Where can I buy physical gold near spot price?

Now that there are physical shortages since paper has been manipulated for so long and to such an extreme degree I’m looking to buy physical gold or silver.

I know that many banks in Taiwan offer you to have a gold savings account, but I’m certainly not looking for an investment in gold futures or gold miner stock or anything like that. Another thing, this place should be reputable. If I were to get tungsten instead of gold that would obviously be very bad.

Also, does anybody have any experience in exchanging NTD for bitcoin? Bitcoin seems potentially very handy for international transactions.

You could try industrial suppliers. Gold is valuable because it’s useful, not because it’s rare. Or do you specifically require bullion? You could try a trip to Malaysia, which mints a bullion coin.

You might also want to try your luck in Jiufen. Seriously. There is almost certainly some left after the commercial mining stopped. Look for quartz seams.

I wouldn’t touch Bitcoin with a bargepole right now (although I wish I’d bought some a couple of years back). Wait and see what happens, unless you enjoy gambling.

Bitcoin is converted immediately to your currency of choice so there is no risk in it for transactions.

Yes, but the exchange rate is all over the shop right now, so it’s a risky store of value.

Yeah I have no plans of holding bitcoin currently. Because of how the way it works, earlier miners of bitcoin will have an advantage of those in the future. Obviously people that have mined the easy bitcoin will be looking to sell thus causing a lot of volatility.

I just found this while google searching [quote]I am going to travel to Taiwan and was planning to buy gold bullion there as Bank of Taiwan is an authorized agent for Perth Mint gold coin[/quote]

Anyone have any experience with gold bullion and Bank of Taiwan?

What exactly is there a shortage of?

Financial Reality and Common Sense :slight_smile:

Well there is a shortage of gold. In the history of gold, there has been about 140,000 tonnes of gold known to have been found. Not a great deal really when one considers how hard they have looked. However, the shortage in gold is not in its availability for uses in jewelry or electronics – about 80000 tonnes is kept as investment gold the remainder is in industry or jewelry. The problem is that the amount of gold sold every day on the London Gold Exchange exceeds the amount of gold mined by 346 times. That’s right. There is a massive shortage of gold. That’s why in every mall in the west you can take your mom’s rings in and quit them while she’s still asleep. Gold trades at about 70 billion dollars worth a day compared with all the oil consumed in the world every day at 6 billion dollars worth. That is the staggering reality. At least with oil there is something real and tangible but with gold it is almost all derivatives.

You should invest in pig guts - pork bellies, specifically. There’s a ready supply in Taiwan, and they’re sold in commodity exchanges all over the world. You could raise the pigs yourself, tear out their insides and sell them on the Chicago stock exchange. OK, you couldn’t really do that, but you could sell them in those little unsanitary glass stands by the side of the road in Taiwan. There’s no reason to think gold will be the currency in the new world order - pork bellies are where it’s at!

Trading Places !!! :slight_smile:

Guess the miners have to look harder… but would that not mean that the goldbugs are buying pieces of paper thinking they are buying gold, but the gold simply isn’t there?

That would be a bummer. I can see why they would not mind a krugerrand or 5 hidden away under the mattress, I would like to buy some too, however at US$200 or so a coin.

[quote=“Mr He”]Guess the miners have to look harder… but would that not mean that the goldbugs are buying pieces of paper thinking they are buying gold, but the gold simply isn’t there?

That would be a bummer. I can see why they would not mind a krugerrand or 5 hidden away under the mattress, I would like to buy some too, however at US$200 or so a coin.[/quote]

Yes, there will come a day when it will collapse. Gold is a classic bubble. However, if you had real gold you might be able to cash in; however, that would be a timing thing and you would have to quit very early so it’s a big might, because when gold collapses (unlike housing) there is no real shortage. What is worse if it does collapse real gold will be worthless, because its store of value will be scorned.

In 2002 it went for USD200 per oz, right? I have no problems seeing gold at those levels again.

Except without Jamie Lee Curtis’s boobs.

Gold will remain valuable until the industrial economy collapses. It’s still a critical material in electronics manufacture, especially high-rel equipment. Gold will only become completely worthless in a doomsday scenario.

Except without Jamie Lee Curtis’s boobs.

Just for you Finley

You can get real, tangible gold from the gold accounts. However much you purchase on paper is a reflection of the actual gold you own. So you can take it out anytime you want. The only catch is that once you withdraw the gold from your account, you can’t deposit it back. It’s the bank’s way of protecting itself from fraud. And most people who open a gold account never bother to withdraw the gold. They just do the transactions on paper and try to make a profit that way, just like buying and selling stock without taking out the stock certificates.

Is the Bank of Taiwan reputable enough for you? :wink:

I’m going to leave the investment in gold / silver completely alone. If you want to buy it, that’s great there are many places you can do that. But I just have to correct one of your initial premises. The paper gold market is NOT manipulated in any way. It’s an open market for anybody to invest in. You can be on any side of the trade you want, long, short, or anything in between.

If you think Goldman Sachs shorting gold through options and futures is “manipulation” then I’m afraid you have an awful lot to learn about the financial world. That’s called trading, nothing more. It happens in every single asset class on the planet. If you have a problem with banks trading for profit, then I suggest you petition your government on Glass-Steagall. Until then just know that banks are in it for the money, and there is absolutely nothing manipulative or illegal about making a bet on where gold or any other asset class is heading.

I mean come on, Goldman even announced to the world what they were doing BEFORE they did it. They stated publically weeks ago they were shorting gold with a price target of 1400$. They announced yesterday that they have covered all their gold shorts and collected a 10% profit on the trade.

I know there are many websites out there that will say that Goldman and JP Morgan are manipulating the markets, pulling strings for the Rothschild banking cartel and looking to execute Agenda 21 or whatever the latest trend in conspiracy theories is. If you want to read that stuff for entertainment purposes that’s fine. But seriously, don’t ever bet even 1 penny of your savings on the validity of these ridiculous claims.

If you believe there is no basis for investment in gold, you may want to watch this: news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1366397576.php

Paper gold is as valueless as putting your money into those slot machines they call internet investment houses. Complete twattery designed to squeeze pennies from ignorant rubes and bored pensioners.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the OP was referring to fiat currency, not paper representing physical gold (which obviously can’t be “manipulated” - that would be fraud, simple as).

In recent history, though, gold has never really been useful for trading during financial crashes or hyperinflation. It’s probably a reasonable store of value once you come out the other side, but as an alternative currency, it’s essentially useless (for all the usual reasons - adulteration, difficulties with small denominations, lack of standardized value, etc). People typically resort to barter or foreign paper currencies instead.

Hi guys,

It looks like few if any of you have any trading experience. I’m not here to convince any of you to buy anything. Today I bought a quarter ounce of gold at a Bank of Taiwan branch. You don’t have to be a member to buy gold and silver coins there.

Bank of Taiwan also buys back gold and silver coins that they have sold to you, as long as you keep the certificate of purchase. The spread between their buy and sell is around 800 nt.