So for those who invest/purchase metals for the home - how and where are you getting silver?

Bars, coins, local guy, on-line etc?

https://bullionexchanges.com/deals

One of the places I buy from. I typically buy Silver Eagles.

7k Metals is another good source, especially for numismatic limited run coins.

Local.

Colorado Gold
Google them.

When I worked underground there was equipment that used contactors that needed replaced regularly. I saved the silver contacts for several years. I have a couple milk jugs full that I need to melt the silver off the copper bars. Last time I ended up with about 7 pounds of silver sent to a refinery. Closest I’ll get to actually investing in silver I guess.

I buy US coins whenever and wherever I find them at spot price or less, and when silver prices are down. $20 for a silver dollar and $10 for a half dollar is my personal limit. I don’t give a rat’s ass about dates or grades, I’m just buying the verifiable metal.

I’ve bought a couple of rolls of silver dollars here in the classifieds.

https://silvergoldbull.com/silver

I usually buy my bullion from JM Bullion or APMEX

.999 bars from Adyen Coins in NJ

I put an ad on the local forums and have no problem finding stuff local, bought with cash, no paper trail. I prefer to not buy silver coins because everybody thinks that worn slick half dollar has a bunch of collector value on top of spot.

What are you buying if youre NOT buying melt weight smoothed out silver coins

Are you buying lead bars from some other old fool or silver tea pots??

Teal;
Good afternoon to you my friend, I hope you had a good Christmas and this finds you well.

When it comes to purchasing precious metal that you want in your possession there are a whole bunch of rabbit holes to head down and I'll do my level best not to do that.

As has been stated already, for a multitude of reasons, one ounce coins are the best choice as everyone knows what they're dealing with then or very nearly so.

Bars from who knows where are always suspect. Mints making Canadian, South African, Australian or US currency are not. That'd be more or less the order of my preference at this point too, perhaps for reasons we'll not chat on open forum about but there it is.

It's not a terrible idea to get uncirculated, individually packed one ounce coins either for the same reasons as above.

Speaking in broad terms, one ounce of silver would in most instances be converted into acceptable tender to obtain goods or services you're hoping to acquire easier than gold, unless of course you need $2000 worth of whatever it is you're needing that day, right?

There were places up here that very intentionally dealt in bullion and did not feel the need to inform the federal government who was buying it. Our charter banks felt they had to do that, so that eliminated them from the selection process naturally.

Hopefully that made some sense and was useful to you or someone out there.

All the best to you in the New Year.

Dwayne

I buy local. Mostly 1 oz. rounds or bars up to 10 oz.

Lotta money silver.

Selling at spot+ In a bad economy, scary times.
Buying it back way under later.

May I ask why people are purchasing silver? I own some in the form of coins but find liquidating them to be an issue. If this an investment strategy? Buy and hold for a long time for potential appreciation?

A good question IMO. I'm not quite sure either.

I have some that I thought would be good in a financial collapse where a silver dime would get ya a loaf of bread as opposed to it costing $10 paper money..

Then, when I saw prices going way above what I had paid I thought I'd made a good investment & was it a good time to sell.

But, with it being worth that much, it seemed ever more important to keep for the barter value.

Yep! I don't know.

One thing I'm fairly confident in thinking is, I have only recognizable denominations. US coin. Bars and such might be great for storing large quantities, but limits ridding of it to gullible buyers or folks with the proper testing equipment.
Does this thinking have any validity?

Wealth preservation as well as a medium for barter if the need ever arises. Precious metals are poor investments for growth, but they hold wealth reliably.

Maybe the fact our fiat currency turning to 3rd world schiett should help give some a clue?

Maybe our Constitution requiring our currency be backed by precious metals and it isn't NOW gives a clue.

Trumps hero Andrew Jackson? Trump saying the US should be the gold standard of the world.....


Maybe the fact about 20% more silver is used a year than is being mined.....

Maybe the fact the WEF and NWO Illuminati cabal has worked to depress the price of silver for 170 years and they are coming to an end along with the crooked COMEX .....?

Maybe because the WEF and NWO is working to collapse the economy and our fiat currency to force us to accept the economic reset....

