Posted on 05/04/2011 5:26:55 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
HUGE quantities of antique silver and gold were scrapped last week as precious metal prices hit record highs.
Silver dealers in particular clamoured to take advantage of a two-fold hike in the bullion market, the like of which has not been seen for 30 years.
Driven by a weaker US dollar and continuing tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, the prices of gold and silver hit new record highs on Monday, April 25 (a bank holiday in the UK) and on the European markets the following day.
Gold rose as high as $1518.30 (£918.70) an ounce, while silver briefly reached an all-time high of $49.79 (£30.13) an ounce. In the following days prices fell back a little, but silver, at close to £25 an ounce, is comfortably at its highest since January 1980 and the peak of the Bunker Hunt bubble. The precious white metal has gained more than 160 per cent in the past year alone.
These rises brought remarkable scenes as bullion dealers across the country were inundated with material for scrapping. Hatton Garden firm 375 Live Ltd traded close to a metric tonne of silver on Tuesday, April 26, when prices touched £30 an ounce.
With their value as a raw material far outstripping their value as antiques, proprietor Steve Conway saw some "stunning" objects emerging from the dealing community to be scrapped.
Good quality Victorian tea sets, Georgian salvers, trophies, cruet sets and flatware were melted onsite as more than £1.5m changed hands.
When ATG visited the following day (when the price was just over £23 an ounce), the plastic dustbins filling with silver included items of the calibre of a large George II armorial-engraved salver weighing 70oz (scrap value £1610) and a late 19th century Tiffany engraved tea and coffee service weighing in at 260oz (£5980) with its ornate tea kettle and stand. If they had not been 'saved' by a buyer wishing to own them as functional works of art by the close of trading, they were heading to the crucible.
Why have prices spiked? Silver is a key metal in the production of electrical components, but more generally investors are buying precious metals as a haven against a host of financial uncertainties (particularly inflation and a weak dollar) and the recent geopolitical turmoil.
Gold has been strong since the global financial crisis of 2008. However, the price of silver has been more volatile, having quintupled since 2008, and has grown 12-fold in the last decade.
That’s a shame. A lot of fine antique pieces are going to be lost forever. The same thing is happening with vintage and antique gold jewelry. It’s going to be a lot scarcer in the future.
These people are idiots. The silver is still silver no matter what shape it is, a teapot or a bar..........................
I always hate to see fine objects destroyed, beautiful old homes torn down to build McMansions (I always hope they at least salvage the wonderful old fixtures and woodwork), wonderful old antique furniture *updated*, etc. That being said, if someone owns it they can do with it what they will, but it is a sad thing.
Silver has fallen close to 20% in price recently.
wow, yeah big drop down to 41.70 from 49.50. Hope it goes under 20, then I’ll buy.
bttt
“Idiots”, is right.
This metals mayhem will all come to a bad end when my team and I complete our molecular compositor and begin to manufacture gold from cheap source materials.
I agree.
Paper silver (e.g. Comex contracts and SLV) has dropped from a little over $49 per ounce to about $42 - or about 14 percent. Physical silver bullion is still trading at around $50.
Meanwhile: The exchange and regulators have raised margin limits three times in the past week, seven times in the past three months, in a effort to cut prices and force liquidation of long positions. Several broker/dealers have hiked their margin requirements even higher. The metal is in backwardation through the end of the year (i.e. people are getting paid, up to 80 percent of the contract price, to either temporarily defer or forgo their demands for physical delivery). About 25 percent of the world's available (for fulfilling commodity contracts) inventory was removed from the market last week due to reclassification (i.e. people who own the stuff are refusing to allow their broker/dealer to sell it now with the promise to buy it back in the future). Sprott's silver trust, which actually has the physical metal and allows customers to take delivery of it is selling at about a 20-25 percent premium over its net asset values.
Meaning: The metal is in short supply. Banks and brokers (and probably governments) are desperately trying to drive down the price in order to cover their naked shorts. Many commodity contracts probably won't be honored. The future of the Comex may be in doubt. Now might be a good time to buy physical silver, and you're probably an idiot if you sell the same.
Too bad no one, historically, has ever thought of doing that.
are they trying to cut prices or speculation?
Silver has fallen close to 20% in price recently.
It is also above the record it set when it broke up through $40 less than a month ago.
This is the biggest pull-back of the past 12 months (the top four drops were 7, 12, 12, and 13%). This is an ideal buying opportunity. Of course, buying on the drops is always scary, which is why so few people actually have the stomach to take such conventional advice.
In 2008, there was a 57% drop, in the midst of the 10-year silver bull, so don’t think that 16% is scary.
I don't get your comment. From the article, it appears they are converting their silver to cash.
Both.
By selling naked shorts, the Evil Empire drives down prices. This triggers stop losses and margin calls which further increases sales and drives small time traders out of the market (further cutting prices in both cases). Then, at some future price, the EE buys back the shorts and books a nifty profit.
This works great providing the market cooperates. Unfortunately for the banks, the silver market shot up so far so fast that they were unable to unwind their position without causing further damage (some estimate that JP Morgan Chase alone is down about $5 billion at present). This is why the bank's are so desperate and their trading fraud is so blatant at the present time.
Many predict the scheme will fall apart before the end of the year. Silver prices will increase substantially when this happens. Your guess is as good as any as to how high they will climb.
Paper silver (e.g. Comex contracts and SLV) has dropped from a little over $49 per ounce to about $42 - or about 14 percent. Physical silver bullion is still trading at around $50.
Not since late 2008 has there been an actual divergence between COMEX prices and what you or I could actually buy for.
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