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Stopped in my local B&M to see 'bout metals

WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
I'm in central Illinois, fwiw.

He had 2 100-oz Engelhards that he didn't want to sell. When I pressed him, he said he'd go $1500 each.
He said he's sold every piece of 90%, every piece of gold, and every piece of platinum that has walked in the door in the last 30 days within hours of taking it. Mostly because nobody is selling. Nobody has brought him any scrap gold (jewelry) for 2 weeks.

He's been my coin dealer for almost 30 years now. Said he's never seen a market like this before.

The other coin dealer in town has stacks of everything (gold, silver rounds, 90%) but his sell prices are so insane (15x face for crap 90% if he's in a good mood) that I don't even walk in the door.
We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
--Severian the Lame

Comments

  • 1jester1jester Posts: 8,637 ✭✭✭
    Maybe you should just pay him what he's asking for those bars; in the greater scheme of things, it's cheap.



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  • cohodkcohodk Posts: 19,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just to play devils advocate....

    Everytime something is a "must have" it usually is a "must sell".

    Maybe this time will be different. Then again, everytime we hear, "this time its different", it is usally the same.
    Excuses are tools of the ignorant

    Knowledge is the enemy of fear

  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 32,099 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We have a guy that buys every Englehard 100 ozer. we get in at +$2.50 per oz., which at Friday's price is $1485. He has bought several dozen over the last six months.
    $1500 is not unreasonable.
    TD
    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • I went to the local dealer yesterday. JM & Engle (100-oz bar of each was on display) - and the price quoted was spot $12.xx plus $3. A few 10-oz bars were spot + $4. He had a sign stating he wanted to buy any and all silver and gold. He is buying ASE for spot + $1, and selling them for $19. image

    He is a PCGS dealer, and this was my first time into his store.
    Very Positive BST Experience with: guitarwes, ibzman350, jmcu12, Bamafan27, OnlyGoldIsMoney
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  • jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Same here, every piece of gold , silver that comes in is gone with in hours. Course I am selling 90% at 10x face and AGE at spot plus 30 bucks. Across town they have baskets full of 90% at 14x face. They dont have much gold becuase they buy so darn low at 30% behind melt. (ridiculous) Most people who have gold at least are smart enought to call around, and I usually get it.
  • fcfc Posts: 12,793 ✭✭✭
    why in the world people would buy engelhard 100 oz bars at 1500 is beyond me. Even 1450 is stupid in the last week.

    the days of using the local BM for metal purchases is so 1980s and
    a ridiculous way to go. I think the reason they have never seen a market
    like this before is because they are no longer part of the core market. Ebay cough ebay. Online dealers who buy and sell. Selling
    directly to other buyers. Craigslists. Stores popping up to buy gold/silver.
    etc.. etc... No longer are they the core middleman for a town/city.

    It seems to me coin stores want all the gravy and the bone and refuse
    to become a true bullion dealer like the big boys online are.

    1363 for a JM bar on apmex right this minute. throw in 20 bucks for
    shipping.

    if you want bullion... goto a true bullion dealer. not a con er coin store.

    no offense to coin stores who actually have reasonable buy/sell
    spreads.
    most do not and always have people willing to overpay
    and i do not blame them for milking it for as much as they can get
    from the uneducated unwashed masses.

    and phooey on this nonsense of engelhard somehow being more liquid
    and recognizable then JM or others. More 1980s leftover get off my
    lawn talk.

    but that is just my opinion.

  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My local shop pays 3%-6% over spot for AGE's. And they do a ton of bullion business, the most in the area. Finding 90% in the local shops is getting to be impossible. A little trickles in when silver gets up in price, but on the first correction it drys right up.

    roadrunner
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • GreeniejrGreeniejr Posts: 1,321 ✭✭✭


    << <i>why in the world people would buy engelhard 100 oz bars at 1500 is beyond me. Even 1450 is stupid in the last week.

    the days of using the local BM for metal purchases is so 1980s and
    a ridiculous way to go. I think the reason they have never seen a market
    like this before is because they are no longer part of the core market. Ebay cough ebay. Online dealers who buy and sell. Selling
    directly to other buyers. Craigslists. Stores popping up to buy gold/silver.
    etc.. etc... No longer are they the core middleman for a town/city.

    It seems to me coin stores want all the gravy and the bone and refuse
    to become a true bullion dealer like the big boys online are.

