Chapter twenty-five. Other uses of precious metals

Colloidal silver is a suspension of submicroscopic metallic silver particles in a colloidal base.

A more or less typical advertisement for Colloidal silver.

It is not my intent to advertise this product in any way. Furthermore, I am in no way representing that it has any medical benefits. However, people do buy this product from many places and my intent is to point out just that to you. This is one use for silver. It is literally used up in this way, as well as a few others.

Because silver is the best thermal and electrical conductor of all the metals. Therefore, it is ideal for electrical applications where it is used a lot.

Its high luster and reflectivity make it perfect for jewelry, silverware, and mirrors. Tons are used in this way.

Silver can be ground into powder, turned into paste, shaved into flakes, converted into salt, alloyed with other metals, flattened into printable sheets, drawn into wires, suspended as a colloid, or even employed as a catalyst. These qualities ensure that silver will continue to "shine" in the industrial arena, while its long history in coinage and jewelry will sustain its status as a symbol of wealth and prestige.

For more information go here: Where I copied much of this from!

Much of the world's silver is produced as a byproduct of other mining operations. Lead mining mostly. Mining silver in and of itself is not always cost effective and must lean on being a byproduct for that reason.

It is with this in mind that I tell you that silver has the potential to go ballistic in value. It is being used up by so many industrial operations, medical operations and other places like jewelry and silverware. Add the fact that it is pretty much too expensive to simply mine silver these days.

The cost to produce silver simply must go up in the near future. Add to this the "crash" factor and I believe you are on the right track.

Chapter twenty-four. Some of what I once owned.

Here are a few photographs of various notable coins etc. I owned. They were sold off to get paper money as a down payment on the house where I am sitting at this moment. I lost thousands because metals were down at the time; but the house needed bought!

In 2015's market, PCGS certified AU58 = $47,500.00. Yes, I had this and sold it!
Fifty to sixty known to exist on earth!

The one I miss the most! Value today about 2+K.

Had some of these. Today about $3,000.00 each.

1988 W Proof American Eagle.

 

Proof American Silver Eagle.

 

Had a few dozen of these.

Today these are all gone. My collection consists of three 1943 certified pennies and a few items of little value which I retain for various sentimental reasons, such as this from 339A.D.

Rare - very old. But, not very valuable.

Odds and ends, all gone now.

Chapter twenty-three. Invest in precious metals FIRST!

Here is why I advised to make silver your first 20% of the portfolio. (remember - NEVER take my advice!)

The future holds two distinct possibilities, in my opinion.
Based upon a goal of $100,000 savings:

1. Dollar crashes: In this case, if you have your twenty-thousand in silver (simply my "suggested" amount for illustrative purposed only) it will possibly go to a hundred an ounce or more. Thus your saved silver becomes the equivalent to $100K. Based on today's prices of about $20 an ounce. And your paper savings becomes just pretty wallpaper.
2. Crash doesn't happen: You still have the silver and it is still worth $20K+-. And, you have the other investments, which should be $80K. Thus, this also yields you the 100K.

Another plus to this order of saving is that if the dollar crashes before you manage to obtain your other investments - you win!

ALWAYS has value.

The single FACT here is that silver cannot ever become worth zero. It will always retain its store of value. Always has. Always will.

My second 20% will be a single-pay life insurance policy. In this case, for $20K.

Sidebar.

If you have a company 401K which your employer contributes towards, make sure you are invested in it for the amount they match. This can build up for your third 20%.

And, when buying silver, if the price goes down I'd keep buying. If it goes up I'd keep buying. It all balances out. Remember - it can never go to zero. Of course, if the dollar crashes and the prices go ballistic, stop buying! But, I didn't need to tell you that, did I?

Just my rambling opinions.

Chapter twenty-two. Buyer BEWARE!

The saying, "If it seems too good to be true,  it probably is." applies here.

I just found this pictured coin listed for sale on eBay. Notice anything funny about it?

The small print says: "GRADED TO GENUINE SPECIALIST AUTHORIZATION COMPANY STANDARDS"

Well, for starters, what is the name of the company certifying it? Type that name in your search engine and, if you get what I got - it will be NOTHING! That name was probably just made up by this seller.

