Gold coin demand rises
Despite poor economic news in China, a debt crisis in Puerto Rico and turmoil between Greece and its creditors, the price of gold keeps coming down. It fell from $1,199.90…
Despite poor economic news in China, a debt crisis in Puerto Rico and turmoil between Greece and its creditors, the price of gold keeps coming down. It fell from $1,199.90 on June 1 to $1,168 on July 1.
“Every day, it seems the price comes down $2 to $3,” said Julian Jarvis, owner of Julian Jarvis Rare Coins. “I can’t explain it. Although it seems silly to sell at these prices, I have to do so.”
He said his business, located in Greencastle, Ind., has seen plenty of customers come in for large amounts of gold.
“I’ve had people call me up asking about gold,” he said. “I had one guy ask to buy 50 ounces of gold but ended up buying 40 ounces.”
It hasn’t been too difficult to find people selling gold either, he said.
“There’s gold on the market and plenty to sell,” Jarvis said. “Investors aren’t the ones selling though. It’s people hard up for cash and as part of estate holdings. I’ve had two estates sell gold to me these past two weeks, one with 50 troy ounces of gold.”
The primary seller of gold bullion, the U.S. Mint, has also seen increased sales of gold bullion. It reported July 1 that sales of gold bullion coins in June were the best since January, a month known for high sales as buyers want the newest bullion coins.
In June, Authorized Purchasers ordered 76,000 ounces in
gold American Eagles and 21,000 ounces in gold American Buffaloes compared to 81,000 ounces in gold Eagles and 34,500 ounces in gold Buffaloes in January.
Harry Miller, owner of Miller’s Mint, Patchogue, N.Y., said the high sales totals from the Mint don’t surprise him because he has also seen increased gold bullion sales. What does surprise him is the falling price.
“It baffles me why it’s not going higher,” he said. “There is good demand, but the electronic market’s price is still going down.
“I suspect there is some market manipulation by the big banks and central banks. It worries me how people are not noticing this.”
Whatever the cause, some buyers in June were taking advantage of the falling prices.
This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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