A worker at the Austrian Mint displays a gold Vienna Philharmonic Bullion coin Posted on 03/31/2009 7:00:28 AM PDT by BGHater
In the heart of Vienna in a Biedermeier building commissioned by Emperor Franz I, a man wearing a khaki uniform and beret exchanges a wad of euro notes across the counter for a few sparkling gold coins.
Guenther Fuchssteiner, 59, is a military doctor who for over 20 years has been coming to the Austrian Mint and exchanging whatever spare money he has for gold, following a habit established by his parents.
"I have always tried to put a little bit of gold aside, as an investment, and I have been doing so more since the crisis," said Fuchssteiner.
A few years ago his visits to the Mint, which was founded more than 800 years ago, might have seemed eccentric.
No longer. From the Georgy Pobedonosets to the American Eagle, gold coin production is being cranked up in mints around the world to satisfy customers believing the assets may be immune to the global financial crisis.
Russia's state-controlled Sberbank says it has never seen such strong demand for investment coins, while the U.S. Mint says sales of its one-ounce American Eagle gold bullion coins rocketed over 400 percent to 710,000 ounces in 2008.
"The demand for gold and silver has been unprecedented," said Carla Coolman, a spokeswoman at the United States Mint.
Austria's Philharmonic, named after the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, was the world's best-selling gold coin in the last quarter and sales soared 544 percent in the first two months of 2009.
"There is no sign of demand abating," Austrian Mint Marketing Director Kerry Tattersall told Reuters, expecting sales this year to exceed 2008's record levels. "At present production is struggling to keep up with demand."
A worker at the Austrian Mint displays a gold Vienna Philharmonic Bullion coin
Austrian gold Vienna Philharmonic Bullion planchets
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.news.yahoo.com ...
I want to buy some more physical gold and a little bit of silver, but it’s hard to find it where you can make a hand to hand transaction.
The last purchase I did was over the internet from a source a friend has bought from for years. The price was the best around, but they took two months and had to call them to get my gold delivered, so I’m afraid to do business with them again — not worth the worry.
I love apmex.com - the prices are the best I have seen and the shipping is very prompt.
I’ve purchased a little bullion both over the net and at my local dealer. I consider it an investment in something which will eventually be the only widely acceptable currency. So, withing reasonable limits, the premium one pays today is irrelevant. Selling it for a huge profit later on will not be the point. Needing it to trade for necessities will be.
Thanks, I will check out their website.
I would suggest a better investment if low on money.
Lead.
Can anyone remember gold doing this in the 1970’s??? I don't
The price of gold went from around $37/ounce in 1970 to $585/ounce in 1980.
It reflects on paper currency the same way Tulips did when they shot up in price in the great Tulip Buble.
Gold has a little more credibility because it used to be used as a currency. But these days it’s a commodity just like any other. It’s value is derived solely by the psychology of what people are willing to pay for it. It’s the greater fool theory. They think there will always be someone willing to pay as much or more for it than they did.
If you had $1,000.00 in cash today and once ounce of gold valued at $1,000/oz and you left them both sitting in your safe until 2019, your pile of cash will be worth less (much less probably) and your gold will be worth an equal amount more. So, today, you can go out and buy maybe 500 gallons of milk (for example) with your thousand dollars but in 2019 you may only be able to purchase 250 gallons of milk or even maybe 125 gallons of milk; however, you can take that ounce of gold and because it is a commodity (like milk), you can exchange it for enough money to buy your original 500 gallons of milk because it goes up in value over time as the value of fiat currency goes down. Gold is thus considered “inflation insurance” among other things.
I would love to own some gold. Nearly $1000 and ounce has kept me from that.
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