|
Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:09 |
|
If you like to attend coin auctions, or would like the chance to bid on coins offered at physical coin auctions by mail or email, Coinworld offers a list of upcoming auctions which you can check here - coin auctions. When you are not attending an auction like this in person, but bidding on the coins unseen, it is worth your while to check any photos or descriptions carefully before you decide on your maximum bid. A 'small mount mark on reverse' may indicate the coin is not worth bidding on at all. You should also be familiar with coin grading jargon. You should also note any extra costs which may be added to your winning bid, and any postage or insurance charges which also may be added. These can increase the price you are paying considerably, compared to buying directly from a dealer. Auctions like these attract serious and knowledgeable collectors, and often offer rare and high value gold coins, so they are different to online auctions such as eBay, and participating in them can be a very educational experence.
|
|
|
The only way to get free gold |
 |
 |
 |
|
Wednesday, 16 December 2009 18:56 |
|
Apart from gold panning, there is only one way to get free gold for yourself, and here is a basic guide to finding gold nuggets using a metal detector. If you are thinking of buying a metal detector for the purpose of looking for gold, there is some useful information about the type of detector to choose, and the best way to use it. Having looked for gold myself, the best advice in that article is to get yourself to an area where gold is proven to have been found, or gold mining or prospecting has gone on in the past.
|
|
More on gold as an smart investment |
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 18:29 |
In a move which surprised other retailers in England, the upmarket London store Harrods recently began direct sales of gold bullion, everything from little 5g bars, right up to 400oz ('Fort Knox' size) bars worth nearly half a million dollars.
The Financial Times reports sales are higher than the store expected, and goes on the speculate on the continuing attraction of gold to small and not so small investors. Pension fund and hedge fund managers are also now apparently much more sympathetic to gold, having in the past been wary of it, previously calling it a 'no utility' or a 'no return' or a 'dead' asset. Of course, if the spot price of gold is rising month by month that is no longer true.
But the article goes on to also speculate, as every such article does as night follows day, whether we have reached 'the top of the market' and if the price of gold is set to take a big drop. Apparently this is not likely, partly because much of the money going into gold from institutions is in the form of bullion backed exchange traded funds (ETFs), which allow gold to be traded as easily as shares. These new vehicles, patronized by large institutions and long-term investors as they are, serve indirectly to ensure a collapse in the gold price is highly unlikely.
The Financial Times conclusion? '...gold prices should remain high for the forseeable future'.
OK, time to take action. What gold coins or bullion coins are on offer today? See 'Types of gold coin' on the left of this page and take your pick. But for myself I'll pass on the 400oz gold bars, for the moment....
|
|
|
Why are people buying gold? |
|
|
|
|
Monday, 14 December 2009 19:04 |
|
A current thread on Cointalk contains a brilliant summary of the reason gold has been recently, and continues to be, a hugely popular choice for investors. (Check the last post on this page.) The fact is that people are continuing to buy gold, and keeping the price high both for bullion and coins, for a variety of reasons, not a single one. Apprehension about the true state of the economy and fear about devaluation of the dollar and declining gold production by the mining companies are only part of the story. Even if you are well-informed about gold already, there are many reasons for buying gold which may not have occurred to you on that list.
|
|
News from the US Mint, or not |
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 13 December 2009 19:13 |
|
I've often been surprised that big news stories from or about the US Mint about its gold coins don't ever appear on its own press release page here, but are published on other media. For example, this story, in the Denver Post and other places, tells us how the US Mint is planning a limited release of its fractional gold coins next week. The reason for the discrepancy seems to be that the buying public whom the US Mint does not sell to directly is not being informed, but the dealers or 'authorized intermediaries' are being informed, and the story is being passed on by them to journalists in the print and online media. But you and I, the final buyers of bullion coins, would not necessarily ever see news like this, unless you are a diligent news searcher....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 9 of 22 |
Bullion Gold Coins blog
