The Gold man cometh

[SilverStacker]

I got a message from FedEx that the gold man cometh today. I'm not rich so when the gold man cometh its a big deal and always amazed me at the worth that comes out of a single shiny coin, "and I dont own many", most of my diversified PM wealth is in silver. A metal I love.

And besides my true love is in numismatics, which will probably help me retain little wealth but is so much more interesting then just bullion. But one must hedge so that one may venture into the Historical world of numismatics and gold is quite a hedge. I buy only 1 oz coins in gold, which is probably a mistake. There are other ways to go were I a bigger player in the metal. My small gold horde reminds me of my time as an airman in Turkey back in the '70s and the importance of gold in the status of a family. Gold takes the place of the actual bank or saving institution since the Turks have no trust in neither their banks or near worthless currency, the Lira. Which even still is near 40 to 1 $USD.

The right job at or near the airbase gave them access to $USDs that even still they find useful to buy gold with. The Lira will never allow them to buy gold so its only foreign currencys they find useful like the Euro, $USD, Pound/Stirling, anything with silver in it. Back then we traded in black market goods like cigarettes, blue jeans...ect for Turkish rugs "the one thing they could make" and which they traded to buy gold. Its why tourists and tourism are so important even the terrorists give them a pass, mostly. Terrorism and terror cells are very dependent on the PM and Jewelry markets for all their bills.

So my bank is gold too. A Lesson I learned back in the '70s, even if its value was relatively flat for 20 years. Pity I didn't see all this coming 20 years ago when sub-$400 gold was still available. If I did I'd have a stack big enough to choke an elephant. The Turks did, I can tell you that.

 

[pmbug]

Re: Turks...

Despite Dollar Access & Govt Crackdowns, Turks Are Sitting On $331 Billion Of Household Gold | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

 

[SilverStacker]

Yep, thats the Turkey I remember. The Govt. was so corrupt, along with the institutions including banking, that the Turks had zero trust in it all.

Yet still somehow they have come a long way. I see pictures of Adana now and can't believe its the same city. The Adana I remember was goats in the streets, garbage everywhere, cheap apartment buildings, open air meat hanging because there was no refrigeration. And soldiers everywhere. On every corner. Going into town there would be a road block with the Police and Army tossing cars and a tank in the middle of the highway. A tank ! swiveling its turret, and they meant business because the province was under Martial Law.

Outside the airbase, and it was a crap hole of an airbase made up mostly of quanset huts, there was a long line of shops and small cafes we called "rip off alley". We'd go off to rip off alley with cartons of Marlboros, or Levis, or chocolates, or booze, or a thousand other things we'd get from the PX and which we'd trade for specialty goods like the pipes the Turks made or the rugs. They used a special type of stone only found in Turkey to make the pipes called meerschaum and I swear its the smoothest smoke you ever had, and back then I used to like smoking tobacco.

It was all black market and $USD is the only currency I ever used there. The Turks never wanted you to pay in Lira. Americans are big tippers so they loved us at the cafes and restaurants. US Dollars and gold, thats what kept them afloat and even tho they had to send some money up the ladder even still the Turks who worked the air base were far better off then all the others. If someone got caught stealing anothers property ?? Most likely they'd kill you before the Police got there and Ive also seen the Turk Police and Army dish out beatings like nothing youv ever seen.

They didn't fine you in Turkey, well, they might. But the real fine would be a world class beating.