One simple question about buying gold and silver
- Thread starter Wyatt Burp
- Start date
rburg
Member
Since we were young, maybe 45 or so years ago...I've been kind of investing in silver. No, nothing stupid like coins or ingots. I prefer Sterling that we can eat off of. Yes, silverware. At one time I even owned 5 different silverware patterns. One surely wasn't a great investment, I gave it to my DIL. Only because of that status, and because she needed a nice dressy service.
And I even sold one to a reseller for a few times what I paid. That was back when silver was selling at about $40 an ounce.
And there are still a few patterns left. Mainly I concentrated in expanding our primary pattern, the one we started buying when we were engaged. And with my memory not so hot, I'm trying to remember how many different sets we've merged into it. Lets just say I could feed way more people than I'm willing to. But the rule here is that I always try to pay spot price or less. 12 years ago I was paying $8.40 an ounce. I don't feel bad about the "engraving" that made the spoons Old Master.
When I can buy silver for what I consider a good price, I don't mind at all.
If its machined into works of art, that's OK too just so long as its priced at its metal value or less.
And I even purchase a little gold from time to time. The most recent was two gold chains. One I gave, as in no charge, to the same DIL who lost hers. And I don't care at all. Here's a hint: Most women like gold jewelry. And silverware. Do as you please and so will I.
DWFAN
US Veteran
You cannot do this with a doomsday attitude. Fear is a poor investor. I've netted way more in stamped US coinage than any other silver metal. Being a numismatists even before I new how to pronounce it I've been collecting coins. The hobby part of it was cut short by an insane increase in prices. Investors. At one time a mint 1909 VDBS could be had for cheap. The value of a 1909 S VDB cent is around $700-800 in Good, and upwards of $1,800-2,000 in Uncirculated grades. I'll stick to what I do.
DW
DW
Off topic "penny" talk
I have 10 grandkids all young ones. To get them off their electronic gadgets for awhile, I'll pick up $100. worth of penny's at the bank and let them sort thru them picking out the 1982 and before dates.
It actually keeps them entertained, and they have fun doing it. They have jars of penny's saved. At some point Uncle Sam is going to stop making the penny ( it's nothing but an expensive nuisance ) and when they do you will be able to melt them down the same as its legal to melt the 90% coinage now.
Where else can a young kid double or more their money having fun doing it
.
I have 10 grandkids all young ones. To get them off their electronic gadgets for awhile, I'll pick up $100. worth of penny's at the bank and let them sort thru them picking out the 1982 and before dates.
It actually keeps them entertained, and they have fun doing it. They have jars of penny's saved. At some point Uncle Sam is going to stop making the penny ( it's nothing but an expensive nuisance ) and when they do you will be able to melt them down the same as its legal to melt the 90% coinage now.
Where else can a young kid double or more their money having fun doing it
.
I seem to recall the same sales pitch bark a couple years ago when Gold was over $3000 p/oz and silver was past $45. Calculate what your "loss" would be at today's prices.
Here is an interesting thing that happened to me regarding gold...I once bought a bar of Nazi gold. I was told by the guy, "don't worry, it's Okay...it tested negative for arsenic." I didn't have a clue what he was talking about until I told this story to my dentist. He said "if gold tests positive for arsenic you might have to surrender some or all of it to Israel." Then I got what it was all about...gold fillings back in the day contained arsenic as an antibiotic.
Now, I don't know how true all this is, but it was interesting to me. The bar of gold was a full Kilo and had a little spot on the back of it where it ha been scraped on.
Now, I don't know how true all this is, but it was interesting to me. The bar of gold was a full Kilo and had a little spot on the back of it where it ha been scraped on.
At one time a mint 1909 VDBS could be had for cheap. The value of a 1909 S VDB cent is around $700-800 in Good, and upwards of $1,800-2,000 in Uncirculated grades. I'll stick to what I do.
DW
I used to find SVDB cents in rolls of pennies from the Post Office. My aunt would park me at a desk with $50 face worth of pennies to go through. I would then roll up the remnants, and take them to the bank to trade there. Rolls were marked so I wouldn't do them twice.
