Thursday, October 9, 2008

Austrian Mint Triples Gold-Coin Production on Increased Demand

"I can distribute more stock on upticks than I can on down"*
-E.H. Harriman, railroad man and Wall Street pro.

From Bloomberg:
Muenze Oesterreich AG, the Austrian mint that makes the world's second best-selling gold coin, increased production of its Philharmonic bullion coin almost fourfold to meet surging investor demand.

The mint produced 370,000 one-ounce Philharmonic coins in the year through Oct. 7, up from 96,000 the year before, Vienna- based Marketing Director Kerry Tattersall said today in an interview. Gold bar demand more than doubled to 347,000 ounces. The 800-year-old mint, located in a former Habsburg palace, has also added a third work shift to press more coins.

``I've never seen that sort of increase,'' said Tattersall, a Sydney native who helped introduce the Philharmonic in 1989. ``There has been a lot of panic buying.''>>>MORE

Gold was recently trading at $890.30 down $16.20.

On Tuesday, MarketBeat had a throwaway line referring to the U.S. Mint halting production of some of the gold American Eagle bullion coins:

...At a time when the U.S. Mint, facing unprecedented demand, has vowed to cut production for certain coins...

which prompted a comment from the peanut gallery:

I’m new to this stuff. Regarding:
“…the U.S. Mint, facing unprecedented demand, has vowed to cut production for certain coins…”
Does distribution occur at tops or bottoms?
Does it make a difference if the distribution is to retail?
(I’m assuming that serious goldbugs go with London Good Delivery 400 oz. bars)

Comment by Climateer - October 7, 2008 at 5:17 pm
If you look at this chart of the December gold futures contract you might be struck by the price churning of the last two weeks, despite unprecedented retail demand. As the Brit nature shows used to say "Sadly now, there can be but one outcome".

Accumulation and distribution. Classic.
Use the search blog box, keyword, gold, for more.

*I used the Harriman quote in "
Global Warming and Venture Capital" which references a Boston Fed paper on the Panic of 1907 and includes some Climateer rambling:
...It's not that often you see a sub-head like "In Which the Downfall of a Prominent Speculator Rocks the Financial System, and a Prominent Millionaire Saves the Day" in a Fed. Bank Publication.

Rereading this got me thinking about the differance between J.P. Morgan (Our Hero), and the current crop of VC's flogging their new-found green credentials. Where were they six years ago? Oh, that's right: Webvan and Pets.com and Boo.com and Askme.com. Even Queer Company blew through $5 mil.

Compare that to Morgan six years prior to the Panic, during the Northern Pacific squeeze of ought-one. J.J. Hill flying across the country in a commandeered train, counting on one of the few guys on the planet who knew as much about railroads and financial markets as Hill himself (or for that matter as much as Hill's nemesis Ed Harriman- E.H., famous for saying "I can distribute more stock on upticks than I can on down"); some things never go out of style....