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.
Yes, they are converting to cash that will go down in value.
The silver remains valuable no matter what shape it occupies.
Plus there’s the intrinsic value of the antique itself that will stay relatively high for a long time. They are destroying value in that respect...........
From the article, it appears they are converting their silver to cash.
yeah, I know, but I did buy as much as I could last time it was under 20 :)
Same here. My purchase was at 18.XX.
Silver eagles were 21.05, and they are now 44.60.
wow, under 40 now. Helter Melter
That would have to be an atomic compsitor since the nuclei would have to be modified.
Okay, I got it.
Thanks for the great graph.
20 corrections of more than 10% in the last 10 years. No year with more than three, or less than one.
A great guide for buyers looking for guidance on when to buy. About once a year do we see a drop as big or bigger to this week’s.
Happened during the Carter years too. Sad because once it’s gone it’s gone. All that beauty and fine craftsmanship melted down.
You can buy a registered 100 oz bar from Kitco right now for 40.88 per ounce.
Probably not ... at least not without a lot of conditions including delayed delivery.
Kitco also lists Silver Eagles for sale at $42.41 (as of the time I write this). The problem is that Eagles are unavailable at the present time. The mints simply cannot find silver blanks. They expect to have the rounds in about four weeks ... but have been saying the same thing for the past two months.
Remember, there is a huge difference between paper silver and physical silver. Right now physical silver is extremely difficult to find as per Gresham's Law.
It's about $38 as I write this, but the Evil Empire has been working overtime to get there and they appear to be running out of options.
To begin with, they unexpectedly hiked the margin requirements again ... twice. This is unprecedented and should have sent silver through the floor. Instead, the market went down slightly, but only after the bankers sold massive amounts of shorts. According to Harvey Organ:
The total silver open interest shocked the living daylights out of bankers today. The total OI rose by 1340 contracts. The bankers were hoping to see huge number of silver leaves fall from the tree. They were shocked as there was no liquidation whatsoever. I guess that was the reason for another raid today.The estimated volume at the silver Comex today was 152,930 with no switches. (this represents 765 million oz or over 100% of annual silver production). The confirmed volume yesterday was an astonishing 179,916 or close to 900 million oz of silver.
Unfortunately for the bankers, when you sell a commodity on the Comex, or any exchange for that matter, you have to deliver the physical product eventually.
To many, including this country bumpkin, default looks inevitable ... and when that happens ... look out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.