve currency, and hyperinflation is a certainty. If they do not continue buying, then our government defaults, the country’s financial infrastructure ceases to exist, the dollar loses its world reserve status, and hyperinflation is a certainty. The banking elites haven’t just erected a prison, they’ve tossed us in Alcatraz!

Agreed, talk of a 'mania stage' is only applicable when applied to a bubble. The fiat price of gold merely reflects the increasing worthlessness of paper. There will be a point in the future when the purchasing power of gold vs oil and land will be at its maximum but there will be no collapse. Using the last period of the gold bull - 1970s as a reference is not at all useful because the Western economies were at that time basically sound.

Every time there is a big correction of the fiat price of PMs, there will be armies of 'creative writers' attempting to persuade 'late to the party' weak hands to swap their metal for dollars while they still can. Those who purchased PMs as a result of studying the big picture regarding unpayable debt and lack of productive capacity of the US cannot be fooled into thinking everything is going to be ok because...

Avert your eyes - this is the really valuable stuff that everyone wants and is in very short supply - get it while you can!

G0ldfinger in the picture, CTR appears to be urinating on you - is that some kind of German version of 'water off a duck's back?'

Jon Nadler doing his job: Thus, it must be assumed and, it might be later concluded, that a fair amount of gold came out of recently enriched spec fund hands as they reduced bullion allocations and perhaps opted to augment their exposure to equities instead. The small investor, of course, remains befuddled that the implosion and death of fiat currencies, the end European Union, or the unraveling of the USA has not come to pass. Such investors were recently 'pressured' into loading up on perhaps much more of the safe-haven metal than would be prudent according to portfolio allocation models such as those espoused by, say, the World Gold Council's long-term studies. He does raise a titter with me! http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/98651/2011...nd-keep-it.htm#

Probably because there have been so many predictions that did not quite come to pass. My decision to buy PMs was based on a cold hard look at the completely unsustainable economic model of the UK and its inevitable collapse - not on PM buggery of any sort.

RB is a proven reliable contra indicator so attempting to understand his thinking is useful to gold holders. Looking through that thread, RB completely misunderstands the topic and goes off on a tangent about entropy. The most probable cause for brain shrinkage is the absence of evolutionary pressure since farming was adopted. RB does not understand this.

The more benefit is received, the higher the social status. Obvious really. Strange thing is though, if a thousand people were asked to name the biggest recipients of benefit, I doubt more than a few would name the Royal Family - the population is well trained you see