POS/Price of silver... Update

[lighthawk]

WZ ... giving him a break Eh? 10 silver dimes would only cost him $32.70.

MetalSmitten... I have heard the argument that " you can't eat silver" on numerous occasions. kOxxx pointed out on another thread that precious metals can be sold for whatever currency is accepeted and used to pay taxes , mortgages, other "locked in ' expenses etc. During the great depression many folks lost their farms and homes because they had no "money" to pay the taxes.
When I first bought silver it would take 350 ozs to pay my property tax. Now it will take about 30. I could make a mortgage payment right now with 15 ounces, I may not be able to eat it but J.P.Morgan will.
Should the currency "really" fail I garauntee they will replace it with another. Silver IMO will retain it's value against any currency they concoct. Been that way since the time of Moses.

What I find sad is that there are so few people that own any. Soon, like you, they will be priced out of the market.

 

[k0xxx]

it always kind of cracks me up in a sad way, because the price of precious metals skyrockets any time people are worried about currency value, but, if their currency REALLY failed, it's not like you can eat silver or gold, or trade it to your neighbors for food. i mean, i know you can sell it when the price is high before currency is devalued, but what exactly would people do with stockpiled metals in times of genuine crisis? (asking seriously - i really don't know. of course, this isn't the situation at the moment so i understand stocking up now, but, hypothetically, what would you do with it if money were worthless in general?)

I've mentioned it before, but it's worth repeating. You are right, you can't eat it. However, gold and silver are a way to store wealth. Unless there is a shortage, the price (in currency) of metals will fluctuate with the value of the currency. When a currency is devalued, the price of the metals go up. Eventually a devalued currency will be replaced by another. Once the new currency is stable, then the metals can be exchanged (sold) and the wealth is recouped.

I would never recommend stocking gold and silver, unless a person is in the position to ride out an economic crisis with food and other necessities first.

Edited to add: Good post Lighthawk, we must have been typing at much the same time.

 

[MetalSmitten]

i meant more like if things literally fell apart, when there are no mortgage companies coming after you for payment because their employees have abandoned the jobs, etc. i guess i meant in the apocalyptic sense if the world were able to recover in time for those affected to see it, and currency started up again, it makes total sense; but if a plague came through and wiped out 90% of the population or something, i personally wouldn't want to trade food for precious metals, even if i had a stockpile of food. i'd only want to trade it for things i needed to further my survival.

i guess i'm thinking of a (hopefully) unlikely worst-case scenario though. in a short-term crisis, realistically i suppose i can understand it, though honestly i just get annoyed with the concept of money in general

 

[Sunny]

I have seen the price rising. We bought some when it was around $35 an ounce. I was just wondering where is a good place to buy it.. I mean a place that dont charge way over spot price and has reasonable shipping rates..

 

[k0xxx]

I have seen the price rising. We bought some when it was around $35 an ounce. I was just wondering where is a good place to buy it.. I mean a place that dont charge way over spot price and has reasonable shipping rates..

Well that's the trick, isn't it.

It used to be eBay. But you're starting to see less silver being offered, and more premium being placed on what is offered. However, as long as the supplies don't get too tight there are still some places to purchase metals at a "reasonable" premium.

If you know what you are doing, estate sales, garage sales, and flea markets can all be good places to purchase silver, but generally speaking pawn shops can be one of the best. A lot of pawn shops will purchase silver for about 25 to 35% below spot, and will sell to the public at close to spot price. That's because most pawn shops want a faster turnover, and if they sell to a smelting company, they usually only get 10 - 15% below spot. The one caveat is that when supplies get tight, everyone sells higher. If the general public starts getting into buying silver, the price rise and premiums will be even more dramatic.

I will continue to buy as long as I can, regardless of price because I feel the dollar is destined to fail. One thing to remember though, is parabolic increases always collapse at some point. Will this one collapse at $50, 75$, $200? If I knew that I'd be a rich man, so please don't take what I do as advice to dump your life savings into metals.

 

[Sunny]

Thank you.

We have been watching some ebay auctions. Most are going for way over spot price. The company we bought from was a bit cheaper. But $12 shipping.

Our only Pawn Shop in the whole county marks it up way high too. It would be cheaper to buy it with expensive shipping. But I will check it out again, maybe he isnt watching the values closely..

I was thinking garage sales and estate sales. But the estate sales around here are just like extra big garage sales. I have never seen silver at one.

We are not dumping our whole life savings. We have made a choice to take some of our money and put it into silver. It is bound to go higher. We dont have a bank. So we get no interest on our money. So we decided to keep half in cash and half in silver. That way we will sort of get an interest on our money (silver) when it raises in price. Even if it will take a few years to double. And when it is in Silver form, easier not to spend.

We also sell on ebay. We use that money to pay phone/internet bill. And what is left over. Half will go into silver. And the other half on some thing we need to be more self sufficient. Like food dehydrater, gamma lids, seeds, ect..

We just dont buy silver. We also prospect for gold. We are just beginners, but we have already gotten just a hair under a gram. And this summer we are going to a place my brother found, that isnt claimed, we are trying to get a claim on it. Where he found about half a gram in 2 hours. He is more of a beginner than we are, and he wasnt even really trying hard. We are going to go for 2 whole days and get as much as we can.

 

[MetalSmitten]

i get my (milled) silver from Rio Grande, riogrande.com -- i know you can get 999 silver coins or bars from them though when you turn in scrap, so it might be worth asking them if you could just buy coin/bar. i don't see any listed in their online catalog but it wouldn't surprise me if they'd do it. i have no idea how much they'd charge either, they do charge manufacturing fees, but they're usually reasonable.

rio grande is one of a handful of jewelry supply companies with precious metals and diamonds who will sell to people who are not "in the business."

 

[k0xxx]

It's getting hard to find silver without paying a hefty premium. I've just read where Apmex (a large retailer of silver and gold coins/bullion) is now offering $3 over spot for any quantity of silver eagles. Just a few months ago it seems that they were paying about $4 under spot and selling for about $4 over.

In other news... Silver briefly hit an all time high today, beating the Hunt brothers manipulated high of $49.45 per ounce set in 1980. With the dollar index continuing its' downward trend (73.88), the metals may get very interesting. :/

 

[Wannabefree]

I just remembered I have a bunch of homemade silver rings I won at an auction once. They have freshwater pearls in them...really awfully made, but must have been a hobby for someone. I have probably 150 of them wonder what they'd be worth

 

[k0xxx]

If you have access to a scale that weighs in troy ounces, multiply the weight of the rings times .925 and then that number times the current price of silver. Ideally you should remove the pearls for the most accurate weight, but this will give you a general idea of what they are worth.

If you only have access to a scale that weighs in regular (avoirdupois) ounces, after weighing them, multiply the weight by .914458333 to get the troy ounce weight. Then you can multiply the resulting number by the price of silver.