JSSPMK, The bottom line is you will have to do it through your futures broker. He should be able to provide the details on taking delivery. http://www.nyse.com/pdfs/rulebook.pdf This pdf is from NYSELiffe. The last chapter deals with silver. http://www.kitcosilver.com/weeklyreport/silver_reports.html An audio file from David Morgan on the subject. I am considering buying through my futures account also. The question is whether to just take a warehouse receipt and pay storage on the metal, or actually take delivery of physical which will entail delivery and transportation costs. I don't know what the premiums are in the UK but currently the best prices I have found here are .60-.70 over spot. Weighed against paying Brinks or someone like them to bring it to me I'm not sure if there is a real advantage in price. The question I'm working through is whether warehouse receipts would be wise if there is a delivery problem due to more demand for physical than normal at some point. There are some who claim that is a real possibility. I see in the rules from the exchange (pdf file) that the exchange does not guarantee delivery from a vault, which is not particularly reassuring. Also, buying on dips may not be possible though bullion dealers as the premium tends to go up at the same time as futures prices go down or they are simply "out of stock" while prices are lower. So, buying with a futures account will get you the price you decide on but does have some other considerations as well. At least that is how I understand things at present. I am still researching this. Maybe others who have actually done it can ad to this (or correct me if I am wrong). Hope this helps.
Reportedly, JPMorgan futures was short up 20k - 50k futures + options in gold futures. REmember when gold broke out $100 in one day, then it was "capped" near $930? When JPMorgan acquired Bear Stearns, they netted out almost half of their short gold positions b/c Bear was net long several thousand. I can say with near certainty there are some large players out there who do NOT wish to see gold run. Surging precious metal prices undermine confidence in fiat money.
I know this thread has been talking silver, but if you're looking to actually own the physical, not paper, I'd assume you'd also be looking at gold as well. If so, have you looked into BullionVault? It's a pretty interesting concept and the overhead costs of ownership they offer seems pretty attractive.
Yes I've seen them and others. My inclination is to have it in my possession though. It's hard to know how messed up things could get.
Depends on what your definition of "messed up" is and your idea of the likelihood of it happening. If you think a complete collapse is possible then physical ownership of wholesale sized bars is not the smart play, coin and bars at 1 oz. or smaller sizes would be.
True, there's messed up and then there's really messed up. As an example of messed up, I have an uncle who is a farmer in the midwest who lost 30,000 bushels of soybeans when the elevator he was using went bankrupt. He lost a good percentage of his ground as a result. That's messed up. We all know what really messed up means. I am also accumulating junk silver for that possibility as well. The big stuff will turn into real estate at some point. It is for the less messed up scenario. If I have it in my possession security at this level is my risk. If it is elsewhere there is whatever added risk that may be. If I do keep some elsewhere my guess is the exchange warehouse is the place to be. Just my 2c.
Thank you all for replying! I want to actually have it in my possession & UK mainland dealers ask as much as $9 over the spot, I heard some seek even larger premiums as per ounce of physical, if I can buy physical over in the US for .7 above spot then it sounds very acceptable. As far as JPM's net short from BS one has to wonder what would happen to silver prices if JPM finds itself in a similar situation as BS have, they wouldn't be able to honour their obligations, also CFTC already launched investigation into combined shorting of silver.
Delivery times for physical silver are getting longer every day, I bought some from the Guernsey Mint, but will only get it in 6-8 weeks time, according to the dealer they are having huge orders right now for all 3 metals, somebody ordered 2 tonnes of the stuff this week. I must admit it is probably a wise choice to exchange GBPs for metal, looking so weak against other currenncies.
A link to a good article on taking delivery of physical silver. http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/pearce/2008/1125.html
Derrick, as bro59 has said, you need to read read its history. Please see following links: http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/goldsilverratio.html http://seekingalpha.com/article/99720-gold-silver-ratio-tops-80-to-1 http://seekingalpha.com/article/14922-is-the-old-gold-silver-ratio-of-16-still-alive-today http://news.silverseek.com/TedButler/1161705933.php http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page33?oid=71867&sn=Detail http://www.dani2989.com/gold/ratiogoldsilverpriceprodreserve17102004gb.htm http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/gold-silver-ratio/2008/02/12/ http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_03/sanders030703.html (Please read theÅFundamentals part, here, it explains well your answer.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_as_an_investment http://www.gold-eagle.com/charts/gegsr.html http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/silvergoodinvestmentwhengoldsilverratioishigh.html http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/goldsilverratioshistoric1970onward.html http://www.taxfreegold.co.uk/goldsilverratio2008.html Quoted from above sites: