Is Sharps Pixley's Ross Norman Really A Friend Of Gold And His Clients?

Ross Norman, proprietor of venerable London bullion dealer Sharps Pixley, writes today, "Gold is struggling to find friends."

Is Norman himself one? It apparently depends on the day.

He would seem to be one insofar as his firm sells the real stuff, not mere paper claims against it that create the illusion of infinite supply and thereby destroy gold's very purpose.

But in his new commentary at Sharps Pixley, headlined "Gold Says 'Peak Complacency,'" Norman professes to wonder about gold's being "trapped in narrow trading ranges and unresponsive to geopolitical events," about the lack of news and substantial commentary about gold, and about the seeming complacency of the financial markets.

This is strange, since just a month ago in an interview with Grant Williams for Real Vision's documentary video report about gold, called to your attention by GATA here --

http://www.gata.org/node/18088

-- Norman responded affirmatively to a suggested explanation for gold's inertia: surreptitious intervention against the gold price by central banks.

Norman was asked by Real Vision if central banks would do that sort of thing. He replied: "You betcha," because "it's said that the gold price is the reciprocal of trust in central banks. ... Are they doing it? 'I don't know' is the answer." But he added, "They probably are."

Excerpts from the Real Vision documentary that include Norman's comments are posted at You Tube here:

Of course gold price suppression may be the longest-running story of modern central banking. Prefacing GATA's Gold Rush 21 conference in the Yukon back in 2005, South African market analyst and gold advocate Peter George addressed the phenomenon that supposedly baffles Norman today. "In the last 10 years," George said, "the central banks have effectively shown that when there is a real crisis, gold actually goes down -- and it's so blatant, it's a joke."

Norman has attended and spoken at that conference before and, given his comments to Real Vision a month ago, is plainly familiar with the proof. Further, since the financial industry regards Norman as a highly respectable person, unlike anyone connected with GATA, your secretary/treasurer would have been glad if he had joined your secretary/treasurer's typically fruitless tour of London financial news organizations to supply the documentation and solicit journalistic interest in the issue.

But with his commentary today Norman now professes to have no idea about what is going on with gold.

Were other respectable people appalled by Norman's candid comments to Real Vision and did they demand a retraction of sorts from him, like his commentary published today, so he might regain his respectability?

In any case, why should investors purchase the monetary metals from a firm whose proprietor now professes not to understand their pricing, just a month after he indicated that he did understand it? Is the regard of other respectable people really worth this betrayal of clients and, really, humanity?

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
[email protected]