Preparedness with gold and silver coins

THIS GUY'S FULL OF CRAP!

Silver has dropped $3/ozt in the last week. It's a great time to buy at spot price. The price for SAEs that man2008's little scam is promoting is absurd. Head to your local dealer. I wish the mods would delete this tripe and ban the poster...

 

First buy "junk" silver. 90% silver coins minted before 1965.
"Bags" are $1000 face value. They are commonly available in 1/2, 1/4, 1/10($100), and $10 denominations. $1000 face value of "junk" silver is about 710 ounces of Silver. So, if you want to buy a $100 face value, multiply 71 ounces by the spot price and you will be in the ballpark. They will add a small premium. The premiums are usually lowest on "junk" silver.

After you get some dimes, quarters, and 1/2 dollars, say $100 of each(for barter), then start saving for a few Silver Eagles. They are 1.1 oz(1 ounce silver, .1 ounce ? to make it more durable). They can be had in "junk" used,bent, tarnished for very small premiums. Older silver dollars(morgans, peace dolars) are often sold with high numismatic premiums. DO NOT FALL FOR IT! Unless they are in a plastic case and graded, they are "junk" silver. Your trying to get the most silver in hand for the least amount of FRNs. (amt of silver x spot + 2-10% prem= cost)
After you get some Silver Eagles, then start saving for Gold Eagles. First get 1/10th OZ $5.00 face coins. They are about the size of a dime.
They have the same markings as the larger denominations, and come in a neat little sleave that holds 20 coins. They carry a larger premium than the larger coins, but when you want to use them..you want to be short rather than long. When you have a few ounces of 1/10 oz, get some larger denominations.
Keep adding to your "junk" pile, flashing gold should be only for large items and extreem emergencies. Silver will be common. Gold will = please rob me.
That is my 2 centavos, YMMV.
J

 

APMEX.com American precious metals exchange recently took the online ordering OFFLINE ~2weeks ago.

Prior to then you could buy junk, bars, rounds, all metals, no minimums, slight premium over spot. Now they've got $1000 minimums for silver.

Ebay. you'll pay a huge premium and shipping, it's insane what some folks are paying.

Local coin dealers good deal, pay small premium no shipping, but limited stock.

Some online coin dealers same way as local dealers.

~$20 for an ounce of silver +/- dollar or two depending on spot
If you buy gold, buy varying size, 1 gram =~ $30, 2.5 grams ~ $75. 1 oz ~$980-1020
You don't want to barter with only ounces. have to take your wire cutters with you.
Hence the reason for "junk" silver, i.e. PRE 1965 coins. Don't waste money on "collector" value. make sure any bullion has purity on it.
1 troy ounce =31.103 grams
1 troy lb = 12 troy ounces

 

Gold and silver just recently fell and it seems to be a good buy right now. Silver was at $20+/oz and is currently about $18/oz (3/28/08).

I agree with Slugomist that junk silver (pre-1965 coins) is the way to go. A dealer that I've used is http://www.brokencc.com (Northern Nevada Coin) -- no affilation whatsoever. Their markup is very reasonable and they ship stateside with reasonable rates. My wife and I just purchased some American Gold Eagles on Friday to hedge any US$ savings we have. We're definitely not rich, but we're very frugal.

Lastly, I'm not looking forward to the collapse of the US dollar -- that would imply misery and hardship on many of our countrymen. The little that I can do here and now with a little foresight may help prevent some hardship later for family and friends... that's why we're here.

 

Regardless of the current price of gold or silver (remember, in a volatile market there will be some pretty wild swings) always ask yourself this question: "am I better off holding gold and/or silver, or would I rather have all my money in FRNs?"

 

I'll invest in canned goods and mamo

Gold back under $900 and silver down to $16 today....

 

Yeah have we heard the "thud" yet? Opportunity is knocking.

I'm not going nuts with G & S but it's nice to have atleast a few hundred$+ around, just in case. If the SHTF or TEOTWAWKI, then the greenbacks will be good tinder or toilet paper. Not to mention anything you've got in a bank won't be accessible.


BTW Apmex site is back up.

 

how do you think gold or silver will be valued? what i mean is....what makes you think gold or silver will be valuable should the end of the world occur? why would it be any more valuable than copper, aluminum, brass or steel?

 

Gold and silver will hold a value for the simple reason that the Spanish invaded the new world way back when. Its properties make it valuable. I don't think explores would have given much for ferrous metals, they dont last and shine per say. Gold, Silver Copper Bronze etc will hold value.

