Gyroscopic Investing

I've read the US Mint is completely out of silver eagles. If you can find any silver eagles to buy, online premiums have skyrocketed. Same thing with gold coins. For example, Texas Precious Metals to completely sold out of gold. Absolutely amazing!

https://www.texmetals.com/products/gold-coins

And yet the gold price has been absolutely tanking.

It looks like the Sprott CEF closed end fund is now selling at a 10.6% discount. It's 60% gold and 40% silver, but with the gold to silver ratio at 116, I'm thinking this is the best way to play precious metals. Thoughts anyone?

Just noticed Texas Precious Metals is also out of silver. They are effectively out of business for a while. The CEO, Tarak Saab has posted the following:

https://www.texmetals.com/news/importan ... 3-12-2020/

Checked a few PM dealers - SD Bullion is selling Gold eagles are going for $130 over spot. Silver Eagles at Apmex at $10 over spot.

FarmerD wrote: ↑Mon Mar 16, 2020 9:48 pm I've read the US Mint is completely out of silver eagles. If you can find any silver eagles to buy, online premiums have skyrocketed. Same thing with gold coins. For example, Texas Precious Metals to completely sold out of gold. Absolutely amazing!

https://www.texmetals.com/products/gold-coins

And yet the gold price has been absolutely tanking.

It looks like the Sprott CEF closed end fund is now selling at a 10.6% discount. It's 60% gold and 40% silver, but with the gold to silver ratio at 116, I'm thinking this is the best way to play precious metals. Thoughts anyone?

I don't like Sprott for how they took over CEF, but if you don't care about that, and don't mind the very annoying 8621 form that you have to fill out every year, that sounds like a bargain.

US gold bureau has gold Eagles at normal premiums, or at least that's what they say on their website: https://www.usgoldbureau.com/gold/gold- ... ican-eagle.

Looks like the coin dealer I used to shop from when I lived in L.A. is also sold out of most of their gold and silver coins and is having a hard time keeping product on the shelves right now:

https://www.golddealer.com/

Libertarian666 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:20 am US gold bureau has gold Eagles at normal premiums, or at least that's what they say on their website: https://www.usgoldbureau.com/gold/gold- ... ican-eagle.

BTW The Texas Bullion Depository has finally moved into their permanent home in Leander. I made a deposit there last weekend. It's not nearly as impressive as the old Federal Reserve Building used by APMEX HQ in OKC. Basically a much smaller building on a rough surface road out in the countryside. They said they have been extremely busy.

FarmerD wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 2:37 am

Libertarian666 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:20 am US gold bureau has gold Eagles at normal premiums, or at least that's what they say on their website: https://www.usgoldbureau.com/gold/gold- ... ican-eagle.

BTW The Texas Bullion Depository has finally moved into their permanent home in Leander. I made a deposit there last weekend. It's not nearly as impressive as the old Federal Reserve Building used by APMEX HQ in OKC. Basically a much smaller building on a rough surface road out in the countryside. They said they have been extremely busy.

I'll bet they have been!

I'm feeling pretty good about that Krugerand I bought yesterday when gold was around 1477. My silver stash... not so much.

Ad Orientem wrote: ↑Tue Mar 17, 2020 10:39 am I'm feeling pretty good about that Krugerand I bought yesterday when gold was around 1477. My silver stash... not so much.

I know the feeling. I bought a bunch of 10 oz silver bars for spot about 40 days ago. I was bragging to my wife a couple weeks ago about what a great deal I got. Now that purchase looks kinda dumb.

So let me get this straight...

You can't get gold coins anywhere, or else at a very high premium, yet gold prices are going going nowhere???

How can this be?

mdwilson1991 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:44 am So let me get this straight...

You can't get gold coins anywhere, or else at a very high premium, yet gold prices are going going nowhere???

How can this be?

Spot gold prices are for very large purchases or sales, and typically are derived from futures contracts rather than physical transactions.

In normal times, those prices and coin prices are within a small distance of one another because of arbitrage possibilities between the two.

When things go crazy, the arbitrageurs don't want to risk getting caught offside, so those prices can diverge.

Such periods don't last very long, a month or two at the outside in my experience. We had one in 2008 that lasted for a couple of months, if I recall correctly.

