Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I Like Silver

For some reason I have a preference for silver over gold, simply for appearances' sake. That's immaterial, though.

I wonder just how a chunk of gold or silver or a pile of "cash" is going to be of any benefit during a civil crisis. I'd much rather have ammo, and have imagined the lowly .22 LR round being the coin of the realm for barter purposes when the SHTF...but then again, a certain level of order must exist for barter to even have meaning, I would think.

I'm really beginning to question the value of gold altogether as the basis for currency. Whatever the "currency" may be, I have been toying with the idea that the perceived value of gold really represents labor in the end. What you want is for people to do things for you, not have a huge pile of metal in the safe. The only reason to want to have a huge pile of metal in the safe is that you can get people to do things to get some of it. I am beginning to think it's really all about labor.

I'm open to being corrected, if necessary. But you better make lots of sense to turn me.

Did you bring the gold? "I brought the lead"...John Wayne?

He got all the attention, but Scout was a good horse, too.

People do labor now for pieces of paper. Does that make lots of sense?

Chunks of metal, or pieces of paper can all become worthless in a very short time. If I offer a starving man a wheelbarrow full of gold for his last loaf of bread, would he take it? That gold is hard to digest.

One problem with silver in big bars is people have been known to hollow them out, fill them with lead and plug the hole. Hiding it is on issue to a good silversmith. Then when the victim melts the bar they have been known to explode because the lead melts at a much lower temp. You get paid less on your investment because of it. But silver is as high as it has been in a while. It will probably pass 25 by Monday...

But gold may pass 2,000 by then so the ration will be 80:1... that much gold would be $200,000...

A 100 oz bar of silver, or a 1.25oz gold round.....

Some like this and some like that.
I always heard the investment gurus say "diversify".
(Google keeps wanting me to say diversity instead.)
I think that those who trade in said valuables are the ones who exchange the valubles, cash, bitcoin, bank account or whatever. I would have issues sending a bar of that to a precious metals trader for assay is the only big drawback I can see.

Not really.

BINGO

Seems that when talk turns toward the value of metals, someone has to bring up the extreme situation of "the last loaf of bread" (TLLOB).

Now, never mind that no one here on the 'fire has ever experienced TLLOB. Never mind that probably less than 1% of our population has ever bartered for their betterment due to currency being restricted or hyperinflated.

And I'll agree, up front, that if anyone is down to TLLOB there's not much chance they'll part with it for silver or gold.

That said, there always has been another loaf of bread somewhere. There has always been someone willing to share roof and table, for a price. There has always been those willing to afford transport, by land or sea, for a price.

And for the morons who insist that they can take what they will, because they are armed and can? I'd remind them that those with a roof and table to share didn't maintain it by being losers or pushovers.

And to particulars of trade, are commodities like ammunition and liquor as valuable as silver or gold? Often enough they are, albeit not nearly as portable. A box of mini-mags weighs what? Maybe half a pound?
I can buy that box of mini mags at today's prices for the price of three silver (pre 65) eisenhower dimes. ~1/3 oz of silver...

And for those who would trade other commodities, it might be a viable plan. Medicine, ammunition, liquor, women's sanitary supplies. The list may get long. But suppose, during this time of trial, that you face the need to displace. You need to make your way to another area, and set up housekeeping.
Will you take all your liquor and supplies with you and trade it when you arrive?
You can take enough gold in one pocket to set up housekeeping almost anywhere, and live comfortably. Depending on the depth of your pocket you could likely buy a home with what you carry walking around.

Anyone remember the summer of 2009? The aftermath of the 2008 market crisis helped drive the price of silver through all limits and people were standing in line to buy (and/or sell) silver.
I'd been off work for a year, following shoulder replacement surgery, and my only income during that period was $616 monthly disability pay. I'd signed agreements with the bank for forbearance on my mortgage, and I had some wiggle room. Unfortunately America had just inaugurated a President who had sworn to kill all coal industry, and I was a powerhouse boilermaker looking at an imploding job market.
I made 3 separate sales to a local silver scalper, and netted an average of just less than $40 per ounce of junk silver, in conversion. I paid my mortgage current before I returned to work.
And I didn't trade an ounce of liquor to do it...

Come on Hunt Brothers😀

Silver is the smart bet, right now. It's way underperforming in relation to its history. That implies it's a coiled spring waiting for the right trigger to loose it.

Yep. Most don't know that we still had silver coinage till 1971. Less silver, but still significant amounts of silver, i.e., 40%. The only denomination that contained it, though, was the Kennedy Half Dollar. They contained .1479 oz (about 15% of an oz of it) till 1971. Because few know this, you can still occasionally get them in change. The last time I got one in change was just about two or three years ago.

It's value is rooted in its physical properties, which are quite unique among metals. Same with silver. Because you don't understand these properties, or don't know how to make use of its potential, doesn't mean its value isn't real.

Good post.

A lot of what you think you know about the Hunt Brothers vis a vis silver is a story that was put out there to cover some powerful people's butts.

silver and gold are a waist of time.

I agree with John, especially about the flawed aspect of thinking a person that has prepared themselves financially hasn’t considered protection of his assets. Not only that, considering armed theft as an option is evil and quite revealing of character. A man can fantasize about what he’s going to do with his shooting irons or his seed stock when the world goes “Mad Max” or he can look at history.

Economic depressions and even collapses have happened before. And while they produced some violent episodes and/or piracy, every single time, silver and gold had become the store of value. 100% of the time. No single person will change your mind. It will eventually be changed, though.

Personally, I can’t see how someone could witness what just happened in the stock market and not wake up, but to each their own. More so, look at the increase in value of precious metals in the past year. Russia, China, India, etc. have been buying tons of it at these ridiculously low prices. I’m sure they have no problem letting people think silver and gold are outdated concepts while they do so. Some even say its intentionally depressed (via stock market futures) to make them undesirable.

How do you do that with one share of Exxon-Mobil?