How far back have you gone to test the relationship between premium/discount and gold price, has it held up over time? I would note that generally if the premium grows then there is an incentive for the fund managers to issue new share, which will tend to cap how big the premium gets. It would be in...

Hard Assets is an unusual case as HAA is just relabelling a service performed by Gold Bullion International. If after the end of your transaction you have a statement directly from the vault operator in your name that they are holding gold for you, and you could come and pick it up or view it direct...

There won't be anything on my blog, I don't comment specifically on the pros or cons of other storage programs.

Thanks. This is an important issue that people need to be aware of. I don't want to name names, but there are some really weak legal agreements out there which sound like allocated but given the complete lack of specificity are probably unallocated.

Posted on this here http://goldchat.blogspot.com.au/2014/07 ... eseen.html and gave you a hat tip I Shrugged

Interesting, seems WGC currently only gets 0.15% of the 0.40% management fee, but now wants the entire 0.40% along with which it will take all the costs. As it notes "the net amount earned by the Sponsor could be greater or smaller than the fee of 0.15% of the daily ANAV of the Trust it current...

Also for Bron, doesn't Perth Mint melt down all the gold you receive and strike new bullion? If so, this kind of threat for the Perth Mint would never make it into your circulation, correct? All metal used for our production comes from our refinery so we know it is pure. Also any coins or bars we b...

Bron  - curious if you've ever seen the tungsten plated coins coming out of China.  Is it easy to tell the fake by a ping test? I've never seen them in the flesh, but as Early Cuyler says, it seems easy to spot them if you have a real one to compare to. I suspect trying to fake 99.99% pure coins wo...

It is a terrible photo, I wish they would provide high resolution ones with a real coin side by side, as I often wonder if these fakes are really that good and would only fool newbies.

I think maybe a question to ask though, is how long can it be manipulated?  I would tend to say easily longer than most people can mentally hold out, and that's the problem with the gold market and other markets. Well according to Eric Sprott the central banks have nearly run out of gold and while ...

I don't like the IRA-physical gold option.  Ideally gold should be in your direct possession (or a you-controlled safe deposit box).  The IRA-Physical gold option still has counterparty risk. I think there is a big difference between IRA physical gold option held as allocated gold and an ETF, for e...

I don't have much info on the tax issue or size of it, but note that there have been some large redemptions out of PHYS recently due to the fact it was trading at a discount, aroun 14% has been withdrawn, so not sure if that will create a large tax bill for the fund.

For those familiar with the Perth Mint options, processes and so on, which of the two options (certificate program or depository program) would be better/easier for a non-financial spouse or heirs to deal with if I'm no longer part of the picture? The advantage of the Certificate program is that yo...

Thanks Craig. Because of the privacy requirements in our Act, we direct any request, official or unofficial, for information or metal from an account by someone who does not operate the account to our local courts to determine if the request is valid and authorise us to release the information or me...

LC475 wrote:Gold-backed debit card (would that even be possible)?

Peter Schiff is already doing a gold backed debit card http://europacbank.com/our-products/met ... d-account/

LC475 wrote:Wow, are you actually from the Perth Mint, Bron?  If so, it's an honor.

Yep I'm for real, but I wouldn't call it an honor, just an average guy.

That is when desperate politicians would gaze upon the Perth Mint's vault with eyes thirsting for pillage of the "foreign plutocrats." We hold around $3 billion, most of which is unallocated and tied up in our inventory, so can't be "gotten" without shutting us (and our refining...

I think the relationship is only if real interest rates go below 2% that gold becomes attractive, not that there is some direct correlation between the rates.

Peak2Trough - I note for gold you only have monthly data 1968-1972. You can go to http://www.perthmint.com.au/investment_ ... rices.aspx to download daily London fix data from jan 1968

There is a borrow/lend market for gold, which operates just like cash, but with gold interest rates generally sub around 0.20% it just doesn't mean enough profit for banks to make that market available for retail investors.

Craig, any comments on this http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/4809/guest-post-not-even-harry-browne-thought-it-was-going-be-bad-green-lantern "However, for the first time since it's inception, the managers of the fund have realized that we are dealing with a new market condition that Browne di...

And when the exchange rate falls (as it is doing now) you lose out on AUD gold price gains. Also note that you will pay an annual management fee of 0.49% compared to the Perth Mint's product (code: PMGOLD) with a management fee of 0.15%. If you are investing for a longer time period, then that 0.34%...

For someone who makes a living, in part, by being a market commentator, who would want to read something that says: "The gold market is functioning normally." I don't think the market is necessarily functioning properly, it is clearly under some stress as premiums for kilobars show, but I...

That piece by Turk is interesting but a bit vague, is he talking about 400oz bars or other sizes. My main question is if this is the case then why can GoldMoney continue to offer its 400oz bar pooled allocated product and without any premiums? If the market was as short as he is making out then Gold...

The dealers aren't increasing their premiums because people won't pay them and would rather go without. I don't hear of people outbidding each other to buy what is left in a dealer's inventory. If people are so desperate, why aren't they offerring to pay $100 premium, then another guy says $200, the...