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in one's physical precious metal stash, what is the recommended/optimal amount of gold (contemporary gold coin) to silver (junk silver coin)? i had been going towards 50%/50%, but gold seems on an upswing at the moment, so now i am thinking of increasing the ratio of gold to silver by about 15%.

LONDON (Reuters) - Gold pushed above $1,800 an ounce on Wednesday for the first time since 2011, with analysts expecting further gains as investors stock up on an asset they expect to hold its value while the coronavirus convulses the global economy. Spot gold prices have surged 40% in the last 14 months and are within striking distance of 2011's record high of $1,920.30 an ounce. "We'll be challenging the $2,000 level by the end of the year," said Ross Norman, an independent analyst. "We are in a bull market for gold." (Graphic: Gold's latest rally, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/jznpnzmokpl/GR%20RALLY.JPG) Powering the rally...

The story is shocking in exposing just how multi-faceted fraud is in China: capitalizing on pre-existing cronyism and connections with China's powerful army, the founder of Kingold was allowed to basically do anything he wanted, no questions asked, including counterfeiting over 83 tons of gold bars to get billions in funds to participate in China's housing bubble, only for a series of unexpected events to unwind the frauds one after another and expose the type of sordid scandal that is at the heart of most Chinese "enterprises" and business ventures.

CAIXIN Mystery of $2bn of loans backed by fake gold in China Nasdaq-listed Kingold's play for trove of property stymied by corruption probe The 83 tons of purportedly pure gold that Kingold creditors held in their coffers as of June would be equivalent to 22% of China’s annual gold production. © Reuters WU YUJIAN, WU HONGYURAN, BAI YUJIE and HAN WEI, Caixin June 29, 2020 15:27 JST More than a dozen Chinese financial institutions, mainly trust companies, loaned 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) over the past five years to Wuhan Kingold Jewelry Inc. with pure gold as collateral and insurance...

Swiss police are looking for a forgetful individual who left something rather important on a train -- a package full of gold bars, worth more than $190,000. The parcel containing the gold bars was found in the carriage of a Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) train traveling from the northeastern Swiss town of St Gallen to Lucerne, a city in the center of the country, in October last year, authorities said. Despite "extensive investigations," the owner of the high-value package had not been tracked down, officials said in a statement published in the local government Lucerne Canton gazette.

Rory McIlroy already had expressed doubts about any future rounds of golf with President Trump, saying in April 2017 that he’d have to “think twice” about it after receiving a considerable amount of heat for his round with the president two months earlier at Trump’s club in West Palm Beach, Fla.

National Geographic today released never-before-seen footage from within ancient Egypt's first known fully intact funeral home. In conjunction with Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Ramadan Hussein from Germany's Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen, uncovered the burial complex, dating back to 600 BC, deep beneath the sands at the Saqqara necropolis less than an hour's drive south of Cairo. The new, four-part series KINGDOM OF THE MUMMIES produced for National Geographic by BBC Studios follows the team as they explore the subterranean chambers and open four sealed, 2,600 year-old sarcophagi to unlock secrets...

Hundreds of millions of dollars in cash has been shipped from Russia to Venezuela, providing a lifeline to the South American country as U.S. sanctions limit its access to the global financial system. A total of $315 million of U.S. dollar and euro notes were sent in six separate shipments from Moscow to Caracas from May 2018 to April 2019, according to data reviewed by Bloomberg from ImportGenius, which compiled Russian customs records it obtains through private sources. ...As a consequence of the scrutiny, the central bank is conducting more transactions in cash, sometimes offering local clients access to euro...

MADISON – Aaron Rodgers has faced some of the most ferocious defensive linemen the National Football League has ever unleashed on professional football fields. The Green Bay Packers quarterback has passed his way to the top of his game, becoming among the most accurate, respected and highest paid players in NFL history. Now, Rodgers is taking on a much more brutal enemy: The murderous warlords of the Democratic Republic of Congo in command of a civil conflict that has claimed more than 3 million lives. Green Bay’s QB has signed up as a celebrity front man for Raise Hope for...

