Silver as Method of Exchange?

[mcdaniel.mac]

Put me in the "pass" category. I don't need it, the miracle cures people claim from it are bunk, and if I'm hunting for dinner and burning a fire for warmth, I don't need coins I can't eat.

Land is a good call. My graduation present to myself will be a small hunting cabin outside the city, just big enough to hang out for a year or two if things go terribly wrong. I don't have kids, I never will, so it should be fairly easy to pay off.

To those who asked, yes, you do get to keep your stuff if the bank takes your house.

IMO, for the cost of an ounce of silver every month, a gym membership would be a far better investment. Poor health will kill you as dead as any bullet, just slower and more expensive.

[MaryB]

Only buy silver dollars from reputable sources, there are a LOT of Chinese fakes out there. Silver dimes and quarters make more sense, they will be the $1 and $5 bills of trade when it starts back up after SHTF. First year post collapse will be barter for items, but pretty soon people will specialize, Joe will raise chickens, Bob has beef, you have beer to trade. You need chickens but Joe doesn't drink, Bob does drink but you raise your own beef. Joe will sell you a chicken for 90% silver quarter($5 bill) then he turns around and uses that to buy a beef roast from Bob, Bob wants some beer and your quarter comes back to you when he buys a growler of beer... barter doesn't always work!

And in Bosnia there WAS trade in silver and gold after things started to settle down and an economy started back up.

[Iowa Fox]

Canning jars, flats, primers, seeds, lead.

Yep!

Plus Salt, pepper, flour, tools

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I like to have some Silver, you bet!
I prefer Walker half dollars and mercury dimes.
about a year ago, silver was at the bottom, I bought quite a bit in May.
It had climbed some last fall, but has leveled off after the election.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Known/recognized mints offer 1oz silver bars/coins for as little as .49/oz premium. When your paper money is useless and your credit card is worth squat, just how are city folks supposed to use their hunter skills? Having silver will always give you an edge.
Old silver coinage isn't pure silver and it's not even all the same % silver. It will only trade at face value, because there will be no collector market.
I'd rather have a brick of 22 LR as a trade investment, although I do have several lbs of 999 silver that gets bought/sold as the market dictates.

To repeat myself. Until 1964 our coinage, other than nickels and pennies were sterling or 90% silver. They will always be 90% silver. When you buy bars of metal, it could be sliver or maybe not. They only way to tell is to have it tested. American silver coins are the only coins I would buy. If all civil order breaks down there really isn't much you can do but crawl in a hole and pray. Nobody is going to sell you anything to eat no matter what you have to trade. I got a small glimpse of that type of situation during the Cuban misslle crisis. I went to a large super market to buy one item and the shelves were empty. One lady had a shopping cart full of cigarettes and dog food. Had this condition continued, nothing I owned would have bought me any food. Fortunately the crisis was short lived.

[A pause for the COZ]

I buy $100 worth 4 times a year. It is a movable resource that has no government strings attached.
I saw what happened when my mother became a ward of the county because of a illness that landed her in a nursing home for the last 6 months of her life. She became a word of the county of course after every asset she had was cataloged and liquidated for her care. Medicare only cover a very short time after that your on your own. Then the level of your care decreases as your assets decrease until your placed in a county home for storage until you die.

If some thing happens to me and I am not able to effect the ( never going to happen to me plan).
My Son can grab the bit of silver and some guns and get them to his house 1st.

[A pause for the COZ]

To repeat myself. Until 1964 our coinage, other than nickels and pennies were sterling or 90% silver. They will always be 90% silver. When you buy bars of metal, it could be sliver or maybe not. They only way to tell is to have it tested. American silver coins are the only coins I would buy. If all civil order breaks down there really isn't much you can do but crawl in a hole and pray. Nobody is going to sell you anything to eat no matter what you have to trade. I got a small glimpse of that type of situation during the Cuban misslle crisis. I went to a large super market to buy one item and the shelves were empty. One lady had a shopping cart full of cigarettes and dog food. Had this condition continued, nothing I owned would have bought me any food. Fortunately the crisis was short lived.

Many of us here already have access to the only real coin of the realm after a SHTF event. The Silver is for latter after some semblance or normalcy returns.
The coin of the realm until that time will be bullets and guns. That will insure you can get a meal or protect a meal.

[SP5315]

I'm just gonna throw this out there. If you think you are going to want silver for a SHTF situation, you should consider not only silver dollars or one ounce rounds. Include some halves, quarters and even dimes, all pre 1964 of course. Don't limit yourself to only one denomination for trade. Nobody wants to pay more for something than they have too.

