# Silver You Didn't Know You Had.



## Canadian

Smithy posted a link to his website in one of the threads. It shows a stack of coins being put into a forge and welded together. This reminded me of a good way to get your hands on silver for investment purposes.

American and Canadian coins - with the exceptions of pennies and nickels - contain large amounts of silver if they were minted before the late 1960's. 

The actual "melt value" of the coins is many times greater than the face value. For example a 1964 United States Quarter ($.25) is worth $1.95 if you melt it down into silver. 

One "roll" of quaters ($10.00) face value is actually worth $78.00. A lot of these old coins are just sitting around people's houses in old jars and cans. 

An easy way to test if a coin has silver in it is to pass a magnet over it. If the coin jumps up and sticks to the magnet it has no silver. If it stays put it has lots of silver. If it hangs off the magnet limply it has a small amount of silver. Some Canadian coins at the end of the 1960's were still minted with a small amount of silver in them.

We all have older relatives that have cans full of old coins hanging around the house. Offer to roll up grandma and grandpas coins. Offer to pay them face value for the coins. Bring a magnet and roll up the silver separate from the normal stuff. Take the normal stuff to the bank. Pay grandma and grandpa the face value in bills. Keep the silver. They we're never going to spend the coins anyway and they are not collectors. They just didn't bother to roll the coins for forty years.

Also visit your local coin shop and ask what years of coin are worth more. I've found several "special" old coins that were worth a lot of money. Super old pennies from the 1900's and even oddball collector coins like aluminum nazi coins from 1940's germany. Passing the magnet will not sift out special collector coins. You need to inspect each one by hand for that.

Once you have your silver you have to find a person willing to melt the coins down into 1 oz slips or a large brick. This is the hard part. This is very illegal. The federal government will throw you in jail for destroying currency. I have a connection who buys the silver coins off me and then re sells it to a melter. I don't get the full value of the silver but I have no other choice. Nobody else is willing to risk going to jail.

He pays me about half the melt value of the coins. I was at my folks the other day and found a can of 1960's currency. I asked if I could roll it up for them. They looked at the can and said. "Take it and buy yourself some pop or something." I have not gone through the can yet but there's probably about $40.00 worth of silver in there.


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## Jerseyzuks

Canadian said:


> An easy way to test if a coin has silver in it is to pass a magnet over it. If the coin jumps up and sticks to the magnet it has no silver. If it stays put it has lots of silver. If it hangs off the magnet limply it has a small amount of silver. Some Canadian coins at the end of the 1960's were still minted with a small amount of silver in them.


The only American coin that I know of that is will stick to a magnet is a 1943 Steel penny. The feds needed the copper for bullets for WWII, so the penny was made from steel.



Canadian said:


> Once you have your silver you have to find a person willing to melt the coins down into 1 oz slips or a large brick. This is the hard part. This is very illegal. The federal government will throw you in jail for destroying currency. I have a connection who buys the silver coins off me and then re sells it to a melter. I don't get the full value of the silver but I have no other choice. Nobody else is willing to risk going to jail.


It is not illegal in the USA to destroy coins. It is only illegal to alter them for fraudulent purposes


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## Canadian

I guess things might be different in the U.S.A. but since I live in Canada I'm just going by what I'm used to. The fact remains that old coins are a great source of silver and an be easily obtained. 

Peace!


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## dunappy

It is illegal in the USA and has been since 2006

Mint bans melting pennies and nickels for profit - Dec. 14, 2006


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## endurance

Nevertheless, I'm always keeping my eyes pealed for pre-1964 dimes and quarters. So far I've been looking for about eight years and found two dimes. What's an easier find is pre-1984 pennies, which are pure copper, rather than zinc coated with copper. While not legal to melt now, there may come a time when these pennies far exceed their face value, so I'm saving mine.


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## O6nop

Actually, it's pre-1982 pennies that are mostly copper, and midway thru '82 they started making them from zinc.
You can tell by the weight if you want to go to the trouble. 
3.1 grams for the 1909-1982 copper cent, 
2.5 grams for the 1982-2008 zinc cent.


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## Magus

dunappy said:


> It is illegal in the USA and has been since 2006
> 
> Mint bans melting pennies and nickels for profit - Dec. 14, 2006


Damn,there goes my mokume!


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## endurance

ooops, double post, sorry, Please delete.


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## endurance

> Actually, it's pre-1982 pennies that are mostly copper, and midway thru '82 they started making them from zinc.