Back in the late 80s, early 90s, I lived overseas. Couldn't have much in foreign bank accounts, so would buy one English gold coin at $200 / ounce from a coin / stamp dealer friend on the occasional Saturday afternoon. They are off in a safe deposit box, which means if things fell completely apart, probably would not be able to get to them. But selling a few at $1k / ounce has covered a lot of cancer co-pays.
A Fortune in Silver, LOST
Quite a few years ago, I surrendered around 200 lbs of silver ingots to the Mexican "authorities". This was near the old Chalchiquites mine, and it had been buried for what appeared to be many years.
My partner managed to get away with one bar, and when we got to Texas, we found it was zinc. Hard to say who the joke was on, but our Mexican counterparts had to carry more weight than we did. I still laugh when I think about the look on their faces.
I haven't been back to Zacatecas since then.....
Quite a few years ago, I surrendered around 200 lbs of silver ingots to the Mexican "authorities". This was near the old Chalchiquites mine, and it had been buried for what appeared to be many years.
My partner managed to get away with one bar, and when we got to Texas, we found it was zinc. Hard to say who the joke was on, but our Mexican counterparts had to carry more weight than we did. I still laugh when I think about the look on their faces.
I haven't been back to Zacatecas since then.....
Horn
Member
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ChattanoogaPhil
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Because these operators make money selling it to you.
Let's say XXXX Capital has the assets to purchase a total of a ton of gold. And let's say that gold is likely to go up 10% by the end of the year. If they hold onto it, they may make 10%. But if they can buy and sell (broker) a total of 50 tons of gold by the end of the year with an average of 2% return with fees and markup on each ton they churn, that's the same as making 100% on a ton of gold no matter if the price goes up or down.
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OP
Wyatt Burp
Member
I think I'll start buying up all the Jennings jamomatic handguns I can get and pay William Devane to hock them on TV saying how great they are and how their value will go through the roof soon because they are great zombie apocalypse guns.
By the way. Thanks for all the great comments.
By the way. Thanks for all the great comments.
EQGuy
US Veteran
I have a 100 Trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill in my collection. It was legal tender when it was printed. As a collectible it is worth around $5.00 US which is a whole lot more than it was worth when it was printed. I bought gold when it was around $400 per oz and silver when it was around $5 per oz. I even bought some platinum at about $670 oz. I sold an oz of platinum when it was at $2,000 per oz and used the proceeds to buy a Browning Citori camo 12 Ga magnum duck gun. It is all in the timing. I also have more ammo than I could possibly use to protect the food and water I have put away for use to keep my wife and I and the cats alive in case of a major catastrophic event. I look at precious metals mainly as a hedge against inflation.
The Companies selling Gold and Silver are trying to cash in on the belief the Government and Banks are going to fail and Money will be worthless.(SHTF).
In that scenario the small amount of Gold and Silver will not be of much value as People would go to the barter system and maybe a once of Gold could buy You a Big Mac and some Fries.
This has been discussed on the survival Boards for a few years and the general belief is Bullets and other needed Items will be the way to trade for things.But this is in a Mad Max type situation but like They say,You cant eat Gold.
In that scenario the small amount of Gold and Silver will not be of much value as People would go to the barter system and maybe a once of Gold could buy You a Big Mac and some Fries.
This has been discussed on the survival Boards for a few years and the general belief is Bullets and other needed Items will be the way to trade for things.But this is in a Mad Max type situation but like They say,You cant eat Gold.
Noticed Platinum is well below Au now. Weird.
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Coldshooter
Member
I am a fan of US Southern mint gold coins. New Orleans, Charlotte and Dalonega. The history is interesting on these mints and thanks to Ken Burns and "The Civil War" series the price keeps adjusting upward. I think bullion is manipulated by a few very wealthy investors and it is a dangerous market to be in.
EQGuy
US Veteran
I think Platinum ran up to $2,000 because of trouble at the mines in South Africa. It might have been a strike but I think the main supplier was shut down far quite a time.
