Eduards

Some Latvian history 83% silver https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6595.html

Some Latvian history 83% silver https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6595.html

YET! 🤫 😉 👍

Some Latvian history 83% silver https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6595.html

it is a historical national hero of Latvia i think , but the poster from latvia could easily answer this

It can't be, she must be dead by now, she was minted in 1932

You are right! She is on 1 and 2 euro coins.

if not mistaken it s the same woman we can see on the back of the 2euro coins ?

Some Latvian history 83% silver https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6595.html

They are a beautiful looking coin, I have been watching quite a few of them in auctions recently.

Some Latvian history 83% silver https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6595.html

Personally I don’t know anyone else who collects gold so I’m interested to learn how other people got started, their motivations and what it means to them. What’s your story?

I'll start with my own.


 
My initial fascination with gold started when I was a kid. Like many households we always had an Argos or Index catalogue lying around that I would flick through when I was bored. As you would expect I spent a lot of time looking at all the toys but it was the jewellery section that really caught my eye. I liked all the birthstones and gems but my favourite pages were near the end of the jewellery section, it was all the gold chains. I used to sit and stare at the weights, purity and price of them for a reason I can’t fathom even to this day. The first piece of gold ever bought for me was by my mother when I got my ear pierced. I got a 9ct gold stud and hoop. A few years later after a fair amount of begging at shop windows she bought me a half sovereign ring and my brother a full sovereign. They were either lost or sold I guess and my gold story goes cold for a decade.

The financial crisis and great recession was my induction into the world of economics. I remember watching the TV as the queues formed outside Northern Rock and then like dominos the banks started to collapse. The government started QE and the bailouts commenced. What caused it? Where did this money come from? Who was going to pay it back? Pandora’s Box was open and my studies began. All the cash for gold shops appeared on the high street as the price took off - gold was more than just jewellery - gold shone bright once again. I seriously considered buying my first gold during this period but never followed through although my faith in the financial system was gone never to return. In the following years new terms and trends emerged. Help to buy, 0% finance, balance transfer credit cards, PCP car loans, early pension drawdowns and negative interest rates. I reasoned this was totally unsustainable, can only end in pain and it was time to prepare. I cleared all my debts then began living well within my means and saving in earnest. I knew what I had to do.

I bought my first gold from the Royal Mint. Three and a half ounces of pure gold were delivered by post the next day. When I opened the parcel and held the coins in my hands I was taken aback by the density, the purity, the colour. It was outside the financial system, untaxable, free from manipulation. It was perfect. It was that day I became a goldbug.

I’ve accumulated more incrementally and now it amounts to around half of my total assets. I’ve learned more about golds history as money and its universal appeal across ages and continents. I still don’t fully understand our love of gold which seems irrational but so is much of what we do. Gold is many things to many people but I view gold as the perfect way to store time. Immutable from government policy and excess in perfect parallel to its physical properties. I don’t care too much about price fluctuations because in the long run I’m as certain as I can be that gold will serve that purpose. During times like these it brings me comfort to know that I own gold and I’m sure I always will.