Next notice it is claimed to be an MS68 1964-D Kennedy. Go to eBay and see what is the highest grade listed. It is MS66 on my computer. I checked the PCGS coin Price Guide page only to see that it lists the 1964-D MS68 coins as being worth $15,000.00. This guy is asking $26.00 for his coin!

Can we say "fraud"?

He claims: "...there is at least one known example grading up to MS68 condition for the 1964-D."

And WOW! HE HAS IT FOR SALE RIGHT THERE ON eBay! And it is $14,974.00 off!

And his page says the photographs are courtesy of PCGS! Not true.

Quote from his page:

"Coin detail information and example images provided courtesy of Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). All Rights Reserved."

Read this again and then look again at the photograph of the coin slab. Do you see "PCGS" anywhere?

Me neither. 

I am posting this not to go after this one guy, but to warn you of this old adage:

 Buyer Beware

Chapter twenty-one. John F. Kennedy half dollar.

Mine!

One of the most popular coins ever has been the JFK half dollar. It has a unique history as well.

Most know JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, TX. There has been an ongoing controversy about just who killed him. I'll stay out of that here for now, except to say, I do not believe the government's story. Nuff said for here.

The Kennedy half-dollar was rushed into production. Those silver coins vanished from circulation upon their release in March 1964 due to collectors, hoarders, and those simply interested in a memento of the late president. Although the Mint greatly increased production, the denomination was seldom seen in circulation. Continued rises in the price of silver increased the hoarding—in fact, many early Kennedy half dollars have been melted for their silver value. Starting with 1965-dated pieces, the percentage of fine silver was reduced from 90% to 40% (silver clad), but even with this change the coin still saw very little circulation.

In 1971, silver was eliminated entirely from the coins.

The late president's widow, Jackie, preferred that he be depicted on the half dollar. Mrs. Kennedy viewed the designs favorably, but suggested that the hair be altered slightly. They did whatever she asked.

Jackie Kennedy

When the Treasury Department made the coins available to the public beginning on March 24, 1964, a line a block long formed at the department's windows in Washington to purchase the 70,000 coins initially allocated for public sale. Even though the department limited sales to 40 per customer, by the end of the day the coins were gone, but the line had not shortened! Eventually, almost 430 million half dollars dated 1964 were struck, a sum greater than the total struck for circulation in the sixteen years of the Franklin half dollar series.

Where the hundreds of millions of them went remains somewhat of a mystery today.

  

Excerpted and slightly altered from Wikipedia: Wiki

Remember that year - 1964. After that date just forget about "silver" coins! The few exceptions aren't worth bothering with. When the dollar crashes you wont want to be educating people into believing your 2004 Proof DCAM Kennedy is 90% silver! It is - but do you want to go through all that?

Chapter twenty. Diversity.

As I sit and ponder . . .

By now, I'm sure readers believe I think placing your savings in just silver is a good idea. Let me be clear on this.

 I DO NOT believe that.

I believe that you need to develop some type of a savings portfolio which includes a variety of areas in which you place your savings. However, most people fail to save with any precious metals. I have no idea what percent have physical silver or gold in their portfolio, but my guess would be close to zero. We silver bugs and numismatists are a small minority.

Savings, of any sort, needs to be your first expense! If you try to save a little "extra" each month, after paying bills and enjoying life, you will never get to your goal. Savings is first. Here I sit typing that - when I have never done it myself (until very recently). 

Hey. Just because I have made mistakes doesn't mean you should!

The second rule (mine) is that once you decide what areas you need to get into with investing, you need to do them one at a time. Might I suggest you start with silver? You knew I was headed there didn't you? I find saving silver to be a great deal of fun, and if you give it a try, I think you will as well. What more could you ask of a savings account than that? So, decide how much your total goal is first. Let's say just for easy numbers, you decide to save a hundred-thousand dollars. I know, I know - cash is trash. But, for now it is still needed. I picked a hundred-thousand because it is so easy to figure out - not because it is in any way a practical figure for your goal. Using "dollar" values for now is little more than a "score card". What amount you choose is entirely up to you.

