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2018 Hard Asset Collector’s Holiday Buying Guide

Photo Credit: LOPRE

Welcome to the Antique Sage’s 2018 hard asset collector’s holiday buying guide, where I will help you choose the finest Christmas gifts for the tangible asset enthusiast, antique collector or other special person in your life.

Vintage British Sterling Silver Hallmark Pendants

In the 1970s rampant international inflation led to a widespread loss of confidence in fiat currencies. As a result, gold and silver bullion investing was all the rage.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that British High Street jewelers adapted to the times by crafting sleek, ingot shaped pendants for the fashion conscious. These lovely British sterling silver hallmark pendants have a streamlined sensibility that fits well with the modern aesthetic.

Although most were produced in the late 1970s, vintage British hallmark pendants can date anywhere from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s.

Each one of these pendants is made from high purity, .925 fine sterling silver. This is attested to by the stately lion hallmark, which has been used to certify the purity of English sterling silver since the mid 16th century.

Collectors love the fact that the British hallmarking system is so well regulated. It easily allows anyone to identify a piece of jewelry’s city and date of manufacture, along with its maker.

For example, a leopard’s head hallmark indicates a piece was made in London. An anchor hallmark is the symbol for Birmingham and a crown hallmark is the emblem for Sheffield.

As an added bonus, pendants made in 1977 were given a special, one-year-only hallmark with the head of Queen Elizabeth II in commemoration of her 25th coronation anniversary jubilee.

With prices ranging from only $25 to just over $100, a vintage British sterling silver hallmark pendant from the 1970s would not only make a great gift, but also be eminently affordable.

Japanese-Style Woodblock Art Prints

Moku Hanga is the term for traditional Japanese woodblock printing. And truth be told, I have fallen in love with these masterpieces – hence their positioning in the hard asset collector’s holiday buying guide.

Japanese-style woodblock printing has become so popular that Western artists have fully embraced it, turning out some really compelling original art prints. This is partially because Moku Hanga is an art that demands to be mastered.

But it is also an art form that demands respect. As a result, classic Japanese themes like nature, animals and landscapes often dominate, even in Moku Hanga prints produced by non-Japanese artists.

In the typical Japanese-style art print, the artist painstakingly carves a flat block of cherry, birch or shina wood with a special, razor-sharp tool. Then an additional block using a slightly modified design must be carved for each different color in the final print.

The print itself is usually transferred onto high quality, acid-free paper that is either cotton or mulberry-bark based. This ensures that the resulting Moku Hanga art print will last for centuries to come.

Pricing is usually quite reasonable, with many fine Japanese-style woodblock prints available for just $100 to $200.

Antique Fractional European Gold Coins

Everybody loves gold coins. And nearly everyone is familiar with modern gold bullion coins like the American gold eagle, the Australian kangaroo and the Canadian maple leaf.

But did you know that during the late 19th and early 20 century, many European countries struck small gold coins for circulation? These intriguing coins are often well over a hundred years old and hail from some of the most storied nations of the time.

For example, the French, Belgians and Swiss – as part of the ill-fated Latin Monetary Union – struck 20 franc coins that contained 0.1867 troy ounces of pure gold. The British minted their internationally renowned gold sovereign coin (0.2354 troy ounces), which is still being issued to this day. Germany’s workhorse denomination was the 20 mark coin, which sported 0.2304 troy ounces of fine gold. And Czarist Russia struck both 5 rouble (0.1244 troy ounce) and 10 rouble (0.2489 troy ounce) gold coins bearing the legendary double-headed imperial eagle.

But perhaps most surprisingly, these desirable antique gold coins are rather affordable today. In fact, common specimens in nearly uncirculated condition rarely go for much more than bullion value.

Because of this, old fractional European gold coins earn their place on the hard asset collector’s holiday buying guide. With spot gold trading at around $1,200 a troy ounce, most of these coins are trading just under $300, although some smaller pieces can be purchased for less.

Handcrafted Fine Hardwood Jewelry Boxes

I’ve always believed that a fine gift should be presented in an exceptional box. And that’s why I’ve decided to feature handcrafted hardwood jewelry boxes on the Antique Sage’s 2018 hard asset collector’s holiday buying guide.

These exquisite storage boxes use some of the finest temperate and tropical hardwoods known to man. Magnificently-grained exotic woods like koa, mahogany, walnut and sapele, not to mention elegant wood burls, vie for your attention on these works of art.

Although I call them jewelry boxes, the fact is that almost any compact treasure can be stored in these boxes. They could just as easily accommodate cherished family photos and keepsakes as valuable watches and jewelry.

And they are durable as well. If properly cared for, a well-made hardwood jewelry box will easily last a lifetime.

Given the superb craftsmanship and beauty of handmade hardwood boxes, their $50 to $200 price tag seems absurdly low.

Artisan Hand-Poured Silver Bars

There is nothing quite like holding a hefty bar of pure silver in your hands. It is at once covetable and gorgeous; the essence of true wealth.

One of the most intriguing trends in the silver-stacking community is the proliferation of artisan-made silver bars. These works of art are cast from .999 fine silver that is hand-poured into graphite or iron molds before being hand-stamped with their maker, weight and fineness. Each poured silver bar is absolutely one-of-a-kind, with unique pour lines and irregularities.

Because hand-poured bars are more labor intensive to make than struck or extruded silver bars, the large bullion fabricators do not make them anymore. So the torch has been taken up by specialized firms that are crafting these artisan silver bars in small batches.

One of my favorite makers of hand-poured silver bars is Vulture Peak Mines, also known as VPM. They are a poured-bar specialist company located in Bandon, Oregon, on the Pacific Coast. Most of VPM’s employees are former miners or veterans, all of whom share a passion for poured silver bullion.

The wonderful thing about artisan hand-poured silver bars is that most of them only sell for modest premiums over the spot price of silver. For instance, with the spot price of silver currently at $14.50, you can expect to pay a very reasonable $22 per troy ounce for VPM poured silver bars, give or take.

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U.S. Dollar Debasement – A Unique Historical Timeline

Before Dollar Debasement: The Classical Gold Standard

Before the Great Depression, the United States operated under a gold standard. This meant that most U.S. currency could be freely exchanged at banks or the U.S. Treasury for gold coins. This was done at the rate of $20.67 for one troy ounce of gold. In other words, a $20 gold certificate could be redeemed for a double-eagle gold coin which contained almost a full troy ounce of pure gold.

This conversion mechanism constrained growth in the money supply, meaning that there was effectively no inflation for as long as the system remained in place. In addition, silver certificates that were directly redeemable for silver dollars also circulated in the economy, providing additional protection against U.S. dollar debasement.

The classical gold standard provided unprecedented financial stability and economic growth – not only in the United States, but also in other countries that had adopted it, including Great Britain, France, Germany and Japan. It was only with the arrival of World War I that the international gold standard began to weaken.

Early 1900s – The U.S. economy is dominated by a variety of high quality currency instruments. Gold certificates, silver certificates, United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes (after 1914) all circulate side-by-side, along with gold and silver coins.
1913 – The Federal Reserve is founded as a “banker’s bank” with the stated purpose of preventing financial panics. The new institution’s policies will profoundly impact the trajectory of dollar debasement in the decades to come.
1914 to 1918 – World War I forces most belligerent nations to abandon the gold standard. The United States is a notable exception to this trend, which cements the country’s position as an international economic power.
1920s – A decade of economic expansion is driven by strong fundamentals and the newly formed Federal Reserve’s outrageous “coup de whiskey” monetary policy. This has grave consequences because it foments a massive Wall Street stock market bubble that surreptitiously undermines the economy.
1929 – The Great Wall Street Crash in October signals the start of the Great Depression.
1931 – The collapse of Credit-Anstalt, a major Austrian bank, ushers in the most virulent phase of the Great Depression.
1931 – Great Britain is forced off the gold standard in September of this year, greatly increasing monetary pressure on all countries that still maintain gold convertibility, including the United States.
1933 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumes the Presidency and immediately calls a banking holiday. He simultaneously suspends the gold convertibility of the U.S. dollar. A short time later, on April 5, FDR effectively nationalizes the country’s gold, declaring that all privately-held gold coins and gold certificates must be exchanged for non-gold currency.
1934 – FDR increases the price of gold from $20.67 to $35 per troy ounce. This effectively devalues the U.S. dollar by 41%. The classical gold standard in the United States is officially dead and the modern era of dollar debasement begins.
1934 – The U.S. Treasury commissions a final series of gold certificates. These are not intended for public circulation, but are instead used for bank reserves and inter-bank transfers.
1935 – FDR passes a law allowing the U.S. Treasury to issue small-denomination, government-backed bonds, otherwise known as savings bonds, directly to the public. Savings bonds allow U.S. citizens to invest in a safe Treasury instrument with a competitive interest rate.

Dollar Debasement Begins: The Bretton Woods System

In the wake of the widespread devastation wrought by the Great Depression and World War II, a new international monetary framework was desperately needed. As a result, in July 1944, 44 representatives of the allied nations, including Great Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union, gathered at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to hammer out a new monetary system.

It was finally decided that the U.S. dollar would be convertible into gold at the rate of $35 for each troy ounce. But only foreign governments and central banks would be allowed to exercise this conversion feature, not individuals. In addition, all other countries would tie the value of their currencies to the dollar.

Although silver certificates and silver coins freely circulated in America during this period, gold bullion was illegal for U.S. citizens to own. Each $1 silver certificate was exchangeable into a silver dollar containing 0.77344 troy ounces of pure silver. United States Notes and Federal Reserve Notes also circulated and could be exchanged for fiduciary silver coinage (90% silver dimes, quarters and half dollars) which contained 0.7234 troy ounces of silver per $1 face value.

1944 – The Bretton Woods system is formalized. This monetary structure is quickly adopted by most nations that are not part of the Soviet Communist Bloc.
1950s – A period of international prosperity exists, with the United States acting as both the world’s monetary hub and primary export destination. However, the United State’s huge silver and gold reserves are gradually drawn down to pay for this flood of foreign imports.
Early 1960s – The rising price of silver in the international market makes it clear that the U.S. government will soon have difficulty redeeming silver certificates at their traditional rate.
1964 – The U.S. government suspends the Treasury’s obligation to redeem silver certificates for silver dollars, but still allows redemption for raw silver granules or bullion bars for a limited time.
1964 – U.S. citizens are allowed to legally own gold certificates again. While they regain their legal tender status, they are no longer redeemable for gold.
1966 – The U.S. Mint strikes its last 90% silver coins meant for circulation (which are dated 1964 due to a date freeze). The only circulating U.S. coins with any precious metal remaining are 40% silver Kennedy half dollars. Most U.S. coinage is now copper-nickel slugs.
1968 – The U.S. Treasury discontinues redeeming silver certificates in their entirety, although the notes still remain legal tender.
1969 – The U.S. Treasury withdraws high denomination currency from circulation due to fears that it facilitates organized crime. But honest citizens who crave financial discretion and safety are most impacted. This policy applies to the $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills. These large denomination notes are not, however, demonetized.
1970 – The 40% silver Kennedy half dollar is discontinued and replaced with a copper-nickel base metal version. There are now no coins produced by the U.S. Mint for general circulation that contain any silver.
1971 – In August, President Richard Nixon stops redeeming U.S. dollars presented by foreign governments and central banks for gold. This ends the last formal link that the U.S. dollar has to precious metals, marking a new era in dollar debasement. All currencies in the world are now fiat currencies with floating exchange rates.
Early 1970s – By this time, nearly all 90% U.S. silver coinage (especially dimes and quarters) have been pulled from circulation due to Gresham’s Law.
1973 – An international oil crisis is precipitated when Arab nations refuse to exchange their oil for now depreciated U.S. dollars at the traditional rate.
1975 – After more than 40 years of being illegal, gold ownership for U.S. citizens is re-legalized.

Dollar Debasement Accelerates: The Bretton Woods II System

After the monetary chaos of the 1970s, which was characterized by persistently high inflation and frequent recessions, a monetary reform was necessary. The U.S. Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates to a dizzying 20% in 1980 in order to break the economy’s deleterious inflationary cycle. Once confidence in the dollar had been reestablished, a reconstituted global monetary system emerged.

Unlike the original Bretton Woods System, the Bretton Woods II System was entirely informal. While the U.S. dollar remained at the center of the global monetary system as the world’s reserve currency, it was no longer exchangeable for gold or silver at a fixed rate. Instead, all currencies floated freely against each other.

