Quiet Guy

Sorry if this is a noob question but here goes: is there such a thing as 'intellectual property' law? There is copyright and patent law but does 'intellectual property' law actually have an explicit legal basis? Personally speaking, I believe that patent law tends to favour big corporations and isn't really necessary today. Copyright law is fine in principle but is under intense pressure due to massive and widespread digital data copying.

I've never been keen on ebay - a slow and high hassle method if you have large amounts to sell but I see what you mean about prices. I notice that nobody has actually said they've sold silver yet.

Onis_uk posted a question about selling PMs which made we wonder: how many forum readers have had positive experiences selling silver in the UK? If anybody has successfully sold silver to a dealer (not Ebay), please would you advise what % of spot price and which dealer you sold to. Thanks in advance to any responses.

Peter Schiff discusses a junior gold explorer pump and dump scam involving the National Inflation Association. Schiff's allegation is that the NIA have been copying some of using his material as part of a campaign to build up a large mail list of members then try to persuade the them to buy super risky penny stocks. If interest in gold goes manic, we'll see more of this sort of thing.

The property investments company Assetz says "the buy-to-let sector is recovering at a remarkable rate with investors eager to take advantage of lower prices and strong rental growth." And my barber says now is a good time for a haircut.

The numbers sound a bit dodgy. "repayments = circa 1.2k a month, but will easily let 2 bedrooms to cover that." Jut out of curiousity, I had a look on Rightmove for rooms/properties at £600 p/m. There are plenty of flats available at that price so getting that for the two rooms sounds tricky unless they are really nice rooms and the brother will cover all the utility bills as well. By the way, what's going to happen to that £1.2K p/m when interest rates start rising? Even if we have to wait years before IRs rise, that's a bit of a gamble. "it will be 400k in under 5 years easily" Well it's London we're talking about so maybe. I wonder if he will be able to hang on for five years if IRs rise? Interest rates seem to be the key to this speculative venture. Maybe the brother will make this work if we adopt a Japanses style ZIRP economy for the next decade or maybe he'll end up in debt if the opposite happens. Nobody has a crsytal ball and nobody knows for sure what will happen so there are real risks in this situation. I presume that the brother has an income to give himself a bit of slack if the numbers go against him?

If you look at a five year chart for gold, nothing significant has happened. Silver is a different story but there was plenty of warning that silver was likely to correct sharply. My answer to your question is: no.

Have a listen to Ben Davies recent inerview on King World News: http://www.kingworld...Ben_Davies.html Davies thinks that - The silver market went a bit manic due to hype by some commentators (I think he's referring to Max Keiser) - Increased recycling will help physical supply for the next six months - Silver is volatile (duhh!) However the bull market fundamentals are still intact if you are willing to wait.

I don't think you need conspiracy theories to explain the Irish agony . It's a story about two of the most powerful human characteristics: greed and stupidity.

I've confused the issue by trying to make a rather obscure joke. When I was at about 75% in PMs early this year, I sold some sovereigns to Hatton Garden metals and Chard, without any difficulty at all, to bring my PM allocation of savings down to something more like 60%. Since then, the metals prices have risen so fast that my estimated % of savings has risen back up to 75%.

I'm about 75% in PMs which is well beyond the normal recommended extent. I tried to reduce my exposure by selling some gold earlier this year but the rising price of gold and (especially) silver thwarted that plan! Have you tried Weighton Wonders for selling silver? http://www.weightoncoin.com/coins/ The proprieter, Richard Anderson, is well spoken of on this forum I believe that Richard normally offers about 90% of the silver spot price. You could try Chard for comparison as well but I suspect that you'll have trouble getting more than 90% spot except for private sales. Please let us know how you get on with this; I'm sure many other forum readers would be interested in your research.

Cautionary words fom Jim Rogers: if silver stops rising linearly and goes parabolic, then it's time to sell (some.)

I've sold off about 20% of my sovereigns at a modest profit, partly because I wanted some quick cash without raiding savings and partly to lock in a bit of profit. I'll probably sell another 10% or so over the next year to increase my protection against a substantial price drop. To be honest, though, as long as IRs stay under 3%, I don't think gold holders have much to worry about. Silver is different. I'm holding all my Ag for the long term as a gamble.

