....is this the beginning of extreme physical price divergence from the phony paper market? http://autrading.us/product.php?productid=16299&cat=259&page=2
No, not at all. Those things are reasily available much cheaper elsewhere. There are also some retailers that charge a lot more.
^This. If the markets do diverge I am sure there will be a lot of talk about it here for quite a while. I have seen dealers talk up "divergence" and "phony paper markets" a lot over the years, and every time it was simply sales puffery and attempts to get excessive premiums for their coins. I for one would never accept such a divergence was permanent until I saw it for a number of years. They can diverge, and have, but that is more due to dealer opinion as to future direction of the metal and/or prices dealers paid. In the early 80's most dealers were not selling based upon spot, trying to get what they paid for it. It took years for local dealers to again sell based on spot. Just a year ago when silver premiums did not hold steady for many dealers. Dealers are smart usually, and if they have strong demand for items and see the market going up want higher premiums, (and a cut of your profits from buying), and when its going down they sell for a normal premium but pay less for your PM. Its this action, among other things, than can lead to lower profits for physical PM holders versus paper ones, and why the paper market was invented.
the perma-bulls have been singing that tune for years. hasn't happened yet, 1 day it may but i don't see it at this time.