There is Still Time to Sell Gold and Silver

As of the writing of this article at the beginning of 2021, gold is creeping back up to $1,850 USD/oz and silver is meandering around $24.80/oz. However, to really get a good feeling about what this means, in 2016 when the markets worldwide returned to some stability, gold was at $1,100/oz. And its silver cousin was demanding a peak of $49/oz. What a flip-flop things have been since.

Of course, anyone seriously thinking of selling anything with these two precious metals now is probably wondering if it is worth the trouble. Is gold peaked out and ready to drop, and is silver just troughing and ready to keep going into the basement at this rate? Both are good arguments or assumptions given the trend of pricing the last year or two.

What the Markets Have Actually Done

On the gold side, one could argue safely that gold seems to be hitting a ceiling with $1,900/oz and will likely keep losing steam each time it tries to run up. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the public markets in stocks continue to keep sucking money back in as stocks continue to rise in worldwide markets. Unlike what people thought would happen in March 2020, stock markets have regained their strength and are steaming forward again with very healthy returns. Secondly, the crypto currency markets have taken off, sucking in tremendous money in the last months of 2020 as well. For example, just before Christmas 2020 the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies combined was about $750 billion USD. By New Year’s that can shot up $200 billion, and close to mid-January 2021 it is currently at dropping from $1.1 trillion back to $930 billion again. An incredible amount of money has in the short term been taken off the table by these two factors, drawing from the financial speculative demand for gold. That said, neither is necessarily a permanent draw.

Don’t Assume Things Stay the Same

Time and again, instability in the market has driven people and investors to run to precious metals for safety. The “safe harbor” hedge effect of gold in particular has been a repeat savior when markets start to drop dramatically and people want to hold onto value that they’ve been able to build over the years. Even silver, with a far lower price point at the best of times, has been a bastion for value preservation.

Remember, Timing the Market is Essentially Guessing

For those who are seeking the right time to sell gold and silver, a lot depends on when it was bought and why. First off, if the precious metal in jewellery or coin form or similar was bought for investment, there’s a very good possibility gold is at its peak point for a while and might retract a bit to $1,700 repeatedly in 2021. A bull run for gold will take a significant amount of demand to push it higher, and that will take a serious instability even to occur (not that something related doesn’t have the potential given the craziness in the United States capitol the first week of January this year).

On the silver side, however, the price of the silver metal has been depressed for a bit and definitely has a lot of room to rise in the new year. Given its historical peak and where silver is right now, the value could easily continue to increase with a bull run in the future. The increase potential is easily anywhere between a 20 to 60 percent gain and $35 to $40/oz seems very reasonable if support for silver builds again.

For those who’ve had precious metal coins, items, and jewellery for quite a while, gold probably still offers a significant opportunity for value gain if liquidated right now in 2021. The steady increase in gold value has risen considerably, easily close to 65 percent since 2011, which means many items like bullion are well over their price point when bought or acquired years ago. However, silver items likely have lost value versus where they were 10 years ago. Unless the items were acquired for free or with inheritance, silver may be better to hold onto a bit longer for the increase to kick in within the new year, which is very likely over 12 to 24 months. That potential increase could be considerable if a silver run kicks in again.

There is no perfect solution that works as a cookie-cutter recommendation for everyone with gold and silver to potentially sell. Every personal situation is case by case scenario given where a person is in time, how long they’ve had their precious metals with them, and when cash is needed or desired from the liquidation in question. However, when it is really time to sell, one of the best things one can do is to work with a well-established, respectable gold and silver buyer. There are plenty of options and choices in finding buyers in general but finding a good one is another story altogether. And it can make a huge difference in what one is actually paid for their precious metal items, as much as a 50 percent variation in many cases.

When It’s Time to Sell, Choose the Right Service

Whether it’s a well-intentioned Christmas gift that turned out to be the wrong idea on a practical level, gold or silver that’s been inherited from relatives over the years and sitting in homes or personal safes, or coins that you’ve collected for investment purposes over the years, Gold Smart is your best New Zealand resource for selling and liquidating precious metals for the best, fair prices possible. For every consumer looking to sell our teams will go through each item and evaluate its recycle price with the best value possible. We’re not interested in a quick sale advantage; Gold Smart makes its solid reputation by taking care of its customers for a long-term relationship, no matter if it’s a small account or a large one. Everyone is important to us.

