I remember visiting the Sprott Asset Management office near King and Bay during the mid-2000s commodity boom. Priceless artwork lined the walls (like, Van Gogh priceless) and a massive pure-gold coin sat perched in the lobby. Incredibly, it weighed 100 kg and had a face value of $1 million, but even more spectacularly, it had a bullion value of probably closer to $4 million.
Such were the Bay Street extravagances in those days.
And about the money being thrown at me? When I arrived at their office, they handed me a 1-ounce silver coin. Just for visiting. My colleague, who was a Bay Street veteran, said that he already had five of them. I still have mine:
Around this time, there was also a rumour that Eric Sprott had hosted a Bay Street event wearing a T-Shirt emblazed with Bonds Are For Losers. I don’t know if this was actually true, but it certainly fit with the bullish excesses of Bay Street at the time.
Though the T-shirt’s sentiment was infinitely less accurate once the financial crisis hit less than a year later, there was definitely—and still is—a kernel of truth to it.
Believe Sprott IPO'd $10 or higher...ES sold most of his in $2.50 range...smart investing