Oops, good catch. Yep, I can tell just by looking usually, as the zinc pennies tend to tarnish slightly differently and the impression appears slightly deeper on the copper than the zinc. My eyes are too old to actually read the dates anymore.


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## AgentFlounder

So not only is it illegal, but by swindling grandma and grandpa it's immoral too. Neat.


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## Canadian

Flounder - Well you can always wait until grandma and grandpa die and inherit the cans or jars full of space change. Let's face it - someone might as well get some use out of the stuff. If you really feel bad you can just give the full value to them. If you just ask them for it they'll probably hand it over. They're not doing anything with it. Besides your grandparents love you. They'll do it just to make you smile.


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## AgentFlounder

I think that's the better approach -- tell them the whole tale before asking.


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## HotLead

Canadian said:


> .
> 
> An easy way to test if a coin has silver in it is to pass a magnet over it. If the coin jumps up and sticks to the magnet it has no silver. If it stays put it has lots of silver. If it hangs off the magnet limply it has a small amount of silver. Some Canadian coins at the end of the 1960's were still minted with a small amount of silver in them.


Canadian coins were made out of pure nickel since the silver was taken out in 1968, but US coins have been a copper core with a copper/nickel outer layers, since 1965. Nothing in them is magnetic.



Canadian said:


> .
> Once you have your silver you have to find a person willing to melt the coins down into 1 oz slips or a large brick. This is the hard part. This is very illegal. The federal government will throw you in jail for destroying currency. I have a connection who buys the silver coins off me and then re sells it to a melter. I don't get the full value of the silver but I have no other choice. Nobody else is willing to risk going to jail.


Why would I want to take an item of KNOWN purity and weight that is traded daily any place in the US, even on the commodities market, and melt it into a slug that I would have to guess at? 90% coins have been trading at a premium over face value for several months, while a lump would have to re-refined.

Melting silver coins has NOT been illegal since 1969 in the US. They did pass a law a while back about melting pennies and nickels, but nothing in that changed melting silver coins.



Canadian said:


> . He pays me about half the melt value of the coins.


I will pay you full melt value for 1964 and earlier US coins in undamaged condition. So will anyone else that knows the market today. A melted together lump - quite a bit less.

HL


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## The_Blob

instead of melting them down you might want to actually take them to a coin vendor first, I got $6 each for some 1960s quarters... of course if you take more than a dozen in @ a time to the same vendor s/he just might balk - so my advice would be to goto several different coin shops. This is viable if you live near a large metro area, but not-so-much if you live in a more rural setting. Also, every flea-market I have ever gone to has had a coin collector/seller that would help you appraise the coins even if they won't buy them.

As an easy conversion rule of thumb, divide the price of silver by 6 for a rough metal value of a common-date quarter. 

so... if silver is $10.50/oz. a quarter is worth $1.75 for the metal


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## Canadian

Hot Lead - I'm going by Canadian laws since that's where I am. It's also not a "lump" it's actual bullion. It's is also melted to 100% purity. The 1960's common currency is just that - common. As such it has no numistic value. It's worth more melted that it is intact. Also anyone paying full met value is not making any money on the transaction. You can't stay in business without a little margin. Go sell some silver or gold to a dealer. They'll do business at 3% less the daily fix - they need margin to stay in business.


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## O6nop

A friend of mine showed me a good website when he was trying to illustrate the copper value in pennies. I found this as a convenient way to check values of silver coins (meltdown values) in my 'stash' and what I might feel safe as purchase prices. Check it out here.


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## SASSGlock2

At this point in time, melting down or selling or "junk" silver coins is a poor bet. Keep them to use in coming times or extreme inflation or for barter after a societal breakdown.


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## O6nop

I agree, now is not the time to get rid of them and melting them down yourself is not recommended, however, purchasing them is not such a bad idea. It appears that any silver (or gold) purchase is a good idea.The website gives you an idea of the values of these 'junk' coins.


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## Canadian

Doing a proper melt is the best bet. Selling or bartering the silver means knowing the exact amount of silver in every coin. If you don't have access to electricity or the internet you'll have no way to value the coins. If you melt it into 1 oz blocks of 100% pure silver you will always be able to barter it becuase the exact value can always be calculated.

That is why bullion is always taken over coinage. The exact value, content, and purity are always known. A pile off coins is pretty much random. Nobody will be able to determine the exact value.