A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placers. Nuggets are recovered by placer mining, but they are also found in residual deposits where the gold-bearing veins or lodes are weathered. Nuggets are also found in the tailings piles of previous mining operations, especially those left by gold mining dredges.

Formation

Nuggets are gold fragments weathered out of an original lode. They often show signs of abrasive polishing by stream action, and sometimes still contain inclusions of quartz or other lode matrix material. A 2007 study on Australian nuggets ruled out speculative theories of supergene formation via in-situ precipitation, cold welding of smaller particles, or bacterial concentration, since crystal structures of all of the nuggets examined proved they were originally formed at high temperature deep underground (i.e., they were of hypogene origin). Other precious metals such as platinum form nuggets in the same way.

Composition

Nuggets are usually 20K to 22K purity (83% to 92%). Gold nuggets in Australia often are 23K or slightly higher, while Alaskan nuggets are usually at the lower end of the spectrum. Purity can be roughly assessed by the nugget colour, the richer and deeper the orange-yellow the higher the gold content. Nuggets are also referred to by their fineness; for example “865 fine” means the nugget is 865 parts per thousand in gold. The common impurities are silver and copper. Nuggets high in silver content constitute the alloy electrum.

Largest specimens

The largest gold nugget found was the Welcome Stranger, found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. It weighed gross, over 2,520 troy ounces (78 kg) and returned over 2,284 troy ounces (71.0 kg) net.[5] It eclipsed the Welcome Nugget found eleven years earlier in Ballarat.

The largest gold nugget found using a metal detector is the Hand of Faith, weighing 875 troy ounces (27 kg), found in Kingower, Victoria, Australia in 1980.

Historic large specimens include the crystalline “Fricot Nugget”, weighing 201 troy ounces (6.25 kg) — the largest one found during the California Gold Rush. It is on display at the California State Mining and Mineral Museum.

Gold nuggets are rare, even a small one can be worth double or more the current gold price.

Original Source: Wikipedia

With Christmas fast approaching, many of us have already started making plans for the holidays – where to go, what to do, how to organise gifts for everyone, and so on…

It can be an exciting time; a time of sharing, gatherings with family and friends, but at the same time it can be quite costly if not planned well in advance. Check out an article we wrote about how to create a Christmas spending plan to save money – a helpful article for those looking to make the most out of their budget this festive season.

With the highs in silver prices, one way to earn extra money for Xmas is by selling your silver pieces; whether you have jewellery, cutlery, bullion, or coins, Gold Smart will buy any solid silver from you.

Many of our customers are surprised with the amount they make – especially from their silver cutlery. If you are not using it anymore, and tired of keeping it polished, you can profit well by selling it to Gold Smart. We buy silver based on its content, therefore the heavier the item the more you will make.

Make an appointment with us today and you might be surprised with how much you can earn from your silver items. For your convenience, we are available anytime by appointment, perfect for those with busy schedules.

This precious metal came to life in the same fashion as all other chemical elements – nuclear fusion.

In the period of formation of the solar system, 15 billion years ago, the nuclei of hydrogen and helium atoms, the simplest elements, combined with high temperatures, gave rise to more complex elements, such as gold. On Earth, formed 4.5 billion years ago, the gold appeared in the form of atoms housed in the structure of other minerals – but the amount is very small. To have an idea, in the terrestrial crust – the outermost layer of the planet – in every billion atoms, only five atoms are gold.

Gold nuggets (naturally occurring pieces of native gold) appeared millions of years ago, created by the action of geological processes that changed the face of the land surface, such as volcanoes and erosion.

Today gold can be found and extracted both from underground mines – up to 1.5 kilometres deep – to open mines – where the metal is removed only 50 metres from the surface – or even at a riverbed.

When a rock containing gold is found, it must be chemically treated to separate the mineral from other elements. In the fields, the concentration of gold is only a few grams per tonne extracted – No wonder that world production is small: about 2500 tons per year.

To find new gold deposits, geologists need an arsenal of information: First, satellite images show on the field geological faults or the presence of certain minerals and rocks that indicate the occurrence of a gold deposit. Then you need to make a geological mapping of the region, collecting rock samples, soil and sediment to examine areas which may have the metal.