 

This sums it up for me:

Credit: V-Shrake

The Fallacy of Gold

One thing has always intrigued me about the preparation we all go through for surviving the end of the world. While there is no disputing the logic of stocking up on food, guns and ammo, and the other sundries of everyday life, lots of article have been devoted to the usefulness of gold in these TEOTWAWKI scenarios. Indeed, these pundits would have us believe that gold is all we need to survive any calamity.
Not surprisingly, most of these articles have been written by a man with an interest to sell you gold and numismatic silver.
Let us look at a hypothetical situation. We're a few years into the future, four years after the disaster of your choice. It doesn't matter what brought us to this strait, just that civilization as we know it today no longer exists. You, like those around you, survived. Unlike some others, you took precautions; like Aesop's ant, you laid in enough to see you through the lean years. Some of your neighbors weren't so foresighted, and one of these benighted souls, cold and hungry, has shown up at the door to your retreat. He has a box of 9mm that he scrounged somewhere, but owns a .38 special revolver. Your Browning can always use a little more ammo, so you ask what he wants in trade.
At this point, let's ask ourselves what we would want in the above scenario. A box of .38's, and maybe a can or two of beef stew? Or a two ounce bar of 99% pure, shiny, worthless, gold?
Gold, like most things man has based an economy upon, has no intrinsic worth beyond what we assign. While it is quite handy in the electronics industry, and the jeweler's of the world wish us to believe it's the only way to buy true love, it has no other real uses. In a collapsed society, items of real worth will be those that we can use. Unpolluted water, food, ammunition, any number of manufactured goods such as soap and toothpaste will be much more in demand than gold. It will be many years, if ever in our lifetimes, (depending on the severity of the situation) before gold is used again as a currency. Fishing weights and musket balls will be about all that gold would be good for.
But wait, you say. What about something other than a system-wide collapse, say a hurricane or other natural disaster of limited duration? Surely a stash of gold or pre-1965 dimes and quarters will come in handy then?
Wrong again.
While it is true that unscrupulous shop owners will charge many times the going rate for goods and services in such a situation, how many of them do you suppose will take your word on how much a Krugerand is worth? How many people, outside of coin collectors and survivalists, even know about the value of pre-1965 silver coins? And even if they do, how do you propose to buy a loaf of bread with a two ounce bar of gold? Take a wheelbarrow along to cart home your change in greenbacks? Far better, if you live in flood- or tornado-prone areas, is to have a wad of bills to supplement your food and fuel reserves.
Which brings us to the meat of the matter. Now that I have hopefully dispelled the notion of gold being a wise investment (besides, how many of us can afford to have gold on top of everything else we need to put in our larders and lockers?), I'll give you some idea of what would be handy to have on hand for trade purposes.
As I said above, anything that you use on a daily basis will likely be in demand after a disaster, whether man-made or otherwise. Soap, paper towels, toilet paper, vitamins, toothpaste and toothbrushes; all common, everyday items that we take for granted now which may be impossible to scavenge. And there surely won't be any more being made.
What I do, so as not to break my budget but still lay in supplies that I myself will use, and possibly barter with, is this: Every month, while doing my regular shopping, I buy an extra bar of soap, roll of paper towels, toilet paper, a bottle of analgesic, three big boxes of strike-anywhere matches, and Q-tips.
Every three months I lay in the following: a package of disposable razors, multi-vitamins (a jar of 133), tube of toothpaste, toothbrush, and a box of ten or twelve large, plastic garbage bags.
These are all things that I use on a daily basis, and wouldn't want to be without. While the toilet paper and Q-tips might seem to be pure comfort items, the soap and toothpaste are not. Basic hygiene is going to be more important than ever in a world without pharmacies and doctors. And those garbage bags may well prove to be the most versatile thing in your stock of survival goods. While they can be used for their intended purpose, they will also do yeoman service as emergency rain slickers, waterproofing the roof of a shelter, disposing of diseased animal carcasses or human waste, waterproof sandbags to shore up a leaking dike... While they might not be ideal for some things, you'll at least have them to improvise with.
Other trade goods you might wish to lay in follow the same basic principles. What do you use on a daily basis, or see a possible need or use for in an emergency? If you can see a need for it, someone else will too. Only maybe they didn't have the foresight to have it on hand before the world went blooey!
What about extra ammo, preferably in a caliber you use yourself. That way, if you can't trade it (not too likely), you're not out anything. Food would be good, but remember, you need to eat, too. It's unlikely that you could have such a vast stockpile of stuff that you could trade away canned goods. But what about raising your own meat and trading that for something you don't have?
I live on two acres, and keep goats and rabbits. The goats provide me with meat, milk, and skins. The rabbits are tasty, and perhaps the easiest meat animal to raise. They take up next to no space, eat comparatively little, and breed... well, like rabbits. Two does and one buck can provide you with a lot of protein. But there is very little fat in rabbits, so don't count on them alone. But the milk from the goats has a high fat content, and can be drunk as is, or made into butter or cheese.
Having a few fifty pound boxes of nails around wouldn't be amiss, either. People might be able to scrounge plywood and boards from other structures, but they won't find nails so easy to come by. Anything that is comparatively cheap today, and versatile or indispensable, would be a fine trade item.
A few cheap knives, such as those seen in catalogs, would be good, too. A stout fixed-blade knife of a bowie design would be much in demand in a world where we have to butcher our own food.
And don't forget services, either. A mechanic or general handyman would be a good man to know in an emergency, where there will be no manufacturing of new parts. An old-fashioned blacksmith would be a boon right about then.
So think about the possible future we're planning to survive, and what might be entailed in that brave new world. And gold won't figure prominently at all.

http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/v-shrake/gold.html

I like to spend my limited funds on items that I know I can use...

