Silver "amassing"

[opos]

Titled this "amassing" rather than collecting for a couple of reasons. I'm an old duffer and have never owned any silver...no interest in gold...just always thought it would be nice to have a couple of bags of silver coins in the gun safe in case paper money did anything funny "short term"..I'm not a prepper...not a collector...just a "bucket list" kind of thing I guess...and it won't change my life style one bit if it goes up or down.

Been doing alittle looking and it seems bags of "junk" silver coins are about as decent as any form of bullion short of bars which would not be spendble in an emergency...Just wondering if most of the on line dealers are about the same and are the e bay dealers ok or a bunch of con men?

I can find the melt and spot values and do the calculations to get the actual costs..but interested in any other things to keep in mind..

I'm sure there are other ways to accumulate silver or gold but again..this is more of a bucket list thing than any thing else...I been around too long and through too many battles to be sweet talked into some "deal"...just interested in real, trusted dealers..many thanks'

"Midas opos"

[BrassMagnet]

Many counterfeit silver coins exist. I have read that FleaBay counterfeit sellers are still in business without issues due to FleaBay won't deal with it and LEOs can't touch them.
Use a dealer. Prices with shipping can vary by 100% or more. Do your homework first!

[dragon813gt]

I stay away from anything besides government issues coinage. Bars can and will be shaved. I typically buy junk silver when the price is right. For one the price above spot is typically nothing. Second, it's a small percentage of silver which makes it more valuable as a trade item should everything go south.

I typically buy from APMEX. shipping is usually free and they often have junk silver for a few cents above spot. I trust them as a source and they are very reliable.

I buy more numismatic Silver Eagles than anything. You pay a premium up front but there is no bartering when it comes time to sell. At this point I don't have any that have gone down in value. They keep going up every year. The key is to look for low mintage, odd mint marks and special features. The US Mint does a great job at releasing special coins every so often.

I buy the numismatic coins off eBay but for junk silver I stick to the large online dealers. There are lots of reputable dealers on eBay. I just don't want to take the time to investigate them. W/ APMEX I know the listed coin condition is what I will get.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

about 18 months ago, I got the inch to procure some more silver (I've been into coins and silver ever since I was a kid, it was a family thing). At that time, it seemed like silver was near the bottom and it looked like a good possibility that another Clinton was destined for the White House.

Ever since Y2k, I decided I prefer old US coins over 99.99% bullion. It's a long story, but the short version is, I experienced that it is a lot easier to sell US coins, than Bullion bars and medallions. I like Walker halves and Mercury Dimes, but you pay a premium for those over Franklins and Roosevelts (or quarters), even for culls.

I bought from several fleabay vendors in May 2016. You can research a vendor's feedback as well as their reputation if they have a website. Besides buying from the Big ones, like Littleton, Ampex, and Liberty. I also bought from small individual dealers if they had good feedback and posted "actual" photos of the coins you are bidding on, and NOT stock photos. Typically I bought one Roll at a time, and from many different sellers. One reason I bought from several sellers (about 10 sellers), is that I planned on buying a fairly large quantity, and thought if I were cheated by one, I'd only be out one Roll of coins, instead of a $2500 worth of coins.

If a FTF deal is more preferable, look to craigslist, there are several coin dealers in my area that will meet at secure locations to swap old silver coins for cash. I looked into it myself, but never followed through. Also, the Annual gunshow in my area is actually a gun and coin show...But those vendors are looking to buy,sell,trade for numismatic value instead of culled silver...and I suspect other 'coin shows' are similar, but you may make a connection to do a deal at a later date.
Good Luck.

[mold maker]

Collector value is way too subjective for anybody except those very knowledgeable in the hobby. I only buy known and trusted bullion at cents over spot.
I'm not willing to pay for graded coins, the .999 silver will always have a publicized value.
As with any speculative investment, its a coin toss as to increased value and the possibility of loss is always in play.
If the unlikely SHTF scenario happens, no investment will make you rich, but can possibly hold your $ loss to a minimum.
As long as you never INVEST bread and bean money, you are actually just buying insurance you can physically hold.
If worse comes to worse would you sell 3 boxes of 223 ammo to the guy with 18 paper dollars or the next guy with an ounce of silver? The value of the silver and ammo will always be static while the paper may be just paper.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

There is wisdom in mold maker's words. You can't eat precious metals. Nice to have, though, if you have enough food and want to buy something else. I too have invested in bullion coins, because they say what they are, 99.9% fine silver; but only in US or Canadian coins as something stamped (for example) "South Africa" may still be suspect. These are coins that are government issued/minted coins, not commemorative coins made by a non-government mint to celebrate a win at the Indy 500, etc. In the worst of worst times, which we may live to see, a cartwheel minted in 1920 won't be worth any more than one minted in 2005, as an ounce is an ounce.