If there is any certainty, it is time to drill the ground. Then, a good dose of luck also helps 🙂

About a month ago we reported on our blog that it’s a great time to sell silver. This is still true today. Prices have been at these new high levels for some time now and nobody knows for sure whether this trend will continue or not.

The silver price can indeed fluctuate, sometimes at a much faster pace than gold, though historically it is high overall.

We have many customers having a Spring cleanout of the shed or attic, and it is surprising what silver treasures they can find…sterling silver cutlery, cups, bars, old jewellery…the list goes on.

Regardless of the reasons you might have to sell your silver, whether you wish to replace old items with new, or you want to travel with the money you make by selling it, paying off old debts or just invest into your savings account, selling at today’s rates could free up some much wanted funds.

It has been quite an exciting few weeks for the gold markets. We saw prices jumping within days of the announcement from the US Federal Reserve on their fiscal policy. Gold has reached the highest price in almost 7 months, making now a GREAT time to sell.

As well as gold, silver has also gone up more than 6% – it’s already almost 16% higher than in January.

If you have any unwanted, broken, forgotten or outdated pieces of gold and/or silver, selling now could be a great opportunity to get more money for your items.

We at Gold Smart buy your jewellery or any other gold/silver prices based on their weight, carat and international prices. With prices this high, there will be more money for you when selling to us, giving you the opportunity to shop more, travel more, pay more bills or simply invest the extra money into your savings, so why wait?

Call us toll free at 0800 465 376 and get that extra cash you were looking for today!

Silver has been going gangbusters in 2021, partially due to a sudden jam up of the metal’s price in February without any logical association to supply and demand. Similar to what happened with gold bullion demands in March 2020 due to pandemic panic and markets suddenly dropping, silver has gone through the roof in an illogical manner after years of meandering at under $20 a Troy ounce.

To the layperson, the argument could be easily made that February 2021 flagged the key return of silver as a viable investment, that the “other” precious metal was finally committing to a bull run. The first spike that just happened in August 2020 might have been a fluke, but another spike came back at the end of January 2021. Now, in mid-February, the angle continues to be moving upward even at a gradual incline, and that seems to be signaling, finally, a rise in the price of silver.

Don’t Base Timing on Fads and Panic Bubbles

The recent jump of silver at the end of January came and went, but it’s important to understand where it might have come from. Reddit is an online forum that allows users to post all kinds of information in specific topic channels for similar discussion. Reddit investors by the thousands were accused of acting in coordination to pump up various investments to make institutional investors suffer on short positions and lose money. That Wall Street institution placed stock market bets that given company stocks would continue to lose money, thereby making investment profit off of that business’ struggle. The bets were so heavy, they were noticed as a vulnerability by a number of individual investors chattering away on social media forums, most notably Reddit. Known as a “viral effect” on the Internet, the actions of a few snow-balled and became the individual investment actions of many. Due to the pumping, the same Reddit investors started to make incredible gains and quick profits from the combined behavior. That, in turn, drew more individual investors which grew exponentially. The big market players with the shorts, however, suddenly found themselves in bad situations with the very stocks they expected to drop rising astronomically. The company, Game Stop (GME), was the most vivid example but not the only one. Blackberry and others were also caught up in the activity, and by February 2021 silver seemed to become the latest stock-trading battleground. The Reddit community currently denies silver was on their radar, but the instability of American stock-trading activity essentially means anyone could be making moves with the apparent vulnerability to trading manipulation.

By the first week of February 2021 silver rapidly moved up from $20 to $29.50, and for many settling into at least a 13 percent increase on silver futures as well. Whether the Reddit group or institutional traders are responsible, one thing is certain: the current 2021 rise in silver is absolutely associated with rapid speculation trading and has nothing to do with supply and demand for the precious metal. As expected, the January silver bubble came back down, and the precious metal is now back in its normal range of about $25-26 per ounce.

This would leave one to conclude that the timing for silver to sell at a peak has passed. However, if one actually charts the price behavior going on right now back to the beginning of January 10, the trend is still maintaining a low-grade increase. This is not the kind of the spike behavior that one can expect to see big price gains in a sale, but patience could pay off if the trend continues through the year to keep on a slight but upward path.

