A market built on trust.

In the mid-1960s, Louis E. Carabini studied classic economic principles and became keenly aware of the impact of the devaluing dollar. And in 1965, the government made a monumental change that ended the longstanding use of 90% silver coinage. Carabini foresaw that precious metal investments will come of age in America. He personally sourced several $1,000 face value bags of U.S. silver quarters, and in 1967, opened a small coin shop in Long Beach, California.

By late 1968, silver coinage was gone from circulation, and there was demand for bags of silver. The business of offering bags of silver coins grew rapidly and became the most important business offering. Investors were now being given the option of buying, selling, and storing their bulk silver coins. Early on, Mr. Carabini became recognized as the significant market maker for this form of silver. It was not long before the capacity of its vaulting facility and the use of the family’s private vehicles for transportation was outgrown.

The business’ first expansion occurred in 1970 when the new offices doubled to a modest 2,000 square feet. The business could no longer be serviced by Carabini and his family, and more and more great employees were hired. By the end of 1970, business was too brisk to use the family car to transport silver bags. Brink's was enlisted to manage the transportation of silver bags, and a five decade long relationship commenced.

In February of 1971, Louis Carabini thought about offering bulk gold coins. Though bullion was illegal to investors, collectors could purchase pre-1932 gold coinage. Demand outpaced expectations tenfold. Then, in August 1971, Nixon announced closure of the gold window to foreign holders of the dollar. There was a scramble to own gold coins, maximums had to be set, and no other business was known to be making a market that satisfied the public's needs. Mr. Carabini had established great relationships with the large bullion banks that enabled this exceptional market service. In 1973, Monex International, Ltd was born and the business moved its operations to the Newport Beach location where the current Monex company, Monex Deposit Company, still resides, and expanded its list of available commodities to include platinum.

Reganomics brought forth real economic growth to the early 1990s, and there was relatively calm geopolitical uncertainty. Generally, precious metals saw consolidation, dishoarding, lower prices, media disinterest or even philosophical contempt. Late in the decade, gold and silver met their purpose as real money and took center stage as the one asset class to bring financial comfort through the potential financial crisis looming over flipping to year 2000, known as “Y2k”.

Monex International, Ltd. discontinued operations and Monex Deposit Company moved forward to become more efficient through advances in computer technologies and the internet. With Monex.com, Monex published its bid and ask prices to the world in real-time, thereby providing a transparent physical precious metals two-way marketplace to America. Monex worked with Platinum Guild International to make platinum a more recognized and liquid precious metals investment alternative, and they worked with the U.S. Mint to help introduce the American Platinum Eagle.

Year 2000 was a year of some dishoarding, disinterest and weaker metals prices, as Y2k had come and gone. Soon after, the decade brought concerns of economic, monetary, fiscal and geopolitical uncertainty. Throughout the decade, Monex strived to expand service capabilities to meet the needs of investors. There were trying times in the new century, especially in what 9/11 did for awareness towards the threat of terrorism and geopolitical uncertainty, and the 2008 financial crisis proving how fragile the modern financial system can be.

The decade created significant precious metals supply and demand challenges, and Monex quite proudly rose to the occasion offering billions in market capability. Working closely with the Austrian Mint, Monex was instrumental in The Mint's successful introduction of the 1000 ounce gold Vienna Philharmonic bullion coin in 2004. It was the first super sized legal tender coin, weighing 70 pounds and having a currency value of €100,000, and restricted to just fifteen coins. Monex coined them “Big Phil” and the name stuck in the marketplace.