Assorted Gold-related News

[dualstow]

Financial Times on a Porsche SE scandal:

Siegfried Wolf is one of two indicted “entre­pren­eurs”, accord­ing to sev­eral people famil­iar with the situ­ation.

The case involves alleg­a­tions of “hid­den assets” amount­ing to about €6.8mn and funds exchanged into gold and kept in Switzer­land, Aus­tria’s state eco­nomic crime and cor­rup­tion pro­sec­utor said in a state­ment.

a criminal with taste

[seajay]

Financial Times on a Porsche SE scandal:

Siegfried Wolf is one of two indicted “entre­pren­eurs”, accord­ing to sev­eral people famil­iar with the situ­ation.

The case involves alleg­a­tions of “hid­den assets” amount­ing to about €6.8mn and funds exchanged into gold and kept in Switzer­land, Aus­tria’s state eco­nomic crime and cor­rup­tion pro­sec­utor said in a state­ment.

a criminal with taste

Non hidden assets = state loaned assets
Hidden assets = own assets

Nowadays if you hide physical cash or gold, its assumed you're a money launder or up to other illegal activities and if the state finds it or is made aware of its whereabouts, then the state might confiscate it as being the suspect proceeds of illegal activities.

Many states monitor all of the activities, movements and actions of their citizens.

Unfree world, a.k.a Open Prison.

Personally I'd rather not raise offspring under such captivity.

[dualstow]

American likely used diplomatic passport to try to smuggle gold into Japan — NHK
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230711_21/

[dualstow]

9 arrests made in $14.8 million gold heist at Toronto airport, only fraction recovered
Police believe the suspects melted and sold the gold.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/9- ... =109349767

[Smith1776]

9 arrests made in $14.8 million gold heist at Toronto airport, only fraction recovered
Police believe the suspects melted and sold the gold.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/9- ... =109349767

Maybe they were assembling a $59.2 million PP?

[dualstow]

Maybe they were assembling a $59.2 million PP?

They probably still won’t catch up with Budd

[dualstow]

Gold pocket watch found on body of Titanic's richest passenger is up for auction
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/titanic-au ... -astor-iv/

[yankees60]

https://www.etf.com/sections/news/gld-b ... ead%20More

GLD: Burry Magnifies Physical Gold ETF Interest
The famous hedge fund manager bought shares of a gold fund in Q1.


Kent Thune
|
Research Lead
|
May 16, 2024

[dualstow]

https://www.etf.com/sections/news/gld-b ... f-interest
{ link truncated /DS }
GLD: Burry Magnifies Physical Gold ETF Interest
The famous hedge fund manager bought shares of a gold fund in Q1.
…

Interesting indeed!

[pmbug]

India's central bank has moved around a 100 tonnes, or 1 lakh kilograms of gold from the United Kingdom back to its vaults in India, and intends to move more in coming months, a TOI report claimed on Friday.
...
The RBI held 822.1 tonnes of gold, with 413.8 tonnes stored overseas as of March end, data shows. The RBI is among the central banks that have purchased gold in recent years, having added 27.5 tonnes in the last financial year.
...
Given the security and logistical concerns, moving such a heavy quantity of the precious metal required months of planning and precise execution. For context, 100 tonnes of gold is nearly 1/4th of India’s stock as of March-end.

It required close coordination between the finance ministry, the RBI, and various other government departments, including local authorities.
...
Transporting the large quantities of gold required a special aircraft and comprehensive security arrangements. This move will also enable the RBI to save on some storage costs paid to the Bank of England, although these savings are not substantial.
...

