# $1400 for precious metals...what would you buy?



## Tacitus (Dec 30, 2012)

Assume you have the extra cash to buy an ounce of gold (say, $1400 or thereabouts), and you are inclined to buy precious metals.

What would you buy?

A 1 ounce gold coin? (easiest route, but all your eggs are in one basket)
10 tenth-ounce gold coins? (same amount of gold, but more expensive than a 1 ounce gold coin...but possibly more usable depending on the type of emergency since you have smaller denominations)
A bag of 70-ish silver American Eagles?
A larger bag of junk silver?
A mix of the above?

The way I see it, precious metals are important to preparation for two types of SHTF events:

SHTF, but the banks and money changers are open, and the currency still has some value
SHTF, but the banks are closed and/or currency is worthless due to inflation or worse causes

In the first case, it might not matter. But perhaps gold is better, because it might retain its value better.

In the second case, silver and junk silver might be best for "bartering" purposes (non-cash transactions). Tenth ounce gold coins would be better than a single ounce gold coin.

So, what would you buy? I'm thinking a mix.

I've been buying silver because I haven't been able to afford gold. So, if I had this opportunity personally, I might use it to buy gold coins. Not sure which type, though.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I've always felt that silver was better. Of the silver, junk is at the top of my list. My reasoning goes like this. Junk is easily recognized by most people. It is in small enough denominations that you can make purchases. Gold is fine if you want to make a large purchase but for a sack of flour or a bag of sugar a silver dime might serve you better. One ounce rounds or bars of silver might serve well but I suspect that they will be less trusted.

Once you have your silver then gold is a good idea. If you have to head out on foot you can carry more wealth in gold than silver. Using the same criteria I would prefer fractional coins. First of all having one fourteen hundred dollar coin has fewer options than ten $150 coins. When starting with gold I'd start with fractional coins.

There are those that will say that you can't eat gold and that nobody will want it. I know miners that will walk into a dealership with a bag of gold and walk out with a car or piece of heavy equipment. I know stores that keep a gold scale next to their register. Cash, gold, or credit card, your choice.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

I guess I might have a bit of a different "use" for pms than most.

I have had related to me many stories of people being forced to flee their homes and properties (in some cases where their family had been for hundreds of years). Yes, they could have stayed and fought with sticks and stones but then they would have been dead and I for one wouldn't be here so I have to respect their decision :dunnothat and the fact that they served the cause much better from outside). For many, the only thing they could get out with was what they could conceal and carry on their person, while others used things of concentrated value to "buy" their way out. All the other material things they owned (land, livestock, homes, etc) were essentially of no value but gold and certain other things could be taken with them or used for a tiny fraction of their value.

So, in a situation like that, gold has it's points. Especially worldwide gold has a much greater history of intrinsic value, more than anything else. It is also possible to carry a substantial amount of wealth in gold (enough to start over) and the concentration of it makes it more attractive to those you might have to pay (bribe) because they might have to conceal it as well.

I agree that probably a mix is best but if it is something that I am going to hide or bury for the unthinkable event of having to leave my place it is likely to be heavier on something like gold. If it is for barter purposes silver just makes more sense.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I have some gold but go heavily with silver. Currently, I feel it is way undervalued compared to its historical link to gold.

Gold, to me, is for storing large amounts of wealth. Kind of like what buying a 30 year bond used to be. You have some extra wealth and store it away for the long haul. Silver is the every day man's storage. Heck, up until 1964 it WAS currency! If it comes down to it, silver is very useful. You can take some scraps of copper and solder them using silver, not sure if you could do the same using gold.

If it were me, I would put it all in silver. I'd buy as much 'junk' as I could and maybe a roll of Eagles.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

What you buy should depend on what you already own. My gold is in 1/10 of ounce Canadian Maple Leaf coins. I have silver as junk silver dimes and quarters and as 1 ounce Canadian Maple Leaf coins.

I expect silver to be worth more than gold in the future because I'm convinced that the big banks and the Fed manipulate gold and silver prices. Silver used to trade at 1/12 to 1/16 of the gold price. Now it's at 1/68 or so. I also believe silver has more upside partly because it's more of an industrial metal than gold.

So if I had $1400 to buy metals, I'd put it all in junk silver. That is, 1964 or earlier US coins that have no collector value and are sold based on their silver content only.

If I had $25,000 to invest I'd probably put $15,000 in gold coins of various sizes and $10,000 in silver coins of various kinds and sizes.

