Purchasing gold nuggets.

[milehi]

Monarch Precious Metals is now selling gold nuggets. Would you buy nuggets as opposed to 1g-1oz bars/rounds/coins? Is there any advantage or disadvantage of nuggets over other mediums of Au? Thanks

http://www.monarchpreciousmetals.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=34&Treeid=6&Itemid=53

[Saul Mine]

Nuggets vary from 60& to 92% purity, and you can't tell very well by looking. So you have only a very general idea what you are getting. Nuggets are great for jewelry if they are big, and big ones go for way more than they are actually worth. I don't know any other reason to buy them.

BTW, gold dust picks up static electricity, making it very difficult to handle without soaking it in water, which means it's almost impossible to weigh.

[madfranks]

Don't buy gold unless it is stamped with weight and purity. You will have a heck of a time selling a gold nugget when the time comes. Without refining it, how is one to tell the purity of the metal?

[Korbin Dallas]

Don't buy gold unless it is stamped with weight and purity. You will have a heck of a time selling a gold nugget when the time comes. Without refining it, how is one to tell the purity of the metal?


I'll second that, unless you are friends with a assayer/refiner, nuggets are only good as a novelty, not worth paying a premium for.

[milehi]

I figured nuggets were sort of on the same level as say silver shot. I was recently rereading a eight year old issue of "Rock and Gem" magazine which said nuggets were worth more than spot, but, spot was $300ish at the time.

[madfranks]

I figured nuggets were sort of on the same level as say silver shot. I was recently rereading a eight year old issue of "Rock and Gem" magazine which said nuggets were worth more than spot, but, spot was $300ish at the time.


Silver shot is different because it's been refined to .999 purity or better. Apmex sells gold shot (http://www.apmex.com/Product/22778/999_Gold_Shot___Order_by_the_ounce.aspx) which would be better than an unrefined nugget, but still not as good as gold in coin/bar form.

[Ragnarok]

I was recently rereading a eight year old issue of "Rock and Gem" magazine which said nuggets were worth more than spot, but, spot was $300ish at the time.


Exceptional mineral specimens of gold, such as large nuggets and those with matrix and especially crystalline gold, can sometimes fetch more (possibly much more) than the spot gold value. But at that point you're buying it for rarity/collector value, not just the gold.

My local dealer sells vials of gold pannings (flakes, dust, small nuggets) for +-90% spot as a novelty. I bought a few grams once because of the "cool" factor.

R.

[Saul Mine]

Don't worry about selling gold in any form. It reaches a point where you can walk into a bar anyplace and find a buyer. Be concerned about getting a fair price. And of course you don't carry your gold into a bar, you store it someplace safer.

[Ragnarok]

Apmex sells gold shot (http://www.apmex.com/Product/22778/999_Gold_Shot___Order_by_the_ounce.aspx) which would be better than an unrefined nugget, but still not as good as gold in coin/bar form.


As far as that goes, if you really want "nuggets" without buying them or panning them yourself, one could melt gold, pour it (carefully!) into water, oil or other coolant, then tumble the resulting pieces/fragments. Caveat: I haven't actually tried this.

R.

[97guns]

what about these?

http://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-gold-ntr-bullion-triangle-9999-pure.html

[milehi]

Pandaamerica is in the nug biz now too.

http://www.pandaamerica.com/sresult.asp