Today, Saturday I just bought a couple grand worth of Silver

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Rick

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Dec 13, 2017
Messages
1,571
Why?

Silver is very low right now so its a good buy IMO.

If the plan to isolate Iran works out then it will pull tons of oil off the market.

This will raise the price of oil. Commodities like Silver often follow oil.
Also the current issue with Saudi Arabia is likely to create uncertainty in the markets which also tends to increase commodities.

So even though now was not the perfect time for me to buy I bit the bullet and did it anyway.
Over the weekend Silver spot is locked in I expect a rise on Monday.
 
Last edited:
Why?
Silver is very low right now so it a good buy.
If he plan to isolate Iran works out then it will pull tons of oil off the market.
This will raise the price of oi. Commodities live Silver often follow oil.
Also the current issue with Saudi Arabia is likely to create uncertainty in the markets which also tends to increase commodities.
So even though now was not the perfect time for me to buy I bit the bullet and did it anyway.
Over the weekend Silver spot is locked in I expect a rise on Monday.
Did you buy Junk, Rounds or Bars? Did you have to order it online or was it available locally. I recently went looking for Gold in smaller increments than Eagles so I could possibly use it more readily in a shtf scenario and could find no physical gold available at coin shops or pawn shops within a couple of hour drive. I used to buy junk silver at a coin shop but have since moved away from that location. personally I prefer junk silver coins as it is very unlikely that anyone will counterfeit older pre 1965 coins and they are recognizable to the masses.
 
I usually try to get 1 oz quantities... anything bigger will be too hard to use as currency post-SHTF IMO.
Generally do rounds or coins..
Coins because of the acceptance.. and rounds since they have a greater appearance of coins over bars I expect they will gain quick acceptance once folks get used to silver coins as currency

I got it as coins this time.
I used to buy mostly rounds figuring in SHTF the distinction between rounds and coins would quickly become blurred and their values the same yet buying rounds vs coins gets me slightly more actual silver for the money.
However when during recent unemployment I tried to sell rounds to my local commercial guy he said he is not allowed to accept bullion precious metals anymore (which rounds are just like bars) due to a recent law in his jurisdiction … only "proper" coins.

And while emergency conversion to $$ in pre-SHTF is not a major consideration for me when buying Silver its not zero either.

Also the premium for Canadian Maple leafs over spot is consistently less than for Silver Eagles.
https://www.jmbullion.com/2018-canadian-silver-maple-leaf/
vs
https://www.jmbullion.com/2018-american-silver-eagle/

In my experience if buying a quantity of rounds I was satisfied paying 1 dollar over spot.
Silver Eagles usually are 3 dollars over spot
Maple leafs on the other hand are only 2 dollars over spot.

Again this means when buying a good quantity and the market of the day often will modify these numbers but just as a ballpark...so all number will fluctuate and those are just general trends I seem to have observed.

A lot of my stash are Walking Liberty rounds that share the appearance with Silver Eagles.

Walking Liberty rounds look quite similar and if used for coinage in post-SHTF I suspect they would also be quickly respected ( in phase 3 when the big dieing has stopped and food and population are back in equilibrium)

Also Walking Libertys:
https://www.jmbullion.com/1-oz-sunshine-walking-liberty-silver-round/

Another one I like are the Silver Buffaloes:
https://www.jmbullion.com/1-oz-silvertowne-buffalo-silver-round-new/

When buying rounds I generally try to pick those with very Classic American Motifs to help emergency acceptance by private parties unfamiliar with silver rounds/ or even coins.

Also why not have a little bit of fun with this and get something different on occasion..

PS:
(...as I type this response I see today there was a sale on Eagles so the difference between Maple leafs and Eagles was much less than normal... had I known I might have gotten Eagles)
 
Last edited:
Bit different in our financial rules here in Australia where coins are classified for tax purposes as a collectible appreciating asset where as ingots or bars are not. Here we are best to buy the ingots instead. Depend on the particular and peculiar laws of each country really as to which way you are best to go.
 