The more money I had over $25,000 would go 80/20 into gold. I wouldn't want to have more than $20,000 in silver just because of how much space it takes up. One great thing about gold is that it's so portable. A 1/10 of an ounce gold coin is smaller in diameter and thinner than a 1964 dime. It also costs about $145 when a 1964 silver dime costs about $1.40.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

There is a few different ways to look at this, first off having gold would be a good hedge against existing currency failure being convertible to a new currency system. Gold for most people is still priced out of the average persons ability were silver is yet affordable. It's good to have a mix of coin and bullion, scrap PM has to be checked for content but Mercury dimes, pre-1964 quarters, half dollars and silver dollars have known content value. Pre-1933 silver dollars have a greater silver content from what I've read. True bullion will have proof stamping of PM content according to how fine it's been refined too. Such as .999 fine. Thing is, put it to mind that PM's are not really an investment like stocks and bonds, they are an instrument of exchange it times of monetary failure, hyperinflation or collapse, as in a depression. The smart people during FDR's gold grab in 1933 didn't have their coinage in "safety" deposit boxes in a bank. I'm pretty sure a lot of them figured FDR was not a good man so they hid the coins and some sent coinage to relatives back in their home countries. Now days the people in this country don't have a lot of relatives living outside of the US. Biggest thing is let no one other than your closest trusted family know where you keep the stuff, no outside storage such as safety deposits in a bank as it can be confiscated just like in 1933. Also, purchase with cash, no checks or credit cards as they leave paper trails.


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## biobacon (Aug 20, 2012)

I would say go to a local dealer and see if you can cut a deal with the $1400 to reduce some of the price over spot for the junk silver. You may not get to much of a deal for two rolls of pre 65 dimes but you might for 10 or 15. silver eagles are going for around $26. That's about $6-$7 over spot. Dimes are between $1.60-$2.00 or about $23-$28 an ounce. Now they are buying for about $.80 to $1.00 a dime where as a silver eagle starts at $12 and they work up with condition, grade and date. So more or less its your call. I would go with the dimes, but man eagles are so pretty. I have a whopping two of them and I like looking at them. The rest of my pm are dimes and pre 70 half dollars.


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## Halloween (Nov 24, 2012)

$1400 of lead and brass!


Sent from my iPod touch using Survival Forum


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

Also a thing to remember is that any gold after like 1938 is confiscatable by the government. A mix is a good idea. Besides, silver is a better filling than gold.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

To correct something I said earlier, I expect gold and silver to both go up a lot but I expect silver to rise by a higher percentage than gold. If gold hits $5000 like Jim Willie expects and silver trades at 1/16 gold then silver will be worth about $300 an ounce. That would mean that gold would go up about 350% and silver would go up about 1500%.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Halloween said:


> $1400 of lead and brass!
> 
> Sent from my iPod touch using Survival Forum


That too! Along with powders and other little things.


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## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

I'd buy an acre of cheap woodland near my house. (It's for sale.) Then would KNOW I had firewood for the foreseeable future. Already got a couple chainsaws and all the rest.


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## bigg777 (Mar 18, 2013)

With only $1400 US to invest - junk silver &/or lead & brass.

I'm not trying to belittle your amt. to invest, If you had $50K to invest, I'd give different advice.


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## RevWC (Mar 28, 2011)

Food, ammo, seeds, water filter and gardening tools. Cannot have enough..


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

biobacon said:


> I would say go to a local dealer and see if you can cut a deal with the $1400 to reduce some of the price over spot for the junk silver. You may not get to much of a deal for two rolls of pre 65 dimes but you might for 10 or 15. silver eagles are going for around $26. That's about $6-$7 over spot. Dimes are between $1.60-$2.00 or about $23-$28 an ounce. Now they are buying for about $.80 to $1.00 a dime where as a silver eagle starts at $12 and they work up with condition, grade and date. So more or less its your call. I would go with the dimes, but man eagles are so pretty. I have a whopping two of them and I like looking at them. The rest of my pm are dimes and pre 70 half dollars.


those late circulation Kennedy halves were only 40% silver, not 90% like every coin US minted 1964 and back.

Just saying, yes, they are silver on those halves, but not 90%


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

One point to consider. After you spend $1400, or any other amount, on PM's or any other purchase, you should have enough cash to pay for eight months of your living expenses. The last thing you want to do is to lose your job or get sick the week after you make a purchase like this and then have to turn around and pay the commission to sell.


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## bkt (Oct 10, 2008)

Historically, the ratio of gold to silver in terms of value has been about 1:16. That is, 16 ounces of silver has the same intrinsic value as 1 ounce of gold. Today, that ratio is 1:66. For the ratio to correct itself, gold would have to drop to $310/oz which, given the demand and scarcity, is not going to happen. Or, silver would have to rise to $80/oz which seems more plausible.

Silver is used far more in industry (and in ways where it cannot be recovered) than gold and there is actually more gold above-ground than silver.

Both metals are good to own but I think silver is more undervalued than gold and thus a better buy.


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