Of my stated goal of a hundred-thousand you decided to save twenty-thousand in precious metals, at today's dollar prices. Buying, for example, ten-thousand in bullion and another ten in coins in one form or another. Assuming you have a safety net of guaranteed income and/or a little emergency stash, you are ready to focus.

BUY SILVER! Don't buy CDs, IRAs etc. Just silver (or gold) - until your goal is reached. I picked silver as the first item for the practical reasons that it is pretty low in dollar value right now and the potential for a huge increase in value (dollar costs) practically overnight is a real possibility. 

After you reach the stated goal (yours) in silver then go buy stocks, bonds, IRAs and CDs. Toss in a savings account paying .05% (or so) interest if you want. So, after a while you will have that 100K with 20K in precious metals and 80K in paper assets.

If along the way you obtain enough silver to be too heavy to carry with you in an emergency or simply to bulky to store, you may want to transition to gold. Most of my blog focuses on silver - so I have added this section to cover this possible need. The ratio between gold and silver is discussed elsewhere in here so I needn't go there now. However, at the current ratio, silver can become pretty heavy and begin to take up a lot of storage space. You may reach that point and still want to put precious metals back for the impending crash or whatever. In this case you should consider gold.

I understand the current gold price is high enough to make it too costly to just transition to gold after silver. Plus, I am in no way suggesting you sell or swap out silver for gold whatever the value and ratio is. However, there are smaller denominations in gold making it more affordable in dollars today. Yes, those smaller denominations cost more per ounce, just as with silver. However, it still presents a more affordable method of owning smaller amounts of gold today. After a time those smaller coins add up to ounces of gold. Indeed more expensive ounces, but also more liquid. Plus, when you need to part with those 1/10 ounce bullion gold coins, they retain that "additional" value. So, nothing is actually lost. 

So, when you reach your saturation point  with silver, consider adding more wealth using gold.

If my predictions are all wrong and the dollar holds out you will be just fine. If, on the other hand, I am right and the dollar crashes - YOU WILL STILL BE just fine!

Here is the bottom line - pay attention now!

I have never done well investing! Terrible in fact. Everything I have done has been wrong. Buy high and sell low! That's me.

Chapter nineteen. Gold vs. silver.

As of this moment gold is listed as being worth $1,314.40 an ounce. Silver comes in at $19.98. That means if you could sell one ounce of gold and buy silver with the proceeds you could buy 65 ounces of silver with that one ounce of gold. (65X20=1300)

Historically this ratio has been 15 to 1. If it were to return to that normal silver would go up to $87.00 an ounce. Conversely, if silver remained at $20.00, gold would go down to $300.00 an ounce.

34 year history for silver prices.

Keeping these amounts in mind, which do you believe is more probable - if any? Personally, I believe that gold will never go that low again. If it ever goes below a thousand-dollars the market would explode. Or is it implode? Anyhow, it aint' gonna' happen, as they say. Both silver and gold are undervalued today. Silver has reached nearly $50.00 in the past.  Twice actually (see chart above).

Extrapolating from the chart it would appear that around the year 2040 silver will break out again and go to $50.00. That would be IF you figured that this ONE EXAMPLE of the silver pricing was repeated over and over. I don't believe that to be the case at all.

First of all, this is but one period of time. Secondly, the dollar crashing will throw out all previous charts and calculations. Look closely at the chart again. Notice that the silver price skyrocketed from about ten-dollars an ounce to about fifty in 1980 then again from about eighteen to about fifty in 2011. These two incredible jumps in price weren't over a long period of time. Both happened in a matter of just a few days - weeks at most.

Look at this chart and imagine if you had millions of dollars to invest. What part of the chart do you wish to go to invest? About 1993 looks good to me. But - and a BIG BUT! We can't turn back the hands of time! We have only today to decide. So the best time to invest is - TODAY!

At least I think so!

For a much more in-depth explanation, by far smarter people, go online here: silverseek.com

Chapter eighteen. What is silver worth?