I think Opos' idea about having a couple of bags of "junk" silver is a good one, because if all you have are cartwheels, and the value of an ounce of silver becomes an agreed upon $15, then how do you get change back for a quart of milk at an agreed upon value of $2? So having a bunch of old worn quarters and dimes is a good idea. Same thing with gold coins. If you have a half-ounce coin valued at $500 and want to buy half a beef from a farmer for $250, how will he make change? That's where the old term "bits" came from when they used to chop up the coins into sections. So if one invests in gold coins I think it's a good idea there to also go with the smallest denominations possible.

[DerekP Houston]

I buy my junk silver bags from APMEX. I too was worried about getting counterfeit off of ebay and the price difference was negligible when i looked due to the ridiculous shipping/handling fees some vendors tack on. Kinda a bucket list thing for me, I just like the noise they make clinking together and it's fun for my son and I to have 'pirate treasure'

[Smoke4320]

2 bits, 3 bits, 4 bits a dollar

[merlin101]

I too use APMEX, but also buy some junk silver on fleabay and don't worry about counterfeit. Who is going to counterfeit an old 1960 quarter? Now silver rounds and bars are another thing! They only come from a trusted seller and most ebayers aren't trusted that much.

[rancher1913]

the numismatic coins will only be worth spot if shtf so I stay away from them. I keep pm's to pay taxs with if it gets really bad, as long as I have my land I can get by.

[dragon813gt]

the numismatic coins will only be worth spot if shtf so I stay away from them.

Who says coins will be worth anything in that scenario? Food, alcohol, tobacco and necessities will be worth their weight on gold(figuratively).

[prsman23]

Toilet paper even. Stock up. You'll be a poo paper mogul when shtf.
Get a warehouse and start filling it.


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[Blackwater]

Silver indeed DOES look like a very good investment at this time, and I have some. But I have it against the "what ifs" that we face, much moreso than as an "investment" that I might cash in on one day. As a hedge against all the "what ifs" we face, silver packs the most value into the smallest space possible. We've already been through the Great Depression, and it definitely COULD happen again, or some variation on the theme that's equally as dire. In most "what ifs," having silver is likely to provide one with a way to get things that they likely might not be able to get otherwise, and thus, is a way of conserving/preserving whatever wealth one has been able to accrue. But used this way, it's NOT something to sell when the price goes UP, because that's when you're most likely to need it most! It's a seeming paradox to many, but .... failing to understand this makes it a much less attractive alternative. Stocking fook and necessities like food, and ensuring you can get water from your deep well (even needle and thread, etc.) probably comes before silver in importance and desirability for a prepper. But silver definitely, I think, has its place in today's topsy-turvy world, where we cannot really "know" what's going to transpire next. I always think of Joseph stocking up for Egypt's 7 year drought in the Bible. He was wise. Had he not been, many if not most in Egypt would have died!

So nobody knows what the future will bring. But that's one reason TO prepare for the worst. "Aw, it's all gonna' be OK" may well NOT work out so well if another upheaval occurs. Let your conscience and your pocketbook decide for you how much and what to stock up on. But be SURE you can get good, clean water, no matter what. If electricity fails, and is unavailable, do you know what to do to your well to get it to continue giving you clean, fresh water? Can you pull a pump, and do you know how to draw water from that deep? All sorts of problems if our power structure goes out!

Silver's main advantage is that it concentrates a considerable value in a very small package, and thus, is easily hidden/protected. Worthy traits for consideration.

[bedbugbilly]

I'm not poo poking anybody or their preparations if the shift - but one thing that does sort of amaze me is all the ads on TV and in writing about "invest in silver". Of course the value is going to go up if there is a push to invest in it - it's called supply and demand.