    1363 for a JM bar on apmex right this minute. throw in 20 bucks for
    shipping.

    if you want bullion... goto a true bullion dealer. not a con er coin store.

    no offense to coin stores who actually have reasonable buy/sell
    spreads.
    most do not and always have people willing to overpay
    and i do not blame them for milking it for as much as they can get
    from the uneducated unwashed masses.

    and phooey on this nonsense of engelhard somehow being more liquid
    and recognizable then JM or others. More 1980s leftover get off my
    lawn talk.

    but that is just my opinion. >>



    You are not altogether wrong that the price that the price of $2.50 over for Engles is ridiculous. BUT people want to pay it so why stop them. We carry whatever hundreds there are out there. Typically we have large quantities of OPM bars and a few Engles and JMs (which jump off shelves so to speak). When people come in asking to buy silver we offer them the range of products, from $2.50 over for a single Engle to $1.50 for a small quantity of OPM/Silvertowne/Name Brand bars. Almost invariably the people CHOOSE to pay the $2.50. If people ask our opinion we tell them it is a waste of money and to go with the OPM bars. If people choose not to listen, we cannot be held responsible.
  • fcfc Posts: 12,793 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>why in the world people would buy engelhard 100 oz bars at 1500 is beyond me. Even 1450 is stupid in the last week.

    the days of using the local BM for metal purchases is so 1980s and
    a ridiculous way to go. I think the reason they have never seen a market
    like this before is because they are no longer part of the core market. Ebay cough ebay. Online dealers who buy and sell. Selling
    directly to other buyers. Craigslists. Stores popping up to buy gold/silver.
    etc.. etc... No longer are they the core middleman for a town/city.

    It seems to me coin stores want all the gravy and the bone and refuse
    to become a true bullion dealer like the big boys online are.

    1363 for a JM bar on apmex right this minute. throw in 20 bucks for
    shipping.

    if you want bullion... goto a true bullion dealer. not a con er coin store.

    no offense to coin stores who actually have reasonable buy/sell
    spreads.
    most do not and always have people willing to overpay
    and i do not blame them for milking it for as much as they can get
    from the uneducated unwashed masses.

    and phooey on this nonsense of engelhard somehow being more liquid
    and recognizable then JM or others. More 1980s leftover get off my
    lawn talk.

    but that is just my opinion. >>



    You are not altogether wrong that the price that the price of $2.50 over for Engles is ridiculous. BUT people want to pay it so why stop them. We carry whatever hundreds there are out there. Typically we have large quantities of OPM bars and a few Engles and JMs (which jump off shelves so to speak). When people come in asking to buy silver we offer them the range of products, from $2.50 over for a single Engle to $1.50 for a small quantity of OPM/Silvertowne/Name Brand bars. Almost invariably the people CHOOSE to pay the $2.50. If people ask our opinion we tell them it is a waste of money and to go with the OPM bars. If people choose not to listen, we cannot be held responsible. >>



    oh, i am not blaming anyone for making a buck! do not get me wrong.
    More power to you and dealers who can do this.

    I just think the main people buying silver right now are the same ones
    who played around in the 80s and go about it with a mentality that
    was suitable for the 80s is all.

    That is my point. By choosing the highest premium silver. check.
    By visiting coin stores as their main places to buy/sell silver/gold. check.
    etc....
  • secondrepublicsecondrepublic Posts: 2,619 ✭✭✭
    I don't see a problem with people paying a premium for Engelhard extruded. It's a nicer bar, better looking and better manufactured than the new bars by OPM. The OPM bars are just ugly, with that unattractive recycling logo on the front. People are willing to pay a premium for a better quality bar; that's not some leftover mindset from the 1980s, that's just reality. Same with gold bars, people will pay more for a nice PAMP in a holder than some random scuffed up bar even though, at the end of the day, it's "the same thing" in terms of the bullion content.
    "Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
  • ProofCollectionProofCollection Posts: 6,054 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I like to use APMEX as a barometer.

    JM bars at APMEX are $1.19 over spot which puts them at $14.00 at the moment. So at $1500, we're not talking a huge discrepency.

    As far as one brand being worth more than another, it's not unlike First Strike coins. I could care less about the FS designation, but the reality is, the FS coins to bring just a few dollars more - like it or not - justifiable or not.
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