[Alabama358]

Depends...

If your talking about End of Times Revelations stuff, then no you don't need any silver.

If your talking about US Dollar collapse, Great Depression 2.0, Civil unrest, Trade wars, EMP or whatever other SHTF event happens then by all means get a stash of real money (Silver)
But do not forsake the important necessities first. Water, Food, Seeds, Guns, lead, powder, primers etc.

World events like this sometimes kick off slow sometimes fast...Have a long grueling period of fighting and recovery and then the rebuilding starts. That's when you go to the ground and dig up your real money and start the rebuilding process for yourself and your kin folk. See because silver and gold are a store of wealth. for over 2000 years it has held its value.
In 1963 a silver quarter would have bought you a gallon of gas and that same quarter will still buy a gallon of gas today.

And as a last resort you could melt them down and cast them into 200 gr boolits and kill vampires.

[54bore]

Guess I'm of a different mind set, when/if this world gets to that point i dont wanna be here anymore, i will stand strong at the house i bought and paid for.
I have/had a friend that believes in doomsday etc. etc. etc. ex military, bail bonds guy. He called me one day to discuss 'Bug out Bag' necessities?? I didnt have the slightest clue what a 'Bug out Bag' was? He came to my house and visited, he rattled and rattled about how we could work together as a team, my outdoor survival skills, hunting, fshing, living off the land, and long range rifle. After he finished his spiel i smiled and told him the above, i wont be here long if it gets that bad, and i wont leave my home. That was the last time i spoke with him, that was well over a year ago, he has never called me since.

[54bore]

And as a last resort you could melt them down and cast them into 200 gr boolits and kill vampires.

Whatever you do, Don't forget Zombies!! Now days you go to buy REAL targets, you have to dig through Zombie targets to find a REAL target to shoot your rifle. UNREAL

[smokeywolf]

Most of the answers above are good and relevant to being prepared for economic collapse, EMP, SHTF, TEOTWAWKI.

I kind of favor MUSTANG and Danderdude's posts. Silver coins will likely be the most widely accepted form of currency after a couple to several years.

Although good to have some extra antibiotics, if you don't put in several hundred hours of study, they may be a greater danger than they are a help. Just one example: Doxycycline is believed to lower blood platelet counts. If you treat someone with Doxy who typically runs a low platelet count you could cause bleeding or increased bleeding if they already have an injury.
You don't want to be responsible for killing someone because you don't know their medical history and give them Doxy when you should have given them Cephalexin. Also, don't forget about drug allergies.
Good to have the antibiotics, but only if you've done a lot of homework. Better yet, find a doctor or pharmacist who needs something you have and trade for some medical advice.

There are a few things that a lot of people need that haven't been mentioned.
Feminine hygiene supplies. Cloth pads can still be bought. Cloth diapers also. Cloth diapers will be like gold. To someone with one or two babies, a couple of dozen diapers could be worth as much as a pick or shovel.
If you're trying to go unnoticed while hunting, buy and practice with traps, air guns, bow and arrows and slingshots.
Cheap booze will not only be good barter material, but is also good for antiseptic.
Chlorine bleach will have value, but not the liquid; potency diminishes too quickly. Get powdered swimming pool chlorine.

As far as storing food goes. Study the Mormons. Not many know as much about food storage a Mormons.

Oil lamps and oil to keep them burning.

Everything that you need, many others need the same things, so all become a form of currency.

[54bore]

Most of the answers above are good and relevant to being prepared for economic collapse, EMP, SHTF, TEOTWAWKI.

I kind of favor MUSTANG and Danderdude's posts. Silver coins will likely be the most widely accepted form of currency after a couple to several years.

Although good to have some extra antibiotics, if you don't put in several hundred hours of study, they may be a greater danger than they are a help. Just one example: Doxycycline is believed to lower blood platelet counts. If you treat someone with Doxy who typically runs a low platelet count you could cause bleeding or increased bleeding if they already have an injury.
You don't want to be responsible for killing someone because you don't know their medical history and give them Doxy when you should have given them Cephalexin. Also, don't forget about drug allergies.
Good to have the antibiotics, but only if you've done a lot of homework. Better yet, find a doctor or pharmacist who needs something you have and trade for some medical advice.

