Best way to buy Gold bars or coins?

tradetime

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Can someone give me the symbol for gold in sterling, I presume there is one. I just want to see its price independent of the dollar

I'm not sure that such a thing exists, however, although gold is priced in dollars, it is recognized as a currency in it's own right and thus has it's own symbol, which would allow for a pairs comparison in the same manner as you may compare GBP/USD, or EUR/USD. The international currency standard code for gold is XAU. it represents one troy ounce of gold. Be advised this exists in currency parlance and is different from the Index symbol XAU which represents the gold / silver index in the equities world.

cheerfulcat

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Can someone give me the symbol for gold in sterling, I presume there is one. I just want to see its price independent of the dollar

You can see the price of gold in sterling at kitco.com ( click the All Metal Quotes tab ).

sabretoothtigger

Just copying up some info on old american coins

Silver content of pre '64 coins.

Silver Dime 90% fine 0.08038 (total)0.07234 (net silver)

Silver Quarters 90% fine 0.20094 (total)0.18084 (net silver)

SilverHalf Dollar 90%fine 0.40188 (total)0.36169 (net silver)

Silver Dollar 90%fine 0.85937(total) 0.77343 (net silver)

But I think if the volume of scrap gold continues to escalate it will dampen prices to some degree,' Unni said.
Gold prices have picked up from a low of $680.80 in October. 'If we don't see the Indian economy picking up soon and a quick recovery of the rupee then the flood of scrap gold from India will keep the refineries here in the UAE very busy,' said Unni.

Samy Abu Ahmed, the production manger at Al Ghaith Gold, a Dubai-based refinery which buys 60 per cent of local scrap gold, said he expects the supply of scrap to stay strong.

'The normal levels of processing gold per day is around 100-150 kilograms per day but recently these figures have been almost double as the volumes increase in the market,' he said.

http://www.tradearabia.com/news/newsdetails.asp?Sn=RET&artid=160685

porshiebo

Hi folks, I have a question here about the VAT on silver.

It's been said in this thread that because gold has no VAT, but silver has 17.5% VAT, it is much harder to make a profit when investing in silver, and just to break even one will need the silver price to go up by 25% or something. So it's been said that gold is a much better investment, here in the UK.

Now, forgive me if I'm wrong about this, but I think there might be a problem with this argument, so long as you are an individual buying and selling the silver.

Say I buy a silver bar on EBay for £400. Maybe included in that price was some VAT, or maybe there wasn't, if the bar was second hand and sold by an individual.

Now, I hang onto the bar for a couple of years until I think it's a good time to sell, and I go and sell the bar on Ebay for a price higher than what I originally paid.

Now, when I sell it in the future, will I as the seller, or the person buying have to pay any VAT? As an individual selling a second hand item, I don't think that there would be any VAT involved.

So say I sell the price went up so that I could sell it on EBay for £600 in the future. All of that £600 would go to me, minus the EBay fees, right? There would be no VAT included in there, would there?

Therefore buying and selling Silver in the UK, via EBay as an individual, is no different to buying and selling gold. Is that fair to say?

Sure, because of VAT, the going rate for silver is 17.5% higher than it would be otherwise. But, when the time comes that I want to sell my silver in the UK, I am able to sell it for the going rate and don't have to pay VAT because I'm an individual selling second hand property. And it's not true that I had to pay twenty odd percent to break even - the whole difference between the buying and selling price would go to me, minus the selling cost.

Can you tell me if I am mistaken here, or confirm what I'm thinking is along the right lines?

sabretoothtigger

Vat would be only be there for new sales so yea your right. But buying silver on ebay seems iffy, make sure you get a good seller

Silver could be a better bet then gold as it is an industrial commodity and has fallen further then gold since mar 08





Is there a silver version of gdx

tradetime

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

Is there a silver version of gdx

GDX would more appropriately be referred to as a Gold and Silver miners ETF, therefore it is also a play on Silver miners, another one to consider is PSAU. I am not aware of anything dedicated to Silver miners / producers, but I will watch for one.

sabretoothtigger

yea I forgot that though i think silver is the minor factor, maybe its much the same thing I wouldnt know tbh

I see psau is new, is it a managed fund or still a tracker. Seems to be available via uk broker

tradetime

sabretoothtigger wrote: »

yea I forgot that though i think silver is the minor factor, maybe its much the same thing I wouldnt know tbh

I see psau is new, is it a managed fund or still a tracker. Seems to be available via uk broker

AFAIK PSAU is a passive ETF tracking the Nasdaq OMX Global Gold and Precious Metals Index.
I think it has been going less than a year, and would be a little thinly traded for me when GDX probably gives similar results

cloud_dog

tradetime wrote: »

AFAIK PSAU is a passive ETF tracking the Nasdaq OMX Global Gold and Precious Metals Index.
I think it has been going less than a year, and would be a little thinly traded for me when GDX probably gives similar results

TT, wasn't sure whether to post this under this or your ETF thread....

Do you know if there is an ETF similar to GDX but tracking junior miners???

Thanks

Nylontokyo

porshiebo wrote: »

Hi folks, I have a question here about the VAT on silver.

It's been said in this thread that because gold has no VAT, but silver has 17.5% VAT, it is much harder to make a profit when investing in silver, and just to break even one will need the silver price to go up by 25% or something. So it's been said that gold is a much better investment, here in the UK.

Now, forgive me if I'm wrong about this, but I think there might be a problem with this argument, so long as you are an individual buying and selling the silver.

Say I buy a silver bar on EBay for £400. Maybe included in that price was some VAT, or maybe there wasn't, if the bar was second hand and sold by an individual.

Now, I hang onto the bar for a couple of years until I think it's a good time to sell, and I go and sell the bar on Ebay for a price higher than what I originally paid.

Now, when I sell it in the future, will I as the seller, or the person buying have to pay any VAT? As an individual selling a second hand item, I don't think that there would be any VAT involved.

So say I sell the price went up so that I could sell it on EBay for £600 in the future. All of that £600 would go to me, minus the EBay fees, right? There would be no VAT included in there, would there?

Therefore buying and selling Silver in the UK, via EBay as an individual, is no different to buying and selling gold. Is that fair to say?

Sure, because of VAT, the going rate for silver is 17.5% higher than it would be otherwise. But, when the time comes that I want to sell my silver in the UK, I am able to sell it for the going rate and don't have to pay VAT because I'm an individual selling second hand property. And it's not true that I had to pay twenty odd percent to break even - the whole difference between the buying and selling price would go to me, minus the selling cost.

Can you tell me if I am mistaken here, or confirm what I'm thinking is along the right lines?

Very interesting, if this is right I am very excited.

So can you buy silver coins or bars 2nd hand and not pay the 17.5% VAT?

Also can you sell as 2nd hand goods and the buyer not have to pay VAT?

Of course many people are buying and selling with out telling anybody but I want to buy off a reputable source.