The answer seems simple enough. Just look to see what the spot market today says. Right?

My idea is conceptual. We relate everything to dollars today. If you are in Poland, you relate to this in your currency - the Zloty. Much of Europe uses the Euro. Today you would buy silver in whatever currency was used where you live, probably.

But, as shown elsewhere, cash is trash! Dollars or whatever are paper or in a computer using 1s and 0s. But - what do any of these things really matter?

An ounce of silver is the real standard here, not paper money. That ounce of silver is the constant in this equation. How many of those sheets of paper must you have to trade for silver only matters while the faith in that currency exists. After that - all bets are off! Silver will continue to retain value. Silver is an actual store of value in itself. 

 

Our minds will continue to relate to our currencies for now. That is after all, what the current dealers request in return for their product. But I believe we should be thinking about what an ounce of silver is worth in real terms such as what it will buy. Today, we make two calculations to arrive at this. First we say my silver is worth some dollars. Then we see an item for sale for some dollars and conclude that we can buy that item if we first trade our silver for some dollars, then offer those paper dollars to buy the item. In reality we bought the item for a certain amount of silver didn't we?

As we see the decline of the dollar we will see that we can buy that "some" dollars item with less and less silver. One day a point will be reached when the item may be purchased directly using silver. I think that day is rapidly approaching. Silver itself will become the medium of exchange used by many people, if not most people.

Ask yourself this: Would you take silver in payment for an item TODAY? There are people that would. I would. There are some who are using Bitcoins. That isn't US currency, yet they accept it.

Just some things to think about is all . . .

Chapter seventeen. More about coin slabs.

Professional Coin Grading Service slab.

WARNING!

There are fake slabs out there. I have read that they are mostly Chinese made - just like with the coins themselves. There is a lot of money to be made by making a fake slab and encasing a coin which is a lower grade than the slab says it is.

It helps to avoid this by using only trusted sellers. At first, that won't be easy for you. After a bit you will make good decisions as your source proves itself. I have been lucky, because so far, I haven't bought a fake. 

For what it is worth, eBay "guarantees" your purchases. I don't know how that will shake out if you buy a fake and go to them with it. But, it is offered there in any event. The stats of each eBay seller are online so you may be relatively certain a seller with a few thousand sales and a 100% rating (or close to that) is probably safe.

There are web sites which go into this in detail if you are interested. 

One is here: Fakes

From what I can tell, unless you are stupid enough to buy a coin in a PCGS holder from a Chinese seller, at an obvious low price, you are pretty safe for now. But, stay alert!

I haven't checked into the NGC and other holders, but I'd be surprised if it weren't the same thing.

Now for the good part!

The slabs have evolved through the years and a few have become more valuable. Yes - the actual slab has made a coin more valuable! There are the "rattlers" which didn't hold the coin tightly and rattled. There are the old green holders (OGH) and many other varieties. Some, in and of themselves, can become valuable. A few are quite scarce since only made for a year for example before the next PCGS change.

To see the evolution of the PCGS slabs you can go here: Slabs evolve

I only recently (earlier today) found that page and discovered I may have a few pretty rare ones I bought in the mid and late 80s.

Chapter sixteen. Don't buy - invest

What you need to understand is that we have become accustomed to saying we "buy stuff" whenever we part with our hard earned currency.

We go to the store and buy food, we buy cars, toys, clothes and most anything else.

Have you ever heard someone say the went to the bank and "bought" a savings account? Me neither. Sure, the term is sometimes used for other investments. We do "buy" an IRA or a CD. I know that. But my point is that when we "buy" a silver coin or a ten-ounce bar of silver (yes - gold for the wealthy folks!) we aren't actually buying anything. We are investing currency into the precious metals market. We are trading a piece of paper (or a bunch of 0s and 1s in a computer) for a piece of silver. We are betting that the piece of silver is a better store of value than a piece of paper.

As with all bets, it is possible to lose! It is possible that those computer 0s and 1s will outperform silver. It is also possible to lose everything on a stock or, on an IRA as well. ALL investing is risky. Life itself is risky!

