BullionBuyer

It makes you wonder how much gold is held in private hands in countries like China and India. 

It makes you wonder how much gold is held in private hands in countries like China and India. 

Go tax efficient SIPP / ISA etc and then select some investments that you can put into these 'wrappers'.  Top tip from me is to treat VCT or EIS vehicles with the most extreme caution.  They are attractive because of the tax breaks but I know a number of people who have lost everything though their investments.
Personally, I go go for Dividend Stocks, and funds that I think are good for the time in the economic cycle.  
Cheers
Dicker

One thing I have learnt on this forum is that we're a bunch of great guys! Girls , collecting to better ourselves or our families future it's as simple as that 
Whatever your coin choices are you own gold, silver etc we are privileged compared to 99%, of the country who will never be in this position 
Stack high, stack strong, stack proofs, stack turds as long as you are stacking your winning 
 
 

"If you don't understand gold then you don't understand money" (JP Morgan????)

I've used BBP on numerous occasions and never had a problem. Great customer service.

I would be tempted to go for a CGT exempt coin - 1oz Britannia 

Most of my gold collection, excluding silver,  platinum, and numismatic...
 

Gold and Silver lovers (indirect reference to bitcoin), watch this - very, very funny!  🤣
 
 

My top Seven coins from my collection 
1.  1937 King George VI 5 Pound Sovereign
2.  2017 Onza Libertad Proof
3.  2017 Pistrucci 200th Anniversary Bu SOTD Sovereign
4.  1911 King George V Silver Proof Florin
5.  1989 Proof 5 Pound 500th Anniversary Sovereign 
6.  2005 Proof 5 Pound Sovereign Timothy Noad Design 
7.  1974 Isle of Man Proof 5 Pound Sovereign 

The 2013 Gold Britannia is an interesting coin.
The 2012 was the last year they did Gold Britannia in 22ct and had dimensions of 32.69mm
In contrast the 2013 Gold Britannia was the first one in fine (999) gold but were larger 38.61mm but thinner 1.58mm
In 2014 the coin returned to 32.69mm like the 22ct but in 999 gold. 
it therefore has the curious value of being the largest (width anyway) 1oz Britannia made.
 

A look back at 2020

Important Stats

In 2020 TSF grew 62% faster than the growth in 2019  
In 2020 there were 13,736 forum topics started on the forum vs 8430 new topics in 2019. This means that counting the new topics only, in 2020 there was over 62.94% increase in growth rate than in 2019. Similarly there were 118,321 posts on the forum in 2020 vs 73,024 new posts in 2019. This is over 62% increase in post volume growth when comparing the growth in 2020 and the growth in 2019.
This large increase in growth rate is in part due to the paid advertising promotions that we ran during 2020 as well as all of the TSF members who recommended TSF to other friends and like minded people and to those Premium Members who are helping to promote TSF with their eBay sales. Thank you to everyone who mentioned TSF to another person and helped to grow TSF. The more members that TSF has the more helpful knowledge is shared between helpful members. The more members the more deals that can be found in the forum’s trade section. Many members have benefited from selling large quantities of precious metals on the forum and in some cases thousands and thousands of ounces all with 0% commission. Thank you to all those who chose to buy and sell on the forum and to every member who decided to upgrade their membership to Premium Membership to help to support TSF to grow. The larger the forum grows the more deals that we can do with precious metals dealers in terms of offers and discounts for members who support the forum.

In 2020 we launched the Platinum Offers from selected dealers program, offering Platinum Premium Members discounts on purchases from selected dealers. This is a new benefit that did not exist before. We also added a Platinum PLUS Premium Membership offer as several members had contacted the forum to ask if they could support TSF further, Platinum PLUS builds on the offers in the Platinum Offers, with increased value of the offers. An extra special thank you to Platinum PLUS and Platinum Premium Members. We hope to increase the dealers in this program as the forum grows, adding more offers. All offers or discount codes that TSF secure, are passed on in full to members as TSF supports itself from Premium Membership purchases. We can proudly say that we do not take any commissions from dealers or auction houses on the forum and can therefore provide members with a fair and unbiased platform for members to discuss different dealers and offers they find in the precious metals industry. If TSF decide to do any affiliate offers in the future to help to support the forum, we will clearly state this at the time so it is transparent for members and they are aware that TSF receive a commission from such links. This is why Premium Membership is important to the long term survival and growth of the forum, as we currently make no commission from any dealers that members choose to purchase from. 

In 2020 there were 6575 new member registrations, vs 2364 in 2019. This means that our growth rate of new members increased by 178% in 2020 vs the growth in 2019.

Based on the above statistics we therefore believe that TSF is likely the fastest growing precious metals community on the internet, as well as one of the longest well established precious metals forums that exist. TSF started in 2014.