Mom wanted to pick up some gold and I told her to check out JMBullion. She just told me that they were out of almost everything. I went to see for myself and she was right. They look like the toilet paper aisle at Walmart. They've been cleaned out of almost all their inventory and the little left is heavily marked up.

Ad Orientem wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:28 pm Mom wanted to pick up some gold and I told her to check out JMBullion. She just told me that they were out of almost everything. I went to see for myself and she was right. They look like the toilet paper aisle at Walmart. They've been cleaned out of almost all their inventory and the little left is heavily marked up.

Yeah, that's like 2008. I wanted to buy some gold and Kitco had nothing but their own branded bars, at a 10%(!) premium.
I bought them and later sold them for a nice profit even though the premium had disappeared.

Libertarian666 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 6:19 pm

Ad Orientem wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:28 pm Mom wanted to pick up some gold and I told her to check out JMBullion. She just told me that they were out of almost everything. I went to see for myself and she was right. They look like the toilet paper aisle at Walmart. They've been cleaned out of almost all their inventory and the little left is heavily marked up.

Yeah, that's like 2008. I wanted to buy some gold and Kitco had nothing but their own branded bars, at a 10%(!) premium.
I bought them and later sold them for a nice profit even though the premium had disappeared.

I wasn't following the gold market at all back in 2008. I heard somewhere that gold was down 30% or so, them once all the margin calls stopped it rose dramatically the last couple months of the year. Is that how you remember it Libertarian666?

FarmerD wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 11:09 pm

Libertarian666 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 6:19 pm

Ad Orientem wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:28 pm Mom wanted to pick up some gold and I told her to check out JMBullion. She just told me that they were out of almost everything. I went to see for myself and she was right. They look like the toilet paper aisle at Walmart. They've been cleaned out of almost all their inventory and the little left is heavily marked up.

Yeah, that's like 2008. I wanted to buy some gold and Kitco had nothing but their own branded bars, at a 10%(!) premium.
I bought them and later sold them for a nice profit even though the premium had disappeared.

I wasn't following the gold market at all back in 2008. I heard somewhere that gold was down 30% or so, them once all the margin calls stopped it rose dramatically the last couple months of the year. Is that how you remember it Libertarian666?

Libertarian666 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 6:19 pm Yeah, that's like 2008. I wanted to buy some gold and Kitco had nothing but their own branded bars, at a 10%(!) premium.
I bought them and later sold them for a nice profit even though the premium had disappeared.

Did you sell them back to Kitco?

dualstow wrote: ↑Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:02 am

Libertarian666 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 18, 2020 6:19 pm Yeah, that's like 2008. I wanted to buy some gold and Kitco had nothing but their own branded bars, at a 10%(!) premium.
I bought them and later sold them for a nice profit even though the premium had disappeared.

Did you sell them back to Kitco?

Yes, at about $1200.

I heard an interesting perspective on this situation. Erik Townsend from the Macrovoices podcast believes there is no shortage of physical gold, specifically 400oz good delivery bars. The shortage is because mints are unable to take delivery fast enough because of demand spikes and supply chain disruptions of those large good delivery bars.

Then the dealers use this as a reason to spike premiums but claim there is a shortage of gold as the reason.

You mean gold dealers are misrepresenting??? I am shocked.

ppnewbie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 28, 2020 10:30 am I heard an interesting perspective on this situation. Erik Townsend from the Macrovoices podcast believes there is no shortage of physical gold, specifically 400oz good delivery bars. The shortage is because mints are unable to take delivery fast enough because of demand spikes and supply chain disruptions of those large good delivery bars.

Then the dealers use this as a reason to spike premiums but claim there is a shortage of gold as the reason.

Most people won't buy 400 oz. good delivery bars, so the number of those available isn't particularly relevant to the absence or presences of a shortage of gold at the retail level. I'm not sure how this is misrepresentation.

From my understanding, gold is there in the form of good delivery bars. It just cannot be supplied to the mints because of the supply chain disruption. Now if the mines start closing down because of the virus and production decreases, then it could be a real decrease in supply.

There’s gold in them thar hills once again.

https://www.apmex.com/apmex-customer-co ... 9-response
Aaaand it’s $120 or 7% above spot. I’ll wait.