New Bullion Businesses Squeezed?
C0INB0Y
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New Bullion Businesses Squeezed?
By Patrick A. Heller May 07, 2013
With the 10-15 percent drop in gold and silver prices from April 12-15, the number of people liquidating their bullion-priced coins and ingots has dropped significantly. Even more, the number of people cashing in their gold jewelry, sterling silverware and the like has also fallen sharply.
A recent report stated that companies who jumped into the gold buying business over the past few years have seen their purchasing volume decline by more than 50 percent from what it was before April 12. A survey of pawn shops, check cashing places, jewelry stores and other johnny-come-lately buying businesses shows the owners claiming that volume has disappeared almost as fast as it increased when they added a jewelry-buying service to the rest of their businesses.
Coin dealers who also sell bullion-priced gold and silver are also noticing the fall off in buying inventory from the public. However, at the same time they are enjoying soaring demand for physical gold and silver. This rise in sales masks the fall in purchasing activity.
Many individual sellers of jewelry and related items are more or less forced to do so because of economic hardship. If gold and silver prices don’t rebound soon, I expect such sellers to be squeezed into selling at current price levels. If it takes more than a month or two for this phenomenon to appear, sellers just might find that some of the businesses that were buying such inventory earlier this year have closed or at least closed that part of their operations.
On the other hand, most coin dealers will still be going strong because of selling precious metals to retail customers. As a result, I expect that within a few months, coin dealers will handle a higher percentage of jewelry purchases from the public than they have over the past couple of years.
Another possible scenario is that gold and silver prices may soon recover and start heading even higher. If it happens soon enough, most of the newer “gold buyers” will be able to survive in business. Therefore, coin dealers cannot become complacent and assume that competition will dry up.
Whatever occurs, the next few months are bound to be interesting.
By Patrick A. Heller May 07, 2013
With the 10-15 percent drop in gold and silver prices from April 12-15, the number of people liquidating their bullion-priced coins and ingots has dropped significantly. Even more, the number of people cashing in their gold jewelry, sterling silverware and the like has also fallen sharply.
A recent report stated that companies who jumped into the gold buying business over the past few years have seen their purchasing volume decline by more than 50 percent from what it was before April 12. A survey of pawn shops, check cashing places, jewelry stores and other johnny-come-lately buying businesses shows the owners claiming that volume has disappeared almost as fast as it increased when they added a jewelry-buying service to the rest of their businesses.
Coin dealers who also sell bullion-priced gold and silver are also noticing the fall off in buying inventory from the public. However, at the same time they are enjoying soaring demand for physical gold and silver. This rise in sales masks the fall in purchasing activity.
Many individual sellers of jewelry and related items are more or less forced to do so because of economic hardship. If gold and silver prices don’t rebound soon, I expect such sellers to be squeezed into selling at current price levels. If it takes more than a month or two for this phenomenon to appear, sellers just might find that some of the businesses that were buying such inventory earlier this year have closed or at least closed that part of their operations.
On the other hand, most coin dealers will still be going strong because of selling precious metals to retail customers. As a result, I expect that within a few months, coin dealers will handle a higher percentage of jewelry purchases from the public than they have over the past couple of years.
Another possible scenario is that gold and silver prices may soon recover and start heading even higher. If it happens soon enough, most of the newer “gold buyers” will be able to survive in business. Therefore, coin dealers cannot become complacent and assume that competition will dry up.
Whatever occurs, the next few months are bound to be interesting.
I was ‘COINB0Y' with 4812 posts and ‘Expert Collector’ ranking (Joined in 2006).
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