Sales section stats & Arshimo's stats
 
Due to the popular rise of graded coins in the UK, TSF introduced a specific separated graded coin section on the forum.
In 2020 there were 7969 trade listings, including all graded and ungraded listings (excluding non PM items) note that this figure also includes wanted adds, but also to note that the vast majority of ‘for sales’ listings include multiple items for sale from the seller in a single listing.

In 2019 the trade section figure for the above was 3770. You can therefore see the large increase in trade on the forum in only a one year period.

Arshimo, listed 171 listings in his Official Sponsorship section in 2020 where many Premium Members managed to secure deals from him. Arshimo is also in the Platinum Offers from selected Dealers programme, thank you for offering the top tier members who decide to support TSF the most with additional discounts on your deals.

Members choosing to buy and sell on the forum is one of the reasons why some members choose to optionally upgrade to Premium Membership. Premium Members can see trade listings, as well as Arshimo’s deals 3 days earlier, so all of the good deals are likely to go in this period to Premium Members. Members who support TSF therefore have a better chance at getting the deals. We have however maintained a free option and even FREE standard members are able to buy items as well as list 1 trade listing per 30days (with no limit on the amount of items listed for sale per listing) We thank those who choose to buy and sell on TSF as well as a special thank you to those who decide to upgrade to Premium Membership.

New Official Sponsors & Dealers who joined in 2020

@BackyardBullion who TSF have sponsored for many years became an Official Sponsor sponsor of TSF in 2020. You can see his section here. 

@ilovesilverireallydo trading as Bargain Numismatics also became an Official Sponsor, and we also invite you to check his items for sale in his Official Sponsor section here.  

@artincoins in Canada, who specialises in Luxury Numismatics and art piece also started their dealer sub section and joined the Platinum Offers programme. 

Along with @SVcollector in Greece, who became an Official Sponsor and also who joined the Platinum Offers program, please see his forum section here.

@PowerCoin in Italy, also joined the forum, from a recommendation from a helpful member and customer of theirs, they then became an Official Sponsor, and their section is here. 

Chards also started offering offers for Platinum members and are also an Official Sponsor, thank you to @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer and also to @LawrenceChard for your helpful contributions on the forum.

@TheCoinCabinet became an Official Sponsor of the forum, their section can be found here.

@CoinsOfTheRealmAuctions joined TSF as an Official Sponsor and we started a partnership to offer members an NGC grading service, with an optional TSF branded label, they are also offering some fantastic discounts for Premium Members on selling at their auctions, as well as discount vouchers for auction purchases. 

There were also many other new Dealers on the forum in 2020 including @InvestInCoins888, @Coincollectingenterprises, @BullionExchanges (please see their forum sub sections here)

For a full list of all Official Sponsors and Dealer sub sections please see here.


Continued partnership with BackyardBullion

Many thanks to @BackyardBullion who produces the TSF branded hand poured items. Despite a world-wide pandemic that halted the network of many if not all industries, with all precious metals mints stopping production for some time and large backlogs. BYB still managed to produce all of the planned 2020 TSF items and get them out to members. These hand poured items are produced with such a high level of quality and thought and we could not have asked for a better hand poured artist to have partnered with.

The final statistics for the 2020 TSF branded and poured items were:

200x 1 oz TSF rounds
150x 100g TSF bars
60x 3oz TSF rounds
25x 5oz hammered rounds

TSF also commissioned a special 10oz silver bar from BYB to celebrate when we hit 10,000 forum members. This was given away in a prize draw for Premium Members and @adamthetaller was the luckily winner. We also had a special 1oz 10,000 round commissioned by BYB which was given away in a prize draw open to all members including free standard members, and won by @UnoWho.


Prize Draws & Competitions

In 2020 there were 42 Prize Draws listed on our Prize Draw section of the forum, some draws containing multiple 1oz coins, and some of the listings were for larger silver prizes including some silver 5oz bars. These Prize Draws were in addition to all of the competitions and trade incentives that we organised, some of the competitions even included proof coins as well as some TSF merchandise and even a ½ sovereign PF70 graded coin. @RoslandGold joined as an Official Sponsor and has sponsored a lot of Prize Draws in 2020 and we have some more prizes and competitions planned for 2021.

There were several fun @5huggy DAFT competitions ran to help promote fun and positivity on TSF and we would be delighted to sponsor some more prizes for some 2021 @5huggy DAFT competitions if he is willing to run some  

With all of the Prize Draws and Competitions above that TSF ran, they equate to more than 1 new Prize Draw / Competition per week! 

TSF also ran a 2020 Christmas Prize Draw for members, with everyone who donated a prize being giving a prize from another member. In previous years this was ran by @Bullionbilly, but as he was unable to organise this year, TSF and @trp helped out with the smooth running of the Christmas Prize Draws. TSF provided prizes to cover a member who had to drop out of the Prize Draw, as well as for a duplicate entry and dispatched these prizes to the winners, meaning everyone who entered received a prize. 


Some other 2020 achievements

The Spot Price bar was introduced.

Many new USA members joined the forum, as well as members from different countries worldwide. We have members from over 100 countries. 

