Gold needs to be stored & insured. The big house I am thinking of sold for £8,500 in 1958 , £210,000 in 1982 & £5,600,000 in 2011. It's condition was not good last year when sold as there were 30 Squatters in residence.

Does anyone know where in Zürich is a good place to sell old gold jewellery?

In less than two days the price moved up over $120 from the bottom. The rapidity of the later portion of the climb looks like a bunch of shorts are covering their exposed parts as quickly as possible. This will most prob. continue on Monday.
In the meantime at Jackson Hole Ben the Bernank had little to say... $1900+ here we come.

If I ever did something really, really smart, was my gold buying (funds, etfs and physical bars) in 2001 !!!

I guess I'm really lucky. Besides that I've never find a good investment opportunity again.

It will be the stockmarket that's had a bad 11 years as gold has been strong. From 1980-2000 gold was poor & the stockmarket great, expect much of the same again.

Well I can sell anytime I like

Agreed!
Here's the chart for much of that period....

Gold will continue up without doubt.
A few reasons why:

1) Greece will be bust and Italy and Spain will follow.
2) If Swiss government is doing deals with foreign governments (e.g. Germany and England) regarding taxing capital in bank accounts; then people will surely opt for Gold bars in Safe Deposit Boxes
3) China allowed citizens to buy Gold last year and as there is going to be a bubble burst on Chinese property; more Chinese will opt for Gold.
4) Russia seems to be dumping its US Dollars and US Bonds and buying Gold.
5) More and more people will realise that FIAT is devaluing and a fraud and opt for Gold especially as a lot of business people are holding back on starting any businesses as expecting worse in the economy to come.

__________________
I do not have friends..........I have contingent liabilities

Gold bullion needs to be re-assayed, stored, insured. Seriously old gold coins could be a more interesting alternative.

You would have expected rental income off the house also, which would add to the 10%, more than covering renovation costs.

I suspect they will knock down the house, the Plot is the value today nearly 1/2 acre in Highgate.

Greece, Italy & Spain will cause the Euro to end as we know it today, I don't see any reason to want gold for that reason.
There is no taxing of capital, just capital gains again a reason to desert the CH banks.
There is plenty of potential fraud in Gold......

Buy low & sell high so equities win hands for me over the next 20 years.

Wish I could forecast these price changes a few days before. Anyway CHF47,406/Kg does not support that the price bubble has burst.

Once the double dip recession is clearly visible (or the risk has gone away) then probably the stockmarket will be a great place to invest again.....

You make money by accepting risk & pain, when that risk has gone away the prices will be 50% higher than today. Rather like gold being seen as risk free today, it's risk is in the price, it was risk free at $260 when the SNB started selling.

The main reason paper money did well from the early 80s to the turn of the century is simply that paper money CAN be as good as gold. If central banks hold the money supply within reasonable limits the general public regain their confidence and everything is fine (including stocks)... for a while. The problem is that fiat paper relies on the intelligence and uncorruptibility of our leaders. Unfortunately many politicians are more interested in short-term gains to improve their image and get reelected than do what is best for their respective countries. Gold on the other hand cannot be created by waiving a central banker's magic wand. Gold must be dug out of the ground with sweat and tears. This is why politicians of all colours hate it. This is why the elite-controlled media hate it.

Another way to improving the appearance of paper money is to sell gold in large quantities. This pushes the price of gold down and fiat paper up. Many observers of the economy believe that the US loaned gold onto the open markets... which now cannot easily be recovered without adversely effecting prices. This is why the FED are being asking for an audit of the gold reserves in Fort Knox but neither the central bankers nor the government can allow this now. Later, even after the gold price had turned up a bit, various countries where squandering away their gold reserves as cheaply as possible. UK and Switzerland come to mind in the early 2000s with "Brown's Bottom" and the Swiss slinging out 1300 tonnes of the yellow metal for a pittance. Now central banks have wised up and have either stopped selling off their gold or are even restocking their treasuries.

I would say the decision for or against gold depends on your trust in the world's governments.
If you believe, like me, the future looks risky... buy gold and maybe silver.
If you believe it's all roses and sunshine then stay happy and continue as before.

Switzerland's devaluation of the Swiss Franc has pushed the gold price up to CHF 52,000 per kilo.

Here s a thought for you.
I was pondering those holding gold bullion long term. I wondered whether as the governments succeed in getting the swiss to open up the books as it were on foreign nationals depositing their cash in swiss banks, if those depositors havent swapped their swiss francs into gold bullion which presumably doesnt attract the tax deduction that the cash accounts are?
Any ideas?
that would explain the meteoric rise in the gold price.

Possibly foreigners will convert to gold. I would if I were them.
However, that is not the reason for the increase in the price of gold in Swiss Francs. Since gold is a form of 'money' if the Swiss Franc is devalued it takes more SFr. to buy the same amount of gold exactly as it takes more SFr. to buy dollars or Euros.
The dollar price of gold did drop for a while until everyone found out exactly was going on and then it more or less recovered to its previous price of approx. $1900 per oz.

And Swiss controversial analyst says:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...130058708.html

Apparently it is common for banks to lend out their gold in return for US dollars.
According to the FT today, so many banks are doing this that the lease rate (interest rate) is now in negative territory!