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## O6nop

Canadian said:


> Doing a proper melt is the best bet. Selling or bartering the silver means knowing the exact amount of silver in every coin.
> If you don't have access to electricity or the internet you'll have no way to value the coins. If you melt it into 1 oz blocks of 100% pure silver you will always be able to barter it because the exact value can always be calculated.


Would you be willing to buy or barter for a block of metal with no kind of marking on it that someone claims that they melted from silver? How can you determine that that melted down ounce is silver and not a combination of metals? Would you expect someone to trust you that you have a pure silver bar? 
Coins, especially U.S. and Canadian, are well documented as to the silver content, as illustrated by the website. But if you don't have Internet access, then any coin book will tell you the values. You don't need a computer, paper pencil and a notebook (remember those things?) would be all you need.



Canadian said:


> That is why bullion is always taken over coinage. The exact value, content, and purity are always known.


Can't argue with that...
Bullion is probably better to own, but coinage is available and affordable - as long as you stay away from numismatic values.


Canadian said:


> A pile off coins is pretty much random. Nobody will be able to determine the exact value.


Random??? like I said, silver content of coins is already known and documented, by the dates.

I would not melt down anything, coin or jewelry, where the silver content is already known, into something that can't easily be verified.


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## Canadian

O6 - You are assuming that the person you are negotiating with knows the values or is willing to accept whatever value you or your book has placed on the coins - based partialy upon numistic value. Also the date and condition of each coin would have to be examined. 

By the way do you keep a coin book with your coins. If you don't nobody will be willing to barter with you. You won't be able to prove the value if you don't have a book. I don't need to carry a book. 1 oz is always 1 oz. 

You can stamp anything you want onto a 1 oz bar of silver. Who says you can't? I've got plenty of bullion here. It's pretty easy to fake. You just stamp a weight marking onto it. That's all that's on it anyway. 

You test all bullion the same way - with the acid test. You can weigh the 1 oz slip on a scale to make sure it's 1 oz. Simple. You can't acid test an impure coin - It'll damage it. 

You're probably going to be bartering with an average person. To them a sack of old quarters is worth the face value. Who say's they'll even believe they have any silver in them. Most people never do any collecting of coins or precious metals. 

I have far more confidence in presenting a 10z pure acid tested slip than a bag of old coins. It's simple. 

If you were on the opposite end of the barter which would you rather get? The bag of coins or the pure 1oz tested slip?


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## The_Blob

here's a question: if there was such a remendous societal collapse that people were reduced to bartering, would silver or gold be that useful? historically the answer would seem to be 'yes', but to me, I'm not so sure what I would trade for a shiny rock that I couldn't eat...

of course turning it into about a 1000 electrodes to make colloidal silver drinks for health reasons is useful, but idk the bunk from the science on that


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## endurance

Fair question, Blob, and I guess it comes down to your time frame and the nature of what is going on. I'm looking primarily as a stable investment that's a hedge on inflation that I can walk into any coin shop or list silver coins on e-bay and get current value for. If there's hyper-inflation, gold and silver will retain their buying power if the value of a dollar goes down.

Second, if things really go bad and it does come down to barter, while my neighbor may want a course of antibiotics and he has onion seeds, but I'm already set on onion seeds, but need corn seeds... When direct transactions fail, some form of accepted exchange medium will fill the gap. Historically, gold and silver have filled that role. Alcohol could too, but it can be diluted. .22 shells could too, but you might find yourself on the wrong end someday. So there's a value to having something that's worked in the past. 

I think silver and gold coins make the most sense because they're minted and have a known silver or gold content and weight. They're also available in a number of different weights for different values. That doesn't mean I don't keep around other barter items, but some stash of precious metals makes sense. I can stash $5,000 in five or six coins in my pocket if I need to evacuate and no matter what happens to the US dollar, no matter what country I end up in, I'll have that amount of buying power when I arrive at my new home. 

Imagine if the US had the same kind of hyperinflation that Zimbabwe has been experiencing since 2004. What if you were in a country that was unfriendly toward Americans and all you had was US Dollars? How much booze, food, or other barter item would you need to have with you to have an equal amount of buying power?


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## Canadian

Endurance - Point well made. I think we all hope that if there is a disaster there will be a recovery at some point. Eventually precious metals will go back up in value. Anyone who traded some corn or canned food for gold or silver will be rich when the recovery comes. The people who are looking farther ahead than just getting through today will be better off in the long run. Remember it'll always be buy low sell high.


