Rush For Gold Causes U.S. To Hault Sales Of Gold Coins

[garybeck]

x-post on economy forum

Gold coin sales halted after retail rush
By Javier Blas in London

Published: September 25 2008 23:03 | Last updated: September 25 2008 23:03

The rush by retail investors into gold on Thursday forced the US government to “temporarily” suspend the sales of the popular American Buffalo one-ounce bullion coin after depleting its inventories.

The shortage of gold coins is the latest sign of investors seeking a safe haven into bullion amid Wall Street woes. Gold prices this week surged above $900 an ounce, up about 20 per cent from its level before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Safe-haven buying spurred by a weakening dollar and rising inflation on the back of high commodity prices have also benefited gold sales, analyst said.

The US Mint said in a memorandum that “demand has exceeded supply” and, therefore, it was “temporarily suspending sales of these coins”. “We are working ­diligently to build up our inventory and hope to resume sales shortly,” it added.

more:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e8bc3d72-8b40-11dd-b634-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1

Also of note..... Kitco, one of the leading dealers of gold coins has issued this statement on their website:

"The following products have been temporarily removed from our Precious Metal Store until further notice due to production and delivery delays that retailers are currently facing; 1 oz Gold bars, 1 oz Kitco Gold bars, 10 oz Gold bars, 1 oz Silver Eagles, 1 oz Silver Maples, 1 oz Silver Philharmonic coins, 1 oz Olympic Silver Maples, 100 oz Silver bars and 1 oz Palladium Maples."

[fascisthunter]

1. Now That is a Scary Sign...

[garybeck]

2. yeah... all my local coin shops are out too.

or they're holding on to what they have.

[fascisthunter]

3. Keeping my Silver Eagles are safe....

[NNN0LHI]

9. Hunt brothers gave a lot of silver advice too

Pretty much all bad.

Don

[ThomWV]

6. How so? What would you do with a ton of gold if you had it?

The world will not, and in fact can not, return to a gold standard so what use do you think there is in hording gold?

[garybeck]

7. you could sell gold very easily

i'm not an economist. but I can tell you it's impossible to buy gold right now and it's easy to sell it.

[DFW]

4. I checked with Heritage in Dallas

They don't fool with modern issues, but I know they are by far THE biggest
wholesale supplier of older American gold coins (the ones minted 1840-1932)
to small shops and dealers, as well as being big(-gest?) in the rare coin field.

Their gold department guys (very nice guys, by the way, even though they are
kind of overwhelmed at the moment) said that demand from shops and dealers all
across the States was in a frenzy, and they were buried by demand from small
shops coast to coast as well as from bigger promoters who have programs running,
and are getting three times as many orders from their programs as usual. They said
that they usually get a decent balance from dealers and private people wanting to
sell and other dealers and private people wanting to buy (Heritage is sort of a huge
clearinghouse in this respect), as well as getting frequent liquidations of older
gold coins from Central Banks in other countries who work with them. But at the
moment, demand is so heavy in the States, it's almost like a run, and people are
paying almost any premium to get physical gold coins.

They also said that situations like this usually do not last, and that things calm
down, usually sooner than later. But this is not "usually." I wouldn't want to have
the job of being their inventory manager (if they have such a thing).

A banker in southern Germany I know does deal with modern issues like American Eagles,
Krugerrands, Maple Leafs, and that kind of thing, and he told me that the Royal Mint
in London told banks on the Continent that any orders for their Britannia gold bullion
coins would have a two month wait time because of a prior huge physical order from the
United Arab Emirates (Dubai--maybe not coincidentally where Halliburton has moved their HQ).

As a 21st century person (or so I like to think), I still find gold to be an absolute
anachronism as an investment. It pays no interest, you can't eat it, you can't heat your
house with it, you can't put it in your car to make it run, and it won't fly you to
Hawai'i of you feel like a break. But as an old retired banker from France once told me,
"never piss against the wind." If people still believe in gold as a refuge store of value,
then that's the way it is. The gold price was $252 an ounce during Clinton's last days
as President, and is almost $900 now. You can argue about the meaning of that, but fact is
fact, all the same.

[garybeck]

5. can't eat gold... but you can

sell it for dollars and then buy food.

it's a better way to hold on to your money than to hold on to cash.

when the value of the dollar keeps going down, you're not sweating.

that's the way I see it.

having said that, I'm buying extra food every time I go shopping, and sharpening my chain saw.

[galileoreloaded]

8. One ounce of silver, will generally purchase 4 gallons of gas..........

always has, always will. It's not an investment, its a store of wealth. I bet most people here see they home they live in as an investment as well. No, real possibility for return, not an investment.

Metals such as gold, are useful for large transactions in a crisis, such as farmable land, vehicles, and bulk food. Also, the possession of which would also GUARANTEE passage from a dangerous place to a safer place. If you don't want to own any, great. More supply for me!!!

Adjusted for inflation, the Dow has risen 25% in 34 years. That is a really crappy rate of return, and is mostly indicative of shenanigans in reporting the statistics. I stick with metals, and tangibles I can eat or shoot.

I beat the Dow EVERY year.