Still here part 2

Well, it seems like the bond buyers and sellers are still around. I came across a buyer two weeks ago who purportedly had 100 million to invest in German historical bonds but,...seeing is believing. I certainly doubt it. 

Still kicking

This is posted just to please google. I seldom post here now but I am still kicking in other places, just as the Sultans said. Happy New Year.

Learning

You've heard this before: Don't believe everything you read. It is especially true now. Every entity - whether the news media or commercial ventures - wants you to read their stuff so that they can sell ads. Me too. In the process of doing so, they sensationalize everything as much as possible. They also want to be the first out there with whatever news there is to report; therefore, they cut corners and their stories are not always factual. In fact, the "facts" can be outright fabrications. The New York Times likes doing that a lot. Take every little morsel with a grain of salt. Don't believe everything you hear either. 

Petchili bonds

About three years ago, a craze in Mexican historical bonds took off. Owners of these old (junk) bonds became super anxious to unload their bonds because they were led to believe that (non-existent) bond "buyers" would pay millions for them. The truth was that crooked Swiss bankers (swindlers) simply wanted to collect the items to use as collateral for short term loans. The real beneficiaries (besides the crooked Swiss bankers) were the loan applicants and the people in charge of collecting all relevant data from the bond owners. The bond owners would innocently sign over ownership of their bonds to the middlemen in exchange for IOUs. Of course, escape clauses in these contracts enabled the swindlers to legally perpetrate their swindles. Bond owners almost never got paid and, when they did, they collected pennies on the dollar. Many investors actually purchased bonds for thousands of dollars thinking they could flip them for millions. I posted a small article about a Petchili bond seller I knew (in this very blog) and it got 4273 views in one day. Such was the anxiety. 

Learning

It is easier - and much better - to rake the leaves every day than every thirty days. It's like showering or exercising or practicing piano. Of course, if you are one of millions of people with rock landscaping, all you can do is re-arrange the rocks - or stare at them. Grass and trees are better. At least they provide oxygen - rocks don't.  

Still alive

This is a pro-forma post. I'm just writing it to document I'm still active - the person posting this is still active but it's not necessarily me. For the record.  June 3, 2016 

Farmer BOND in a box

Greetings. I have a friend who knows someone in the U.S. (Texas) who has control of these and other bonds: send me an email and I will give you his name and number. He assures me the bonds are not priced in the millions. Even I could afford them :-) Please refer to the photo on the left (which he sent me) for further information. Super Petchilis, Farmer 250,000, Farmer 500,000 box, F20 Sterling, Liberty Escalera, and others - all Passco certified. It has been a while since I last posted anything about bonds here. My email is pronetoviolins at g mail dot com 

Best of luck. 

Chinese Farmer 500000 bond

A friend of mine is currently sourcing a Farmer 500000 bond for a client. If anyone happens to run across one, please contact him by contacting me at prone to violins at g mail dot com. My understanding is that the bond is currently very hard to find. I would not know if that's true or not. 

Black Eagle bond 27500

I have been advised by a close friend that a Black Eagle 27500 Mexican bond is available for 50 million. (Yes, that's correct - 50 million) If you have a capable, honest, unpretentious, mature, responsible, serious, trustworthy, and loyal buyer, perhaps you can make a little money. My friend DOES NOT accept ANY kind of POF documents from anybody. If you have a buyer with financial capacity, he must prove it by showing the seller the money in person. All I can do is put you in touch. Just send me an email - I am very busy with my own things but I WILL eventually respond. No need to rush. Have a good day. 

