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Editor's Note: When I'm in San Francisco, I always pay Burt Blumert a visit. The owner of Camino Coin, Burt's been dealing with money and gold for nearly 50 years, and he has stong opinions about both. The following is a story he likes to tell about the power of gold investing.
Mr. Chang's Gold
By Burt Blumert
February 26, 2007
I've experienced a strong inclination among Asians towards gold. It reminds me of my favorite Chinese customer, Mr. Chang...
I don't remember when he first became a customer, but it had to be a decade before 1974. He barely spoke English, and I'm not even sure he was legally in the US. He worked in food service at United Airlines, and his wardrobe was Shanghai circa 1930.
We didn't have much in common. His English was primitive and my Chinese nonexistent.
The only thing we shared was his interest in gold and my desire to sell it to him. In those days, we were prohibited from selling anything that could be considered a bullion coin. That didn’t matter to Mr. Chang.
There was only one coin he would buy... the US $20 Liberty Head coin. He was familiar with it from China. To him, the Liberty $20 gold coin was gold, and gold was the Liberty coin. Any other gold item might as well be counterfeit.
Through the years, I saw him almost monthly. He brought his paycheck, would negotiate price, and then decide how many coins he wanted. (The $20 Liberty cost about $50 each.) I would give him change against his check.
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Originally, I was amused that he came with his own balance scale. It was made of bamboo with a plate at one end and a weighted rock at the other. It was designed to balance the $20 Liberty. If a coin failed, it was either shaved or counterfeit.
After about a decade, I became annoyed with his scale. "Mr. Chang, when in heaven's name will you trust me and not need a scale?"
He considered the scale just part of doing business, but he got my message and was embarrassed. Although his scale was present for the next purchase, I never saw it again after that.
In those days, it wasn't easy getting information about the gold price. There was no US market. The London AM and PM fixings were sometimes available on the radio, but it often required seeking the financial pages of the Wall Street Journal to learn the value of an ounce of gold.
Mr. Chang followed the price very closely. He would call almost daily, and ask, "Wuddah prica London gol?"
Upon getting the information, he would respond: "Very thank you," and that was that. There was never any doubt about it. It was Mr. Chang on the phone.
Then, we didn't hear from Mr. Chang for months.
"Has anyone heard from Mr. Chang," I asked? I was sure he was ill or worse.
Then, one day there he was. "Wuddah prica London gol?"
I had answered his call and asked, "Mr Chang, have you been ill? We've missed hearing from you."
Dead silence.
How did I know it was him, he wondered. Gold dealers must be amazing, with wondrous perceptions. I guess he believed that every customer said, "Very thank you."
Eventually, Mr. Chang retired. I don't know if he had social security checks coming in, but his gold coins provided for his retirement. He came in as regularly as when he was a buyer. Only this time with one or two gold coins to sell. As he came in the front door, I noted he had coins in his hand, wrapped in tissue paper. He pretended he might be buying to keep me honest, but of course I knew that was not the case.
Then, we learned from one of his old Chinese friends that Mr. Chang had passed on. In fact, he had gifted several coins to the friend who gave us the news. We were sad. Mr. Chang's "very thank you" had become a part of the language in our office.
Some year or two later a young Chinese woman, whom I later learned was Mr. Chang's grandniece, came in. She was an accountant and evidently had found Mr. Chang's check stubs with Chinese characters on them breaking down how he had spent each check.
She was convinced there were gold coins some place and wondered if we were actually storing them. It was clear that she was not part of Mr. Chang's inner circle.
She left rude and angered.
As if rehearsed, my employees looked at me and in unison we all said: "Very thank you."
We miss you, Mr. Chang.
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