Buying silver, where to start

so does that mean that the morgan silver dollars i have are not 1 oz of silver?

 

i think it's too late on the addiction part. this might end up surpassing my stockpiling of brass.

 

thank you for the help. i originally went to the shop with the intention of buying the pre-1965 silver but they talked me into the purchase that i made. i plan on still going for the coins though, just gotta diversify.

 

that is correct


Morgan Dollar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Morganback.jpg" class="image" title="Reverse"><img alt="Reverse" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Morganback.jpg/150px-Morganback.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/0/01/Morganback.jpg/150px-Morganback.jpg

 

I bought a couple of morgans at a flea market for the old coin coolness for about $20, very worn. I keep my PM's buys to Apmex, or if somewhere else only if printed on the bar, round coin 1oz fine silver .999(9)fineness. I occasionally prowl ebay you can sometimes get a deal. Just know what spot is and don't forget shipping charges, I got burned a couple times with those added on.
With junk silver, I keep what I find, but have always thought that a vast majority of folks have no clue what silver is actually worth let alone something they have always associated a value of 0.25 cents to or worse. They may have stuff I need, so current day bartering you could easily find spot price, no so when shtf or teotwawki either way
It's fun having an actual treasure chest., argh,it gets heavy fast if you dollar cost average it.

 

well, that sucks. so there were two morgans in that bunch that i bought? and they're about 2/3 oz silver in each?

 

I don't know, they don't have the date below the head so probably not morgans.

If they are morgans then they've only got 75% of an oz of silver.

$200 for 12 = 16.67/oz pretty good, apmex has 16.69/oz
$200 for 11.5 (if they're morgans) = 17.39/ oz

spot is 15.13

 

one of the bars was 20 grams, not a full ounce. so i guess they're not morgans because on the back it says "1 full ounce of silver".

that makes 11 full ounces and 20 grams for $200. also in there is 8.5% NYS sales tax to good old uncle sam.

 

Yes those wouldn't be morgans. Even if it were you could barter well with one.
So did you geta good deal or not?

31.103 grams in a troy ounce.

Have you looked on E-bay? I got some 1 gram gold bars, (teeny tiny square, like a finger nail) once for $20-25, You may find some, mid $30's is reasonable more than $50 not so good. as well as plenty of silver bars.

Apmex used to have generic bar grab bags. It was kind of neat, you'd get 10 1oz silver bars for about $180. They'd had random stuff on them. like christmas, hanauku(sp), veterans, states, playing cards, zodiac signs, bill of rights, all had the finess and weight imprinted also.

 

spot 14.97 and dropping, dollar is strengthening obverse the Euro, due to the PIGS , portugal, Ireland, Greece, spain.

 

that's pretty cool, I'll have to check into that

 

:lol i like the pigs

 

Man, I am one thrilled new member here! Everywhere I look I see people giving sound advice to people who are listening, thinking and acting.

I've held US Mint 90% silver for decades and have plenty, but I still buy a bit on every dip. Last purchase: $10 face quarters, $10 face dimes when silver was at $15 even. It feels like there could be more of a dip, and if so I'll buy even more.

If you're a beginner, the best advice given here is to befriend a local independent coin dealer and make regular small purchases whenever you can. That's how I keep adding to mine. The dealer knows me so well by now that I can call in an order and he just sets it aside until I get in to pay for it. I always pay cash, and I often bring food!

 

Heh. Just noticed this:

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals" -- Winston Churchill

 

Quick question, since this is obviously where the expert hang. I just bought my first Silver Eagle, one dollar, 2010 pieces. They look bigger that the silver rounds that I have that are marker 1 troy oz. Is the silver eagle a full oz or a troy oz?

 

if it's diameter is bigger, then the thickness is smaller, typically

I would say right now is the dip, $15.50/oz may be near 52wk low, especially if you think the dollar will weaken. Place your wagers.

 

I just joined the forum and went immediately to this site. I bought half a bag of junk silver 30 years but don't recall what I paid for it. It was done on the recommendation of a financial advisor who had a good track record and who thought the dollar would lose much of its value.

I've bought just a bit since then, insofar as I'm concentrating investments in precious metals ETFs, with a plan to buy more junk silver later. The ETFs are riskier, for a few different reasons, but they offer a flexibility as investments that silver or gold metals don't. However, in preparing for the great debacle, I believe that silver coins that everyone can recognize and can ring on a counter will provide the ability to buy those necessities that paper money will not.

I think the repeated recommendations for buying either from a local dealer or from Apmex are excellent. Spot prices for all the precious metals can be found on the Kitco site.

I'm seventy-eight years old and live alone with relatives at a distance, so my order of priorities may be different from that of most others.

I'm now about to look for discussions on EMP attacks and survival suggestions. I happen to think that one of the most urgent needs in such a situation will be a solar--not a gasoline-powered generator, battery and invertor with an EMP shield installed. It's the latter I've been going crazy trying to find.