What would you do to protect your gold?
Precious metal investors go to great lengths to store their gold and silver in a safe place, hidden away from thieves.
But one Indian businessman may have gone overboard. Doctors literally struck gold in the most unlikely of places: his abdomen.
According to news sources, the 63-year-old man told doctors he accidentally swallowed a water bottle cap, causing severe pain and vomiting. But when surgeons began to operate, instead of a cap they found 12 gold bars, each weighing 33 grams.
The doctors said if the gold had remained in the man’s body for much longer, he would have died from internal bleeding and septicemia.
Why Swallow Nearly 400 Grams of Pure Gold?
A likely reason is India’s escalating tariffs on gold imports, along with a shortage of supply — which have both contributed to the recent resurgence of metal smuggling in the Asian country.
While China surpassed India as the world’s largest gold consumer this past February, the call for gold in India continues to break records, as surges in jewelry sales and investment appeal drive up demand.
India’s Love Affair with Gold
Apart from the obvious draw of gold, there are several reasons many Indians invest in the metal:
For one, a large segment of the Indian population distrusts formal financial institutions. Only about a third of Indians have bank accounts, since the system is designed to help the government borrow money cheaply (at the expense of savers, who face higher inflation prices than the benchmark interest rate).
Culturally, gold is often given as a gift at weddings, festivals, birthdays and other special occasions — an investment that retains value across culture and time. For many Indians, gold is considered a status symbol, an emblem of wealth and happiness, and it is frequently given in the form of ostentatious jewelry.
Gold also plays an important religious function. Every year, the Indian Hindu calendar marks certain days when the faithful are encouraged to buy gold and offer it to certain deities. For instance, gold is the symbol of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi and is often included in religious festivals like Dhanteras and Akshaya Tritiya.
These factors — along with countless others — have created a massive gold market in India that continues to grow as worldwide demand for precious metals has increased in all corners of the globe.
As a limited resource, this makes buying physical gold extremely attractive to investors.
What Became of the Businessman Who Ate His Gold?
In the end, he did not get to keep it. Doctors handed the gold bars over to customs officials upon extracting them from his body.
To learn more about protecting your precious metals (we don’t recommend swallowing them!), visit our Gold and Silver Bullion Investor Knowledge Center or our online store for current inventory and prices of gold coins.
How far would you go to get gold?
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I have been in Africa for about 2 years now. i have never seen a continent with so many natural resources as Africa. i found young 3 youths with Gold. they have been storing this Gold for about 3 and half years now. mining locally and storing if for all those years. i found it interesting and advised them to try look for abroad market because local brokers pay them little therefore making there income so little.