David L. L Ganz - The Essential Guide to Investing in Precious Metals: How to begin, build and maintain a properly diversified portfolio

Troy weight is easy to calculate once you get the basics. There are 31.1035 grams in a single troy ounce, and 12 troy ounces in a troy pound. If a gold coin like the British sovereign is involved, you take its gross weight in grams (7.5739773), multiply by its fineness (.9167 fine) and then divide by 31.10352

My friend David Ganz has done what he does best in The Essential Guide to Investing in Precious Metals take a complex concept, synthesize it, illustrate it, analyze it and make it comprehensible to anyone needing information on the subject he addresses. He chose a propitious time for a book on precious metals, for as this goes to press, they are trading at levels reminiscent only of a short time in 1979 and 1980.

Through most of our lifetimes, we have witnessed a roller coaster ride for these commodities, but whether at the heights or the depths, they have always been the subject of an interest and fascination which far exceeded the number of people who traded in them. Why? Certainly not for their utilitarian value. Yes, palladium and platinum have important uses in a number of industrial applications including automobiles, electronics, medical and dental equipment and even drugs. Silver was long a staple of the photographic process and despite the emergence of the digital alternative, it remains the most widely used precious metal in areas as diverse as traditional ones like silverware and jewelry, or industrial ones such as electronics and high-tech parts and equipment, and even new age uses such as solar energy and water treatment. As for gold, entire books have been written on the unique properties making it suitable in so many diverse applications, from ocean deeps to outer space.

While interesting, none of this is why precious metals have captivated humanity, and why they have done so, especially in the case of gold, for nearly the entire expanse of recorded history. When the layman is asked to think of gold, his thoughts turn to jewelry and to the use most familiar to us, coins. As we say in the preface to Gold Coins of the World, it has been mans ultimate measure of economic value. For rarity, purity, luster, resistance to the elements and time, and for color and beauty, it has nary an equal. In times of trouble it has been a source of security when all else lay in ruin.

Palladium has only recently been used in coinage. Platinum has been used since the 19th century, and gold and silver, forever. The collector and investor of today, however, faces a different set of challenges than any of his predecessors. Precious metal coins are no longer used in circulation and their face value bears no relation to their metal content. They carry either a significant premium because of their collectors value, or, if they are mass-produced, a very small one. Nor do they have a role in backing monetary reserves or will never again.

This is a book to guide the reader through what can be a confusing and not well-marked minefield: Whether to buy bullion coins or collector coins? Legal tender ones or metal ingots? American or foreign? In small quantities or in bulk? And in what metal? The answer, of course, is one that only the reader can provide himself. How to methodically arrive at that answer is why this book is invaluable.

Arthur L. Friedberg
President, Coin & Currency Institute,
May 2011