'Sultan of Coins': Iranian Police Arrest Man for Hoarding Gold - BBC

[LawrenceChard]

'Sultan of Coins': Iranian Police Arrest Man for Hoarding Gold - BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44710012

I have only just seen this article, after I heard something on BBC Radio News about Iranians hoarding gold.

Iranian police have arrested a man they say hoarded two tonnes of gold coins in order to manipulate the local market.

Tehran police chief Gen Hossein Rahimi said the unnamed 58-year-old had used accomplices to collect an estimated 250,000 coins over the past 10 months.

He dubbed him the "Sultan of Coins".

Iranians have been buying up gold coins since the US abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran in May and said it would reimpose sanctions, triggering a fall in the value of the country's currency.

The impact of Iran sanctions - in charts
Could the Iran deal collapse?
A US dollar was worth about 81,000 rials on the unofficial foreign exchange market on Wednesday, compared with 43,000 rials at the end of 2017.

Two weeks ago, traders at Tehran's Grand Bazaar shuttered their shops and join protests in the capital prompted by the collapse of the rial and rising prices.

Iran's economic problems fuelled similar anti-government demonstrations in provincial cities and towns late December and early January.

Meanwhile I look forward to hearing what today's news snippet was about.

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[daca]

hope your PM feed for spot price isn't 4.5 years old

Edited December 27, 2022 by daca

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, daca said:

hope your PM feed for spot price isn't 4.5 years old

I did say "I have only just seen this article", but I'll let you know in 2026!

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[Tortoise]

1 hour ago, daca said:

hope your PM feed for spot price isn't 4.5 years old

I was curious as to what had hapened to him in the meantime.

I found this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-46206435

Apparently he was hanged.

I am really shocked.

 

[LawrenceChard]

2 hours ago, Tortoise said:

I was curious as to what had hapened to him in the meantime.

I found this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-46206435

Apparently he was hanged.

I am really shocked.

Shocked maybe, but not as surprised as Vahid Mazloumin and his colleague. We often lose sight of the fact that our western society is relatively benign and genteel.

[Solachesis]

Bahar azadi my arse.

[LawrenceChard]

2 hours ago, Solachesis said:

Bahar azadi my arse.

Is this a suggested storage location?

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[Solachesis]

1 minute ago, LawrenceChard said:

Is this a suggested storage location?

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Yes, these coins can take refuge in my spring of freedom

[Silverlocks]

Funny thing is, interest-bearing savings accounts are technically usury under sharia law, and stacking gold is the Quran's prescribed method of holding long-term savings.

[Solachesis]

1 hour ago, Silverlocks said:

Funny thing is, interest-bearing savings accounts are technically usury under sharia law, and stacking gold is the Quran's prescribed method of holding long-term savings.

Market manipulation is not quite the same thing as putting your savings into gold though.

[sovereignsteve]

7 hours ago, Solachesis said:

Market manipulation is not quite the same thing as putting your savings into gold though.

There's a few on here who might get accused of that in Iran😁

[LawrenceChard]

11 hours ago, Silverlocks said:

Funny thing is, interest-bearing savings accounts are technically usury under sharia law, and stacking gold is the Quran's prescribed method of holding long-term savings.

But you are not allowed to make a prophet out if it?

😎

[Solachesis]

8 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

But you are not allowed to make a prophet out if it?

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🤣 But in all seriousness you are of course allowed to make profit, but interest is considered a predatory practice, which benefits the rich and risks spiraling debt in an unfortunate change of circumstances 

[Silverlocks]

24 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

But you are not allowed to make a prophet out if it?

😎

[LawrenceChard]

7 minutes ago, Solachesis said:

🤣 But in all seriousness you are of course allowed to make profit, but interest is considered a predatory practice, which benefits the rich and risks spiraling debt in an unfortunate change of circumstances 

"Prophet" was a pun on "profit", and there is a muslim tradition of not showing people or animals on coins. Islam tends to be iconoclastic, like similar movements in ancient Egypt, Judaism, and Christianity from about the 4th century.