pronetoviolins at g mail dot com  

Liberty bond 10000 joke

Someone told me a little joke the other day which is a variation of a joke which has been around quite some time. It happened that an elderly businessman philanthropist was enjoying a cup of tea in his top-floor office one fine day when one of his assistants walked in with an old bottle, telling his boss that it had been found in a tin box which had been left and forgotten in one of the many storage rooms in his office building. The maintenance crew was cleaning out old stuff to make room for new stuff and this was something they were going to throw away. The philanthropist took the bottle and blew away some accumulated dust which was probably at least a hundred years old. After the assistant left, the philanthropist stared at the bottle for a while. He finally decided to take the cork off just for the sake of curiosity. Immediately, a Genie popped out and very politely greeted the elderly gentleman. In gratitude for his being given his freedom, he told the philanthropist that he would grant him any wish. The philanthropist immediately and eagerly took out a map of the Middle East and pointed to the region near Lebanon. He asked the Genie if he recognized it. The Genie said he had known that region for more than 40 thousand years. The elderly gentleman then explained that in his old age, he would like to see if this entire region could be made peaceful once and for all. The Genie sadly shook his head and told the man that even the most powerful Genie would probably not be able to grant that wish. Did he have something else that he wished for dearly? The man was quite disappointed but said he did have something else he wished for. He had been trying to find a buyer for an old Liberty bond he owned - could the Genie find him a buyer for his Liberty bond 10000? The Genie looked at the man very seriously for a couple of seconds and just grinned. Then, he asked the elderly gentleman if he would let him take another look at the map of the Middle East - perhaps there was a way after all .... 

Was Painter Vincent van Gogh killed by a bully?

This is not recent news - definitely not a news-breaking story. But it might be new to some of you. A somewhat recent (2011) biography of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh by writers Gregory Smith and Steven Naifeh postulates and theorizes that van Gogh was likely killed (shot) by some teenage bullies. In other words, van Gogh did not commit suicide, as commonly believed. Their book is 953 pages long and is titled "Van Gogh, The Life" You can read a review Here. It will save you the trouble of reading the whole book, unless, of course, you are a big fan of van Gogh or very, very serious about your love of art, whatever that is. By the way, I believe the theory about his having been shot. It makes perfect sense to me. 

Liberty bond 10000 buyer

Here we go again. I have been apprised of a buyer who is offering 3 million for a Liberty 10000 bond. The deal is to go attorney to attorney - no other way. I hope she doesn't find it before I get a bite from a real seller. Just email me at pronetoviolins at g mail dot com IF you have it. OR if you know someone who has it. I know the offer is "low" but it's real. It is far better than being offered 100 million when the "buyer" is nonexistent. As the man says, anyone can say it. Who can actually do it? 

Farmer bonds

Strange as it may seem, we have two farmer bonds for sale. If you are familiar with bonds, you know these are cute little bonds but they are worth a lot - not as much as an Eagle 27500 or a Liberty 10000 but good money in any case.  You know where to find me - pronetoviolins at g mail dot com. Please do not ask for photos or KYCs or CISs or passports or Passcos or anything of the kind. If you have a buyer, just have him (or her) call our attorney. We DO NOT accept bitcoin either. 
We were talking to a "buyer" yesterday about a Liberty 10000 which we offered for 5 million. He offered 100 million and that, of course, was a huge RED FLAG. He wanted one of those "packages" which every broker asks for - those brokers who are ten people removed from the real buyers. We said no thanks. We have had a 4 head bond sitting in a vault in Zurich for a year because the buyer never showed up. We flew the bond over there personally and waited 2 weeks. The broker was full of excuses. We returned home empty-handed. The scenery was nice but that was all. Thanks and good luck to you. 

Green Energy

The complete list of faltering or bankrupt green-energy companies (shows tax dollars), as of October, 2013: 

Evergreen Solar ($25 million)*, SpectraWatt ($500,000)*, Solyndra ($535 million)*, Beacon Power ($43 million)*, Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million), SunPower ($1.2 billion), First Solar ($1.46 billion), Babcock and Brown ($178 million), EnerDel’s subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*, Amonix ($5.9 million), Fisker Automotive ($529 million), Abound Solar ($400 million)*, A123 Systems ($279 million)*, Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($700,981)*, Johnson Controls ($299 million), Brightsource ($1.6 billion), ECOtality ($126.2 million), Raser Technologies ($33 million)*, Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)* Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*, Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*, Range Fuels ($80 million)*, Thompson River Power ($6.5 million)*, Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*, Azure Dynamics ($5.4 million)*, GreenVolts ($500,000), Vestas ($50 million), LG Chem’s subsidiary Compact Power ($151 million), Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*, Navistar ($39 million), Satcon ($3 million)*, Konarka Technologies Inc. ($20 million)*, Mascoma Corp. ($100 million). 

