Valcambi Combi bar. Sales gimmick or does it have uses.

[Bigmarc]

I have no doubt that these are great looking bars but the do demand quiet a hefty premium. I am wondering if anyone has tried breaking these up? Also how easy is it to do? I can imagine if you were to do this then the value of any premium on the bar would disappear. So what is the purpose? I am not planning on doing this, I have just become interested in bar designs and their selling point. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Bigmarc
Photo

[SilverDrum]

They sure do look cool in one of the element wallets, just i can't see what the use is myself. I tried offering the chiropractor gold instead of fiat recently, and got a laugh instead of a deal 😅

 

[modofantasma]

I guess the selling point is for people who want to make a larger purchase but have the flexibility to use smaller denominations if the need arises... Is the premium working out cheaper than say buying 1g bars in bulk?
Personally I'd just by bigger small bars although it is a cool piece 

[Bigmarc]

To buy 50g gold individually it would cost £3000. Definitely cheaper to buy as a combi bar but £100 more expensive as buying 50g. I wonder why other mints don't follow this concept. 

 

 

 

 

[CollectorNo1]

I'd never buy 1g bars....might as well get your fiat and set light to it and flush it down the toilet....just my opinion ..😯

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

13 hours ago, CollectorNo1 said:

I'd never buy 1g bars....might as well get your fiat and set light to it and flush it down the toilet....just my opinion ..😯

Never say never. I picked up some 1g gold bars from CPM last year because they were £1 or £2 over spot price at the time. I very much agree the premium of fractionals normally makes them stupidly overpriced but exceptions come up from time to time.

As for these bars... its a great idea but they are generally silly over priced. I was given a strip of the silver ones some time back and broke them into individuals which was easy to do. Again I think its a great concept and could have its uses but the price point definitely means its more a novely than anything actually useful.

Edit - I thought it worth adding that the RCM did a bullion product a couple years ago called the MapleFlex which was the same principal but the 2oz bar split down into various sized fractionals. I liked this idea more as it provided more flexibility when breaking down the bar but unfortunately like the Valcambi ones it was grossly over priced. I managed to get one for a deal at near spot price but generally they were selling at the time for silly money considering what they were.

Edited August 5, 2021 by AppleZippoandMetronome

[CollectorNo1]

24 minutes ago, AppleZippoandMetronome said:

Never say never. I picked up some 1g gold bars from CPM last year because they were £1 or £2 over spot price at the time. I very much agree the premium of fractionals normally makes them stupidly overpriced but exceptions come up from time to time.

As for these bars... its a great idea but they are generally silly over priced. I was given a strip of the silver ones some time back and broke them into individuals which was easy to do. Again I think its a great concept and could have its uses but the price point definitely means its more a novely than anything actually useful.

Edit - I thought it worth adding that the RCM did a bullion product a couple years ago called the MapleFlex which was the same principal but the 2oz bar split down into various sized fractionals. I liked this idea more as it provided more flexibility when breaking down the bar but unfortunately like the Valcambi ones it was grossly over priced. I managed to get one for a deal at near spot price but generally they were selling at the time for silly money considering what they were.

Getting them for 1 or £2 over spot was a good deal, I would have bought a few 1g's for that price. But at todays spot price for 1g  you are looking upwards of £15 over spot = £1705.00 oz.....😳😳😳😳😳😳

[Bigmarc]

1 hour ago, AppleZippoandMetronome said:

Never say never. I picked up some 1g gold bars from CPM last year because they were £1 or £2 over spot price at the time. I very much agree the premium of fractionals normally makes them stupidly overpriced but exceptions come up from time to time.

As for these bars... its a great idea but they are generally silly over priced. I was given a strip of the silver ones some time back and broke them into individuals which was easy to do. Again I think its a great concept and could have its uses but the price point definitely means its more a novely than anything actually useful.

Edit - I thought it worth adding that the RCM did a bullion product a couple years ago called the MapleFlex which was the same principal but the 2oz bar split down into various sized fractionals. I liked this idea more as it provided more flexibility when breaking down the bar but unfortunately like the Valcambi ones it was grossly over priced. I managed to get one for a deal at near spot price but generally they were selling at the time for silly money considering what they were.

Cheers 

That answers my question. I am surprised it is easy to break up. I do like the concept but seems to be a bit of a novelty.

 

[silenceissilver]

20 hours ago, SilverDrum said:

They sure do look cool in one of the element wallets, just i can't see what the use is myself. I tried offering the chiropractor gold instead of fiat recently, and got a laugh instead of a deal 😅

 

I have offered a Sovereign to my dentist once, when I had a freshly bought Sovereign in my pocket but forgotten to take cash for the dentist, with me. He also declined and just said, just pay at your next visit.