😎

[Silverlocks]

15 minutes ago, Solachesis said:

🤣 But in all seriousness you are of course allowed to make profit, but interest is considered a predatory practice, which benefits the rich and risks spiraling debt in an unfortunate change of circumstances 

 

2 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

"Prophet" was a pun on "profit", and there is a muslim tradition of not showing people or animals on coins. Islam tends to be iconoclastic, like similar movements in ancient Egypt, Judaism, and Christianity from about the 4th century.

😎

The net effect is that stacking gold is big business in Islam heavy countries, and there is a huge market for fractional gold in these places.  Indonesia even goes so far as to have a state owned mining/refining outfit called P.T. Aneka Tambang that produces retail investment gold products for the market.  You also quite often find gold prices regulated in these places as gold is essentially a proxy for certain types of retail banking.

I guess the subject of the original post thought he could corner the market on investment gold, Hunt brothers style.  I have no idea what Iran's domestic gold mining industry looks like, but it's possible that the supply of investment gold could have been severely affected by sanctions, making it possible to corner the market in that way.  In that case it would have been a pretty anti-social thing to do.

 

[Solachesis]

4 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

"Prophet" was a pun on "profit", and there is a muslim tradition of not showing people or animals on coins. Islam tends to be iconoclastic, like similar movements in ancient Egypt, Judaism, and Christianity from about the 4th century.

😎

Yeah it was hard to miss the pun Lawrence 😎 

And yes, people shouldn't be idolised with their photos everywhere like the clerics, nor should shrines be worshipped. Oh and they get around the adultery rule by having nikah mut'ah, or "pleasure marriages" where they have a temporary marriage so they can relieve themselves, and then they are dissolved after a very short time. Shia things. But it's a very diverse religion of various interpretations

 

[LawrenceChard]

3 minutes ago, Silverlocks said:

 

The net effect is that stacking gold is big business in Islam heavy countries, and there is a huge market for fractional gold in these places.  Indonesia even goes so far as to have a state owned mining/refining outfit called P.T. Aneka Tambang that produces retail investment gold products for the market.  You also quite often find gold prices regulated in these places as gold is essentially a proxy for certain types of retail banking.

I guess the subject of the original post thought he could corner the market on investment gold, Hunt brothers style.  I have no idea what Iran's domestic gold mining industry looks like, but it's possible that the supply of investment gold could have been severely affected by sanctions, making it possible to corner the market in that way.  In that case it would have been a pretty anti-social thing to do.

 

So would having import restrictions!

😎

[Silverlocks]

2 minutes ago, Solachesis said:

Yeah it was hard to miss the pun Lawrence 😎 

And yes, people shouldn't be idolised with their photos everywhere like the clerics, nor should shrines be worshipped. Oh and they get around the adultery rule by having nikah mut'ah, or "pleasure marriages" where they have a temporary marriage so they can relieve themselves, and then they are dissolved after a very short time. Shia things. But it's a very diverse religion of various interpretation.

They do that in Indonesia as well (primarily Sunni) - it's quite the sex tourism destination for Saudis.

[Solachesis]

2 minutes ago, Silverlocks said:

 

The net effect is that stacking gold is big business in Islam heavy countries, and there is a huge market for fractional gold in these places.  Indonesia even goes so far as to have a state owned mining/refining outfit called P.T. Aneka Tambang that produces retail investment gold products for the market.  You also quite often find gold prices regulated in these places as gold is essentially a proxy for certain types of retail banking.

I guess the subject of the original post thought he could corner the market on investment gold, Hunt brothers style.  I have no idea what Iran's domestic gold mining industry looks like, but it's possible that the supply of investment gold could have been severely affected by sanctions, making it possible to corner the market in that way.  In that case it would have been a pretty anti-social thing to do.

 

Yeah it doesn't sound like they were simply a heavy stacker, but that it was an organised attempt with multiple parties to dry up the market in order to inflate the price. Considering the currency is in dire straits, it's a pretty s****** thing to do as those who want to turn to gold as a safe haven are priced out