The United States also remained the world’s primary destination for exported goods, gradually leading to a slow deindustrialization of the country.

1980 – A bubble in precious metals – gold, silver and platinum – finally bursts after the Federal Reserve raises short-term interest rates to unbelievably high levels.
1982 – The U.S. Government bans the issuance of new bearer bonds. This is a blow to financial anonymity because these corporate promissory notes are similar to cash; whoever holds them receives their interest and principal payments. However, existing bearer bonds are allowed to mature naturally. Because the maximum term of a bond is typically no more than 30 years, the last of these bearer bonds mature by 2012.
1980s – A period of relative economic prosperity develops as the Federal Reserve’s relatively cautious interest rate policies discourage widespread speculation.
1986 – The U.S. Mint begins striking American Gold and Silver Eagle bullion coins, giving small investors a good way to accumulate precious metals with confidence.
Late 1990s – The advent of the original technology bubble ushers in an era of destabilizing, serial boom-bust financial markets. This development is encouraged by a profligate Federal Reserve that reliably “bails-out” bubble speculators.
Mid 2000s – The Federal Reserve holds short-term interest rates too low for too long, giving rise to the Housing Bubble.
Mid 2000s – Due to the rising price of precious metals, the last remnants of pre-1970 silver coinage finally disappear from circulation. Looking through rolls of coins from your local bank in hopes finding the odd silver Kennedy half dollar or silver war nickel is now a lost cause.
2008 – The Great Financial Crisis strikes when the Housing Bubble bursts. The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates to almost zero, causing significant dollar debasement. The Fed, in effect, subjects the American people to intense financial repression in order to recapitalize the irresponsible banking system.
Late 2000s – The U.S. Treasury systematically lowers the interest rates it pays on savings bonds, making them far less attractive investments to small savers than they used to be.
2009 – New York City’s centralized clearinghouse for stock settlements adds a $500 fee to the cost of issuing new paper stock certificates, effectively ending their creation. However, existing paper stocks certificates are allowed to remain outstanding.
2012 – The U.S. Government states that it will no longer issue physical savings bonds certificates. From now on all U.S. savings bonds are digital only, with only one minor exception. This is the death knell of the U.S. savings bond program.
2013 – The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) proposes the elimination of all physical stock certificates. This would make it impossible to hold stocks anywhere except for a brokerage account or DRIP plan.
2010s – The Federal Reserve again suppresses short-term interest rates, inflating a grotesque, hybrid Real Estate/Stock Market/Bond Market/Crypto-Currency Bubble. When it finally bursts, the economic fallout will be catastrophic.
2016 – Several stories run in the media in favor of discontinuing the $100 bill – ostensibly because of their alleged use in criminal transactions. This is in spite of the fact that a $100 bill in 2016 only has the same purchasing power as a $10 bill in 1950.

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The Wealth Building Paradox

Photo Credit (CC 2.0 license): Eric Golub

A lot of investors approach wealth building as if it were a vending machine. They expect to regularly invest a certain amount of money each month and then sit back and watch it grow at around 10% a year.

After all, this is how investing works, right? You put your money into the investment vending machine and come back in 30 or 40 years to find that it has spewed out millions and millions of dollars for your retirement.

Unfortunately, this is a diabolical lie. Wealth building is nothing like a vending machine at all. The universe is simply under no obligation to give you a 10% return on your money in perpetuity. Real wealth building just doesn’t work that way.

Let me tell you a story that encapsulates this misguided vending machine analogy perfectly. I recently stumbled across a post by the financial blogger Joshua Kennon titled “Diamonds Are A Perfect Example of the Inability to Calculate Financial Intrinsic Value“.

In the post Joshua relates how he had visited Borsheims – a Berkshire Hathaway owned jewelry store. I’ll allow him to tell you the rest of his story below:

…there was a wedding band that caught my eye. It was phenomenal. It featured 5.34 carats of diamonds in a platinum eternity setting, with the diamonds rated in the exceptional white colorless range (F on the GIA scale) and a VVS in clarity.

