I'm headed off to a conference in my second favorite city (after Rome, but I digress) in May. I was contemplating purchasing some shiny over there and bringing it back with me. I'm traveling with two mates, so the motherlode can be split between the three of us... 1. What do I have to declare? 2. What should I buy over there that I perhaps can't here? 3. From whom/where should I buy? 4. Any Canucks here who could help? Any thoughts, ideas, inspirations, warnings are most welcome...
lol, you obviously don't subscribe to drutter's youtube channel. Every second video is about the silver shortage in Vancouver.
no, roberto, i do not. is it a worthwhile watch? silver shortage, you say? hmmmm.... maybe i should take some physical over there and start sellin' to them thar canucks? :/
J&M, one of the more well known coin shops is in Vancouver but I'm not from the west coast and have never been there in person. You would probably want to call them ahead if arranging a large purchase -- they might be able to help you with some of your other questions and you could ask them if they want anything from the Perth Mint for you to bring/trade. The new RCM Silver Grizzlies should be available by the time you are here (I haven't noticed them around yet) -- it might be an idea to pick up a monster box to bring home. It looks like a pretty sexy coin -- much nicer than the timberwolf ones, IMO. http://www.coinnews.net/2011/02/28/2011-canadian-grizzly-silver-bullion-coin-available/ I think I've noticed a couple of other Canucks on the board -- maybe someone local to Vancouver can be of more help. Enjoy your trip! http://www.bullioncoinsandbars.com/products.htm http://www.jandm.com/bullion.htm
No probs. I think you picked the one place in the world that has regular updates saying "there is no silver here".
I always like to stop in at J&M when I'm in Vancouver, they're on Broadway. The owner has been in business since the 60s, always up for a good chat on PMs and how crap fiat money is. There are a few other places, Border Gold I have dealt with a lot, VCBE is another one in the city but I have not dealt with. A few of these places also do currency exchange and might be willing to take Aussie dollars, might be worth giving them a call. I recently transported about 8kg of silver coins back to Canada. Mostly the old 80% junk silver but also a bunch of the 1976 Olympic coins. Had them all stuffed in a tupperware container in my backpack. Obviously it lit the hell out of the X-ray scanners, they were very curious at Sydney airport and asked me to take the container out and they had a quick peek inside. They must have thought I was a little strange. Had to go through the scanners again in Vancouver for my connecting flight and the same thing happened. Never said a word to any customs agent, the face value was well below the $10,000 reporting limit, even the silver value was under so they couldn't do anything anyway. Just check your weight limits, it's usually 10kg for carry on luggage and you'd have to be crazy to check in a big stash of silver.
MelBrad - just out of curiosity, are you planning to take advantage of your travel to arbitrage the premium difference each way? For example, I can buy a lunar rabbit for 48, but a grizzly only costs 42 -- if the spread is reversed for you at home it's probably worth the trouble to lug the 10k reporting limit (say 200oz), flip, and make maybe $4oz each in Vancouver, than another 4 back in Oz for 1600.
