Gold

What Do You Know About the History of Australian Gold Coins

August 31, 2017 by Reporter Leave a Comment

If you’ve been born and raised in Australia, you would be familiar with the tales of the infamous gold rushes and the “diggers” who worked in these gold fields.

The Australian gold rush began in the nineteenth century. It is something that has become an integral part of the national history. A walk through the pages of the Australian culture and heritage would be incomplete without the chapters on gold.

So, who discovered gold in Australia? Where was it found? And how did we get the Australian gold coins?

When you’re out buying Australian gold coins, seldom does it happen that you make an effort to find out the history behind them. Thankfully for you, we are outlining the entire timeline right here for you!

The Gold Rush

It all began during the early nineteenth century. The colonial settlers had begun settling into the country and with them came the development that laid the foundation for the modernised nation that we are today. The immigrants that came to Australia included shepherds, European pioneers, and explorers.

It was between the 1820 and 1841 that these foreign settlers found gold reserves in the Blue Mountains and the quartz reefs of Australia. However, it was not until Edward Hargraves located gold near Bathurst in New South Wales in 1851 and made a public announcement about that, that all hell broke loose.

There were several other gold discoveries made during the same year and migrants started pouring into the country to get their hands on the gold. The influx of enthusiastic miners was so strong that the colonial authorities had to impose taxes.

The First Gold Coins

What followed was a revolt and the Battle of Eureka Stockade, which once ended, led to the production of Australia’s first ever gold coin. In the year 1854, Sydney became home to the first gold mint in Australia. It was a branch of the Royal Mint – the first one outside of England – opened to produce the very first sovereign coins crafted out of Australian gold.

It’s indeed safe to say that it was the British who introduced the concept of independent gold coins down under.

More Mints More Gold

From there on, Australia never looked back. There were several remarkable discoveries of gold reserves in the country, like the ones at Coolgardie and near Kalgoorlie over the next four decades. In 1872, the Royal Mint opened its second branch in Australia – this time in Melbourne. In 1899, Premier Sir John Forrest succeeded in gaining permission for a third branch of Royal Mint in Perth. By 1957, the Perth Mint had effectively begun refining gold up to 999.999 level of purity as per the standards of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths – which soon became a benchmark for all gold sold under the Royal Mint seal.

The Official Australian Bullion

In 1976, the Australian Commonwealth removed all restrictions on Australian residents over the buying and selling of gold. It wasn’t until 1985 that the Commonwealth rallied for a sovereign gold bullion coin program to encourage the trade of Australian gold in world markets. The program was eventually launched in 1987.

In case you’re wondering when the iconic Kangaroo design theme was introduced to these gold bullions – it was in the year 1989!

The Resurgence Of Gold Price Trends In Australia

February 15, 2017 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Last year, when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, the shock waves of this seminal event were felt all the way from the American to the Australian precious metals market.

Initially, the stocks fell steeply all across the board, only to rise up again much higher than before. However, political events notwithstanding, gold price trends in the Australian market are generally expected to remain highly positive in the long term due to many other reasons, such as low global interest rates and stock market fluctuations.

Most market pundits are still optimistic about gold. The funny thing about gold is that it tends to go up in both conditions – whether the markets are shakier, or when they are stable. Since gold is the most valuable thing we have, people like to buy it when they aren’t sure about other investments. The more uncertainty there is in the economic sector as a whole or the political situation in general, the more people would hoard up on gold as the ideal ‘safe bet’ for uncertain times.

On the other hand, brisk economic and industrial growth also portends a rosy outlook for the gold market since a vibrant economy means people would be spending more on gold jewellery as well as investing in the precious metal. This is why double digit gains for this metal are quite possible throughout this year as well as the next one. This is also why gold has almost always been a safe bet – even if the government around you falls and there is no more money, gold will retain its value.

In the light of President Trump’s highly controversial decision regarding immigration from many Muslim countries as well as his threats to pull out from many international economic treaties, there is a certain degree of uncertainty in the global financial environment that makes for a positive gold forecast in Australia.

We have before us the example of the Pound Sterling, when the UK decided to exit the European Union. That monumental decision sent the pound sterling crashing downwards in its worst ever one day loss since it had been floated. And as the British people lost confidence in their currency, they increasingly switched to gold in the UK. This had repercussions all over the world, as it led to a bullish gold market. As a matter of fact, the two momentous political events of 2016, i.e. Donald Trump’s ascension to the US presidency as well as ‘Brexit’ enabled gold prices to touch their highest point in 2016, thanks in large part to the volatility in the stock markets all over the world.

In addition to that, there is a small but steady increase of gold usage in the electronic industry, as it is an excellent conductor of electricity and does the job a whole lot better than most other metals.

In the light of the above we can safely state that gold prices are predicted to rise steadily over the coming few years.

Is Silver Surpassing Gold?

January 24, 2013 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Some long-term silver analysts are predicting a huge run on silver over the next few years. They also believe that the gap between the price of gold and the price of silver will be narrowed significantly. These silver bulls base their projections on historical data as well as current trends. This is good news to those of us that are fond of buying silver. After all, considering the price of gold, silver is one of the few remaining commodities that the average investor can physically hold in any large quantity. So why are these silver bulls so optimistic? Most likely it’s related to the driving force of all commodities: supply and demand.

Supply Gold & Silver

For the first time in the history of modern mining, many of the world’s leading mines are coming up empty. It is estimated that 95% of all silver ever produced has already been consumed and unfortunately most of it ends up in our landfills. If the current supply of silver were evenly distributed among everyone on earth, there would only be enough for each of us to have 1/3 of one ounce. For many years now, the world has been using more silver than it has been producing, yet many people continue to assume that silver is abundant. That hasn’t been the case since the industrial revolution. Major government stockpiles from the past have slowly been sold off for industrial use. For years now the annual global mining production has not been able to keep pace with consumption, both investment and industrial.

Industrial Demand

As opposed to gold’s limited industrial applications, there are literally ten thousand industrial applications for silver.

It is essential to the production of medical, telecommunications, computer and automotive equipment, to name just a few. Silver has many useful qualities; the most valuable to the manufacturing sector is its unsurpassed qualities as a conductor of electricity. As electrical power continues its growing dominance around the globe, the industrial demand for silver is expected to continue to grow dramatically as well. Also, considering China’s mammoth appetite for precious metals that are essential to its continued dominance of product manufacturing, many insiders are projecting an even steeper rise in demand in the short term.

Investment Demand

Just like industrial demand, investment demand for silver is also at record levels and growing steadily. As more and more investors continue to embrace precious metals, many of them are seeing the incredible potential of silver. According to Bloomberg News, investors currently hold over 18,000 tons of silver-backed exchange-traded products, which is the equivalent of over eight months of global mining output. Morgan Stanley and Barclays PLC are predicting that investors will likely buy another 500 tons in 2013. Another sign of growing investment demand is the incredible popularity of the U.S. Mint’s silver Eagle coin. The mint is barely able to keep up with demand and there have been several occasions recently when the mint had to ration sales.

Even though gold continues to perform well and will likely remain the dominant precious metal for investment purposes, silver is likely to close the gap considerably in the very near future. When you consider the dwindling supply and growing demands from investors and manufacturers, you can begin to understand why the silver bulls are so optimistic.

Author Bio:

Jacob Harrison is a precious metals investment specialist from Australian Bullion Company, Australia’s oldest privately-run precious metals wholesaler and retailer.

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