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## Ridgerunner

O6nop said:


> A friend of mine showed me a good website when he was trying to illustrate the copper value in pennies. I found this as a convenient way to check values of silver coins (meltdown values) in my 'stash' and what I might feel safe as purchase prices. Check it out here.


It might be easyier to try and find some real siver in nevada and pan or metal detect for it


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## endurance

I don't believe you can pan for silver, at least I've never recovered any. I have panned for gold. It can be a lot of fun and quite addictive, but it's best saved for a recreational activity on hot summer's days rather than trying to make it into a source of income. I have a pair of pans and venture up toward Central City (formerly the richest square mile on earth) where you can pan for free. I've never found a nugget, but I've found dozens of small to medium sized flakes. Add them all together and it might be a couple grams. If you want to get any quantity you need a sluce box. A good quality commercial sluce will run you $100-175, but the friend I know with one says he can yield about a nugget a day (perhaps 1/8 ounce?). At $850/ounce, that's better than a sharp stick in the eye, but it's hard work and will never make you rich.

I suspect copper will come back around if the economy ever gets back in order (not likely anytime soon (like maybe 2015, IMHO)). I'll keep saving my pre-1982 pennies, keep an eye out for pre-1964 silver, but mostly take advantages of fluxuating gold and silver prices, buying when it's down or I find unusual values.

@ Canadian: Have you read World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler? I can't recommend it highly enough. Great novel that was clearly well researched on a small town in upstate NY 15 years after the crash. It's really made me rethink many of my long-term strategies for survival.


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## Canadian

Endurance - Book title and author noted. Thanks for the recommendation. Peace!


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## dyermaker

Hmm, I have a jar of old American coins, some Canadian, and some Chinese coins. Not sure where they all came from but I've had them for the past 20 years at least....I need to take another look at what I've got in there!


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## O6nop

Canadian said:


> O6 - You are assuming that the person you are negotiating with knows the values or is willing to accept whatever value you or your book has placed on the coins - based partialy upon numistic value. Also the date and condition of each coin would have to be examined.


No assumptions required, numismatic values aside - a minted coin will always retain the same materials... they are rarely, if ever, counterfeited. e.g. a pre 1965 quarter, dime or half will always be 90% silver, well documented..


Canadian said:


> By the way do you keep a coin book with your coins. If you don't nobody will be willing to barter with you. You won't be able to prove the value if you don't have a book. I don't need to carry a book. 1 oz is always 1 oz.


 and 90% silver is always 90% silver. Being minted is verification of it's silver value..I don't need to carry acid and a scale.


Canadian said:


> You can stamp anything you want onto a 1 oz bar of silver. Who says you can't? I've got plenty of bullion here. It's pretty easy to fake. You just stamp a weight marking onto it. That's all that's on it anyway.


 That's my point, a homemade ingot is easy to fake. Mix some lead and aluminum together and stamp it "1 ounce silver"- who can't do that?.


Canadian said:


> You test all bullion the same way - with the acid test. You can weigh the 1 oz slip on a scale to make sure it's 1 oz. Simple. You can't acid test an impure coin - It'll damage it.


Merely knowing what dates correspond to the silver content is sufficient.. again no acid or scale required. Who's to verify the acid is adequately pure?


Canadian said:


> You're probably going to be bartering with an average person. To them a sack of old quarters is worth the face value. Who say's they'll even believe they have any silver in them. Most people never do any collecting of coins or precious metals.


 Who says there is any silver in your bullion?.Those that don't know much about what silver is will be the easiest ones to con into taking bogus silver - the smart ones will need proof.


Canadian said:


> I have far more confidence in presenting a 10z pure acid tested slip than a bag of old coins. It's simple.
> 
> If you were on the opposite end of the barter which would you rather get? The bag of coins or the pure 1oz tested slip?


How exactly does this test work? How much does this acid test cost? Will it need to be done each time it is traded?Is the acid actually working correctly. Who authenticates the acid? 
Here's an assumption - the average person will carry around acid to test silver on a regular basis, but won't have access to a book that tells how much silver is in a coin? My answer is the coin - unless there is indisputible proof that the bullion is pure silver.


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## Canadian

06nop - Unless you and the buyer for your coins have the exact content and values of each coin memorized a trade can't reliably take place. I'm assuming you are relying upon a book in order to demonstrate the value and silver content of each coin.

