Would anyone be interested in a Gold-backed security?

[John S.]

I have about a 1/2 ounce worth of gold in two small coins I'm interested in selling; however, I am playing with the idea of dividing it up as shares on GLBSE.

If somebody were to gain enough shares (1/4 of an ounce) to buy the smallest coin, I could send it to them at any time.

Now, if this were to get big enough, I could have people send gold to me to keep in a anonymous safe that would be audited with bi-weekly photos. People could then trade their Gold on GLBSE.

Any interest in this idea? Criticism?

Ideas on how far said security should be split up?

[Rothgar]

I'd rather just have the coin in my hand.  It's not worth the GLBSE fees.

[FreeMoney]

So if one person has 90% of share and one person has 10% the 10%er kind of has the other guy by the balls. You should make sure to be that 10%er. Or maybe you buy 60% from yourself and don't even have to send that 1 coin ever.

[DeathAndTaxes]

So if one person has 90% of share and one person has 10% the 10%er kind of has the other guy by the balls. You should make sure to be that 10%er. Or maybe you buy 60% from yourself and don't even have to send that 1 coin ever.

This.  I am not interested but the concept doesn't even make sense unless you are talking about at least dozens of ounces and willingness to buy more gold and issue more shares to improve liquidity as needed.

For example say you issue 1000 shares per ounce.  A trapped investor has 220 shares but needs 250 to liquidate.  There are no sellers.  You offer to purchase another gold coin(s), issue new shares and sell 30 to him an secondary offering, and the other 970 to any other investors.  Trapped investor now has 250 shares, he liquidates them, 250 shares removed from GLBSE, one 1/4 ounce coin removed from backing assets.

If all that sounds like too much work well ...

[John S.]

Yep, I see. I would need to go bigger unless this was just for fun. You know, to speculate on gold on a very small scale?

Anyways, I see one guy has a Gold bond on the market now. As for the soundness of an Australian Gold vault, I'll leave that up to you.