Earlier today, we were delighted to see that after years of ridicule and provocations, the SPDR GLD ETF finally cracked and decided to do a wholesale PR campaign to comfort the investing public it actually does own its gold, by inviting none other than Bob Pisani in its secret warehouse which allegedly contains 40 million ounces of gold, of which HSBC is custodian and the Bank of England (the same Bank of England which will soon be about 99 tons lighter in gold content once it satisfies Hugo Chavez' physical delivery request) and London Bullion Market Association (“LBMA”) are subcustodians. While the 4 minute PR campaign is enjoyable and we invite readers to watch it, what is amusing is that it is sure to set off another set of conspiracy theories. Here's the reason: amusingly the very gold bar that Pisani demonstrates so eagerly for the camera, Rand Refineries ZJ6752, is somehow, at last check, missing from the full barlist as posted daily by the GLD.Whose is it? Where did it go? When was this clip shot? Inquiring minds want to know...

As the table below shows, the full list of ZJ serial numbers goes from 6700 to 6734 (go ahead, do your own search - link here).

ZJ6700 RAND REFINERY 404.775 402.994 9956

ZJ6701 RAND REFINERY 407 405.209 9956

ZJ6702 RAND REFINERY 405.325 403.541 9956

ZJ6703 RAND REFINERY 404.6 402.86 9957

ZJ6704 RAND REFINERY 404.825 403.084 9957

ZJ6705 RAND REFINERY 401.775 400.047 9957

ZJ6706 RAND REFINERY 406.5 404.752 9957

ZJ6707 RAND REFINERY 402.2 400.47 9957

ZJ6712 RAND REFINERY 403.55 401.814 9957

ZJ6713 RAND REFINERY 405.65 403.905 9957

ZJ6714 RAND REFINERY 403.35 401.615 9957

ZJ6715 RAND REFINERY 403.525 401.789 9957

ZJ6716 RAND REFINERY 403.4 401.665 9957

ZJ6717 RAND REFINERY 405.625 403.88 9957

ZJ6721 RAND REFINERY 405.225 404.779 9989

ZJ6723 RAND REFINERY 407 406.552 9989

ZJ6726 RAND REFINERY 407.7 407.251 9989

ZJ6727 RAND REFINERY 404.075 403.63 9989

ZJ6732 RAND REFINERY 407.45 407.001 9989

ZJ6734 RAND REFINERY 404.275 403.83 9989

... and ends there.

but this is where the conspiracy starts. Today is September 1. We assume Pisani shot the segment some time in the past week: between August 23 and August 30. Over this period the actual GLD tonnage as disclosed by GLD remained flat (fluctuated by +/- 1.51 tonnes from 1232.31 to 1230.8), so it is unlikely that any gold bars, and especially the one demonstrated by Pisani actually left the warehouse.

Of course, Pisani may have well shot the documentary some three weeks ago, when gold peaked at 1310 tons, although we assume he would have then said 1300 tons held by the warehouse, not 1200 as he did. If that is the case, there is a small chance based purely on statistics that ZJ6752 was promptly moved out of the warehouse upon a redemption event. The chance is about 1 in 10k or so, but still...

So, as a follow up, we would kindly ask Mr Pisani to answer: when did he shoot the documentary? Does he know the fate of the bar he was holding? Did he take it with him? Is the bar currently on its way to Chavez? Or worse yet, did GLD actually lease it to someone?

And so on... And so on...

Unfortunately, Bob, as you will soon learn first hand, when it comes to such things as secret bank vaults containing the world's only remaining hard currency, which can only be seen by reporters with clearance after being driven with a blindfold through the streets of London, who have to relinquish their cell phones and "GPS devices" to confirm their existence, it, unfortunately, does not build much credibility, and it is inevitable that conspiracy theories will and do start. And unfortunately, any PR campaign always tends to backfire.

Our advice: please tell your client HSBC to open up its vault to general observation and assay: at that point, we are confident all conspiracies will end.

Until then, be prepared to be retained by HSBC on a frequent basis as more and more ask themselves: what is really in that vault?

h/t Ponzi Finance