[wideawake]

The "spot price" is the per-ounce cost of a 500-ounce ingot of gold or silver located in New York. Saying that a one-ounce round is "worth" the spot price means that you want to rip off the trucker who carried the ingot to the mint and will carry the round to you, and the owner and operator of the mint who paid big bucks for the equipment and energy needed to convert that 500 ounce ingot into 500 one-ounce rounds.

If the cost of transporting and minting gold means a 32% markup, and the cost of transporting and minting silver means a 45% markup, and the cost of transporting and minting copper means a 300% markup then this is perhaps the most inefficient business model ever dreamed up.

It would cost less to FedEx an ounce of gold cross-country than to transport it in bulk according to this model.

You can have small lots of medallions struck by independent operators for less than a dollar apiece.

This guy is a blatant rip-off artist.

[mvpel]

So if someone is selling a plasma TV set for $4,000 instead of $2,000, should they be raided by the FBI and Secret Service then?

[ovrtaxt]

That’s a function of being an educated and smart consumer. The issue isn’t whether it’s a good deal, but whether it’s legal- and by extension, whether the FBI is acting in a control freakish manner.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’m thinking the advertisement that said “100% backed” was false, since none of the money or coins are backed 100% by anything.