But ask yourself this: WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF SILVER GOING DOWN TO ZERO? What is the possibility that precious metals will "tank" like a stock or bond can do? Everyone knows that investments are risky. We all know investing is almost like gambling. In the Market, we are gambling that this stock or that one will "perform" well. 

In the entire recorded history of mankind precious metals have ALWAYS been of value.

"Money" used as wallpaper!

So, when and if you trade dollars for metals, think about what you are doing. You are betting that precious metals will always retain value and hopefully outperform dollars. Stop thinking about "buying" metals. You are investing in the future.

PS: Worst case is if everything goes well and the dollar stays valid for our lifetime - you still have a store of value to pass on to your family.

Chapter fifteen. Handle with care

Cotton gloves.

To avoid leaving finger prints (which become permanent) or even light scratches on a coin, wear gloves. White cotton gloves, as shown, are used by many people and they are very inexpensive. I just purchased five pairs for six-dollars online. Cotton gloves are also sold at Walgreen's and other fine stores. They wont hold up for doing gardening but are plenty good enough to handle coins. You may use some other type glove of course. For example, rubber gloves are OK. I prefer the white cotton ones myself.

NOTE: I understand that the professional coin graders handle coins with their bare hands. That is fine for them. I'm sure they use hand cleaner etc. to avoid the oils associated with tarnishing a coin. But for me and you, that is a really bad idea. I own a proof coin from 1988 which I purchased then myself. It has a nice smudge where I touched it some 25+ years ago. That smudge is permanent now and may well have cost me hundreds of dollars! Buy and wear gloves!

Remember, a small mark or scratch or a finger print on a coin can cost you a lot of money! It can make the difference between one grade and a lower grade, which could easily lower the value by half! In the higher grades this can be as much as seven times or even more in value. So be careful.

For slabbed coins it matters as well. Think of the plastic slab as a show case. Small marks or scratches lower "eye appeal" and reduce the value, even though the problem is not on the actual coin. So handle those slabs with care. If you harm a slab and must get it re-certified it can cost about twenty-dollars or more depending on which coin it is. I always wear gloves.

My results in scratch removal: I have used Meguiar's Scratch X2.0 to polish coin slabs. The results are near perfect! On all minor abrasions or light scratches it works 100% of the time. Naturally, any deep scratches have now become a part of the slab and cannot be (easily) removed. Get that coin re certified if you want - or live with it as is. I am not saying only Meguiar's works. It is just the only one I have tried is all. Other brands may work as well.

If you decide to remove silver bars from the plastic in which they are often shipped, handle those bars with gloves too. Silver bars don't gain value with collectors in the ways coins do, but some are worth more due to a company going out of business or other reasons. Plus it just makes sense to keep them looking like new if possible. It costs you almost nothing and allows you to take pride in your collection. I know if I were buying, and had the choice between a shiny new looking silver bar or one that was ratted out I would pick the better looking one, and for that matter probably respect the seller more.

Make sure whatever glove you use is perfectly clean. Cotton is soft and does no damage. I also have a couple pairs of silk gloves which are even better for the feel you get. Personally I don't like rubber gloves and you need to toss them after use. The thicker ones wont give you the "feel" needed to handle a small coin.

Also, work over something soft. Put a towel on your desk or table to catch the coins when you drop them. And . . .

YOU WILL DROP THEM! 

Enjoy your new hobby

Chapter fourteen. Inflation or deflation?

 Our medium of exchange is . . .

Today we use currency to pay for "stuff". Here in the USA we use dollar$. Usually they are a small slip of paper which proclaims it is a "note and legal tender" for some printed amount of dollars. WTH does that even really mean? IT ISN'T REALLY MONEY! It has zero store of value. It is only worth the amount printed on it because a government fiat tells you that.

People argue with me about this topic. They laugh and tell me that they can still go buy a TV with a few of those pieces of paper. They chide me about, "If I think it is worthless then trade me a few of those with 100 on them for some with a 1 on them." My favorite is, "You can't eat silver!"