[silenceissilver]

I think it's a useless gimmick, mostly. If you break it down, the premium is out the window. I would only make sense, if you could pay with it. That's also what it is for, in a SHTF scenario.  Let's assume  it happens, for such small values, silver would be more appropriate and more easily accepted, in my opinion. 

[zxtm99]

18 hours ago, silenceissilver said:

If you break it down, the premium is out the window.

Not on eBay! 100x1g complete can be had for about £150 inc. P&P, indeed a very large premium. (6 sold, according to listing)

However, broken down and sold on, folk are paying £3 including 2nd class post (66p). (39 sold, according to listing).

A lot of envelopes to lick, but that's a further £1+/g mark up after postage.

[Bigmarc]

9 minutes ago, zxtm99 said:

Not on eBay! 100x1g complete can be had for about £150 inc. P&P, indeed a very large premium. (6 sold, according to listing)

However, broken down and sold on, folk are paying £3 including 2nd class post (66p). (39 sold, according to listing).

A lot of envelopes to lick, but that's a further £1+/g mark up after postage.

Ohh I like that. Great detective work. 

[greendragon]

35 minutes ago, Bigmarc said:

(6 sold, according to listing)

I do not doubt they did sell this many,However

you can have an ebay listing, for say "woolly socks, 99p", sell a dozen, then change the listing to PM's

it keeps the same item number, watchers and items sold. 

this is usually done to accrue "ranking points" and keeps the item near the top of the page

But can also be done to give an impression that it is a good deal

 

[zxtm99]

3 minutes ago, greendragon said:

I do not doubt they did sell this many,However

you can have an ebay listing, for say "woolly socks, 99p", sell a dozen, then change the listing to PM's

it keeps the same item number, watchers and items sold. 

this is usually done to accrue "ranking points" and keeps the item near the top of the page

But can also be done to give an impression that it is a good deal

 

Thank you - that explains a lot. I have often seen things for silly prices, where it is very easy to get a much better deal, yet eBay reports lots have sold.

[wjarrett]

Unless the ridiculously high premiums come waaaaay down to more reasonable amounts say in the ball park of 1 ounce rounds or bars I will never buy this. Its a great idea just NOT AFFORDABLE.
Anyone who pays the asking price for this is a fool. If they brought these premiums down to a reasonable amount I would buy tons of these things.

[SilverStorm]

If you are visiting a small mining village in Venezuela, you can definitely use the small 1 g gold bar for 2 nights stay at the local hotel! 😆
 

https://financialpost.com/news/economy/in-venezuela-people-break-off-flakes-of-gold-to-pay-for-meals-and-haircuts/wcm/a62ccec5-fb3c-4139-9d62-0c9bf734eba8/amp/

[Roy]

On 04/08/2021 at 13:28, CollectorNo1 said:

I'd never buy 1g bars....might as well get your fiat and set light to it and flush it down the toilet....just my opinion ..😯

You're talking rot again, that's my opinion.

I have a number of these in 1g assay cards and the average cost is @ £42.48 per gram.

Now, look at what these change hands for, there's profit to be made. 10%? 15%? Compare that to an ounce bar.

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Roy

[modofantasma]

On 06/08/2021 at 14:45, zxtm99 said:

Thank you - that explains a lot. I have often seen things for silly prices, where it is very easy to get a much better deal, yet eBay reports lots have sold.

There is a website for Amazon products called camelcamelcamel. You can search the item listings unique code and it will show you the price over time of that specific listing eg if one brings out a new product and to get it off the ground, sells 50 at £9.99 then increases the price to £24.99 all the feedback and sales are true and genuine. If stock was running out and a new delivery was a week away one could increase the price to £49.99 and this website would show it. 

[modofantasma]

Just now, modofantasma said:

There is a website for Amazon products called camelcamelcamel. You can search the item listings unique code and it will show you the price over time of that specific listing eg if one brings out a new product and to get it off the ground, sells 50 at £9.99 then increases the price to £24.99 all the feedback and sales are true and genuine. If stock was running out and a new delivery was a week away one could increase the price to £49.99 and this website would show it. 

'terapeak" is apparently eBay equivalent though I haven't used it personally 

[paulmerton]

What I find funny about these sorts of bars are the people who buy them in preparation for when disaster strikes and the post apocalyptic society breaks down to such an extent that normal money doesn't work any more and you can only buy a loaf of bread by breaking a couple of bits off your silver combibar.

If things really are that bad, there probably won't even be any bread to buy, and even if there is, who would actually accept a couple of small bits of metal that could be made of anything? The vast majority would have no idea what they are, what they're worth, or whether they are genuine.

Trying to pay for anything in a post apocalyptic world by breaking a couple of bits off a combibar seems fraught with danger. A more likely outcome is that you'd get shanked by someone who then steals your whole bar.

But in the meantime, they look cool 😃

[flim]

its better to have hundreds of the flat bars than 1 big size bar 400oz

it is less likely to have salt