Maybe because they are going to fail....

Maybe because Trump and the Patriots are in control and we will have a new Republic with currency backed by precious metals....

Maybe because there are thousands of tons more gold in the US than people know about and much less silver that is used in electronics.....

I have bought from APMEX but silvergoldbull usually beats them on price.

Thanks Stick.

The guy I was buying from for years…….went off his rocker & got very gruff with me over $.87!!??


I kindly ended our business.

For me it is just part of a broad asset strategy. It hasn't / probably won't even keep pace with inflation, so not so much an investment as a hedge.

I think that the sort of economic doomsday that would require its use is almost impossible in the US. But only almost so it doesn't hurt to keep a few boomer rocks on hand if a person has the means.

If you want to know why many folks are stacking Gold and Silver, watch the series by Mike Maloney titled "The Hidden Secrets of Money". You can find it on Youtube.

I believe there are 9 parts. The first part was done about 9 years ago. Still very eye-opening for most who view it.

Use this link to determine prices. Buy gold and 1 ton of lead.

Compare Prices

S.

I have this saved as a favorite and use it daily to keep up.

I have probably bought more from SD Bullion and BGASC.com than all others combined, but have also used Bullion Exchange, Monument Metals, Pimbex and Hero.

Basically, I am always on the prowl for deals...especially wrt Silver, the premiums can really work you over so it pays to shop for the best deals.

I mostly buy 1 ounce Sovereign Gold, 1 ounce Sovereign Silver (No Eagles...premiums are stupid high) and some 5 oz and kilo Silver bars.

Most of my Gold is US...Buffalo is No 1 for me, then Eagles, then Pre-33. I also have Gold Britannia and Gold Maple Leaf.

My number 1 Sovereign Silver is the Britannia. I buy them when someone selling at a cut rate premium. I think the lowest premium I have seen on them is $2.99.

You can also find good deals on other Sovereign coins. I have nothing against generic private mint rounds, but if I can get Sovereigns for a dollar an ounce more, I will usually go with the Sovereign for the recognition and premium retention.

All that and $2 will get you a McDonald's coffee!

Haven't bought any in a few years. Last purchase was from these folks.
https://www.montanararities.com/

Thanks for the links to others.

I buy it as a hedge against total collapse of our fiat currency.

Hope it just sits in the safe until my nephews get to piss it away.

You can get taken for a lot of money by the big advertisers for gold and silver. The ones you hear on conservative radio. I called one of them for their price on one pound of VG grade Morgan dollars. One pound is not 16 troy ounces, it is 14.58 if not terribly worn. 1921 VG dollars aren't worth a whole lot over melt. 14.58 X $25 is $ about $364.50. They wanted over $900.

On another note, there is something strange about the lack of rise in precious metal prices considering the inflation which is devaluing the fiat currency of the USA. I suspect that a lot of the gold and silver being traded only exists on paper and therefore is worth about as much as a U.S. gold certificate was in 1934. Actually it is worth less. At least you could get a $10 Federal Reserve Note in trade for your $10 gold certificate.

And you can be certain if push comes to shove there will be serious legal sanctions put on the ownership and trade in precious metals. For 40 years you couldn't own gold money in this country and right now I don't believe you can make a contract payable in gold or silver. Federal Reserve Notes (debt instruments) are legal tender for ALL debts public and private. Says so on your dollar bill.

Someone....I think it was Elon Musk....once said that a certificate saying you own gold is not the same as owning gold.

A lot of people don't recognize that so there are loads of scams running. People like (((Peter Schiff))) will happily store "your" gold in his vault and you can be 100% certain that if matters took a dark turn you'd have a tough time getting it out. Same for ETFs like GLD or SLV, though those don't pretend the assets that back them belong to the shareholders, if indeed there are actual assets backing them 1:1, which at any given time there probably are not.

As for legal tender, there is no federal statue that requires a private business to accept Fed Notes.

Yep, the good old Legal Tender Laws of the 1930s. They were challenged in court by people who held valid contracts to be paid in gold or silver coin. The courts held that the Legal Tender Laws were Constitutional, despite the Constitution, in plain words, prohibiting the acceptance of anything but gold and silver coin as money. So those contracts were converted by the courts into contracts for Federal Reserve Notes on a one Federal Reserve Note Dollar per 1/35th ounce of gold equivalency.

