shortage of physical gold and silver

[Carolinian]

I haven't bought anything for a while now. The sdb's are full. Someday someone I know will be smiling when they open our sdb's.

Had some funds I was not expecting yet come in today and wanted to put it in gold or silver while the market is in a dip. Now my source for German gold, that I just bought from, is out, and I could not find any bullion dealers that had any. Also came up empty on my other preferred gold coins - Austrian ducats, French Napolean III 20 francs, and Belgian 20 francs. Then I looked at bulk Canadian silver coins, and both of the sources I have used in the past are now out, one of which I had bought them from just a few days ago. I also can't find those anywhere else right now. I did find some British gold sovereigns, although a lot of dealers were out of those, too. I will probably pull the trigger on them tonight. Bulk US silver coins, as well as US gold coins still seem to have some availability but many specific products are sold out, and the premium over spot has really jumped on the silver.

[easyrider]

Yes, the premiums are unbelievable. What is even more strange is the strong demand even with high premiums. I see adds for collectors offering good prices for silver and gold.

[Carolinian]

So far, the premiums on gold are not as bad as silver, but silver is the metal most people think has the most potential gain. I think part of what is driving demand is fear of what might happen to the US dollar as a result of all the federal spending, but that problem exists in a number of other countries, too, at this juncture. We are also looking at select foreign currencies, perhaps Swiss francs, Norwegian kronor, Swedish kronor, or even some Polish zloty. It really takes some close study of other countries national finances and their economies. Swiss francs seem the easiest to move into and Norwegian kronor, which would be my first choice, the hardest. My wife and I want to limit what cash we have in dollars, but the trickiest part is the retirement funds and getting those out of dollars. There are outfits that advertise that you can hold retirement accounts in your physical possession in precious metals, but from my research, the legal basis to do that is iffy, and we do not want to take that risk.

My wife is particularly concerned about what is happening economically. When she was younger and living in eastern Europe she remembers one day where they woke up with enough money to buy an apartment but by afternoon of the same day it was only enough to buy a bicycle. Things can happen that quickly with an economy, and when it has happened to you once, you never forget it.