Rob Birnbaum e-mailed me, “Received it by Saturday. I like it and it was worth the time I spent ordering it.”

Nothing will overcome the memory of the ordering delays of Oct. 15 faster than rapid delivery of the coins.

The standard posted delivery date for the early orders was Oct. 30, so collectors will be pleased to get the sets ahead of time.

It certainly won’t hurt that secondary market prices are far higher than issue price of $55.95.

Harv Laser has been looking at the secondary market and he e-mailed me his findings.

“Highest price I can find in eBay closed auctions is still $349.95 from 15 October, 2009. Second highest is $299.99 from yesterday (Oct. 21), he wrote.

“I haven’t seen any show up in dealer print ads yet, but I haven’t gotten your latest issue yet.”

Perhaps having a few problems ordering isn’t all bad. It enhances that sense of triumph among collectors after all is said and done.

Perhaps what the Braille Education Set needs are simulated order delays that would be noticed quickly by collectors.

These are questions that haunt market analysts for the past one year. Still there seems no end to the crave for gold among buyers. Indians, who normally stay away from gold when the prices are above  Rs 15,000 per 10 gm, bought 56 tonnes of gold during the Diwali week, throwing recession blues to the wind.

Then investors thought after Diwali, the main occasion for Indians to buy gold, the gold prices will come down and the demand for the yellow metal will ease. No way! Things are back to square one with more and more people rushing to buy the yellow metals whereas the supply is not matching the demand.

Net long non-commercial and non-reportable positions on COMEX, a proxy for investor flows, rose to an all-time high of 27.58 million ounces at the end of September, according to the World Gold Council.

And it is no longer only the exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which pushed prices up in 2008, piling in. Quantity of gold that ETFs have added in the past few months has stayed fairly constant. While gold ETFs added 440 tonnes in the first quarter of 2009, the amount added since then has dropped to 29 tonnes.

The high price of gold is being supported by the weak dollar and aided by speculation about its future as the first-choice reserve currency for trading commodities such as oil. Fears about inflation next year are helping, too, although neither of these is enough to explain fully its popularity. The gold spot price rose much more quickly than US inflation expectations for the next five years in September.

Analysts believe that the price will stay around the $1,000 mark on average for the next few years.

However, supply should not be constrained in the near future. Although output in South Africa, the world’s biggest gold producer for most of the past century, has slowed, China has come forward to take its place. The burgeoning scrap market should also ensure that there are few supply problems in the short term.

At the same time, physical demand for gold is low. The appetite for gold jewellery has slowed around the world, with America particularly badly hit, and it is unlikely to pick up until prices fall substantially.

Sentiment is playing a key role in boosting the price of gold, which might be useful for a short-term trade but not for a long-term play at the moment..

Higher sales are being fueled by holiday-related jewellery sales and for bridal rings, which were helped by 2009 being considered an auspicious year for getting married and an increasing desire for platinum.

Platinum jewellery sales in China increased by more than 400,000 ounces, compared to the same period in 2008, largely in response to lower platinum prices, but also given the reduced premium over gold.

This market response highlights the strength of platinum jewellery branding and the different nature of Chinese platinum jewellery demands, as economic conditions continue to depress jewellery sales in most Western markets. The Chinese market is unsaturated, and the number of retail outlets continues to grow.

The strong growth in platinum jewellery demand is supported by statistics published by the Shanghai Gold Exchange, which show that the total volume of platinum sold in the first half of the year was up 81 percent over the same period last year. The majority of the sales were in the jewelry category.

Platinum prices have held steady to date, providing an opportunity for further growth in platinum jewellery demand.

Increased sales have been helped additionally by new store openings and manufacturers holding larger working stocks to meet increased demand.

The second half of 2009 is expected to deliver higher levels of spending, including increases in gift jewelry and bridal jewelry purchases.

Chinese people see 2009 as an auspicious year for marriage, since the number nine implies forever love.

It is estimated that more than 10 million couples tie the knot each year in China. According to China Wedding Registry, 10.5 million couples registered their marriage in 2008, a 10.6 per cent increase in year-on-year growth.

It is estimated that marriages will see 6 per cent growth to 11.5 million marriages in 2009, and that marriages will number 11.82 million in 2010.

Since 2000, China has been the world’s largest consumer market for platinum jewellery. Sales increases were reported to be strong in both first- and second-tier cities.

Festive occasions have become major drivers of sales for consumer products, and jewellery is no exception..

The silver spot price had touched $17.80 an ounce before dropping to $17.10 on Monday. According to analysts, this was a long-awaited correction in silver prices.

Silver has been tracking gold’s rally on an ever-weakening dollar. And the downward pressure on dollar is expected to continue as long as the Fed keeps up its low-interest rate.

Signs of global economic recovery are also having an effect on the dollar and precious metals prices and that trend is sure to continue.

While gold is up 21 per cent this year, silver has soared 56 per cent. However, despite outperforming gold, silver still remains undervalued compared to gold. When gold first hit $1,000 an ounce, silver was trading above $20 compared to the $17 range now.

Investment demand for silver is robust. Silver’s industrial status and its close ties to copper will keep the metal on the rise.  Silver has also benefited from rising industrial demand along with copper, which reached a 13-month high on Monday.

Strong appetite from Asia is helping to support prices of copper and its other base metal cousins.

Many analysts are forecasting further dollar declines and continued optimism over global economic recovery, which will in turn boost precious metal and base metal prices. Of course, silver stands to benefit immensely from this scenario, given its dual nature as both precious and industrial commodity.

All commodity prices will rise, gold, silver, copper and even cotton, said Jim Rogers speaking Friday at the Global Economic Revival and Chinese Capital Market Summit Forum.

After the recent sharp price rises, silver may go up to $20 an ounce in 2010.

Silver mining stocks are benefiting from rising silver spot prices..