The part of the Constitution requiring only gold and silver coin be accepted as money has never been repealed. It's only been ignored by the Supreme Court. No state is permitted under the plain words of our Constitution to acknowledge anything but gold and silver coin as money, and since all transactions in the US take place within one state or another, that should still be binding on every transaction taking place within the United States, but it's been ruled that it's not.

PS The reason those laws made it to the Supreme Court in the first place was that the lower courts consistently (and correctly) ruled that contracts for payment in gold and silver coin were binding, and could not be discharged by payment in Federal Reserve Notes on a 1/35th ounce of gold pe one dollar Federal Reserve Note equivalency. Said rulings were reversed by the Supreme Court.

Thanks Grandad!!!
He was head cashier/teller at a local bank back in the 40's-50's & early 60's.
He went through all of the tills evenings and picked out any gold and valuable silver.

Dad has been gifting it to my brothers and I each Christmas.

Embezzler, huh?

No sir, not strange at all.

Precious Metals keep up with inflation over the very long term but don't do well during periods when the Fed is raising rates. I've seen this movie before. During the last year, the dollar HAS NOT BEEN DEVALUING against other currencies and risk assets and PM's are sort of a hybrid....part commodity, part currency, part risk asset. The fact that the dollar has been devaluing against gas and groceries is throwing people a curve ball.

I think its a pretty good chance that when the Fed goes back to easy money, likely after it breaks the economy, the PMs could go on a run and perhaps lead the risk assets on the way back up for a time....that will be your adjustment for inflation. I've noticed on this last dip in stocks, PMs are holding up pretty good on a relative basis.....actually very good. During some cycles PMs bottom months before the stock market.

Nope, he replaced anything he took with 'Legal Tender'

A huge problem with the gold certificates in 1933 was that people were becoming leery of them and wanting the actual gold as promised at $20.67 per troy ounce. There was something over 6000 tons of gold held by the U.S. government and well over 20,000 tons worth of gold certificates out that had been issued by the high and mighty Federal Reserve which is not a government agency. It must be that all the branches of the U.S. government held a conclave and decided that a huge coverup and theft had to be done to hold off a complete collapse and revolution.

The Federal Reserve with the complicity of the Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover administrations had financed WW1 and the roaring twenties financial boom with fake money. We've been using fake money ever since and now the world is waking up to the fact that "the emperor has no clothes".

I should have add a 😀

Do you think there is fear hiding in the background that precious metals like gold could again be made unlawful for private ownership? There was prison threatened the last time if you hoarded gold. That could put a damper on prices.

I don't consider PMs to be investments. I consider them to be insurance.

I figured.....
Damn glad that he did it!
Have several $20, 10, 5 gold coins along with many, many silver $1's, .50, .25, .10

Now I wish I was related to an embezzler! 😀

That is a good way to look at them.

Indeed, however, as Mike Maloney points out, it can also be a vehicle (from time to time, at key points in history) for massive transferences of wealth, i.e., from those who do not possess it to those who do.

Curious what percent of ones total "investment" portfolio do folks have in precious metals?

Are you talking PM funds (paper gold) or PMs in hand? Or both combined?

I bought quite a bunch in 2019 for $14.50 an ounce. I would say that was a better investment than most of your tech stocks. Pawn shop here is paying $.50 or so over spot just to try to keep a little inventory. I predict it will push $30 per ounce in 2023. I say hold some but diversify if you can in stocks, land, guns and gold 😁

No, I don't think that is an issue for the foreseeable future. Right now its all about rates.

A pawn shop paying MORE than something’s worth?

They must smoking that $300 a lb weed

I got some real copper pennies upstairs in a glass jar mixed in with those new fangled ones I bet....

#justwantinclusioninthethread!!!


👍🏻🤘🤗🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🤗🤘👍🏻


Arrrrgh....

