Precious metals and jewels as backup preps!

Had an enlightening talk with friends in various sectors of the economy yesterday here in China - from a junior bank manager through to a property developer's sales supervisor, a small businessman that has lost years worth of profit in the past year and an ex-military officer who has contacts at various levels of govt. My wife mentioned to them she would like to buy some gold jewelry, but they all came back with the same answer -- buy a mixture of small gold and silver bars and make sure they are easily accessible (ie. not locked up in a bank vault).
Basically, all these people were saying the economy is going to be a mess for at least another 3 years in China (possibly with soceital breakdown as unemployment skyrockets), so it'll be handy to have some easily portable and convertible assets that can be exchanged for cash.

While people with the knowhow have been funneling all their money out of China (its illegal to send more than $50k overseas per year), some people have been going back to investing in property, as that is about the only asset they can get now that hopefully will grow in value. Of course, the drawback with that is that it can't be easily liquidated, unless the owner is willing to part with it at a big discount in exchange for cash.

So, the missus is finally coming round to my way of thinking - that we need to diversify, and need to invest in things that can be easily sold or traded at short notice if need be in the future. We're also looking at some rural land over the next few weeks, ostensibly for a hotel project her friend has, but also as a bolthole in case everything really goes down the gurgler and we can't get out in time.

If anyone is wanting to buy silver, PM me.

I would rather keep it, but need to cover moving expenses that emptied my savings