The next feud between America's freedom and democracy hawks and old United Nations diplomats will likely develop this week with the release of a much-anticipated report. Ordered by Secretary-General Annan, it was prepared by a panel of 16 former world movers and shakers now in their 70s, who will undoubtedly be hailed at Turtle Bay as wise men, and derided elsewhere as has-beens. Men who held previous posts like Russian foreign minister and Saddam champion Yevgeny Primakov, British U.N. envoy David Hannay, or current Arab League chief Amr Moussa, are not going to excite anyone looking for fresh insights into...

Bank of America analysts today increased their target price for Gold by almost 50% to $3,000 an ounce. In a note titled : ” the Fed can’t print Gold” the analyts argue that fiat currencies will increasingly come under pressure from all the liquidity being pumped out by global central banks combating the Coronavirus. This is expected to make Gold more attractive as an asset class to investors.“As economic output contracts sharply, fiscal outlays surge, and central bank balance sheets double, fiat currencies could come under pressure” Bank of America analysts today increased their target price for Gold by...

Collectors and investors appear to have flocked to gold coins as a safe haven buy amid stock market turbulence caused by coronavirus, with some at a behind closed doors auction this week selling for triple their estimate. More than 500 lots of coins dating from the Iron Age all the way through to 2008 went under the hammer at auction house Spink, selling from anything from £30 to £65,000. While the auction house told This is Money its estimates did tend to be more conservative to encourage bidding, many of the highest-selling lots dramatically exceeded their estimates in the online-only...

(Kitco News) - The physical gold and silver market just became a little tighter in the near-term as one major mint is shutting down operations for the next two weeks. -snipLast week, the U.S. Mint announced that it sold out of American Eagle Silver Eagle bullion coins. It said that demand for silver coins has jumped 300% compared to sales in February.

People are selling gold and silver to meet margin calls. Also, nearly impossible to get physical delivery of silver under $20 an ounce.

The world economic and financial markets have entered into a crippling cannibalization of the system in which few are prepared. While the politicians, financial analysts, and media are providing optimistic forecasts for the future, they continue to underestimate the seriousness of the global contagion. Thus, after a week or two, these forecasts will be revised lower (once again) to reflect a more gloomy, negative and more realistic outlook. So, in another a few weeks, the world as it pertains to this contagion will look a lot worse than it does today. I’d imagine the Dow Jones Index will likely shed...

I know very little of these things. I'm an English teacher, and a mathematical cripple. But it seems to me our economy could shrink to a point where tying our money back to gold might be possible. I'm asking Freepers because most of you know more about this than I do. So... what do folks here think?

Gold is off to a strong start in 2020 as investors flock to safe haven trades amid coronavirus fears. The precious metal is up nearly 8% this year, and has surged 26% over the last 12 months. One options trader is betting the rally is far from over, and after Tuesday’s surprise 50 basis point rate cut from the Federal Reserve, it’s already looking like a smart wager. This trader wasn’t alone in their bullish betting on gold futures, but their trade was, by far, Monday’s largest trade in gold futures, according to Michael Khouw, president of Optimize Advisors. “Most...

n nothing short of a jackpot for the Uttar Pradesh government, geologists have discovered massive gold deposits in Sonbhadra district of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The discovery comes after two decades of search by the Geological Survey of India and the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining. As per the UP state GSI officials, there are two goldmines with around 3,500 tonnes of gold ore in the Naxal-affected Sonbhadra district. This is around five times the current gold reserves of the country which stands at around 626 tonne. According to District Mining Officer KK Rai, the government is thinking of...

AUSTIN, Texas (Jan. 1, 2020) – Today, a law went into effect that exempts precious metals stored in the Texas Bullion Depository from certain taxes. Enactment of this law takes another step toward the everyday use of gold and silver in financial transactions in the Lone Star State and sets the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money. Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Keller) sponsored House Bill 2859 (HB2859). Under the new law, “Precious metals are exempt from taxation if they are held in a commercial depository in this state.” HB2859 serves as the enabling legislation for a state constitutional...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Kuala Lumpur Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Muslim nations looking to fight back against future sanctions are exploring an age-old approach — using gold dinar and bartering. Leaders from Qatar, Iran, Malaysia and Turkey met during the Islamic summit in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the matter this week. “With the world witnessing nations making unilateral decisions to impose such punitive measures, Malaysia and other nations must always bear in mind that it can be imposed on any of us,” Malaysia’s 94-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told Reuters. “I have suggested that...