agreed. you could still lose through outright fraud/theft or through government confiscation - when i had BV gold, i had it stored in the swiss vaults.

gold held through BV is meant to be through a bailor/bailee arrangement and so in theory you can't lose out from BV going bust.

According to the FT today; central bank purchasing of gold is at a 40 year high.
In the last quarter the central banks bought 148 tons on a net basis.
They said the last time central banks were net gold buyers was in 1988.

Now thats a major sell signal if ever I saw one!

Here is another sell signal.
Apparently it is claimed that the EU is trying to persuade the various national european central banks to sell their gold to support the euro!!
I suspect that these banks will not react with enthusiasm

If that would turn out to be true, it would be the equivalent of a garage-sale and a sign of absolute desperation (IMO).
What else is there to sell, after the gold is gone?
The souls, consciences and common sense of the politicians were sold long ago anyway...

Looks like the big boys behind the curtain are trying to get their hands onto some more gold at cheap prices. Bet the Chinese will be frantic to get in on a bit of the action as well.

Even safety deposit boxes carry some amount of risk. If its in a bank safety deposit box, then you have counter party risk of the bank, even with insurance, as thats often provided by the bank itself. Of course being Switzerland, its still safer here than anywhere else.

Also, not that it may be important, but back in 1933 with the gold confiscation act in the US, if someone would have a safety deposit box in a bank, none would be opened without the presence of an IRS agent there also.

As this sovereign debt crisis moves to put pressure on European Banks which haven't been recapitalized yet, it could lead to large scale selling of everything including gold where profits would be be taken to soften redemptions. Im keeping an eye on that too.

As this sovereign debt crisis moves to put pressure on European Banks which haven't been recapitalized yet, it could lead to large scale selling of everything including gold where profits would be be taken to soften redemptions. Im keeping an eye on that too.[/QUOTE]

This is a fair point which I had been holding out for when gold went to $1550 recently. Now it is dropping down from $1800 I have decided to get involved again. A viewpoint that I have been reading is that there could be some short term pain before it rockets and if so its a good time to average down, in order not to miss bottom.

What annoys me is that as the price of gold drops the weak euro keeps the Chf price the same. Does anyone have any solution to this?

not sure why my quote didn't come out looking like a quote above, sorry lex, wasn't trying to rob your words....

No problem, looks like it was missing the front bit when you took the quote

Well this is actually the reason why you have gold in the first place I would imagine, to protect your savings from a debased/manipulated currency - in this case the CHF,EUR. Even though the US$/oz price is coming down, its the weakness of the CHF that is relatively holding the gold price in CHF. So there is no solution, there is only the rationale of why you want to buy gold in the first place. If your doing it to protect your savings, then price shouldn't really be the only concern when considering to buy. If the SNB intervenes further to place a 1.35 level on the franc to EUR then you know what will happen to the gold price in francs, pretty much similar as the last time.

Before the SNB's intervention, if there was to be a big sell off of everything, I would think gold in US$ would come down and the swiss franc would increase (because of the safe haven status) pushing the CHF/oz down even more. As the 1.20 level between the CHF/EUR is in place, that is no longer the case, so it further supports the CHF gold price at approx current levels. Previous to the SNB intervention I was about even/even to hold gold and swiss franc, now however, its a little more skewed to gold. Just my 2 reps.

Disclaimer: This is a public internet forum, so do your own research

Last time gold used for investment exceeded gold used for jewelry was 1980 — the year the last gold bubble burst.

Thanks that does help to paint a clearer picture. If you were to look at gold as a way of increasing your capital would the same rationale apply?

I bought into gold about 10 days before the chf was pegged. It went down steadily until the peg. When it shot up I sold as quick as possible as I realized I didn't have a clue what was going on......lucky timing though.

Now I am just dipping my toes again.....still clueless of course!

Can someone travel with gold bars? Is there insurance for it?

I look at gold only in terms of 'preserving' capital. I dont expect to get either rich from buying it nor to lose my shirt (except in my ETF's if i dont get out soon enough ). Also I think we are purchasing it for different reasons. I dont intent to trade it as such, Im looking at a more medium/long term position, hence daily market activity doesnt stress me, if it gets cheaper I may/may not buy more. Depends.

I also dont intend to hold forever though. When governments come back to their senses and stop creating credit to supplement their deficits and encourage the building of savings, I will be the first to sell. I think we are far from that time still unfortunately

Hi, what do you think will happen to your chf when the euro goes south?

Technically the CHF is pegged to EUR, so goes with it. If they alter the peg in any way upwards, then even more so.

Article below re UBS expecting more intervention from SNB.

http://www.cash.ch/news/front/ubs_er...er-1105134-449

Maybe but I don't think I will speculate in euros in the next days; not when everybody is making disaster recovery plans about what to do if the euro should disappear as a currency .

Hey, your not the only one thinking that way. Remember about 2-3 weeks ago when the floor between the CHF and EUR were discussed - well at the time the currency ran straight up to 1.25 or thereabouts now its again at 1.235 and moving up - which just proves the markets have no idea about where things are headed. Hence why I will will treat currencies pretty much all the same, just some are slightly better than others.

Isn't it a floor as opposed to a peg? CHF doesn't track the euro indefinitely, the SNB just stops it going past a certain level.

If the EUR disappears, so does the need for the floor. Although if it came to that, I imagine governments would implement capital controls pretty darn quick...

Yes, its a floor.

The thread, and the 'currency' threads use peg, floor, so I interchange as well. To me it may as well be a PEG, I was forward looking for franc to strengthen until the SNB came along.