EQGuy
US Veteran
Here is my take on the barter situation in case of TEOTWAWKI. Say you are a farmer in Idaho that has 100 tons of spuds he has to dispose of before they spoil. He can only sell a few tons locally but a group approaches him and offers too take them off his hands. Sure you can not eat gold but I will bet the farmer would sell you a lot of potatoes for a quantity of gold and or silver. The gold and silver are a store of value and then the farmer could use some of the gold or silver to purchase manure or other fertilizer or diesel fuel to help his new crop grow. Sure he would maybe trade some spuds for bullets if he did not have enough of them already. He would probably need some to keep thieves from digging up his crop anyway but in my opinion gold and silver will never be worthless. I have enough gold and silver and lead and copper and brass and dry food and water to last my family thru all but the worst of times.
CAJUNLAWYER
Member
My son and I were chuckling about that last night. We were teasing each other on bad investments like those two 10 oz silver bars he bought at $30 per oz. Silver is now around 18 per oz.
Ditto with some of the penny stock mistakes we both made (me way back when I was his age). We both agreed that ya gotta make at least a few to get it out of your system. Slow and steady wins the race over the long haul.Also a good time to remember the lesson that the "movement" of assets is what fuels this economy. If nothing changes hands there is no economy. Period. You make your money of taking your cut for facilitating the movement.
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Not really. Equities are the best hedge against inflation. Stock prices will go up with inflation, as companies' assets will necessarily be inflated.
And hard assets don't pay dividends.
I am envious. One of my bucket list items is to own a gold brick. I have had that desire since I was a kid.
In case of TEOTWAWKI, we are all going to DIE!
Within two weeks, everyone will be running out of food, and your wife is going to give your stuff to your pathetic neighbors.
Hard assets will be nice to look at as you die.
Within two weeks, everyone will be running out of food, and your wife is going to give your stuff to your pathetic neighbors.
Hard assets will be nice to look at as you die.
I figure that is a SHTF scenario the most valuable items to have will be:
Ammunition
Cigarettes
Whiskey
Food
Gold would be way down on my list.
Ammunition
Cigarettes
Whiskey
Food
Gold would be way down on my list.
LOL...... TEOTWAWKI........
the barter systems will come first..... as it did in 3,000BC........
but at some point .....
what/whoever is left will want/need to develop a "representation of wealth" to deal with EQGuy's example....... 2500 years ago they settled on gold, silver and gem stones...... because of their relative rarity....
Followed by " gold and silver money"
then
the representations of wealth...... promissory notes......paper money.
followed by
TEOTWAWKI
the barter systems will come first..... as it did in 3,000BC........
but at some point .....
what/whoever is left will want/need to develop a "representation of wealth" to deal with EQGuy's example....... 2500 years ago they settled on gold, silver and gem stones...... because of their relative rarity....
Followed by " gold and silver money"
then
the representations of wealth...... promissory notes......paper money.
followed by
TEOTWAWKI
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You sound like John Maynard Keynes.
I won't be out of food in two weeks.
Most of my neighbors probably have more
food on hand than I do. My garden is producing
food ten months out of the year. (My helpers
are picking peas as I type this. My Fall crop of
greens is growing nicely. I have 40 head of goats
that survive on kudzu, honeysuckle, and briars with
just an occasional worming.)
Speak for yourself.
GO DAWGS!! WOOF, WOOF!!
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You aren't like most people, redlevel.
With 40 head of goats, you really, really aren't like most people.
Your dang Dawgs got us this year. We'll see if they are the real deal against 'Bama tomorrow. Game of the year?
With 40 head of goats, you really, really aren't like most people.
Your dang Dawgs got us this year. We'll see if they are the real deal against 'Bama tomorrow. Game of the year?
Damn Yankee
Member
I think you need to put some "Toilet Paper" some where in your list.
Could be the game of the year. I ain't betting no
money on the outcome. I'm not nearly as big a fan
of football as I used to be. I don't live and die with
the Dawgs like I used to. Too many thugs involved in
college football now.
I have never liked The Old Ball Coach, even when he
was playing. He's a great coach, though. To quote Bum
Phillips, speaking of Don Shula I believe, "He could take
his'n and beat your'n, or take your'n and beat his'n."
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