I ran the compounding math in my head. Ten or twelve times. If I were to buy two identical copies, even at the Berkshire Hathaway discount price (which the sales associate was kind enough to ballpark for me and is substantial – at minimum 30% off retail, probably more) at an average rate of compounding, by the time I was Warren Buffett’s age, it would cost me $5 to $10 million in foregone wealth. That is my opportunity cost.

So I went ahead and ran the numbers on this guy’s “opportunity cost”. He states that one of these eternity rings would cost $27,000 at retail. At the 30% discount he references, two rings would cost $37,500. The “about” section of his website says that he is 35. Therefore I estimated that the difference between his age and Warren Buffet’s is around 50 years.

By dumping all of this information into a spreadsheet and working a little finance magic I can infer that Joshua thinks he will garner an average return on his portfolio of 10.26% to 11.80% annually over the next half a century.

That belief is, in my humble opinion, utterly insane.

It completely ignores financial history, where wealth building via compound interest has regularly been wiped out by global wars, ugly debt defaults, bloody revolutions, horrific stock market crashes and messy nationalizations.

Like it or not, the diamond eternity band that caught Joshua’s eye will undoubtedly still be around (and worth a substantial amount of money) in a couple centuries. In contrast, it takes a certain naivety to trust that Berkshire Hathaway (or most of today’s other major corporations) will still exist in the year 2200.

Now I want to make it clear that I don’t think buying diamond eternity bands from Borsheims (or any other jeweler for that matter) is a good investment. White diamonds are my least favorite gemstone from an investment perspective (with the notable exception of old cut diamonds). Anyone looking for the real sleeper hit of the gemstone world should bypass white diamonds entirely and check out spinels instead.

In addition, paying a jeweler’s retail price (even a “discounted” retail price) is almost always a poor move. The fact is that most new jewelry instantly depreciates by 75% to 90% the moment you walk out of the store with it. This is why anyone interesting in using jewelry as an investment vehicle should 1) do a lot of research before they buy and 2) always buy antique, vintage or estate jewelry on the secondary market.

But I digress.

Compound interest can work wonders for your portfolio, but there is a paradox buried in this conventional wealth building strategy. If you happen to invest in a time of peace and prosperity, you can be rewarded with seemingly ever increasing paper asset prices. This situation can endure for many decades at a time – so long, in fact, that it is easy to become complacent (and start implicitly believing in the investment vending machine theory).

But the good times inevitably lead to an over-issuance of paper assets like stocks and bonds. The physical economy simply doesn’t grow fast enough to support all the new paper claims against it. The only solution is ultimately default – either through inflation or bankruptcy. In both of these circumstances, holders of paper assets suffer terribly while investors in hard assets – antiques, precious metals and, yes, gemstones – benefit tremendously.

The last time the developed world experienced a synchronized restructuring of financial assets was the 1930s and 1940s. During this time, massive numbers of bonds, stocks and even currencies became effectively worthless, leaving many ill-prepared investors destitute.

But that was a long time ago – over 70 years now. As a result, today’s investors have forgotten the paradox of wealth building: compound interest is so powerful that no economy can sustain it forever.

Unfortunately, we seem to be right on the cusp of financial history at the moment. It is apparent that our bloated financial system won’t be able to stagger along much longer under the weight of its excessive paper asset obligations. The smart money knows that tangible assets are the right wealth building strategy for the coming financial implosion, and now you know it too.

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Understanding the New UL RSC Level II Burglary Safe Rating

The burglary rating system established by UL (Underwriters Laboratories) is the primary piece of protection for North American consumers interested in purchasing a security safe. This burglary safe rating system used to have three primary tiers: RSC (Residential Security Container), TL-15 and TL-30. Most residential buyers were interested in the RSC rating, as the high security TL-15 and TL-30 ratings were largely the domain of commercial enterprises, like banks, pawn shops and jewelry stores.

UL defines an RSC safe as one that can successfully resist entry for a minimum of 5 minutes with small, common hand tools. Although it is a basic security rating, don’t let the relatively short entry time fool you; the RSC testing procedure is brutal.

The time limit only includes “tools on the safe” time (measured with a stopwatch). The actual test might take longer than an hour to run and can be repeated as many times as the UL staff feels is necessary to ensure that all prospective avenues of attack have been thoroughly explored.