We moved the forum to very high end servers with a good global routing network to help better serve the forum’s website across the USA as well as other parts of the world where members are located.

We launched a Compare Gold prices page for Premium Members, with extensive help from @Darr3nG, and our developers. Thank you to @Darr3nG for helping out on this.

Multiple topics, also including some charity auctions were created in relation to helping to donate for charities. And many members decided to help good causes, including auctions that were ran by @Roy for the NHS with many members also helping out.

Two fantastic new Moderators joined the Moderation team, @trp and @Lr103. They have both been a tremendous help to the forum and we thank you for your time that you have put into the forum to keep it running smoothly. Thank you also to all of the existing Moderators, @morezone, @HelpingHands, @HyHy and @barney.

There are lots of other things that happened in 2020, and this topic may not include everything, but a thank you goes out to all of the members.

There are many members who are extremely polite and respectful to other members, and who have added a lot of positivity. Thank you to all of those members  



2021 and the years ahead

TSF are committed to the continual growth and development of The Silver Forum to build and maintain the world’s largest and greatest precious metals forum with the greatest members.

We are planning for 2021 to be even bigger, but we need your help. If you would like to support TSF to grow please consider purchasing Premium Membership. A large portion of the Premium Membership fee goes directly back into paid advertising to help to grow the forum.

An extra special thank you to all of the Premium Members who help to support TSF, without you we would not have been able to achieve all of the things above.
If you would like to help TSF to grow further in 2021 and if you feel that the existence of TSF has been useful for you please consider upgrading your membership today.

Very inspiring @Abyss- congratulations on your achievement.

I don't know of many other things, other than gold,  that can still have a store of value after 2000 years and where the real value of that has been maintained. Surely it is this property that makes gold 'magical' over all other metals.
The USD is a fiat currency that has lost 95% of its real value over the past 100 years or so. Only gold has maintained its real value over this time. 
 

Thought it was interesting to hear Nixon say that the US was temporarily removing the conversion of the USD into Gold. When did this become permanent???? or maybe 48 years and counting is seen as temporary.

Thought it was interesting to hear Nixon say that the US was temporarily removing the conversion of the USD into Gold. When did this become permanent???? or maybe 48 years and counting is seen as temporary.

⚠️ We have been alerted to some suspicious activity  ⚠️

 ⚠️ Warning. Be aware of members asking you to contact them outside of the forum in regards to doing a trade off of the forum ⚠️

If anyone is sent / has been sent a private message in regards to doing a trade outside of the forum, e.g. a member has messaged you asking for your WhatsApp or contact number. Please can you hit the report button on the private messages so that we are then able to look into it (we do not have access to members messages unless they are reported)

We strongly advise members to not communicate with members outside of the forum when doing a deal, and to use the forum private messaging feature which can then be referenced to in the future if needed.

If you have noticed any suspicious activity please can you bring it to our attention by hitting the report button. 

Please do your due diligence when trading on the forum. 

Also see the topic:
 

to me gold is a universal money. if i take say mexico peso's to india no one would take them for trade but if i travel to any country with gold i can get the local currency and be fine. i know some of you will bring up bitcoin but bitcoin is dependent on the internet and in my mind not as good as gold in hand.  jim

I have! 👍

You can exchange gold for any currency in the world at any jewelers/ pawn shop.
Its why pilots used to get a few Sovereigns in their belt in case they crashed behind enemy lines (Iraq war).

Just because we are not on the gold standard does not mean that we cannot price things in gold. Gold is a currency after all - in fact it is THE universal currency - more so than the Dollar. 
I think you are right in that the price of gold will ultimately be driven by the supply and demand of physical gold. Today gold price MAY be manipulated (COMEX market for example or the disclosure of traders who have admitted to manipulating price- can't remember which banks) but ultimately when the SHTF it will be real demand and supply that will determine price. 

The CEO of on of the biggest gold retailers in Europe, Markus Krall from Degussa, said he thinks that he gold price might reach 3000 or 4000 Dollars unless the paper market collapses because of too many delivery demands. Then everything would be possible, for a short time of course. He said the paper market is about 80 times bigger than the physical one this wouldn't be a problem, normally - emphasis on normally.

Just because we are not on the gold standard does not mean that we cannot price things in gold. Gold is a currency after all - in fact it is THE universal currency - more so than the Dollar. 
I think you are right in that the price of gold will ultimately be driven by the supply and demand of physical gold. Today gold price MAY be manipulated (COMEX market for example or the disclosure of traders who have admitted to manipulating price- can't remember which banks) but ultimately when the SHTF it will be real demand and supply that will determine price. 

Jim Richards says that the current true price of gold is nearer to $10k. This is based on the current levels of global debt divided by the money supply and assuming that 40% of the money supply is backed by gold.

Alternatively, pick one from any one of these!!!!!!!
https://www.providentmetals.com/knowledge-center/precious-metals-resources/gold-silver-quotes.html