If this is the case the buyer will demand that you include the book as part of the trade. Otherwise they will have no way to convince the next person they trade with of the value of the coins. This is okay if you are trading all of your coins at once. However, it is more likely that you will be trading only a portion of your coin collection. So - do you give them your book? The only method for determining the value of your coins?

I have a stack of acid testers in my safe. I can give them away with a trade.

Are you going to keep a stack of coin books to give away with the coins? 

Acid tests are quick and easy. All I need to do a trade is an acid tester and a scale / or something that weighs the same as the slip I'm trading. You can buy acid testers from coin shops or online. Bullion is the most practical for trade.


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## TechAdmin

That's a real good point. If things are so bad that Silver is the commodity one would think the access to the current Silver prices would be unrealistic.


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## Canadian

Yeah, it's all relative. You might not even have access to market data if the grid is down. Also the numistic and face values of the coins will be pretty much worthless. All people will care about is the silver content.

That's why banks and financial institutions favor bullion over coins. It is ideal for trade. That's why 90% of my stash is bullion. I've only bought coins when there was zero bullion for offer on the market.


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## The_Blob

Canadian said:


> That's why 90% of my stash is bullion. I've only bought coins when there was zero bullion for offer on the market.


just how old _*are*_ you?  jk 

I don't remember silver ever being unavailable in _*my*_ lifetime, of course I'm only 25...


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## Canadian

Go try and buy some today. Or gold bullion. Chances are there isn't any for sale at all. Silver is due for a major upswing in value. The market is over bought right now as a result. Check it - Gold is trading at about $928 U.S. today. Silver always follows gold's trend lines.


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## O6nop

Canadian said:


> Bullion is the most practical for trade.


I think my point really got lost..
I've always said that bullion is the better choice, my argument that the personal meltdown of silver coins is a bad idea. The buyer of the homemade block of silver has nothing to go by. I also said I dismiss any numismatic values.

Also if the 'grid' goes down and you don't know the value of silver for coins, how will you know the value of silver for bullion?

A one page document is all I'd need for the silver content of a give US or Canadian coin that I could have prepared for distribution of each trade - that's just as realistic as an acid test. I think there are more people willing to validate a well documented minted coin value than their are people who understand the results of an acid test. I could pour Koolade over it and tell someone if it doesn't change color it's silver. What documentation is provided with an acid test?



Canadian said:


> Go try and buy some today. Or gold bullion. Chances are there isn't any for sale at all. Silver is due for a major upswing in value. The market is over bought right now as a result. Check it - Gold is trading at about $928 U.S. today. Silver always follows gold's trend lines.


There's about a 3 to 6 month waiting list on bullion right now from clearinghouses, who knows what the value might be by the time you receive it.
It is for sale on eBay for a considerable markup.


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## Canadian

There's nothing wrong with melting it down. All bullion is melted down. Testing can reveal the purity of the metal. People only have "nothing to go on" if they are completely ignorant. In which case you could be trading any commodity with them and it would not matter.

The price would be established by negotiation. That's much easier to do if you just have bullion. If you have a full sack of various denominations and sizes and years and qualities how do you negotiate the trade? How long would it take to explain each individual coin? Sounds like a total pain in the ass process. I wouldn't bother doing the trade or I'd refuse to trade unless the person with the coins was willing to take a far lower trade value for my inconvenience. As anyone who runs a coin store. They'd rather have bullion. 

As for your one page document - you can type anything you want on it and make up prices. Why would anyone take your document seriously if there's nothing to compare it to? The acid test makes far more sense. Go trade some coins or jewlery at a coin store and you can watch them do the acid test. It's a standard procedure. 

As for the acid test you can pour whatever you want on the coin. Even the dumbest person would test the acid on another object to see if the acid dissolves it. If the acid does not dissolve anything it's obviously not acid. Plus the tester kits come all together with instruction. They don't just send you a plain bottle of acid. Besides who would go through the trouble to make a counterfiet acid test and counterfiet bullion? What happens when the acid turns out to be koolaid? Out comes mister 9mm.

Anyone trying to pass off "fake" commodities of any type in a survival situation is looking to get shot. That's the reality of the situation. I'd never try to pass off some one page sheet I typed on the computer in a trade in that situation. That piece of paper will be around long after the trade. If the person you traded with feels ripped off they'll come back angry waving that piece of paper (and maybe a gun) in your face. Even if you ripped someone off by accident why would you want a piece of evidence sitting around that you produced?