Seems a bit early to me. The legions of high street buyers still outnumber sellers massively. I have started selling a small amount and intend to sell a little more over the next year or two but I'll still have the bulk of my metal. The good news is that you don't have to sell all at once so perhaps just start by selling a little and see how you feel after another few months? http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/newsblog/2011/02/blog-some-good-reasons-to-buy-gold-32460.php

+1

That sounds a bit irritating. I know it's not much use but it's best not to get too emotionally attached to any property until the sale is definite. Perhaps in a few years time you'll be able to drop by and thank them for saving you if we have a proper HPC?

Well said but unfortunately the way this law is being implemented by the English police is simply bonkers. I'd love to see what would happen if squatters broke into a senior policeman's house.

Sorry, this is a bit of fluff but it made me smile. http://dilbert.com/2010-10-17/ On a slightly more serious note, I noticed that one of the local dry cleaners has started advertising that it has branched out into ... buying gold; that's the truth; not joking this time.

If you have a large % of your money tied up in PMs, selling a little (say 10-20%) while prices are relatively high is a good insurance policy against a trend change. I am still bullish about PMs but I've been wrong before ...

Copper is an industrial metal only. Considering the overall global economic situation, I'd place more money on copper dropping than rising in the short term. Silver seems much simpler and more promising. And where do you expect to sell copper rounds? (eBay does not count for me.) Normski's comment is also interesting. I also received the email; I wasn't interested.

I sold about £1400 of gold to them not long ago. The money was in my bank next day - a very slick service with no problems. The only thing you must bear in mind with HGM is that they don't care about numismatic considerations so if you buy coins, it's pot luck whether you get nice good condition or heavily worn goods.

Here's the LBMA metal prices prediction for 2011: http://www.lbma.org.uk/pages/news_downloads/LBMA%20Press%20Release%202011%20Forecast%20201101071.pdf It's not bad but anybody thinking that gold will 'go to the moon' should perhaps lower their expectations. The reason I've posted this is that Chard think the LBMA are one of the best forecasters out there with an excellent track record in recent years. http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/2010lbmagoldforecasts.html

Hi RealistBear, I will respond to a few of your points. "I don't understand gold, because I can't value it. The vast majority of it merely sits in vaults. We don't even actually know how much gold is real and how much is electronic. There have been some disturbing committees in the US about this issue." I agree that finding a basis to value gold is hard - all the gold buyer can do is look at the macroeconomic stiuation and compare with history books. Of course, in a real emergency, physical gold has always been an excellent store of wealth. "Since you don't have a clue what it's worth, you don't know when you're selling at a good price and you'll always be worried it's going to fall. By buying gold, you're buying more worry." Some truth in that but refer back to the macroeconomics and history books. Personally, I made my first sale recently (expensive new year) and will probably sell about 10-20% more this year to start locking in profits and giving myself a bit of a buffer against the next price slump. So there's one approach - slowly sell as the price rises. "One of the major reasons for this is the costs. If you're not careful you can pay up to 25% when you buy and when you sell" Totally absurd. Anybody who does a bit of basic research will get a spread of 6% using highly reputable dealers. "Presumably you're not thinking to keep your gold when the price falls down again after the fear recedes. You're expecting to trade your gold quickly, perhaps just months or a few years from now." As I said earlier, I plan to sell little by little over the next few years - obviously, I expect the long trend to be upwards. P.S. Tesco are not planning to sell gold - they're planning to buy it i.e. a big bull is about to enter the market. http://www.retail-jeweller.com/news/tesco-enters-cash-for-gold-market/5020820.article

Step back and take a look at the bigger picture. It's only a big drop if you're trying to trade gold in the short term. Perhaps this is it and the gold bull run is finally over but it should be clear from the 5 year graph that there have been nasty downward lurches in the past. Note that the chart is not quite right. Gold in GBP is about 846 not 856. That's just a consequence of the irritating way Kitco do their charts. Also, I think it can happen that if the stock market drops that can cause some gold selling to cover equity trades that have gone wrong. P.S. I wouldn't pay much attention to that 'shoot to moon' phase talk either - just wishful thinking IMHO.

Just keep on making predictions. Gold will crash at $1500 Erh I meant gold will crash at $1600 Definitely $1700 ... You'll have your day. Some day.