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Investing in Silver

Ten Reasons Gold Is Not Above $1,000
By Gold & Silver Blog

Gold reached its all time high price above $1,000 per ounce a few days after the shocking Bear Stearns bailout. In the following months gold often experienced sharp declines and has stubbornly refused to reattain the key $1,000 level despite more shocking bailouts, bank failures, and bankruptcies.

Most new collectors make mistakes when they begin to assemble a collection of coins. Some of these are easily avoidable; others require a “heads up” from an expert. Here are some of the mistakes we see made most often and some practical suggestions on how to avoid them.

Ignoring inflation, gold prices last week reached their all-time highest levels as measured in Australian dollars, British pounds, Canadian dollars, Indian rupees and South African rand.

In India, the world's largest gold consuming nation, the price of gold in rupees is now more than five times higher than it was in the January 1980 peak. In South African rand, the gold price is more than 10 times what it was in January 1980.

Silver bullion is bought and sold in various forms for a multitude of reasons including investment, collecting, diversifying assets or as a hedge against inflation.

What form of silver bullion to buy is a common question among those thinking about acquiring quantities of the metal.

There have been reports of the coin market continues to grow as the economy is falling. One measure is the PCGS3000 index that is based on a sample of 3,000 coins. Looking at the graph (see the right side of the page), the trend (blue) line continues upward. In fact, there is no downward place on the line. A trend graph would give an indication that the market is very hot and trending upward. But is that the case for the entire market?

Economic times are cyclical. And while they are cyclical, when one thing is up, usually something is down. When the dollar drops in value, and the economy goes into recession, typically, stocks and the stock market can drop. This is usually followed by precious metals increasing in value. People turn to these investment vehicles as a hedge. The other thing that investors do is use gold as a part of a balanced portfolio.

According to history, King Croesus of Lydia was the one who introduced gold coins around 643-630 B.C. A pale yellow mixture of gold and silver called the electrum was a natural resource in Lydia. As people did not know how to separate these two metals, the first gold coins were a mixture of gold and silver.

Why are gold coins better then gold bullion?

1. Gold coins can appreciate at a faster rate then gold bullion.

2. Gold coins are exempt from confiscation by the U.S. government.

Coin collecting was started only as a hobby for most people, however you can hear what other people say (or you probably have heard yourself) about news of people cashing in on their old coin; and that encouraged more people to go on a coin-collecting streak. If you are one of those people who want to invest in coins, here are several places to start your collection.

Political favoritism, incompetence, corporate greed — phrases right out of news headlines regarding the current financial crisis. It would be easy to believe that the present situation is unique, unprecedented in our history, but that is likely not true. From 1893 to roughly the end of the century there was another crisis in the American economy.