Posted on 04/10/2010 12:07:38 AM PDT by dennisw
A nickel is 75% copper and 25% nickel.
There is some serious talk by people who study it that say there is in fact more available gold above ground now than there is silver.
Estimates of worldwide gold amount to 6-8 billion ounces.
Recent estimates of available silver are usually in the 4-5 billion ounce range.
At the Apmex website new silver one ounce coins are running about $21
Old junk silver is running at $18.83 per ounce
In my opinion the younger generation has less appreciation for junk silver. They don't remember when silver coins circulated. They want the bright new shiny stuff so maybe it's best to have new and old US silver. The new 10oz silver bars also look beautiful. They are extruded and hard. They used to be poured and looked crude. They are too small to want to counterfeit.
Very little gold that is mined gets lost. People always try to recover it if has been used in dental work, electronics etc. .....So just about all the gold ever mined is still around
Silver does get discarded while some gets recovered. So silver constantly has to be mined for its industrial uses. The stockpile needs constant replenishment.
Laz is in your camp as far as the Zombie Apocalypse
I still think after the world goes all Road Warrior on us, the guys who control and let people rummage through the landfills will be the rich ones!
“Old junk silver is running at $18.83 per ounce”
If that’s $18.83 per ounce of actual silver content then yes, it’s a much better buy, which is just another good reason.
You’re also correct that the newer stuff is prettier, but I’m thinking along the lines of barter. One hopes that people will realize that an ounce of silver is an ounce of silver no matter what it looks like as long as the assay can be trusted as with US coins.
I’ve got some of the whole-ounce silver bullion coins, junk silver dollars, etc, but also silver change for, well, small change.
The US Mint also does gold in 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10 ounce sizes if you can get any of it now, but with gold at $1100/oz it’s like having $100 dollar bills. Which is also why, when I had emergency cash on hand some of it was in singles, fives and tens instead of twenties and larger.
Cash comes in handy when paying for small jobs, too. Tradesmen will often give a discount for cash.
For sure.....you can bet that after a natural disaster (such as the Northridge quake which we experienced) power will be out. Your local Kroger isn't going to be open, but Achmed or Patel down at the Circle K will be waiting, abacus in hand.
“Old junk silver is running at $18.83 per ounce”
Yes that is what the silver in the old US coin is costing you at APMEX. Forget the 10% copper to harden it
We have enough booty in our flea markets, garage sales, landfills, junkyards, automobile junkyards to last us five years if the Chinese cut off all trade tomorrow. Matter of fact I wish they would cut us off for five years to force us to be self-sufficient and fix things instead of chucking them. Fellow Americans would be put to work instead of Chinese hordes making and exporting cheap stuffs and craps to us
“
If there is a monetary collapse. a silver Eagle will be easier to
spend than a gold Eagle. It’s the difference between spending a
$ 20 bill and a $ 1000 bill.
“
Generally that’s been my view.
But my brother availed himself of one alternative.
I don’t know what they are actually called, but he bought a tube
of small Krugerrands. My inexpert understanding is that they are
about 1/10 the size of the standard Krugerrand.
They are gold, and I’d guess a bit smaller in size as compared to
an American dime coin.
I agree that silver coins would be the more likely “post-apocalypse”
currency...but these small Krugerrands might be another option.
Whenever possible, I ALWAYS fix things rather than replace them. You learn how they work, which is fun.
Lol! A couple years back, I boght this ancient Sunbeam Hedge trimmer thing, electric powered. I wanted it more for it’s antique type status than trimming any hedges or whatever.
But I started taking it apart - whoa!! TWO DAYS because of all these spacers and ring type things and springs and gizmos.
The grease - well, at some century in the past it might have been grease, was now like solid flint rock or something.
It had this brilliant but simple cam design to it.
Cleaned it up, resharpened the blades, put it back together and I think I used it all but twice in about 3 years.
But I did it! And I got it.
And I could do it again if I had to.
;-)
A standard bag of junk sliver (1000USD) is about the size of a large football and weighs about 47 Lbs.
If you plan to buy and store silver, make sure you have the space...
Use it up, wear it out,
Make due or due without.
That’s an old New England saying
I take things part and fix them all the time. Things are usually constructed logically. Though over the last few decades fewer screws are used. Instead you have rivets and permanently glued or spot welded parts that can not be taken apart. When things are screwed together you can take them apart. But you can pop out rivets and put back together with screws.
Stuff from Asia that is disposable and non-fixable...put together with less screws....makes it cheaper to produce
The SAME Paulson involved in the Goldman Sachs trade that got them investigated!
Yup! He’s made some good bets but I’d love to have securities custom made to my specifications that I could bet against
HE must be very smart to have outfoxed that bunch!
This Paulson is a very clever guy. His big trades against the real estate bubble made him worth four billion. Plus investors in his hedge fund took home billions. He was bleeding millions in interest payments for a year or so until his big bet panned out. How would you like to be under that kind of pressure?
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