Wanderer

Interesting the Russians are big buyers. They have the capacity to think more strategically than Governments do in Europe because of the nature of their, cough, democracy.

Interesting to re-read this thread. You get a graphic sense of how the price of gold has dramatically increased - people moaning in 2008 about paying £540 for a gold oz coin! Chance would be a fine thing now! It leaves me uncertain as to whether this means gold is in the early stages of a bubble (good) or toppy already (bad). I'd like to emphasise that for British people wanting gold for the SHTF scenario, the sovereigns seem the only way to go: cheapest way of buying gold and in a small and easy to carry format. 1oz coins will be too big in the SHTF scenario and sovereigns will be much more useful. Most importantly, before old MadMax comes along, both sovereigns and Britannias are CGT free. Anyone buying a Krugerand in 2008 at £540 would be selling now c.£880 and, in theory, paying £76 CGT. Anyone buying four sovereigns would buy and sell at similar prices and pay absolutely no CGT. Don't do tax fraud - they'll catch you one day and use it as an excuse to take all your coins!

Does anyone else own Hawthorne Gold Corporation - CVE:HGC . I bought a bunch of minor miners in February 2009 and this has been the only dog. Now 60% down. Time to give up? Or is it worth holding as a loss in case it comes back to former glories (previously 30 times higher than this a few years ago).

Goldfinger, all, In case anyone is wondering, I'm not advocating being short of gold. I'm not even advocating trading it for most folk. I'm in a very unusual situation in that I've been overseas and am returning soon to the UK and trying to get my affairs in order. That means locking in any Capital Gains before my return so as not to have a taxable liability. THus, when I think Gold is high, I'll sell, crystalise my gain and try and buy back lower. Also, my savings are high relative to my income and I want to try and ensure that, if I need to, I can buy a house in the UK. Gold could fluctuate 20% rapidly (down) and it would be really annoying to have that happen just before I seek to buy. Obviously these considerations don't apply to everyone. If I was in a house already I'd buy and hold pretty much. Wanderer

Hi Warpig, Do you mind me asking from where your sourced your Britannias? Thanks Wanderer

Hi, I divested my remaining BV gold into Dollars last week and am now looking $1000 oz up on that. (I wanted more dollar exposure). I've been trading GBS (Gold Bullion Securities) in my Selftrade account. I've got SLW and RGLD (silver and gold mining company shares) in my Selftrade too - but I'm holding onto these as margins are greater and so more difficult to trade. More details in my trading diary in the investment section. Wanderer

Yes, sort of TrueNorth. I'm very fortunate to be in a great financial position. I STR'd in 2002 - way too early - but have put the cash to good effect and am better off than if I'd been a mortgage slave the last 8 years. I'm now keen to 'crystallise' my paper positions ahead of a return to the UK and the dreaded Capital Gains Tax. Sovereigns and Britannias are a way of doing this (perfectly legally) in the UK. I've therefore been keen to sell paper gold when it is showing a profit and 'reset' my Capital Gains to zero ahead of my return to the UK. Also, I can clearly envisage circumstances where 'paper gold' is doubted and physical will be in demand - with the paper price collapsing but the price of the hard-stuff increasing. This again pushes me to Sovs/Britannias. If it doesn't sound contradictory, I think the current period of volatility means that the risks of a major sell-off in gold (due to deleveraging) and the risks of a moonshot in gold (due to a crisis in confidence and flight to safety) are increasing in tandem. (volatility is one reason I'm now out of CFDs for the time being - kept getting margined out). Thus I've been selling paper gold on 'peaks' in case the gold price dips sharply, but investing some of the profits in physical gold as a hedge against the moonshot taking place. Interestingly, the physical market seems to be holding up OK. The Sovs I bought yesterday are already much cheaper today (bother, though I should pay for them at y'day's price as I don't want to be known as a 'bad customer'. When coins are in short supply (there weren't many oz coins the other day on CID), the price goes up and dealers seem to be able to buy new supplies from people cashing in. The divergence between physical and paper gold prices seems to be remaining constant (as it should be when there is no crisis). So I don't think we are near moonshot yet and could still see a (further) pullback to near 1,100.

1197 down 30. Now that's a fairly good smackdown if ever I saw one. Smackdown or just general de-leveraging? Fortunately sold nearly half my e-gold this a.m. before the smack. Did buy some more physical last night and it hurts to have to make good on my CiD order. Mustn't shirk it though.