 

Gold/silver are for the recovery.

And 'it' doesn't happen as rapidly as some seem to think (You don't wake up one day and it's sudden SHTF and lets all put on our gear and walk around with our AK's.)

People will quickly LEARN the value of gold.

To back up my last 2 points:
http://www.ferfal.blogspot.com/

 

but those examples exist in situations where economies currently exist, another example would be having gold in sierra leone. there is already an economy in place. the question is...how would gold, silver or ANY metal be valued should the S truly HTF? by weight? against what? why gold over copper?

 

Ok, lets examine this example a bit closer. Your Benighted Neighbor (YBN) shows up at your door to swap some 9mm ammo which he can't use for some .38 ammo which he can. He came to your house (as opposed to someone else's) because he trusts that you won't blow him away and just take his ammo. He really doesn't have the luxury of going house to house looking for a swap (MZBs, you know).

Unfortunately, you don't have any .38 ammo but you need 9mm ammo. You do have a good supply of 7.62x39 however, but it does YBN no good because he doesn't need that either, he needs .38 cal. The Lady Down The Street (LDTS) sells eggs, and she's looking for 7.62 ammo for her SKS. She doesn't need 9mm ammo either, and you don't need eggs today, but you'll need some next week.

The retired cop (RC) two blocks over has a box or so of .38 special which would fit YBN's pistol, and he's looking for a loaf of sourdough bread that you can make with your stored wheat. The cop doesn't need 9mm though, he's looking for .357 magnum brass he can reload.

If you make bread for RC, you'll need eggs. The retired cop's buddy (RCB) has been looking for some 9mm ammo, and has a half-pound of goat cheese to trade for it. Unfortunately, YBN is allergic to dairy products...

This can go on and on, however, most folks will get the point that if you can give YBN 50¢ face value 90% US silver coinage (now having $10 FRNs of buying power with the inflation after the SHTF episode of your choice) for his 9mm box of ammo, he can take that 50¢ in face value to RC and get the .38 ammo he needs.

The scenario above is why historically currency has always been used in almost every civilization, and in most civilizations (let's, for the sake of discussion, ignore aboriginal tribes using beads and shells as currency), "money" has traditionally been made of gold, silver, and to a lesser extent copper, minted in sizes of well-known quantities of metal.

 

Speaking of Confederate money, what did Rhett Butler, "Gone With The Wind", have his money in and where was it? Where does Mr. Buffet have thousands of pounds of silver and why? IF we have a SHTF scenario, the Emergency Powers will confiscate our bank deposits, checking accounts, 401K's etc and we will be left with??? FYI, The American $5 gold Eagle has two things going for it: one, it is gold money and two it is clearly marked as to gold content. 2. Ditto for American Silver Eagles--. Some hard money is always a "store of value"; paper money is not; inflation is going to be one of the major ruinations of our society as our currency is only a political promise; it is not a store of value. Go to the gas station or grocery store-- or better yet read the Argentine posts by the man who lives there--.

Having given my OPINION, where is there a good dealer for Walking Liberty half dollars? My dealer in Tenn. is DOA,. Thanks, Overbore

 

Ya see, this is why I provided the link. Some people do not understand what they say when they say: "the S truly HTF"

PLEASE, go and read the link, talk to Fernando... I hold that where he is the S HAS truly HTF.

Admited, there is a time for 'stuff', but there is ALSO a time for PM's.


I'm not saying get one over the other... I'm saying EACH has it's place.


If you were a Jew in Pre WW2 germany would you call it TS hitting TF?
Some properly placed Gold coins got more than one family to safety...

 

That more or less answers my question about how PM's will be valued. It seems however that a barter market would develope and resolve most of the problems arising between the need for eggs next week vs the need for .357 mag brass today. I guess my thoughts were centered more along the lines of survival vs sustaining some semblance of societal structure.

it just seems the me that unless you can shoot it, eat it, plant it, weave it, drive it, or screw it...it's going to worth alot less when the SHTF . IMO, which is not so bright at times, $10 spent on 550 .22 lr shells will have much more value than 10 - 15 silver quarters.

 

With the caveat that the person who has the item you wish to barter for also has a need for .22cal lr ammunition. If there is a possibility that he/she might not, then re-read my post, study history, and reconsider...