The RSC test is conducted by a single, seasoned UL technician who is effectively a professional safecracker. In addition, he is allowed to freely consult with his experienced associates at all times both before and during the test. The safe manufacturer must also submit a copy of the safe’s blueprints beforehand so that the UL testers can pinpoint any potentially weak areas for their attacks.

The only “easy” part about a UL RSC burglary safe test is that the tool complement is rather limited. The test only allows hand tools that are no greater than 18 inches in length, preventing the use of long breaker or pry bars. The sledge hammer used can only have a 3 pound head, limiting the concussive forces involved. And the only power tool allowed is a drill equipped with a 1/4 inch bit.

Despite these limitations, the UL RSC burglary rating is fairly robust for a residential setting.

However, the RSC rating has a major problem; it encompasses a massive range of protection levels. A low end RSC safe might easily stop a drug-addled, smash-and-grab thief, but would quickly succumb to a well-equipped, highly-motivated burglar.

Likewise, a high quality RSC safe provides good protection in most residential settings, but also costs a lot more than a low end RSC safe. Worse yet, there is no clear way for a safe buyer to differentiate between the two.

I actually address this problem in an article I wrote titled: Choosing the Right RSC Burglary Safe.

Because of the limitations of the old RSC safe rating system, UL split the RSC designation into 3 separate tiers at the beginning of 2018: RSC Level I, RSC Level II and RSC Level III.

The old RSC test will now be equivalent to the new RSC Level I rating.

I will not spend any time discussing the RSC Level III rating because 1) it doesn’t make much sense and 2) it is beyond the scope of this article.

The RSC Level II security rating, though, is where things get interesting.

In the new RSC Level II test, a safe must successfully resist entry for 10 minutes against a two-man team using more powerful tools than in the old RSC test, including picks, high-speed carbide drills and pressure applying devices. The RSC Level II tool complement is actually the same suite of tools used for the grueling UL TL-15 test, which is generally considered the first rung on the commercial security ladder.

In effect, the RSC Level II security designation is a TL-10×6 rating. X6 refers to the fact that the UL safecrackers can work on any six sides of a safe in their attempt to open it. This is a notable departure from the (theoretically) higher TL-15 rating, where the two-man safecracking team can only work on the door of the safe. The sides of a TL-15 safe are subjected to a reduced-length, 5-minute attack time.

Perhaps the best way to visualize just how much more punishing the RSC Level II security test is versus the old RSC Level I test is to take a moment to look at the photo at the top of this article. The small group of tools on the left is those used in the old RSC (now the RSC Level I) test, while the much more menacing tool set on the right is those used in the new RSC Level II test. And remember, the RSC Level II test also employs a two-man team versus the single safecracker on the RSC Level I test.

For security-minded individuals looking for the best home burglary safe available, the new UL RSC Level II rating is a godsend. The old RSC burglary designation was a confusing mess that covered a range of widely divergent security levels. The new RSC rating system largely remedies this. Unfortunately, it will take a little while to get out to the public.

UL works on a 7 year retest cycle for safes, the last of which occurred in 2012. At each retest cycle, UL updates their safe testing methodology to include more effective tools and techniques. And every participating safe manufacturer must then resubmit their safes for retesting. This retest cycle is currently scheduled for 2019, meaning that most residential burglary safes will only begin to carry the new RSC Level I or RSC Level II certifications in 2020.

High Security TL-15 & TL-30 Safes for Sale on eBay

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Unfortunately, this means that there is only a single model of RSC Level II safe currently on the market: the AMSEC BFII Series Gun Safe.

There will undoubtedly be other RSC Level II security safes coming over the next few years. I have heard a rumor that Fort Knox is working on modifying their Guardian series of gun safes to meet the new standard.

I also suspect that a handful of the older RSC burglary safes might be able to meet the new RSC Level II rating as well. Although this is pure speculation, I think that the AMSEC BF security series (which is more robust than their standard BF gun safes) has a shot at the new certification with just a few modifications. I also believe that most of Graffunder’s safe line-up could probably meet the new designation (although they have traditionally chosen not to submit their safes to UL for certification). Other than that, we’ll just have to wait and see who makes the cut.

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