I'd do the acid test and let the test speak for itself. The buyer can buy it or not - but what I'm selling isn't something I just made up - it's right there for them to see. I'm willing to stake my life on the value of my precious metals. Are you willing to bet your life on what you've written on your one sheet document? What if there's a type "o" or other error. I'd hate to get a bad rep off of that. If word got around nobody would trade with you. 

I don't buy bullion from clearing houses. I also would never buy it off ebay for a markup. That's a good way to lose money. It's 'buy low sell high." The market's high demand for bullion proves the point that bullion is superior.

These days I don't buy gold unless it's below $800 U.S. an oz and lately that's never.

Also "melted" silver bullion is equivalent in purity and weight to "normal" bullion. They're all made of the same thing. They're all melted. They all weigh the same. If it was that easy to pass off fake or impure bullion don't you think people would be doing it all the time? The testing method is simple and has been the same since forever.

I highly suggest to anyone who is interested in precious metals to avoid coins if possible and get bullion.

If you are highly stocked with goods that you want to trade for gold or silver I suggest you buy a pack of acid testers for when city folk show up to trade their gold for food etc. The people who will truly win in a survival situation are not the people who hold the gold but the people who take it in trade for other goods. 

Buy acid testers. Go bullion.

Peace!


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## O6nop

Bottom line - How do you convert silver coins, jewelry, what have you to bullion?
I would not pay someone to do it for me, it would mean a premium is added to my silver. If I did it myself I couldn't make a 100% bar no matter how hard I try. Can you? Can the average person?
If in a survival situation, I doubt silver and gold will be a commodity anyway unless you are accepting it for goods you already have, knowing that it will be a traded commodity in the future. In that case, you would be wise to know the value of bullion, coins and jewelry. If you were the hoarder of silver before the SHTF, and depended only on that for trade, I doubt anyone would deal with you anyway. 
IF I needed a gun and ammo for hunting/protection because I didn't have one, or a case of beans because I was starving, I think I'd be SOL no matter what kind of silver or gold I had in a situation as this. Because the guy I'm trading with doesn't know what an acid test or a government document is.

When the economy stabilizes after the SHTF, those types of resources will be available again for people to identify precious metal prices, no matter what the form.


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## Canadian

06nop - We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. History has shown gold and silver to always be valued commodities for the past thousand plus years. As long as there are people there will be folks who want to trade. Only time will tell who is right. Today gold is $917 U.S. and I continue to make money. My strategy works for me. 

Peace!


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## Expeditioner

Canadian said:


> 06nop - We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. History has shown gold and silver to always be valued commodities for the past thousand plus years. As long as there are people there will be folks who want to trade. Only time will tell who is right. Today gold is $917 U.S. and I continue to make money. My strategy works for me.
> 
> Peace!


Amen Canadian. I have seen silver available for sale in pelletized form but have yet to find gold in this form. This would allow one to easily divide the silver when trading.

I have a few bags of the stuff and it has tested .99 pure.


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## TechAdmin

With this Stimulus package about the pass I'm leaning even more towards some Silver/Gold for insurance. Even if it's price dropped it would still be a physical asset.


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## Canadian

Gold price today is $941 U.S. and climbing. Silver always follows gold so both are a good investment. With oil prices in the gutter and the bond market over saturated the only safe haven left is gold and silver. I read even more predictions of $2,500 - $3,000 oz gold today. Now the trading publications are talking about an impending bond market collapse brought on by a spike in interest rates. American unemployment is over 8% and is expected to creep up to 10% soon.

Last year the U.S. treasury sold four times the amount of gold coins it did in 1996. 

Get some gold before Fort Knox is empty. 

Silver pellets sound like a great idea.


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## nj_m715

I know you are talking about picking up more gold if it drops a little, but is anyone selling? I have a few hundred dollars in US silver coins. I got most of it when silver was around 10$/oz. Now it's $15. That's a 50% profit. Should Hold or look to sell? How high should it go? I have read speculation of $200/oz. I'm no expert, but that seems too high. Is anyone "day trading" as the price fluctuates? Thanks


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## Canadian

I'd hold. Silver is actually outpacing gold. Since gold tends to stall at about $1,000 all the action is in silver. I'd hold until two things happen. The first is every large company that can go bankrupt or get a bailout is over and done with. The second is an end to combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those two things are driving the gold and silver market. One they stop metals will stop accelerating. It would be a good time to sell and buy some undervalued property.


