Earlier we noted that the Austrian mint was on its way to depleting its gold reserves following "panicked buying" from Europeans, who now openly fear the demise of their currency. Now, courtesy of Slim Beleggen, we understand that the situation in the silver market is just as bad and has also spilled over to Germany: the contagion is no longer one of sovereign debt, but of precious metal physical inventory. The primarily silver focused (but holding gold as well) Kronwitter precious metal online retailer is not only not accepting any orders, but has entirely taken down its website.

The only message left for visitors is (translated from German) as follows:

Dear customers, due to the enormous number of orders we can take at the moment no new orders via the Internet, email or fax contrary. All previously purchased and paid for coins are shipped. In order not to delay the extradition unnecessary to ask is to refrain from requesting payment or tracking number. When shipped our you will automatically receive a shipping confirmation. We hope to do everything within two days and then re-open the shop to buy. Thank you for your understanding. Marie-Luise Kronwit

Soon coming to an LBMA vault near you - a run on physical and a total collapse of the 100x diluted Precious Metal market.