*Denotes companies that have filed for bankruptcy. The amount also does not include other state, local, and federal tax credits and subsidies, which push the amount of money these companies have received from taxpayers even higher. So, what can we learn from these numbers? 

Vienna Philharmonic

I almost always catch the New Year's day concert by the Vienna Philharmonic but not today - Daniel Barenboim is conducting and I simply don't like Barenboim. 

Putin Interview

I have been thinking of sending our Timid Reporter out to see if he can find Vladimir Putin and pin him down for a short interview. (Perhaps I shouldn't say "short interview" because they are ALL short interviews.) If not Putin, then maybe the new pope - Felipe. Bill Gates might also be interesting. I have a feeling that Gates has a sly sense of humor so he might be a good choice. Anyway, it's all moot if I can't locate our guy. For all I know, he might be out in Tibet taking it easy - pretty much out of reach. I really shouldn't say "taking it easy" because he ALWAYS takes it easy. 

Mexican bond brokers

If you're in the historical bond business, you know full well that deals are hard to come by, especially when you want to sell a high-end bond. I have come to know more than fifty brokers, perhaps five real sellers, and just two real buyers. When I say "real," I mean someone with capacity to close a deal. It's one thing to have a lot of enthusiasm for the transaction and something else to have the capacity to do it. The real buyers I know - one in the Western U.S. and the other in New York - don't just talk, they negotiate and close. Buyers from Europe are non-existent as far as I know. Beware of brokers who try to sell your bonds in Europe. If they do, you'll get pennies for them. Beware of brokers who ask for complete packages. That's a sign someone will use your bonds for collateral for a bridge loan while you sit there waiting to be paid. It's definitely best to do these deals attorney-to-attorney or bank-to-bank. As far as brokers go, I would say they are all very hopeful - some are outright dishonest - some are misinformed - but very, very few are well-connected. A word to the wise. 

Liberty bond 10000

The popular bond of the moment seems to be the Liberty 10000. Bond buyers are paying really good money for it. A close friend recently made an offer on one (which I located for him) but was rebuffed. His seven figure offer was just too low. When you get to discussing more than seven figures for one of these (or any other) bonds, one of the problems is that buyers and sellers get quite intransigent. Of course, that's no way to make deals. If you want to sell, shove your ego to one side, even if you don't need the money. If you are a buyer, be careful of anyone offering a Liberty 10000 because they are more rare than a Stradivarius violin. You are under no obligation, of course, but you may contact me at pronetoviolins at gmail dotcom if you have a bond and are seeking a real buyer. We DO NOT deal in packages - only face-to-face transactions. Those are the best deals and the only ones that work. Have a great day. 

Petchili bonds

We got very close to selling 20 Petchili bonds last month - so close that we almost started thinking about how we would spend the substantial commissions. Well, as usual, the deal didn't happen because the buyers were in one place and the sellers were in another and the two could never agree to trust each other enough to meet halfway. On the other hand, so many sellers have gone to Zurich to sell their bonds for millions and even billions - with contracts in hand and bank invitations as well - then they have been let down BIG TIME. Who would want to go through that again? I know one seller who has had his packages with a strong and well-connected broker for two months and NOTHING has happened and, by all indications, NOTHING will happen. He is now to the point that if someone shows up with 70 thousand in cash, he will sell, even though he has been promised 50 million per bond. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, as they say. 

Pro Forma Post

This is my first 2013 post here but it is about nothing. It is ONLY for the record - read it at your own risk.