As for not being able to eat silver. You can't eat paper either!

The difference is that today people readily exchange products for our fiat currency, but today they wont accept silver in payment. Today, the accepted medium of exchange remains fiat paper currencies. So silver, which you indeed "cannot eat", would first need to be exchanged for that fiat currency, then used to buy whatever product you wanted. The only difference therefore is that to "eat" silver would require two steps to acquire what you needed instead of just the one. But, that is just for TODAY.

As in many things in life, sometimes "facts" today become "lies" historically. Take the Zimbabwe dollar as an example. It replaced the Rhodesian dollar in 1980 and started off on a par with it. After a while they actually printed $100 trillion banknotes. No joke.

So, do I believe we will have inflation like they had? No! Ours will be far worse! In its effect at least. The Zimbabwe problem had little effect on people beyond their borders. In fact - most of you had no idea about what happened there. But let me assure you of this:

WHEN THE US DOLLAR CRASHES IT WILL BE FELT WORLD-WIDE!

When dollars are recognized as just paper - what will be used then to buy a TV? Food? Maybe I'm wrong, buy I suspect a person would then accept a one-ounce silver coin as a "medium of exchange". We will see how this shakes out. Since nothing even close to this has ever happened - all ideas are at best speculation.

It is quite possible there will be a strong deflation prior to the hyper inflation. Some believe it will go that way and it will entice people to dump stored value (precious metals and land). Many will, of course, sell off because they need to do so, or just through ignorance. It happens regularly when a stock drops. People try to cut their losses by getting out while they can, while those stocks still have some value. I believe that would be a big mistake for precious metals.

Hang in there!

Chapter thirteen. Obtain a safe or otherwise secure your investment

Place slabbed coins in one of these -

Place it all in something like this.

Silver has a problem. That is - it is a bulky way to store value. Historically, an ounce of gold is worth fifteen ounces of silver. So, basically, silver storage takes 15 times as much space as gold. As I mentioned early on, possession of precious metals is a balancing act between value and liquidity. An ounce of gold is far more valuable than an ounce of silver today, but what will it buy for you when the dollar crashes? Are you going to be able to buy groceries and get a clerk to give you back a pile of silver as change?

Remember when I said I DON'T KNOW what is going to happen? It applies here too.

What I do know is if you invest in silver, before long you will have enough to need a safe place to store it. Unfortunately, I haven't had this problem yet since every time I begin to collect some, I need to sell off to pay a bill etc.

Anyhow, you may be a smarter investor than I am. I hope so. So, you may need a safe place to keep it. Buying a home safe is one answer. A gun safe works well for this.

The cost of a safe can be pretty high. Depending on the size and quality they can range into the thousands of dollars. Cheaper safes are better than none. But a heavy-duty one bolted down is best.

The safe pictured has both a combination lock as well as a key lock. Both are required to open it. Buy one like that then store the key off site someplace like at work or whatever. So, no matter what nobody can get in it without knowing where the key is and then going to get it. In my case that would by my job site which has a dozen armed guards working at any given time!

I am not going into the various ways to hide your stash here. That is available online in dozens of places. What I am saying is do something. Don't pile silver on a living room table. Think about the problem for yourself. But do something.

Chapter twelve. Storage

A ton of American Eagles!

Storage and/or display.

After you begin to accumulate silver in one form or another you will need to decide how to store it. When you buy bullion bars, they mostly come sealed in plastic from the dealer. So, if you are going to keep them in the wrap from the dealer (manufacturer) your problem is solved. If you purchase from a different source, it may be different. Plus, you may not like the plastic and want to do something else.

Coins sometimes arrive in "Airtight" plastic containers or in those little cardboard flips or maybe in small plastic bags. Again, this may solve your problem and leave you with no further action needed.

On the other hand, you may buy some junk silver which often arrives in small Manila envelopes or nothing at all. If this is so you will want to improve your collection by purchasing storage items for your bullion and/or coins.

The American Eagle $1.00 and Canadian Maple Leaf $5.00 coins store well in the mint tubes. Twenty for the Eagles and twenty-five fit in the Canadian tube. When you buy one at a time you wont have those tubes and need to buy them aftermarket, which is easy and not very costly.

