I am making my first trip to Kuwait for work. Hope to get out and test the silver market waters in the area. Anyone from that part of the world or familiar with travel in Kuwait know of anything I should look for (or avoid)? I know enough to be careful when shopping but wondering if there are particular products available to watch for or anything unusual that might be more common in Kuwait. Or is it just a bunch of ASEs, Kooks and Leafs like in my own backyard! Words of wisdom about customs coming back to the US if I do find something interesting? Thanks
Kuwait city is a very small place, the souk (spelling?) would be your best bet. Apart from that not sure, a few friends got done buying stones in the region, not in Kuwait though. Not my favourite part of the world.....
I don't believe Kuwait itself ever issued any silver coinage great than .925 purity and no silver coin weighing a troy ounce. I could be wrong. The silver set includes: 100 Fils 50 Fils 20 Fils 10 Fils 5 Fils 1 Fils Commemoratives include: 15th Anniversary of Liberation of Kuwait 45th Anniversary of the National Day of the State of Kuwait 40th Aniversary National Day of State of Kuwait Advent of the 21st Century 30th Anniversary of Founding of Kuwait 50th Anniversary of Exporting first Oil shipment 5th Anniversary of Liberation Day of the State of Kuwait 35th Anniversary of the National Day of the State of Kuwait Commemorative Coin Marking the 5th Anniversary of the United Nations Issue Commemorative on the Occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the Est of Central Kuwait 1st Anniversary Liberation Day of Kuwait Commerative 5th Islamic Summit Conference 25th Anniversary of the National Day of the State of Kuwait 20th Anniversary of the National Day of the State of Kuwait Occasion of the Outset of the Hijara 15th Century 15th Anniversary of the National Day of the State of Kuwait These are issued from the Kuwaiti Central Bank. Kuwait Central Bank has a booklet that shows all issues they have made up to now. No coins fit for stacking just commemoratives for collecting. The market is very small. Any silver or gold you find in local stores is likely from somewhere else and you'll need to worry more about getting ripped off then finding a good deal. Unfortuantely after doing some research I think you'll be hard pressed to find anything that fits your interest.
Thanks Karl, I didn't find much but did not see these. Not great for stacking but some of these will make a better trinket from the trip than a camel in a snowglobe! =) Still, might be a good place to pick up some other world coins, lots of money in Kuwait, someone is stacking. I would only venture out to do this with some of the local guys from the base, great potential to get ripped off.
Regularly visited and worked in Q8 between 2000 and 2007. Central bank at that time did not hold any commemorative coins nor did any of the retail banks. Occasionally local jewelry stores will have single coins, but as per the norm for the region gold is king and silver is a poor relation. Within the region Bahrain, and to a greater extent Dubai have structured bullion markets. Even at these locations silver was not prevalent, and where you could find coins the price difference between there and the European market was minimal. What you may stumble across are circa 2oz and 5oz sterling silver medallions from pilgrimage to Mecca. Similarly there are commemorating medals of King Abdul Al Saud ( founded of Saudi Arabia) which seem to pop up all over the GCC. Cost wise you would not want to touch them with a barge pole, but if you want a souvenir it beats a camel soft toy or a tray of dates!!! Also as per the norm for this part of the world - be prepared to barter. As you say, it might be best to have a local Kuwaiti go with you
Thanks AtrhGoch. We are pretty much restricted to the base and looks like I won't get to shop. Just got told that we are headed to Qatar on Friday. Any thoughts on Qatar? Thanks all for the great input.
Gold and Silver Buyer's Guide Qatar Basic Guide The bullion precious metal market in Doha, Qatar is quite small and as a result you wont be able to purchase silver bullion and the best prices for gold bullion was in the most unlikely place, foreign exchange companies. The qatar gold price and silver price in qatari riyals (QAR) is published almost daily in The Peninsula, in the 'Market' page of the 'Business' section and can be seen online in PDF format. The majority of gold bullion for sale is minted by swiss refinery, Valcambi SA. Doha's main jewellery and bullion market is located in the Old Al Ghanim district, close to Ali bin Abdullah Street and is called the Gold Souk/Market. The Gold Souk is located right next to the main Doha Bus Station, which makes it easily accessible to those who choose to use public transportation. The Gold Souq consists of a number of buildings containing jewellery shops, including Doha Gold & Jewellery Souq and Saud Souq. With the plethora of jewellery shops, most of them do not sell bullion because, as one shop owner stated, they cant make as much money off of it in comparison to jewelery. So it turned out that the two nearby money exchange companies were the primary source of bullion, Al Fardan Exchange and Gulf Exchange, and had the best prices. Al Fardan Exchange sells 10/20/50/100 gram, 1 oz (31.1g), 1/2 and 1 kilogram and 1/2/3/5/10 tola (1 tola = 11.66g) 24 karat bars and 8g Gold British Sovereign 22 carat coin, which are available at their gold purchasing counter (counter 6). Gulf Exchange has a similar selection of bullion for sale and a dedicated counter for bullion purchase, which unfortunately isnt open on Fridays. Though not the best priced places to buy bullion, there were a few jewellery shops in the area that had bullion. Al Safeer Jewellery [44351012] has 10/20 gram 24k gold bars (QAR 80/150 premiums) and 7.2 gr Turkish 22k coin, Haya Jewellery [44318469] has PAMP (10g had QAR 85 premium) and Valcambi gold bars, 2/4/8 gram Gold Sovereign coins, 7.2g Turkish 21k coin, and 8 gr Saudi Arabian 22k coin, and Mumtaz Jewellery [44354013] has a wide range of PAMP gold bars (10 to 100 grams). One good thing I noticed with Al Fardan Exchange is that they publish their gold product rates in plain view on the glass of the counter, and they seemed to be fixed rates for the day. Unfortunately, I didn't find any exchange/shop selling 1/2 kg or 1 kilogram gold bars, with the largest sized seemed to be the 10 tola or TT (116.6 gram) bar.
Well that sucks, I won't be able to pick up any gold kilo bars! =) Thanks Karl, you are a wealth of information. I appreciate the info that you and others have provided. And it's nice that on one posted the usual comment from some other boards about me being too lazy to do my own research. Have to wait in line at the USO at Camp Arifjan to get on a computer and time is limited, so thanks all for the help. Hope to get out in Doha and at least find some of these places but duty first, work before silver stacking! Back home to Alabama on Saturday, Thanks again.
Stay away from sovereigns in the middle east region. They are mostly "jewellers copies". 21 karat gold but not real sovereigns. Been there, done that http://forums.silverstackers.com/message-365627.html
Back from my trip to Kuwait/Qatar/UAE. I did get a chance to see some local vendors and visit the Gold Souk in Doha, Qatar. The collection of jewelry stores is pretty overwhelming. We were there just after prayers on Friday so it was very crowded but no one was buying. What I know about gold you could write on a matchbook so I could not comment on prices but the windows were full of beautiful things. Bartering is king of course but the one constant that I could uncover from the various shops was that they wanted about $4 a GRAM for silver! These guys were fast talkers and even faster on the calculators, all waved kilo bars in my face but didn't see anything else in silver. Yes, I could have talked them down but starting at $130 an ounce seemed a long way to go to get close to what I would pay. So a very interesting look at the local PM market but my wallet stayed safely in my pocket. Never go alone to a place like this of course. I had three very large soldiers with me so no problem there. Clearly, you would need a lot of time and patience to find a bargain if one even existed.
I am in Kuwait now.. and they never issued circulated silver that I am aware of. The do issue allot of commemorative gold and silver coins through the central bank. Hit me up if you are stil in Q8
