GOLD taking it on the chin today

Yep. I don't remember the exact path of the premiums during the long slide down from 2011, but I remember they were much higher than they'd been on the way up. I do know that when silver spiked down to $12 in 2020, NOBODY was selling physical at anywhere near that price.

 

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Pretty much no one was selling anywhere close for quite some time as a lot had bought in the 40s, then the 30s and all the "I'm doing you a favor selling to you at this price, it will only go up" blah blah blah during that time which of course still exists. Everything was significantly cheaper for the cost of doing business as well from shipping to supplies to fees if you were selling online etc.

They were definitely higher premiums in terms of pure premiums than we're seeing today. Sellers arent making anywhere near what most people think they are when you consider the costs of completing the sale. This is why for a long time now I've thought physical silver is a terrible investment especially if you arent willing to sell on every spike. There's such a significant cost between the buy an sell fees it has to almost skyrocket to actually make money.

 

Right. 30 bucks is really nothing for gold.
Silver would be a different story!

 

Yes, down to like the $1,850 range after a high of over $2,000. I am still buying numismatic gold coins, old British pieces, but have stayed away from bullion coins. That’s probably a small deck chair on the financial Titanic, but at least they are fun. I’d like to get a set of the Gold Eagles with the new reverse, but the bullion price is preventing me from doing that.

I remember when the government set the price at $35, and that was above the real world price. Then Nixon upped it to just over $42.

 

True, but a loaf of bread was like $0.50, so...

 

Quite true ... Actually it was cheaper than that.

Metal prices should always be considered in context with the cost of living.

 

And, of course, wages. In 1933, the average manufacturing wage was on the low side of 50 cents per hour -- if you were lucky enough to find a job.