Bullion stores well in several ways. There are shipping tubes which hold twenty coins and keep them separated (see blog page one). Bullion rounds can be stored the same way in shipping tubes made for them. Junk silver dollars are nearly the same size as silver rounds and fit nicely in those shippers. You can buy Airtight plastic holders to hold each coin separately as well.

Slabbed, certified coins are already sealed in special plastic containers to protect them and to preserve the certification authentication. However, after you acquire some of these you may want to store those slabs in a box. PCGS and NGC (and the others) make boxes which store twenty slabs in slots separating the slabs from touching. Remember a scratch on the plastic is almost as bad as a scratch on that coin! It still looks bad and unless you pay to have it re-certified, it will reduce the eye appeal and value at resale.

Here are a few photos to help clarify all this for you:

Flea Market coins are often in these.

Airtight makes most of these in clear plastic.

 Each coin or slab fits in the slots.

Coin "slab". NOT certified.

NOTE: Coin holders often have little hand written notes, like the quarter above, claiming the coin is "AU". Whatever it says is the OPINION of the seller and not the "Gospel" as they say!

Chapter eleven. Trusted dealers

OK. Let's get back on track.

One Hundred Trillion Dollars.

IF you decide you want to buy silver (or gold), From whom should you buy?

I already mentioned eBay in a previous entry. They, along with other online auctions, sell almost any type of silver you could ever want. Then there are dealers, both locally as well as online.

Most people probably live near one of these dealers. Here in the Palm Beaches there are several within easy driving distance. I find a better selection and often better prices online. Plus, there is usually a guarantee protecting you. For me, the local dealers have been limited in what they have to offer, and for some reason not always easy to deal with. But, that's just me.

Many "local dealers" also sell online! In which case they may be a really good place to deal. You can avoid shipping charges and simply drive over and pick up what you bought online. The shipping savings may give you an extra edge against others who may be bidding. For example, a coin selling for $80.00 plus $6.00 shipping gives you a six-dollar edge when bidding! Be sure to confirm with the dealer BEFOREHAND that you wish to pick up instead of having it shipped !

I will name a few online sellers for you to check out. This is but a very few of the many out there. Some sell coins and bullion and others either/or. Remember to shop around. You will find that from time to time one has the better price, then a week later the other is better. Don't marry any one of them. It is your hard earned currency you are spending.

Here is a short list with a comment or two as appropriate.

Aydin Coins

Good selection. Every sale is always FREE delivery. Sells "grouped" items at a discount. Has adequate stock without "sold out" on a lot, like some have. Fast delivery. Accurate sales. Discrete packaging. Very limited number of coins available. Coins priced a little higher than eBay coins.

Silvertowne

Good selection. Offers FREE delivery on certain items and occasionally on everything they sell. Sells own brand items minted at Silvertowne. A few "sold out" items in a few sections like Canadian Maple Leaf coins and some other. Very limited number of numismatic coins available and prices on eBay sometimes better. Produces investor information pod casts.

Goldsilver

Good selection. Usually requires minimum purchases. Sells own brand rounds. Good prices on larger quantity purchases. Producers of a great many videos regarding currencies and precious metals. Does not sell numismatic coins.

jmbullion
Good selection. No minimum required. Priced competitively. Fast discrete shipping. Sells numismatics as well as bullion.

apmex
Good selection. No minimum required. Priced competitively. Fast discrete shipping. No numismatics.

Supplies, JP'S Corner
Carries extensive inventory of coin and bullion related supplies like holders, tubes, albums etc.

Onfireguy
Good selection. FREE shipping in lower 48.

Do a search or two to find dozens more.

Chapter ten. A piece of American History in your hand!

While US coins represent just a part of a typical silver collection, they are no doubt THE more interesting and enjoyable part!

Anna Williams posed for the Morgan Dollar.

Called a "Morgan" dollar. Named for the designer.

