"I guess the question is, who is buying and why?

If it's bored gold bugs, this is not very constructive or meaningful at the present time. If, however, it's someone new to gold who just figured out that inflation could destroy their wealth, you may have a new gold/silver buyer who wants to protect wealth."

I havnt come across a reliable way of judging the public mood in such matters, the public are generally the last to arrive to such parties. I'm guessing books about tech investment sold most in 2000? property 2005?

Clearly the public are rightly nervous at the moment but it will take the smart money to move to the gold market, the GP never buy low and sell high