Further to my recent article about the gold possi-bubble, we can now add biting (and scratching) satire to the unfolding bull gold market story.
Cats for Gold is a spoof site promising to turn “glitter into litter”.
At least I think it’s a joke? 😉
Interestingly, Cats for Gold emerges on the same day that an analyst called Dylan Grice at Société Générale suggested gold could logically trade at $6,300:
With central banks likely to be net gold purchasers in H2 2009 for the first time since 1988 the same starting gun is ringing out today. The price at which the USD would be fully backed by gold (as it was during the peak of the 70s mania) is $6,300. So there is a case for gold being “cheap.”
Moreover, the 70s bull market was facilitated by tight energy markets, overly accommodative central banks and nervousness that policymakers had lost their way. Sound familiar?
Needless to say, I’m personally unconvinced.
(Sorry, no link to Grice’s research note, I got it via the Financial Times‘ Market’s Live chat.)
Would you swap your wedding ring for a tabby or a Persian blue? Let us know in the comments below. 😉
Wow, Dylan has a $6,300 potential Target Price?! Sweet!
I tell ya, the Patek Philippe rose gold annual calendar watch for $42,000 retail sure looks more and more attractive!
Let me call my watch broker now……..
I’m allergic to cats, so cats4gold can have em all!
Hah, wouldn’t you be too nervous to every wear it, even if such bling appealed? (My tastes are rather more spartan than yours, FS 😉 ).
Seriously though, while I think the Samurai has his tongue in his cheek, readers should be aware that buying jewelry or other products made with gold is not a pure play on the price.
Besides the risk of it getting stolen or broken on a night on the town, your pseudo-investment will fluctuate with the whims of fashion, not to mention the fact that like any new item you’ll be paying a huge mark up buying new that will immediately vanish once you take possession.
Even buying pure gold to hold in your own home or bank box suffers from this sort of problem; besides the retail markup, the gold needs to be re-tested, before it can be declared pure again, which all costs money.
Personally if/when I ever buy gold again, I’ll use an ETF or if scared of financial collapse perhaps a service like Gold Bullion.
If the price had really dropped I’d consider buying something like old British sovereigns or other coins, to have the gold to hand, but they’re not immune to the problems above and I’d want to see bargain basement prices accordingly.
Hmm, my waffley comments would be posts on some blogs! I’m not so verbose in real-life.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts FS!
Interview with Dylan Grice in the FT Money podcast (which has some gems), where he talks about gold amongst other things (22 mins in):
http://podcast.ft.com/download/22/604/2009_11_06_msdylan.mp3
-*- Lemondy -*- still not buying gold- but still hanging on to the Kruggerand I got given as a kid 😉
Also, a hot tip: the SocGen research notes are available through “hidden” URL’s but people sometimes link to them from public sites, and the All-Seeing GoogleBot tracks them down.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Dylan+Grice%22+site:www.sgresearch.socgen.com
Great spot, thanks for sharing Lemondy!
Monevator – The good ting about the Patek Annual Calendar RG is that one can get it for under $30,000 in this soft market now new! I’m so tempted! Someone is selling one now, brand new in box, asking $28,000 due to a divorce.
$28,000 sounds like a lot, but not if you can sell it for $35,000 a month later! 🙂
Gold going higher helps justify the wasteful spending of watches, at least for me.
I guess it sounds a deal. 🙂 Maybe I can get a hairshirt for my Jesuit monkish cloisters with gold tassels to play in the game… 😉
Cats offer a far better rate of interest, compared to gold.
http://cats4gold.com/mews/index.php/2011/08/gold-vs-cats-infographic/