Bastia: “Gold remains a safe haven”

This is the observation made by the company Cap Or Numismatique which has its headquarters in Bastia but is also established in Ajaccio and in four cities on the continent. Since 2019, this company has recorded an increase of almost 30% in the purchase of gold which has once again become an investment

L‘gold remains, like stone (real estate), a safe haven that bitcoin will find difficult to compete with because it is concrete.’ This is the observation made by Aurélien Naux, manager of Cap Or Numismatique, a company he created in 2011 in Corsica and which then spread: it has six stores, two on the island, in Bastia and Ajaccio, and four on the mainland, in Nice, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Antibes and Nîmes. And this, despite the odds.

“2020 was a good year as many people rushed into gold due to the lockdown, gold rose 25% in value in euros and 30% in dollars, emphasizes Aurélien Naux. 2021, on the other hand, has been a difficult year; we form hopes of recovery for 2022.”

Until a few years ago, the company essentially bought back gold and family jewels from individuals, which were then resold to founders on the continent, in Germany, in Switzerland, with whom the company work. The face of the market has gradually changed. “At the beginning of our activity, we sold little gold to individuals. With a price that is currently more than €57,000 per kilo, gold has again become an investment that has regained the place it had lost. Between 2019 and today, we have recorded, on our various sites, an increase of almost 30% in the purchase of gold, says Aurélien Naux. The audience profile has also changed. Clients buying gold used to be in the over 50 age bracket; today, it is mainly young people who have taken the reflex to invest in gold.”

Cap Or can supply from one gram to fifteen kilograms and “works with a supplier to manufacture a Corsican ingot with an identification”.

The repurchase of gold still constitutes however the most important part of the activity of the company even if this one fell from 90% to 70%.

Transactions are made securely and with full traceability, both with regard to the purchase and resale of gold. The customer must present an identity document and the purchase must be made by bank transfer or check.

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Currencies and collector coins

The idea of ​​creating this specialized commercial enterprise came to Aurélien Naux at the end of the 2000s and the explosion in the price of gold. “A friend of my father, who was a coin collector, introduced me to this profession and it interested me. I started to buy gold during permanences that I organized in hotels before open a place, he declares, before specifying that “from now on, the sale is also done online on our website, capornumismatique.com.”

The company has since diversified its activity: currencies, collectible coins, precious stones, etc.

Cap Or Numismatique has also been doing foreign exchange since 2019 and has been approved by the Banque de France for this purpose, the latter having abandoned this activity. The company, which is “the only one to have this accreditation in Corsica”is able to supply, thanks to its reserves, the American or Canadian dollar, the pound sterling, the Swiss franc, but also other less common currencies from countries such as Lebanon, Hungary, China, and can also deliver on order.

“This currency activity is added value for Corsicans who want to go on vacation outside France’s borders and for foreign tourists from outside the euro zone who come to stay on the island even if, at the moment, it’s is more complicated because there are fewer trips, it is a repercussion of the health crisis”, points out Aurélien Naux.

Beyond the currency trade, the company also counts among its customers collectors, keen on numismatics, and may also be called upon to provide expertise in collector coins.

An expertise work that the company also carries out on diamonds in connection with international laboratories and which allows it to be able to give a quotation.

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