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## greaseman

A few ideas on silver. I've been buying US Silver eagles, current year , online for a price range of $17-19 Us dollars including shipping. Silver is up anddown, and I try to catch it on the down spike, and buy some more.
One coin shop dealer I deal with locally thinks silver in the near future will settle out at abou$2o-22 per ounce. Right now, he has a 50/50 ratio of buyers to sellers. I paid $55 for a roll of dimes. That's $1.10 each. All pre 64 coins have the silver content.
Hold on to what you have. Silver is expected to rise up faster than gold, and I believe it will. As soon as the SHTF, both metals will take off again. Silver is much easier to trade or sell, as it it readily acceptable. Also, the junk siver coins will make small purchases possible when the dollar collapses, and it will collapse.


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## Canadian

I think the only thing that is making silver go up is the fact that gold is undervalued relative to all the inflated paper currencies.

I do think that if people in the poorer countries lose faith in the currency systems of their nations we will see a huge spike in silver. 

Most people in the 3rd world are far too poor to buy even one ounce of gold. However an ounce of silver is within reach for just about anyone. It's the poor man's gold. There could be a 3rd world buying frenzy on silver much as there has been one for gold in the first world. That would bring a real price spike.


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## nj_m715

OK, It's pushing $17 and I ready to cash in most of my coins. Where do you guys buy and sell? Should I try a local coin dealer or put up with the hassles of ebay?


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## UncleJoe

I can't answer your question, and I'm no expert as far as the metal markets are concerned, but if there is _any_ way that you can hold onto those coins, I would consider it. My dad sold his silver coins about a month ago, much to my dismay, and only got about 65% of the metal value. It's very likely that with the dollar still slipping, and money still being created to pay for all these programs, and bailouts, metals will continue to rise. Many speculators are considering the possibility that silver could go as high as $50/oz. As I said, I'm no expert, but I do a lot of reading. Just my .02


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## Canadian

Unless you're in dire need of the cash for something else (paying off debt etc.) I'd hole the silver. Silver has lots of industrial uses and gold is now over $1,000 which means silver will also rise as silver always paces gold in value. As long as gold keeps going up so will silver.


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## nj_m715

I hear you guys and there's no dire need, but I just wanted to cash in on the increase. It seems to bounce from 11 or 12 dollars up to 15 or 16 dollars. I used to buy and sell stocks on ameritrade with less profit. I think we will see $12 before we see $20 and I can buy back when it drops. But back to the real question, where do you sell it? I can't see the "WE BUY GOLD" guys offering a good price. I would rather not deal with a mail order company. I wish I sold at the last little $16 spike and bought back in at $11 in June. I just need a convient fair company to deal with or try to do it in bulk on ebay. Silver is moving 30-50% Gold is only moving about 10%.


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## Canadian

Check the bounces in the market. You have to time it just right to play a bounce of let's say $50.00 on gold. That includes being able to instantly buy or sell the gold - which if you're dealing with physical gold - is nearly impossible. 

I'd say hold your silver and buy more. Hyperinflation has yet to take hold and the treasury adds more money to the supply daily. We're looking at gold and silver going to triple the current value in the next few years.


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## nj_m715

I do plan on buying more, I want to ride the wave up and down. I'll buy some silver bars when it drops back to $11 or $12 oz. It looks like ebay is the best place to get spot price. my local coin guys offered to pay 5X face value. These guys seem to have a fair price 
90% Silver Bags - Junk Silver
I might get my bars from them after this spike.


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## Canadian

With gold topping over $1,000.00 U.S. an ounce it will become increasingly hard for average people to buy gold for prep purposes. I suggest people start buying lots of silver as it is more affordable and we're going to see a bigger overall profit margin in silver than we are in gold. Stack that bullion!


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## BillM

*Establishing purity of silver bullion*



Canadian said:


> Go try and buy some today. Or gold bullion. Chances are there isn't any for sale at all. Silver is due for a major upswing in value. The market is over bought right now as a result. Check it - Gold is trading at about $928 U.S. today. Silver always follows gold's trend lines.


Try MONEX or Blanchard you can buy all the .999 pure American eagle silver dollars you want. They are 100% bullion coins. They are exactly 1 troy oz each.
Their purity is required to be .999 fine silver. They are in uncirculated condition. No need for an assay.


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