Greeks Are Paying $1,700 Per Ounce for Physical Gold

so reports Zero Hedge, citing an article on Coinupdate.com.

Greek Scramble For Physical Brings Gold Price To $1,700 Per Ounce (5/26/2010 Zero Hedge)

"And there are those who wonder how Sprott's PHYS could have traded at "ludicrous" NAV premium of over 20%. Coinupdate.com reports that prices at which the Greek Central Bank is selling one ounce gold equivalents are as high as $1,700 (40% over spot), and prices on the black markets are even higher. The punchline, as Athens slowly returns to a forced gold standard: " A popular spot for street vendors to sell their coins is near the Athens Stock Exchange. There the traders wait for citizens to bring payments received from unloading their paper assets like stocks and bonds." That's good - downtown Manhattan close to the NYSE has some free space for gold vendors to set up shop as well, they just need to push some of the frontrunning/collocation boxes off to the side. And in other rhetorical ruminations, is it safe to say that the last days of the fiat experiment are among us now that people themselves are bypassing the government and enforcing their own gold standard?" [The article continues.]

Greeks are buying British Sovereigns with gold content .2354 oz for $409, which translates to over $1,700 per ounce of gold.

In crisis, Greeks are turning to the real money throughout the ages. It was their mathematician who discovered how to assess the purity of irregular gold crown while taking a bath, jumped out and ran naked on the streets of Syracuse screaming "I've got it!".

Gold ended today at $1211.50. On the spot market, it is currently $1,213, but it is actually being sold more than bought. Weakened US dollar gives it more boost to overcome selling pressure. (See Kitco's Gold Index.)

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