I've just followed your link to you-know-where and reminded myself why I don't go there anymore. If a post made today has 3 pages of comments already how can you ever expect to learn anything - there is just so much noise and activity! I like it here. Nice and calm...

Just amusing myself at CoinInvestDirect and notice the 1/20th of oz coins currently selling for just over £50. Anyone have one of these? They must be incy-wincy! I'd be scared of losing down the back of the sofa. Are they too small ever to be realistically used as coinage?

I hope it is bullish. I'm getting all sort of twitchy on the trigger finger. I'm very used to seeing my 'fortune' rise, think I should sell, and then seing it fall back. So I'm nervous of keeping it all right now. That said, ther does seem to be enormous volatility out there and some really interesting political developments. THe whole Euro area, and the UK's relationship with it, is very much in question right now.

P.S. I note HIPS will be abandoned. If that tempts a lot more speculative sellers into the market and so crowds supply, then so much the better!

Don't worry, I do try to count my lucky stars daily. I'm only pointing out that a pay freeze for 4 years at 4.4% inflation (RPI) is pretty much a 20% cut on public salary expenditure which is going to come in handy for Mr Osborne as he does his sums.

My (public sector) pay has been frozen which isn't great when RPI is above 4.4%. No talk of pay cuts yet (would be difficult legally given our contracts) but plenty of talk of redundancies. Our Ministry has been through a tough time the last 3 years and I think we'll be spared the worst of it though. Wouldn't care to be in certain departments...

Why did Sterling just shed 1.5c?? Anything specific trigger that?

Why are you all so keen on big 1oz coins instead of sovereigns which have more gold per unit of fiat?

Question: If I buy silver bullion or coins in the UK and then take it out of the country to where I live, can I claim VAT back at the Airport like i could if I bought a Plasma TV?

I'm probably going to shift some of my trading profits (sterling shorts, VXX etc - see my trading diary in the investment section) into physical gold and am happily browsing on CoinInvestDirect.com Two questions: I've never had any problems with CID, but could I ask if anyone else ever has? Secondly, why are Sovereigns generally c.£20 an ounce of gold cheaper than any thing else? As far as I can tell: 1 oz on BV trades at about £817 today. 1oz bullion bar or 1 oz gold round on CID costs c.£859. I'm wary of these as I am warned of assaying costs etc. when you resell. The cheapest gold oz coins on CID are pandas which are about £883. However, I think I can buy an oz worth of gold in sovereigns at about £868 an oz. In my eyes, sovereigns have many advantages. Although they aren't as pretty or chunky as big oz coins, their smallness is a benefit in terms of sale (divisibility) and transportation, hiding etc. As with Britannias they are tax free in terms of CGT. As you know I'm a Civil Servant and have to scrupulously obey the tax rules so this is a big advantage. Given this, you'd expect them to be MORE expensive than oz rounds, not less! (Other small coins are). So why are they cheaper? Or is my maths wrong.....?

Oh, look, a discussion about house prices in the UK.....

I'm no chartist, but my primitive understanding tells me that, with all those supports converging, we'll either (i) bounce belligerently or (ii) plummet precipitously. Has anyone had experience of using a combination of a short (with a stop loss) and a long (with a stop loss) to play this situation so that you win either way once a trend becomes clear?

Big pop up 13% from Luna Gold today but I can't see any news on the tickers? Time to sell or does someone know something we don't..... Edit 17% now

OK, back in to Gold. Could have waited longer, but was a good XXXg up so thought I'd quit while I'm ahead. Paid for my holiday....

Thinking of buying back into my Gold now on BV. If I do, I'll buy back the gold I sold and I'm thinking of using the profits to buy a few krugerands in Cape Town before I leave as a 'souvenir'. Anyone know any dealers in Cape Town??

If you could consider gold as a stock, like GM or Coca Cola etc., what would be the rough comparison in terms of Gold's size as a 'company' i.e. relative to big firms like Microsoft? Or, for a better comparison since a lot of gold is bought and held by central banks etc., if you compare daily turnover of gold relative to a big firm's stock or a stock market, how does it compare? Any thoughts?

Now just bought a kilo of silver! Do I win a prize?