Performance Expectations

For the analyst who watches the numbers carefully, silver tends to outpace even gold. Unit to unit, silver doubles its value during a rise where gold may only have a percentage increase. Gold seems like it is worth more in gain because per unit it has a much higher price point. That big number makes the eyes water like Bitcoin is doing with the cryptocurrencies right now in the high $30,000s. But when silver rises big, it practically doubles its worth. If one takes the same amount of money invested in silver versus that invested in gold, he or she would have an increase of 904% gain in silver from 2001 to 2011, and only a 636% gain in gold in the same 10 years. Do the math; which one puts more in the bank when sold and cashed out?

However, as things go up, silver falls rapidly too, and with just as much of a loss as it has again. And that’s evident in the numbers. Silver historically also lost more in value than gold when it dropped. The bottom line for speculation then is that silver has to be handled more carefully. Short-term players can make a profit, but they can also lose their shirts too.

The same issues driving silver up in 2020 still exist. High demand for economic safety and investment diversity woke up a sleeping giant, and silver supplies have not yet matched demand. Given the slim prospects for silver supply becoming available anytime soon, many experts continue to project the only direction silver can go in is upward, at least for the rest of 2021. Coupled with the supply shortage is the continued question of what is happening with the economy moving forward and the fear that overall markets being at the top of a bubble waiting to pop. Add to the inherent economic instability risk recent changeovers in global political leadership in major powers. All of these factors are pushing for an increase in safe harbors from the spiraling of markets everyone saw in March 2020. Some still even remember the bubble of 2009 and how painful that crash was too only 11 years ago.

The Critical Answer – Timing Expectations for 2021

So, after going through all the homework above, the bottom line is, the beginning of 2021 is a good time to sell silver if people have a lot of it and bought that bullion or items back in the last decade. This would be the case for a lot of folks as there was a big silver spike in 2011 and many found themselves stuck with the metal after the prices collapsed notably. However, to the extent that people bought silver just in the last few years, the current trend would indicate patience to see if silver continues its gradual increase throughout the rest of the year. Otherwise, one might end up just breaking even or losing a margin between recycling pricing versus spot pricing, travel, and other miscellaneous costs to sell.

For those who are thinking about selling their silver now or later in the year, Gold Smart can help both. Because we operate both as a buyer as well as a consolidator, Gold Smart can easily take in new silver lots for sale, small or large, as well as provide some of the best pricing for recycled silver being sold based on current pricing positions. Whether 2021 is your time to sell your silver, or you just want more information about what’s possible, Gold Smart can help. Give us a call to set an appointment or email us today!

We all want to live a long life, one where we are fit, strong and healthy. This can indeed be a reality if we are up to the planning and work required. Staying active is so important for longevity. This doesn’t necessarily mean working out for hours a day at gym. It’s getting off the couch and going for a brisk walk, bike ride or taking a swim in the ocean, lake or nearby pool. It’s taking the stairs rather than the lift and moving your body at every opportunity. It’s the movement along with good eating habits that will keep your body working as it should and not collecting unwanted weight.

Whilst you may not be running marathons into your seventies and eighties, you can make the most of your life by working on your relationships, always having something to look forward to, being grateful for what you have, and doing good deeds for others.

You know the day will come when it is your turn to retire. This time in life is supposed to be the best time and for good reason. You have worked hard in your career, raised your children and seen them through their academic years and now it is your time. Retirement is a great time for you to get know yourself and your partner again. This can be an eventful time in your life where you might embark on that travelling you have been talking about for years or just spend some quiet time with a hobby.

For those needing some extra money, selling some of your gold jewellery is a very profitable and fast way to get those funds you need to fuel your new projects and pursuits. You can get in touch with Gold Smart and count on a professional and friendly team of gold buyers. Have confidence that you are dealing with knowledgeable, licensed and professional gold buyers, so you will not be charged any hidden fees and you are never obligated to sell.

Remember that the most important part of your retirement is your health. Without it you’d be unable to do what you want or go where you want. So why not begin today to take care of yourself and that means eating better and getting plenty of exercise? You will be surprised how much better you will feel about your life and those around you. 🙂