There are a few things that a lot of people need that haven't been mentioned.
Feminine hygiene supplies. Cloth pads can still be bought. Cloth diapers also. Cloth diapers will be like gold. To someone with one or two babies, a couple of dozen diapers could be worth as much as a pick or shovel.
If you're trying to go unnoticed while hunting, buy and practice with traps, air guns, bow and arrows and slingshots.
Cheap booze will not only be good barter material, but is also good for antiseptic.
Chlorine bleach will have value, but not the liquid; potency diminishes too quickly. Get powdered swimming pool chlorine.

As far as storing food goes. Study the Mormons. Not many know as much about food storage a Mormons.

Oil lamps and oil to keep them burning.

Everything that you need, many others need the same things, so all become a form of currency.

I understand in an economic collapse situation where you could stay at home, but How would a person carry these things if they had to do the 'Bug Out' thing? With all the people in this world i can only imagine trying to hide something to go back for it later, This world would be a SCARY place in such a situation

[dragon813gt]

Personally I would not accept silver in any form except a government minted coin. Reason being is they are a known weight. Don't kid yourself. Silver bars and rounds are shaved all the time. Throw in a financial crisis and its definitely going to happen. You can't do this w/ a coin as signs would be obvious.

I'd buy junk silver for this purpose. Small denomination coins that have a known silver content. But all this talk is just that. Outside of a meteor strike or Yellowstone erupting nothing is going to interrupt our economy that much. Call me an optimist in this regard but I don't see it happening.

I personally buy numismatic coins. The premium paid up front is worth it IMO. I can take them into any coin shop and there will be little to no bartering. A PF-70 Silver Eagle is just that. At this point if I go back at least five years every Silver Eagle I've bought is worth more money than what I paid for it. I expect the same thing to happen in five years for coins bought this year. I don't look at this as an investment. It's just a small hobby. And unlike most hobbies I'm not losing money on it.

[smokeywolf]

I understand in an economic collapse situation where you could stay at home, but How would a person carry these things if they had to do the 'Bug Out' thing? With all the people in this world i can only imagine trying to hide something to go back for it later, This world would be a SCARY place in such a situation

Common sense should make it obvious you couldn't take all this stuff with you if you're "bugging out". Some people will "bug out" and some will "bug in".

If you're "bugging out", again, common sense would dictate that you edit what you pack to allow for portability and moving fast if need be.

[54bore]

Common sense should make it obvious you couldn't take all this stuff with you if you're "bugging out". Some people will "bug out" and some will "bug in".

If you're "bugging out", again, common sense would dictate that you edit what you pack to allow for portability and moving fast if need be.

Agree, would obviously depend on the Scenario

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

back in the 1990s, I had a circle of friends who were always talking about 'end times'...and I may have been the worst (or best?) one of them. When Y2K grew close, I prepped...and I prepped. I have a hundred stories about how I prepped. I won't go into all that today, but I learned some things. The biggest one, is don't let it (the prepping) get out of control or you'll forget about living today's life.

Back to the OP: "Silver as a method of exchange"
A friend of mine, who is a part time scrapper/recycler. He prefers to swap for items, as opposed to receive cash. Last time I got some Lead (450lbs), we swapped for a majority of the deal(not silver, but some other items)...but, I think I had to give him about $80 cash "ta boot". Anyway, he mentioned he has one client that swaps with Silver coins and he liked getting those...and asked if I had any to swap? and to bring them next time. So, that's one of the reasons, I"ll buy silver when it presents itself as a good deal.

[square butte]

Bugging out is a young mans game. Old guys stay home and make the stand where they and loved ones stand. Have a little bit of everything ( Common Sense - most old guys have at least a little bit ) - And a lot of Trust in God to provide.

[54bore]

Bugging out is a young mans game. Old guys stay home and make the stand where they and loved ones stand. Have a little bit of everything ( Common Sense - most old guys have at least a little bit ) - And a lot of Trust in God to provide.

Exactly my feelings!!!

[Handloader109]

Well, I own about a half dozen silver dollars..... no bullion, no gold except for a couple of rings that might have a bit in them..
I agree with RogerDat, (one of the few times) Trading silver, or gold for lunch, won't happen. Guys, if things get that bad in the US, it is REALLY bad, and you'd be better off with a few more pounds food. There won't be any trading going on. Not for a long time. For short term issues, YES, you'd be much better off having a thousand or two dollars in a variety of relatively small bills around. Localized issues with power outages are more of an issue and having $ to spend rather than that credit card that won't work might be better to store.
And when the SHTF really, hits,
The coin of the realm will be

Toilet Paper!
Not silver or gold.