Yesterday's article "Is YOUR 'pool' full?" drew many responses and much to my surprise a reply from Bron Suchecki himself! I must say, even though I disagree with some of his writings, Mr. Suchecki is a class act and true gentleman. He began with an apology for the title and closing of his article "Who is the player and who is being played?". He wrote his intention for that phrase was for his example of the games played with warehouse stocks.
Bron did not refute my logic but disagrees about the cause for the current retail coin shortages. He believes the shortages exist because the mints cannot keep up with demand, it is not a problem getting the raw metal he says. I would simply ask this, "why is gold in London in severe backwardation?" This condition should NEVER exist.
What he did disagree with is paying a large premium to own coins in hand. I would again simply ask, what is the cost to own a coin and have it in your hand? It is the physical price, not the pooled price nor any other paper price. We clearly saw an example of HUGE premiums of physical over paper in 2008, while COMEX briefly traded under $9, no physical metal changed hands under $15. So, what was the "real" price back then?
He went on to say he was surprised at my statement "if you hold metal in hand, you have no question as to whether you own it" because that as he said "implied I did not trust Eric Sprott's funds or James Turk's services". Let me say this, I know Mr. Sprott very well and I know James Turk via e-mail and his writitngs, I trust them both. That said, I trust my own eyes more than I trust ANYTHING OR ANYONE (even though age is taking its toll and it's time for glasses). One final point he agreed with to my shock was "there will be future cases of fraud and empty vaults" even citing the latest at Bullion Direct as an example. (As a side note, the biggest example of "empty vaults" was Morgan Stanley charging full storage fees for nonexistent metal. Only to be slapped on the wrist because they had the paper to pay clients with) I believe his thought process here reinforces much of what I wrote yesterday. Mr. Suchecki finished his e-mail by pointing out Perth Mint has been in business for 116 years, is still owned by the government and provided a bar list for perusal.
To finish I must say thank you for the reply Bron. You showed me you are a gentleman and a class act with your response! Now I will do something I have hesitated to do because I never want to appear self serving or like a carnival barker. Since joining forces with Jim, I have retained my business relationship with Miles Franklin, still broker metals and can help with storage of metals via Brink's in Montreal. We also have "non bank" storage agreements in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Singapore. While I cannot comment first hand on the Swiss, Hong Kong or Singapore facilities, I have been personally to the Brink's vault and observed while they audited the holdings. I saw with my own eyes how and where the metals are stored and how they are audited. This process is done every six months by an independent auditor. If segregated storage is something you feel necessary because you hold too much metal to be safely secured personally, please feel free to contact me.
Standing watch,
Bill Holter for;Holter/Sinclair collaboration.
Bill Holter writes and is partnered with Jim Sinclair at the newly formed Holter/Sinclair collaboration.
Prior, he wrote for Miles Franklin from 2012-15. Bill worked as a retail stockbroker for 23 years, including 12 as a branch manager at A.G. Edwards. He left Wall Street in late 2006 to avoid potential liabilities related to management of paper assets. In retirement he and his family moved to Costa Rica where he lived until 2011 when he moved back to the United States. Bill was a well-known contributor to the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) commentaries from 2007-present.
