US gold and silver coin sales jump in August
Posted on 02 September 2012 with 2 comments from readers
Nervous US investors are increasingly swapping cash for gold and silver coins as fears about inflation rise as the Federal Reserve remains committed to printing more and more paper money.
Sales from the US Mint of American Eagle gold coins rose 28 per cent in August to 39,000 ounces, the third gain in four months. Sales of silver coins increased to 2.87 million ounces from 2.28 million ounces in July.
QE3 promise
Investors have clearly been buying in anticipation of QE3 from Ben Bernanke. They did not get it last week but the noises from the Fed chairman about future policy were very reassuring and the promise of QE3 may prove as good as the real thing for precious metals.
Gold futures in New York rose last month by the most since January amid speculation that US policy makers would signal that further stimulus measures. The autumn is also traditionally the strongest season of the year for precious metals and both gold and silver broke out of their trading bands towards the end of August.
Coins are not a method of investment in gold and silver that the ArabianMoney investment newsletter recommends though they can be handy for small investments. They do have an advantage of being easily portable for smaller amounts and can be exchanged for money or goods almost anywhere in the world.
2 Comments posted by readers:
Peter,
It seems a bit illogical to tell us to protect ourselves with precious metal and then tell us buying gold and silver coins are not a good investment. Sorry sir, that’s the only way I can afford to acquire precious metals. I’m not Eric King that bought 3 TONNES of silver 10 years ago, in one purchase, the best I can do is 5-10 ounces of silver every 1-2 weeks. Yup…I’m the littliest of little guys that read your web page.
Cheers,
RB-PS, myself and many others that read this blog do the best we can with what we have.
Government minted coins are great because exchanges will forego assaying them due to recognizability. They are also hard to copy and easier to determine if they are fake.
Bars, on the other hand, will require assay every time you goto exchange. 100&1000 oz bars will be drilled and sampled, b/c you could easily plate a chunk of lead or zinc with silver.
Portability is king when you are not. I will take a monster box any of maples any day over the equivalent in bars.