The right way to buy gold.

That cleared it all up right there. I guess he trusts a bunch of people he doesn't really know.

 

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This is actually a list of 250 million people, indexed by the WRONG address, name, phone, and SSN.
This data is ficticious. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead is purely coincidence.

 

I don't buy metal from Thailand, but I do gemstones, and care must be taken if a stone is involved. I have the instruments and the ability to test stones and when I do risk a few dollars from a new dealer, most of the time I am disappointed and they become the 'freebie' drawing at the club. Great deals can be done, if one finds a ethical dealer and I am lucky there. "Cookers' in Thailand and other gem centers are more prevalent than 'Coin doctors' on eBay. Almost 98% of star sapphires below $100 are enhanced and worth about $2 or less. Buying PM jewelry has a risk also as anyone can purchase the stamps to put 22ct or 18ct on gold, but with jewelery it is difficult to test the metal without damage. A certain high mall profile Jewelery store had to settle several legal problems as they 'accidentally' forgot to label some of their diamonds as synthetic. Good luck.

 

What the heck? Im not in winsconsin, and im not an idiot to post my SSN on internet. Im not that stupid, I wouldnt be suprised to find Rickmp posting his SSN on a spam email he got for a free toaster.

 

No, you are not.

 

Nope I am right there with you.

 

Thanks for the warnings Jim. I know gems are an area I refuse to tread.

For the gold, I know the owners of a number of shops, (personal friends from long before I married a Thai), and basically only buy from her. She goes to UAE three times a years, (the world center in 22k jewelry wholesaling btw). So I am pretty comfortable with it. The shop in MN was started by another friend.

Yes, like everything in life there are hazards. You have to investigate what you are getting into. You are braver than I, I read up on the gem market and quickly decided that was a shark tank I dared not stick my little toes into.

 

Pod duang, ("bullet coins") are interesting. They are actually silver imitations of cowrie shells. I found them more interesing when I didn't own about 40 of them, but now they are becoming less interesting. The really fascinating thai coins to me are the "saddle money" from the Lanna kingdom from about the 12th-15th century.

Here is one:



Sorry for the OT post guys.

 

:too-funny:
:too-funny::too-funny:

 

With respect to Thailand specifically, there's the problem of value of labor. The value added by an artisan is based upon how Thais value labor, in general. They don't feel the artist adds much value to the piece, so they don't have that great a markup.

Essentially, gold traders are pawn shops. They lend on your gold at the national rate, creating a high interest fully secured loan. They buy the gold at a slightly lower fixed rate. Also, gold buyers there are regulated. They're required to buy/lend at the national posted rate. The same is true of forex services in the airport. There's no reason to not exchange your money right outside the store, since all airport exchanges are required to offer the same rate.

Also... what does this have to do with coins? Detecto, I'd safely say 95% of your threads don't belong in the "coin chat" section of the forum.