Spot isn't "what something's worth." Spot is merely the paper contract price, i.e., the price to hold a contract that says it's based on silver, but isn't really. It's a written promise that's well known not to be deliverable, so naturally it goes for less than the real thing in the hand.

Fifty cents over spot is a BARGAIN unless you are one of those who insist you only buy below spot. The large PM sites usually sell small amounts of silver eagles for roughly $15 over spot. A person would have to be a retarded fool to sell silver for below spot.
I would buy silver eagles all day long for $1 over spot

Both.

Today Money Metals Exchange will buy your Eagles for $27.78 or sell you some for $39.96 if you buy over 500 at spot of $23.78. So you are getting $4 premium or paying a $16.18 premium or about 168% of the melt value.

Personally about 35% that I know of but I have some commodity funds that are invested in various commodities some of which are surely precious metals.

For those of you that have American eagle silver dollars, do y’all hang on to those or sell when prices get higher. I understand they have more of a value but don’t know how or why? Wanting to learn more about them

Had an old farmer here who is long passed away, but he would say, "If I could buy you for what you're worth and sell you for what you think you're worth, I'd be a rich man."

I will buy a lot of silver if I could get it for $.50 over spot. Haven't sold ANY for over 20 years. I call the wife the silver whore. She gets silver, I get guns.

US Silver Eagles are the worst possible way to go nowadays. I bought a few dozen way back when they were a couple dollars over spot, but that was a long time ago. Recently they were commonly selling for spot x2.

I agree. Junk silver & generic for the win.

In a EOTWAWKI situation, there's no way I'd trade items for less silver just because the silver was US Mint. Silver Town has a much better record of honesty than .Gov!

I been dabbling in silver for well over 40 years. Still own some that was bought in the $14 range. I came to the conclusion it is easier to collect than make money off of. Sure, I could sell some eagles today and make some profit but that’s after holding them for many years.
Most pawn shops and online retailers only pay a little over spot. Then factor in shipping and insurance costs.

The best way to sell is locally for a few dollars less than big dealers charge or online at forums such as these. Making money buying/selling gold/silver is difficult.

Good luck

Dam it Daddy yew lye. Yew nevr god enny silvor. Yew uset too steel weelwaits en sprey em wit metalick Crylawn then tri two pawne em fore yore vises lyke Natie Eyese en tripse too boice towne.

American Precious Metals Exchange (apex.com)

Appreciate the reply. Though a long time active investor I have never dabbled in precious metals short of a few gold companies buried in a mutual or two.

I've bought from these guys and from SD Bullion on my last few orders. Most online places are legitimate if they will take a credit card and have been around for a few years.

The premiums on eagles and junk are super high right now. They charge at least $10 over spot when you but but want to give you barely over spot when you sell to then. Its easy to get hurt with those big spreads and hard to make anything.

Some places have decent deals on 5 or 10 ounce bars sometimes. They'll charge maybe $3 over spot per ounce when you buy but will often give you spot or spot plus $1 when you sell it back. The huge premiums are hard to overcome.

Bb

Is that typical of folks here? Read of it some but little of the value hoped.

Yep.

It's not about making money (although that's possible given certain conditions). It's about insurance against hyperinflation and monetary collapse. Historically, during periods of hyperinflation and monetary collapse, folks with a little gold and silver were able to continue to buy essentials, while those without could not.

My focus has always been on junk silver, but recently that has changed. I always keep a calculator handy when I'm pricing stuff to buy.

And I've never had any luck selling to suppliers like JM Bullion, or APMEX. They are good outfits and generally fair with prices, but have never been offered enough by them to sell them anything back.

My only real experience in selling silver came in the summer of 2009 when the price jumped to over $44 per troy oz. In my community there were 2 storefronts set up just to purchase silver, and I sold most of my junk silver at a very handy profit. The guy I sold to paid cash in hand. He had a scale set up and was able to test for purity. He liked junk silver because it is a known source and simple to appraise.

Based on my experience, I don't worry about or consider selling until conditions make it a simple choice, like in 2009.

I buy in the smallest denomination that I can afford. One ounce rounds are generally more expensive to produce and market than larger denomination bar silver.
I didn't buy today, but priced one oz rounds at within 36 cents of the PPO of a best value 100 oz bar. That is a good value, in my mind.

