Do you know bullion? Are there riches at the end of the rainbow? Somer is going to set things straight, finally.
Boiling Bullion
By, Somer Athari
*Editorial Disclaimer: This week’s Snippet in no way reflects the majority of fantastic customers that are a part of the Southgate Family. If you (the reader) have dealt with our company and had a great experience, then we welcome you to the family. Every time someone is satisfied with a purchase, we feel privileged to be in the business. This Snippet is talking about a small percentage, 1% of the people that we have dealt with, both now and in the past. With that said, sit back and enjoy the roller coaster known as bullion.*
Talk about a jump in all the precious metals, over the past couple weeks! It is the highest it’s been in quite sometime. So naturally, many people have been popping their heads into Southgate Coins this week asking about bullion. Bullion, the term itself means (according to Oxford online), “a noun-gold or silver in bulk before coining-Origin Old French bouillon, based on Latin bullire ‘to boil’.” To boil…not a very attractive word, and sometimes the people that deal in strictly bullion can be the same way, in my aggravated opinion. Just know, that bullion can be a fun field to get involved in, but we aren’t talking about rarities here, bullion does not have numismatic value; bullion is not similar to “CC” coins.
Sometimes people who only deal in bullion really boil my nerves. They throw off these words like “spot” or “spread” and right away I know that I am in for a special kind of customer (refer to the Greysheet Genius article for further descriptions). People that act like they have all the knowledge in the world when it comes to bullion, but really when they ask me for the price of spot, I know to prepare myself for an argument. Needless to say, I am not much for confrontation, that’s why I’m an English major rather than on the debate team (for example).
When it comes to the final battle of percentages and why we can’t buy and sell for the same price, I feel like I am in Economics 101, but this time I am the teacher. Frankly, I was not a huge fan of that class, nor would I particularly choose to go through that class again…ever. I love to educate people about coins, don’t get me wrong, but argumentative people tend not to be the best students. So, please take my advice, before you buy gold and silver, just pay attention to the market. Know the complete ins-and-outs of the field, especially before you start getting frustrated with a coin shop assistant, who just so happens to be…me.
Your Bubbling Correspondent,
Somer