The pictured coin was struck at the US Mint in San Francisco in 1881. It is 136 years old (in 2017). The obverse (front) design is considered one of the most beautiful ever designed, and the Morgan dollar is the most sought after US coin by collectors. This pictured coin has been certified by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) Holding one of these in your hand is like holding a piece of history for our American republic!

My personal collecting involves part numismatist and part silver/gold "bug". Many, if not most, collectors will collect "type" sets. Most experts advise you to do this. A type set would entail having "all" of a particular series of coins. For example, you may wish to collect all the years of the Morgan dollars. Maybe even all the years and mint marks plus even the variations involved with errors etc. While I find that attractive - it simply is not what I am doing. 

I collect US (mostly) coins which are sometimes graded and are selling for an amount not much more than a raw version of the same kind of coin. This plus some raw (junk) coins which will perform the same. I believe these will increase in value along with the spot prices of precious metals and always hold their value in that vicinity. I believe this removes the risk associated with coins which are rare or mint errors etc. Yes, perhaps a penny selling for $3,000 dollars today will increase in value when the dollar crashes - but the number of customers (buyers) will be quite small and I can't imagine that buying food or clothing with a rare penny will ever happen. This is just my opinion and in no way advise.

Coin collecting gets in your blood!

PS: It can be profitable, if you can ever bring yourself to sell one of these magnificent coins.

Chapter nine. Junk silver or silver bullion?

The term "junk silver" means basically a US silver coin which has no value other than the silver content. Bullion on the other hand is usually pure (99.9%) silver in various forms like bars, rounds or other. Silver bars are either pressed or poured.

When the dollar crashes and the world's economy fails some people who are today mostly ignorant about silver and gold will become your first "customers"! Be nice to them!

Although they are basically ignorant, they may have enough knowledge to make a purchase or sell something to you. That little knowledge will probably be the fact they can actually recognize a US "silver" coin.

Some will know what this is and accept it.

Junk (I really hate the term!) silver is available all over at this time. Silver US coins are always dated 1964 or before - remember. The exceptions aren't important now. Remember the date - Nineteen sixty-four 1964. Don't be ignorant. It will cost you sometime later. 1964 - got it!

Even worn out coins may be a rare date and be quite valuable. Make sure to check.

One silver dollar today sells for about the same as a one ounce silver bullion bar or round - maybe a tad less. Junk is sold by the pound, by the dollar value or sometimes as individual coins. Break out the calculator and shop wisely. Scan the sales online and compare. The prices sometimes vary a lot.

If using ebay prices to compare, make sure to see what the offering is. Selling price or bid price? You can also click to view sold items to see what amount things are actually being sold for.

After a period of time more people will learn about values and what to look for, so after a time your bullion will come into play. If all you own is bullion that's fine. You will just have to be a better salesperson at first!

As I said elsewhere - NOBODY knows for sure what is coming down! So my thoughts here could be all wrong! As the Terminators were so fond of saying: "We'll see . . ."

Chapter eight. All "silver" is not "pure" silver.

Silver bullion is generally made of 99.9% silver. It will have that printed on it someplace in all cases I know of. As long as you purchase from a reputable dealer you are pretty safe with bullion. This includes new coins produced by a few governments, which also state 99.9% or even 99.99% in the case of Canada.

US silver coins were made of 90% silver and 10% copper until 1964. After that they were made of a copper center clad with a silver colored surface (see  CLAD below). They no longer had any silver content. EXCEPT for the Kennedy half dollar, which went to 40% silver until 1970, then zero from 1971 forward. There are exceptions with some proof coins, made especially for collectors, which are 90% silver. It gets confusing and my suggestion is to simply avoid coins made after 1964.

Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper.

Nickel silver, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata alpacca or electrum is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver is named for its silvery appearance, but it contains no elemental silver unless plated. The name "German silver" refers to its development by 19th-century German metalworkers in imitation of the Chinese alloy known as paktong.

CLAD. This means coated. A very thin outer layer covers copper (usually) . Not enough silver to be worth much of anything.

Read the words carefully

 Did you catch it? The words seem to say "In God We Trust. But they don't. Look again.