Scrap Gold Blog
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
London 2012 Olympics
There are 261 days left until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, but production of the 4700 medals has already begun.
At a Royal Mint facility in Llantrisant near Cardiff, Wales, the first of the medals has left the presses. Creating each one is a painstaking process.
A blank medal is placed into the giant press, known as Colossus, and the 10 hour process begins. Each medal is struck 15 times at 900 tonnes. After the 5th and 10th strikes, they are rolled through a furnace which heats the metal to a temperature of 750 degrees Celsius and allows the next stage of production to commence.
Once the process is complete, the Royal Mint is left with the biggest and heaviest Olympic medals ever created. Each one is 85mm in diameter and weighs between 412g (Gold and Silver) and 357g (Bronze). Security is extremely tight. The medals are stored in a special strong room that is guarded by Ministry of Defence police. It is such a secure location that only a handful of people know its location.
If making the medals is an arduous process, then choosing the design was even more so.
A shortlist of ideas submitted by the UK’s leading artists, sculptors and designers was drawn up and the final decision was made by a selection committee. In the end, a design by Professor David Watkins was chosen. He worked closely with Chief Engraver Gordon Summers to create a medal that features Nike, the goddess of victory, on the front and the London 2012 logo and the River Thames on the back.
Royal Mint officials are confident the project can be completed on time.
"We have a very long history of making military medals, and medals for the Queen's honours lists as well as the coins", such as the 2012 Gold Sovereign.
Great Britain's medal performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics was its best in a century and hopes are high that London 2012 will see just as many of these Welsh-made medals awarded to British athletes.
Friday, 14 January 2011
Is Gold a Commodity or Currency?
If you’re a regular reader of financial and investment articles and reports, you’ll often hear gold being referred to as a commodity, which by definition is classed as ‘an item of value with a consistent value regardless of source’, something which is the almost perfect description of Gold, a product that in its raw, refined form is bought and sold in uniform weights and measures and in its processed state sold according to a globally recognised carat scale.
But, gold isn’t technically a commodity, throughout history, almost since the birth of mankind, gold has been used as a currency – the only currency that maintains a central, singular value across the entire world.
Does it actually matter how we classify and regard gold? Yes… While other precious metals like silver and platinum are most certainly commodities, gold, being a currency is subject to different market forces which manipulate its value. Supply and demand effects all precious metals, gold included but being a trans-border currency, gold is bolstered by additional economic factors.
Over time, the price of primary precious metals such as Silver, Platinum and Palladium tends to trend in a similar pattern to rising gold prices yet are more volatile to economic market pressures. During an economic downturn, many investors will look to gold for assurance, while other precious metals, traditional used to a higher degree in manufacture and industry see a decline in demand and a resulting reduction in value.
So while gold is traded as a commodity, it will almost always behave like, and should always be considered a currency.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Clubcard Gold
Tesco’s have jumped feet first into the Scrap Gold market with the launch of the Tesco’s Gold Exchange! The arrival of yet another mega UK brand name is a clear indicator that the retail greats of the UK High Street are convinced the Scrap Gold business is still onto a winner!
Like other high street scrap gold buyers, Tesco’s offering is something short of competitive! While writing this article our Scrap Gold Prices are currently £10.04 per gram of 9 carat gold, Tesco are just managing a rather poor £7.81 – We pay 28.5% more! Like H. Samuel and WH Smiths (Post Gold For Cash), Tesco’s are relying on un-researched, non-savvy regular customers, the 7 club card points Tesco’s are throwing in to sweeten the deal most certainly won’t be the deal clincher!
Scrap Gold UK’s advice? Don’t be a high street moron, research the true value of your gold before your make your decision, we appreciate the Tesco’s brand name provides customer with a feeling of security and confidence in what is quite a big ask – to post personal valuables to an unknown source! But with some basic checks, or a phone call to speak to us in person, you could end up with a significantly better price for your scrap gold, silver, platinum or palladium.
But don’t just take our word for it; use our Scrap Gold Calculator to compare our prices to the Tesco’s Gold Exchange website.