My Dad was married and had a family during the Depression (my brother and i were a second family for him). He and my grandfather wee able to keep their business afloat during those years fortunately and I heard about the Depression every day I was growing up - that was just the way it was. If things do take a dump, it's not going to be anything like the Depression that our parents went through - it will be much worse. Think not? Just look at what is going on in today's world in this country - the attitude of the "left" and the snowflakes that are being raised where everything is about "them". During the Depression, our small town allocated meager funds to pay for feeding a meal to transients coming through who had hopped the train - people looked out for others. I remember my good friend, who was like a second father to me, telling how his mother, who was making the meager wages of a teacher in those days, would take her class home one day a week and feed them a bean dinner so he knew that they at least had a decent meal once during the week.

My point? Times have changed and if the shtf, it will be a dog eat dog world. Maybe those who are gathering silver will make out - maybe not. If it does happen, I personally think it will be a case of having commodities with which to barter - food, clothes, gas, etc. I say this with tongue in cheek but I wonder what all these people who HAVE to have their smart phones and other gadgets will do without them? Will they all line up for koolaide?

Let's hope it never comes to that. All the more reason to get behind this country and what is trying to be accomplished by Trump in regards to putting pride back in to being an American and doing away with all the politicians - regardless of which party they belong to - who are nothing but self-serving leeches instead of working for the citizens. Hopefully there enough good ones left to "get 'er done". If not, no Republic can survive . . . may not be today . . . may not be tomorrow . . . but the dreaded day will come eventually and we only have ourselves to blame . . . . .

[dverna]

Silver is not an investment for me. It is for SHTF. I have both US and Canadian coins. They have little risk of being counterfeit and are of known silver content.

If they appreciate, that is OK but if the SHTF, they are easy to use.....unlike gold.

I agree with those who have food, water, tools, guns and ammunition stocked before getting heavily into precious metal. Lead is another of the metals I store. About 2 tons.

[dragon813gt]

I'm not poo poking anybody or their preparations if the shift - but one thing that does sort of amaze me is all the ads on TV and in writing about "invest in silver". Of course the value is going to go up if there is a push to invest in it - it's called supply and demand.

A lot of the "investments" in silver are paper. You don't physically have possession of the silver. Just like money when it's made of paper there is no end to the supply. There is no way I'd invest heavily in this type of thing. Buying another safe to store it in is a lot more appealing.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

So interesting. I think everyone participating in this thread has made some good points.

I believe that silver has to be viewed as an expendable commodity just like food and gasoline. I wouldn't own it if my goal was to make money with it, because there are higher return investments available. Don't buy at $13 an ounce and figure to cash out at $25 an ounce. Put it away and figure to use it at some time in the future to buy something you would otherwise be without. That is where its real value lies. As already pointed out, if you cash out for a paper dollar profit then you won't have any silver if and when you need it. And when the paper dollars are finally recognized as being without value you'll be left with nothing at all.

Also of interest, silver has no real value to the ordinary man except as a medium of exchange. It has its industrial uses such as plating things to prevent tarnish and corrosion, uses in the electrical industry, some pharmaceutical value, but most of these uses are outside the realm of the ordinary man's life. It is conceivable that since it can't be eaten, and others might be reluctant to sell the more important things in life like food and clothing in a time of great need, an over abundance of hoarded silver might prove to have been better used in other areas. Same thing for gold, really; except that it makes great dental fillings!

[MaryB]

Silver is a hedge against inflation and loss of value of the dollar. You won't get rich buying/selling unless you can move half a million dollars worth at a shot when the market is up 2-3%...

I have a small amount just in case. A year after SHTF/dollar crash/depression when barter is becoming a pain the use of precious metals will start back up. So the key is having enough of everything else to survive a year!

[Love Life]

I love silver. I've been buying it since I was a kid and a roll of solve dimes was only $10.00 at the flea market.

I bought it because it was cool at the time and only looked at it as an investment when I got a little older.

I don't buy much anymore because I definitely think I have enough, lol.

Get a couple bags of coins to play with. It is fun to do.


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[Lloyd Smale]

I guess I don't see keeping it for a survival situation. IF shtf food and water is going to be the best barter material followed by things like guns, ammo, fuel, toilet paper ect. If we had a major event it youd probably die of old age before there was a demand for silver and gold to make high tech things. Id have to think an gold coin wouldn't buy you a box of 3030 shells. Not at my house anyway