Put on your ‘GOLD’ shirt August 8, 2014
Posted by hslu in Gold.Tags: gold, gold shirt, India, Pankaj Parakh
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$213,000.
Source: CNBC mobile site.
That’s how much this ~8.8 pound, 18-22 carat ‘gold’ shirt is worth.
His name is Pankaj Parakh and he is an Indian. He is a textile magnate with a lot of money. He got the shirt for his 45th birthday.
We the gold bugs need many rich people like Pankaj who has more money than he needs.
May be Pankaj can make a ‘gold’ wedding gown for his daughter or something.
Let do some math here:
The article says the following:
1. the shirt weighs more than 4 kilograms.
2. the shirt is made out of 18-22 carat gold.
Let’s assume it weighs 9 pounds and it is made out of 20 carat gold since we don’t know the exact gold content.
9 lbsx16 oz/lb = 144 ozs
20/24=0.8333% gold
144 oz x 0.8333 = 120 ozs of gold.
That’s how much pure gold the shirt has in it.
$213,000/120 oz = $1,775/oz
Let’s assume labor cost is minimum in India and let’s assume the othe metal in the shirt isn’t worth a lot, Pankaj bought the gold when it was eorth $1,775 per oz.
Gold closed at $1,311 per oz today for Dec. 2014 delivery.
How does Pankaj take off his gold shirt?
Very carefully, for sure.
I wonder how many more times Pankaj plans to wear his gold shirt?
Gold, Renminbi and the Gold Standard September 28, 2013
Posted by hslu in China, Economics, Global Affair, Gold.Tags: Bank of China, Ben Bernanke, Chinese government, 葫芦里到底卖的是什么药, gold, Precious metal, Renminbi, Shanghai, Shopping
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It is rumored that the Chinese government has accumulated more than 7,000 tons of gold since 2009. the central government also encourages Chinese citizens buy gold on the open market. Panda gold coins has been a popular collectors’ item since 1982. Ads like this one are very common at gold and jewelry stores in Shanghai.
Wouldn’t you like some of those gold pieces on you？
Why the rapid pace of gold purchase on the open market?
The Bank of China probably doesn’t like what Bernanke has been doing since 2008, I guess.
But, this is the obvious answer. I wonder that is there a hidden agenda from the Chinese government?
Some reports speculated that the pace of gold purchase will continue and some even linked Renminbi with the gold standard as a way to fight inflation and teach America a lesson.
It is hard to know what the real game is.
Well, just so happens that Chinese has a saying for this situation:
“不知道中国的葫芦里到底卖的是什么药！”
蘇州觀前街 February 17, 2011
Posted by hslu in China, Food, Gold, Restaurants, Travel.Tags: China, Confucianism, 玄妙觀, 道教, 蘇州, 觀前街, gold, Renminbi, restaurant, Shanghai, Suzhou, Taiwan, Taoism, Three Kingdoms, 松鶴樓, 亨達利
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We spent our evening in 蘇州 “su1 zhou1” at 觀前街 “guan1 qian2 jie1,” a tourist hot spot in downtown 蘇州.
觀前街, according to our driver was much more fascinating in the evening. He was right: lanterns, push carts, boat loads of people, restaurant waiters telling us how good his restaurant was, young girls selling wulong teas and festival ambiance in the air wherever we went.
The name of the street, 觀前街, originated from the fact that the street is located in front of a 道教 “dao4 jiao4” (Taoism) temple called 玄妙觀 “xuan2 miao4 guan1.” A Taoism temple is called 道觀. 前 means in front of and 街 means street. When we were there, the Taoism temple, 玄妙觀, was closed and we didn’t get a chance to see what the inside was like.
We went to this famous restaurant for dinner. It served authentic Shanghai dishes. Their sweet and sour fish was tender and fresh. The restaurant was first in business since the late 1700's. The restaurant was fancy and spacious on the inside, The food was well prepared: artful culinary knife skills, fresh ingredients, reasonable prices and friendly services.
We grew up with this store called 亨達利 "heng2 da2 li4." It started as an eyeglasses store in Taiwan and now has many stores in China, many of them in very desirable spots in busy shopping centers. I didn't know that it was also in gold and jewel business like this one does.
Gold is big in China. With Chinese citizens getting richer by the day, their Renminbi has gone to stocks, real estate, cars and gold. This one is unique because it illustrates the heroes of "Three Kingdoms". in great details. Its cost was well over $5,000.
觀前街 night market was very busy and we had a good time there.
Gold reaching $1,100/oz. November 10, 2009
Posted by hslu in misc.Tags: gold, U.S. Dollar Index
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Gold Fever
- With gold price briefly surging over $1,100 an ounce on Friday, I found the following data interesting:
- Long term U.S. Dollar index – Trade weighted Exchange Rate 1973 – 2009
You can clearly see the decline since it peaked in 1985.
- With US dollar index free-falling, gold and commodities (traded in US dollar) are poised to go up some more. Crude oil is the same too. That’s why lower U.S. dollar is inflationary. Whether you like it or not, we will pay more for crude oil as US dollar drops.
- If the fed is determined to keep the US interest rate at record low level, the US dollar will decline against other currencies. Once U.S. economy shows some signs of life, Gold prices will drop because U.S. dollar index will go up as the Fed starts to raise interest rates to combat potential inflation in the future.
- On the way to work, I saw many signs advertising “Cash for Gold” at Tysons Sheraton hotels. Is this the sign of a top? Many people have tried to call the top of the stock market in the past. The streets are littered with failed predictions. The market has a way to out-smart everyone. The up-trend has a tendency to stay up for much longer than predictions.
- An Englewood N.J. gold dealer estimated that 10 times as many people come in to sell gold now as when gold was selling at #300 an ounce around the beginning of the decade.
- The Reserve Bank of India last week bought 220 tons of gold from IMF for $6.7 billion because India is taking a lesson from Chinese central bank moving away from US treasury bills. See chart above.
- This trend will continue until US economy is clearly out of danger. By then interest rate will go up and US dollar will follow. However, its long-term down trend will not be easily broken.
- Even the tiny Sri Lanka’s central bank bought gold last week. This can’t be good news to U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries.
- In order to hide their oversea cash, wealthy U.S. investors are converting their cash from Swiss banks into gold to keep them away from the Tax man. No document here. No tax to Uncle Sam who is flat broken.
Gold Price July 22, 2009
Posted by hslu in stocks.Tags: gold, panda coin
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Too bad we weren’t able to buy the gold panda coin 10 days ago. Back them I could get a 1 oz. panda gold at $975 or so. It sells at least $1,010 today.
Gold was selling $913 an ounce that day. The asking price today is $945.