https://m.economictimes.com/news/econom ... 581597.cms

This could be indicative of many things and most of them are not good for geopolitical stability.

~~~

The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) said it is reviewing allegations involving Indonesian state miner Aneka Tambang (Antam) (ANTM.JK), over the purity of its gold products.

Indonesia's Attorney General Office has named six former general managers at Antam's Precious Metal Processing and Refining Business Unit as suspects for alleged misuse of Antam's stamping service.

Investigators said over the period of 2010-2021, the suspects oversaw production of around 109 tons of gold through the alleged illegal practice.

The investigators did not disclose from where the gold originated from or where it was distributed to after stamping.
...

More:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodi ... 024-06-06/

It sounds like the LBMA does not do a sufficient job of quality control (assay) on the gold they are vaulting. If their gold is out of spec, just how reliable are their inventory numbers?

[Hal]

Interesting Morningstar/Firstlinks article
https://www.firstlinks.com.au/how-gold- ... -portfolio

In particular, this chart.

[dualstow]

Not exactly news, but a brief chat I had with ChatGPT today:

D:

more than one gold coin from around the world contains .1867 oz gold. for example, the French 20-franc gold coin and the swiss 20-franc gold coin. Why is that? What measurement system were they using when those were minted?

Chat:
The reason multiple gold coins, such as the French 20-franc and the Swiss 20-franc coins, contain precisely 0.1867 troy ounces of gold is due to the adoption of a standardized gold content during the 19th century, particularly influenced by the Latin Monetary Union (LMU).

### Latin Monetary Union (LMU)

The LMU was an agreement established in 1865 between several European countries to standardize their coinage. The primary members were France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland, with several other countries joining later. The union aimed to facilitate trade and economic stability by ensuring that coins from member countries had the same specifications in terms of weight, diameter, and gold or silver content.

### Gold Content Standard

The standard for the gold coins under the LMU was set to:
- **Weight**: 6.45161 grams
- **Fineness**: 90% gold (or 0.900 fine)

Given the weight and fineness, the actual pure gold content can be calculated as follows:
\[ \text{Gold Content} = 6.45161 \text{ grams} \times 0.900 = 5.806449 \text{ grams of pure gold} \]

To convert grams to troy ounces:
\[ 1 \text{ troy ounce} = 31.1035 \text{ grams} \]
\[ \text{Gold Content in troy ounces} = \frac{5.806449 \text{ grams}}{31.1035 \text{ grams per troy ounce}} \approx 0.1867 \text{ troy ounces} \]

### Historical Context

This standardization allowed for easier exchange and recognition of coins between the member countries. The LMU influenced many other countries' coinage systems, which is why several gold coins from this era have the same gold content.

### Summary

The French 20-franc and Swiss 20-franc gold coins, along with others from the LMU, share a common gold content of 0.1867 troy ounces due to the standardized specifications set by the Latin Monetary Union, which aimed to harmonize the economic activities among its member countries through uniform coinage.

[yankees60]

https://www.capitalspectator.com/gold-i ... inflation/

Gold Is Enjoying A Banner Year Despite Softer Inflation


Everyone’s favorite precious metal is red hot this year, rising nearly 27% through Friday’s close (Sep. 23). Gold’s rally beats the strong runup in US stocks as well as rallies in the major asset classes, based on a set of ETFs.

[yankees60]

https://www.etf.com/sections/news/gold- ... ead%20More

Gold ETF GLD Glitters as Fed Rate Cut Nears

Gold nears an all-time high as the dollar weakens ahead of Fed actions.

[seajay]

Not exactly news, but a brief chat I had with ChatGPT today:

D:

more than one gold coin from around the world contains .1867 oz gold. for example, the French 20-franc gold coin and the swiss 20-franc gold coin. Why is that? What measurement system were they using when those were minted?

Chat:
The reason multiple gold coins, such as the French 20-franc and the Swiss 20-franc coins, contain precisely 0.1867 troy ounces of gold is due to the adoption of a standardized gold content during the 19th century, particularly influenced by the Latin Monetary Union (LMU).

### Latin Monetary Union (LMU)

The LMU was an agreement established in 1865 between several European countries to standardize their coinage. The primary members were France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland, with several other countries joining later. The union aimed to facilitate trade and economic stability by ensuring that coins from member countries had the same specifications in terms of weight, diameter, and gold or silver content.

### Gold Content Standard

The standard for the gold coins under the LMU was set to:
- **Weight**: 6.45161 grams
- **Fineness**: 90% gold (or 0.900 fine)

Given the weight and fineness, the actual pure gold content can be calculated as follows:
\[ \text{Gold Content} = 6.45161 \text{ grams} \times 0.900 = 5.806449 \text{ grams of pure gold} \]

To convert grams to troy ounces:
\[ 1 \text{ troy ounce} = 31.1035 \text{ grams} \]
\[ \text{Gold Content in troy ounces} = \frac{5.806449 \text{ grams}}{31.1035 \text{ grams per troy ounce}} \approx 0.1867 \text{ troy ounces} \]

### Historical Context

This standardization allowed for easier exchange and recognition of coins between the member countries. The LMU influenced many other countries' coinage systems, which is why several gold coins from this era have the same gold content.

### Summary

The French 20-franc and Swiss 20-franc gold coins, along with others from the LMU, share a common gold content of 0.1867 troy ounces due to the standardized specifications set by the Latin Monetary Union, which aimed to harmonize the economic activities among its member countries through uniform coinage.

From British Empire days the British Pound was pegged at close to GBP 4.25/ounce, good for international trade (stability). Hence the British Sovereign one Pound coin contains 0.2354 troy oz of gold (1 / 0.2354 = 4.248). Held at that official rate from 1717 right through to 1945. Inflation over all of those years broadly averaged 0% (at times periodic spikes up, and then back down again - that tended to cluster). The original Pound dates back to the mid 700's, when it was a Saxon pound weight of silver. The state (King/Queen) had to pay real rates of return (interest = more gold) in order to borrow. People didn't pay income taxes as savings/wages were considered to be private, no one elses business, so taxes had to be raised in other ways.

Since the US took over as being the primary currency for international trade settlements there's been predominately inflation and taxation. The original promise to peg the dollar to gold ... broken. Slight of hand, where gold is now also fiat, 130 times more paper gold than physical gold, where the Fed loosely direct the price of gold towards aligning with the dollar. That placed trust now lost (since the US opted to sanction Russia) such that much of the world is now dumping dollars for alternatives such a gold. Trump has suggested that he'll impose tariffs on countries that opt to drop the dollar - but that will just be reciprocated - inducing a ever faster rate of dollar isolation.

The crunch will be when there's a high demand for physical gold delivery against all of the paper gold that's out there. That's already on the rise but with a long way to go yet. I'd guess that with that rise so also will new laws be instated, maybe banning private held gold or extreme taxation. During such times silver can be the next best choice, at recent 85 ounces of silver per ounce of gold the gold/silver ratio is relatively high by historic standards. Could drop back to 40 ounces of silver to buy a ounce of gold (but could also perhaps rise to a 100+ gold/silver ratio factor).

Switzerland used to be more pegged to gold, but no more, is no longer the good-choice it once was.

[dualstow]

..
The original Pound dates back to the mid 700's, when it was a Saxon pound weight of silver. The state (King/Queen) had to pay real rates of return (interest = more gold) in order to borrow.
..

Very interesting indeed.
I wonder if in the future people will relate tales of Ye Olde Bitcoin and how “anyone could mine the stuff with big and warm contraptions in their basements!”