It's a bit of a gray and rainy day today here in southern California. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does make you appreciate the sunny days all the more. It gives me an excuse to get more work done on some of my writing projects, as well as a chance to put together an interesting post.
For those of you who follow the markets, you will know that gold prices are climbing to all time highs. Economic instability coupled with the threat of more wars makes precious metals one of the safest places for investors to park their money. Just look at this chart of gold prices over the last week.
APMEX.com
I think gold is going to just keep on climbing. I remember back 25 years or so when it was less than $1,000 an ounce. How times have changed!
A few days ago while searching for any good deals on precious metals I came across this odd item. It's essentially a gold bead that isn't really a bead, it's a coin produced for the Cook Islands by Valcambi back in 2015. The face value states $20 on each one of these, but the gold is worth far more than face value. They come in a lot of five, so I suppose you could make one very expensive necklace?
From APMEX.com
About the coins:
From numista.com
How is that for a weird gold coin? It would seem to me it wouldn't be a good jewelry item because pure gold is very soft and would scratch extremely easily. That's why most jewelry comes in diluted forms of 14 or 18k that is mixed with more durable metals to not scratch as easily. These five coins weigh 0.8037 Troy ounces of .9999 pure gold and are priced at $2,942 as of the time of writing this post.
While they are unique, I don't think I will be buying any of them. I just think the Cook Islands got a little too creative with this particular coin. It's been over ten years since they were produced and they haven't sold out from the primary precious metals dealers. Probably not a great investment except for the value of the gold, unless you are so rich you want to make some jewelry out of them!
Valcambi
Valcambi is a private refining company renowned for producing very high quality gold products. Located in Balerna, Switzerland they refine not only gold, but also silver, palladium, and platinum products. They are one of the largest precious metal refiners in the world and refine more gold than any other company worldwide. When you see the name Valcambi associated with a gold product you know that it will be of the highest quality and purity.
The products I have been more acquainted with from the company usually look more like this:
APMEX.com
That's why I found the spherical bead-like coin so fascinating. I do own some gold produced by Valcambi, none of which I actually keep at the house. I have always found it unwise to keep many precious metals at home, it makes you a nice target for thieves when you make that mistake. But anyway, their gold is truly top notch.
In a previous post I did talk a bit more about the Cook Islands so I won't delve back into that today. But just have a look at this picture, as far as a vacation destination you could do worse... I 've never made it to the South Pacific, maybe one of these days I'll be able to make the trip!
coxandkings.co.uk
That will wrap up the post for today. I hope you found this coin as fascinating as I did. Unique is the only way it could be described! But it sure is pretty! So maybe once Hive shoots up to $50 each we can all afford to buy some? Wishful thinking at the moment...
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and I greatly value your support. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below. Have a great week everyone!
References:
https://www.apmex.com/product/94102/2015-5x-5-gram-cook-islands-20-gold-sphere-coin-valcambi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valcambi
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces196170.html
Disclaimer:
I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!
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