Thanks all - I just want to add some to the safe and I'm curious as to how others did as well. Bars/coins etc.

Bought a little from South Texas Precious Metals here and there over the years. Reasonably good prices. As noted by others, the premium on ASEs is ridiculous and has been for some time.

https://www.texmetals.com/

I guess the question is - is an oz of silver an oz of silver for you when it comes to value in your mind?

That being Spot silver is XX price. I have a silver eagle and I have a silver bar - both 1 oz, does it matter to you which you'd receive for that spot price?

"Easy" button is pre 65 dimes and quarters. Half dollars if you want to get fancy.

Not a silver bug, but as you said simple enough to have on hand. I bought by the $5 - $10 face value here and there to add to the safe. Grade doesn't matter, don't care if they're Mercurys, Roosevelts, etc... Think I've got $60-65 face in dimes and about $30 face in quarters. Maybe 15-20 half dollars. No muss, no fuss. Set and forget, probably never actually need them but I guess they're around if it comes to that.

The best way to acquire silver is if you have a store catering to low end cliental. Put up a sign advising that you buy U.S. pre-1965 silver coins. You are basically getting 7/10 of an ounce for every $1 dollar face value. So you can pay up to $14 on the dollar and be OK.

I would never conduct such a business out of my home. Unless you would enjoy an armed incursion by folks wishing to appropriate your stash.

This.

Personally, I wouldn't give you squat for the Eagle over the bar. But the market seems to say a lot of people disagree with me.

I have both, but the difference is it's a lot easier to trade for goods and services with coins than bars, if it came to that.

I wouldn’t pay a premium for coins over bars. But I dam sure would buy coins over bars if they were the same price. Priced the same, Eagles will sell much faster than bars.

Silver is a bifurcated market. But I am sure you know that...and you are just stirring the pot.

And regarding "paper silver" and "paper gold"...I consider such to be at the top of Exter's pyramid....with the derivatives.

Not interested. I only buy and hold physical.

Smart

Interesting theories here. I doubt most people would care what form of currency or precious metal was offered in a real civil breakdown scenario. My view was shaped many years ago when I read Alas, Babylon.

Do you plan on surviving to the other side of the breakdown?

Guns, ammo, canned food and liquor, baby. And a big enough crew to defend it!

Would you be interested in 100 oz, 1000 oz, or 150 lb bars?

Add in good neighbors, an adequate fresh water supply and hope you don’t require medications to stay alive. A few chickens, cows and goats wouldn’t hurt either.

Someone that knows how needs to move this comment over to the discussion going on in the other thread titled Precious metals. I would but I don't know how.

Paper gold and silver do not exist. No less than our U.S. government disowned billions in gold certificates in 1933.

Defending it will be the biggest issue.

I have a few uncirculated silver dollars and a couple of double eagles, none of them rare. They're really pretty and I enjoy looking at them, and they should hold their value. I'm not going to tie up a lot of money in them. In fact I really am not interested in rare or valuable coins, unless I know I am getting a great deal on it.

One of my favorite coins is the Buffalo Nickel.

Over the years I’ve bought Silver Rounds on occasion. I have since decided it was a pointless endeavor.

They make a lot of 1 ounce silver rounds that look like Buffalo nickles. I bought another 100 of them a few months back.

Bb

One issue with silver rounds, and bullion is that in dire circumstances, when some [bleep]-kicker is selling eggs from his wife's little flock, will he recognize the value of the rounds and/or bullion as true silver?

Ignore the fact that silver rounds aren't really worth it to fake. He might not know that. He is more likely to recognize that your pre-65 dimes and quarters are mostly silver. Easily recognizable and in a denomination that's easy to deal with.

This is why junk silver gets accorded a premium in the marketplace. Your Morgan silver dollar is generally acknowledged, by the non-collector or the unknowing to weigh an ounce. In reality a troy oz weighs 31.something grams. An Imperial oz is 28.something grams. Your US silver dollar weighs 26.something grams.
Despite this, if you've got a silver dollar in your pocket you're generally acknowledged to have an "OZ" of silver.