If no one will trade with you on silver at least you can melt it down and cast vampire and werewolf rounds...........works good on ussuns also. I bought a cupla thou worth of junk coins back when it was a tad over 11.00 oz . at least if you try to trade in silver coins of the realm there will be less cornfuzzion over the exchange rate.
 
Last edited:
If you melt it down you have no evidence as to the purity. It becomes suspect and there are very few people who will accept it.
 
There are ways to test it but it is costly. Just weighing it and finding out how much water it displaces is only marginally accurate because you don't know what the constituent elements are.
Acid and base tests can be used if you open the metal up but to do an assay you need to use a scanning spectrometer at different depths and positions. Most jewelry gold is only 41% gold and most silver jewelry is no more than 75% silver. A complete electrolysis is the only way to get a purity test and that takes days.
 
Has anyone here purchased gold or silver from a pawnshop and melted it down? I have been thinking about this.

Panwshops generally give the worst rates on PM buying or selling..
 
I agree. Whatever you do dont buy or sell at a pawn shop. Find a reputable coin dealer and buy from them. In my area a mercury dime is about twice the cost at the pawn shop vs coin shop. Ebay is pretty bad as well unless you catch that late night rare deal.
 
I far prefer junk but when I saw the Palin and Trump rounds I just had to buy them. After your free of debt, PM's are a good way to store wealth. The recommendations that I have heard is that 5% to 10% of your investment should be in PM's. Investing in PM's while you are paying a mortgage, or far worse credit card debt, essentially means that you are paying interest on the PM's.

Another priority is an emergency fund. I suggest a minimum of 8 months worth of all your expenses, in cash. Some recommend six months and that is fine but, just like your food stores, more is better. I would suggest that an emergency fund is more important than paying off debt. If you lose your income a few months to find a job before you lose your home is good insurance. In fact, when you make the down payment on a home you should still have your emergency fund intact.
 
in recent days it seems like its moving back up.. I hope the dip isnt closing for us.
lets buy some as Christmas gifts!! :D
 
With all the stuff in the economic/financial news, I am thinking about buying a bunch of silver. I'm just not such if it would help or not. And there is the fact that this downhill trend could still last for many years. Oh, decisions, decisions.
 
For a severe financial crash (not TEOTWAWKI), I suppose I prefer gold over silver as a preservation of value/wealth. It is lighter (for the same amount of value), and it stores more wealth, and it is more accepted as a store of wealth than silver. Also, the premiums are usually much lower for gold than for silver.

Buying a full ounce can be difficult. But, you can get almost a quarter ounce in the form of the most known and accepted smaller gold coin in the world, the British Sovereign. The sovereign has been used as money for hundreds of years.

British-Sovereign1-300x300.jpg
 
BTW, gold has jumped up quite a bit in the past few weeks, but it is not up to the recent highs of earlier this year. If I didn't have any gold, I'd buy now. If I had some gold, I might spend on other preps.
 
Silver is better for barter. A dime might buy a loaf of bread. For fractional gold. (1/10 oz) you would be looking at a basket of groceries, if you could find that much food. For quarter oz. of gold you would be looking at something worth $400-$500 today. I'm not saying to not buy gold but to buy silver first.

Before PM's I'd be debt free and have food and supplies.

We have one denomination of money still in circulation, the nickel. I never spend a nickel, it goes into a jar. You can also go to the bank and buy rolled nickels.
 
PM's are money. Today we use pieces paper, or worse plastic cards, to represent money. I won't be selling any of my food for silver, but then I don't sell food today I buy it. Unless I become a farmer in my dotage I don't ever expect to sell food. Just as I use currency today to buy food I want to be prepared to buy food with money in the future.

In Venezuela today you can buy more food with a Dollar than their local currency. I suspect that a silver coin would do very well also.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top