All That Glitters

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

This silver/gold business is turning out to be fun to discuss, so I figured I'd set up a new topic for it.

I did a little more digging on APMEX's site and found what @mlooney was discussing, more or less: something called "Prepper Silver." Little one gram bars that are meant to be bartered at will in the event of a financial meltdown:

The image is obviously much larger than the bullion would be in real life. Here's what the sales pitch has to say in part:

Quote

The prepper community understands the importance of being ready for an uncertain future, and bartering will likely play a crucial role in a post-collapse society. Fractional silver bars offer a practical, affordable, and reliable means of preserving purchasing power and facilitating trade in a world where paper money may lose its value. By incorporating small silver bars into a preparedness plan, individuals can ensure they have a widely accepted, durable, and historically proven form of barter currency.

I was actually thinking of buying one of these little guys just because they're cute and cheap...until I read this crap. Now, I think I'd feel dirty carrying out the transaction. I don't know. I might buy one anyway, but I'd have to swallow some serious pride in the process.

[Darth Fluffy 354]

Buy US silver dimes. They are not pure silver, but they are purer than anyone else's, and they hold up.

 

[mlooney 3,687]

One gram?  I mean an oz of silver is fairly small, I can't even comprehend having a “bar” 1/28th as big.  A fast google shows that the spot price for a gram of silver is just a tiny bit over a USD.  Another google finds that the old silver dimes are 2.5 grams.  Which means this, thing, is 2/5th the size of a dime.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

8 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

They are not pure silver, but they are purer than anyone else's, and they hold up.

We've got a few stashed away. Mrs. Prof collected some with the help of her father and brothers.

[mlooney 3,687]

7 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

We've got a few stashed away. Mrs. Prof collected some with the help of her father and brothers.

Spot price on them makes them worth $2.70 for what it's worth.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

I found this while browsing. It's real, and it's due to come out on April 17th:

 

An ounce of .9995 pure platinum with an aquamarine gem inlaid, representing the sap from a sugar maple tree. Good grief, this thing is a beauty.

[mlooney 3,687]

51 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

something called "Prepper Silver." Little one gram bars that are meant to be bartered at will in the event of a financial meltdown:

The want 4 times it's value.  5 times if you are buying less than 24 of them.  I'm not seeing this as a valid investment proposition.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

13 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I'm not seeing this as a valid investment proposition.

Who said anything about an investment? Like I said, I have no intention to sell any of the precious metals that I buy. Let my inheritor(s) do that, if they wish.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

I figured that, since I'd bought my son a birthday present that was Star Wars-related, I'd go ahead and pop for a Star Wars-related Christmas present as well:

While he's big into Star Wars, he's specifically a fan of the Imperial Forces and the Galactic Empire. He will crap bricks upon receiving this Niue $2 coin of .999 fine silver, I predict. Moreso than with the Beskar bar.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

Yeah, I think I'm going to pass on the "Prepper Silver." I think I'll save up and get something a bit more substantial a ways down the road.

[mlooney 3,687]

20 minutes ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Who said anything about an investment?

I didn't mean you in particular, just their whole marketing seems off.  

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

49 minutes ago, mlooney said:

their whole marketing seems off.  

Anyone who buys into the "Prepper" market is, IMHO, a bit off to begin with.

[ijuin 601]

3 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Anyone who buys into the "Prepper" market is, IMHO, a bit off to begin with.

I have about 60 days worth of storable food and water for my entire household hanging around, and that is the majority of my disaster prep. I also have about a cord of firewood as well as solar panels and a battery for my house.

4 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Buy US silver dimes. They are not pure silver, but they are purer than anyone else's, and they hold up.

Most silver coins are sterling (11 parts out of 12 is silver, with the rest mostly copper), but US silver coins were 90% silver.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

I have about 60 days worth of storable food and water for my entire household hanging around, and that is the majority of my disaster prep. I also have about a cord of firewood as well as solar panels and a battery for my house.

Do you live near a coast? Just curious.

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

Most silver coins are sterling

The ones I've been posting are .999 or .9999 fine silver. Very pure.

[Darth Fluffy 354]

12 hours ago, ijuin said:

I have about 60 days worth of storable food and water for my entire household hanging around, and that is the majority of my disaster prep. I also have about a cord of firewood as well as solar panels and a battery for my house..

That does not sound obsessive. A storm could put you in need of solar panels and a battery.

 

12 hours ago, ijuin said:

Most silver coins are sterling (11 parts out of 12 is silver, with the rest mostly copper), but US silver coins were 90% silver.

Modern silver bullion 'coins' are different than silver that was made to circulate, back in the day. The US coinage was the purest among those, and it is close to sterling bullion. It is also readily available (still!) with a low markup. And the coinage was made to handle, and it is recognizable (still?).

 

17 hours ago, mlooney said:

Spot price on them (silver dimes) makes them worth $2.70 for what it's worth.

So four is a bit over ten dollars.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

11 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

That does not sound obsessive. A storm could put you in need of solar panels and a battery.

Agreed. That was the gist of my "coast" question.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

I went searching for. something for Mrs. Prof, knowing her obsession with cats. APMEX did not have anything suitable, but another company had something suitable for a friend of ours who raised Tonkinese kittens into full-grown cats. The Isle of Man issued a series of bullion and non-bullion coins with cat themes. These included a pair of Tonkinese kittens in a playful pose on a non-bullion release:

I went ahead and bought this for our friend. He's going to love it. Grand total with shipping + etc. was around $24 dollars.

[ijuin 601]

11 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Do you live near a coast? Just curious.

The ones I've been posting are .999 or .9999 fine silver. Very pure.

I live about six miles from the Fremont, California Tesla factory. We don’t have hurricanes here, but this is earthquake country. I got the solar panels because with the subsidies, it’s actually cheaper in the long run than paying the utility company—my loan payment on the solar/battery system is $160/month, which is comparable to what I was paying for electricity.

As for the coins, yeah I get that the bullion ones are super-high purity, but I was responding to Darth Fluffy’s suggestion about buying up old silver US dimes and quarters from pre-1960. Silver coins made for general circulation as legal tender at face value are usually 90-92.5% silver by weight.

[The Old Hack 2,500]

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

I live about six miles from the Fremont, California Tesla factory.

Sounds nasty. Be careful you don't catch Cybertruck or Swasticar.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

As for the coins, yeah I get that the bullion ones are super-high purity, but I was responding to Darth Fluffy’s suggestion about buying up old silver US dimes and quarters from pre-1960.

Ah, I get it now. Thanks for clearing that up.

I showed the Imperial Star Wars insignia silver coin to Mrs. Prof, and she got a kick out of it. Thought it was a good idea.

[ijuin 601]

42 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Sounds nasty. Be careful you don't catch Cybertruck or Swasticar.

About half of the electric cars around here are Teslas, but the majority of those were from back before Musk took his hard right turn. I think that half of them are owned by current or former Tesla employees and their families.

There are plenty of Nissan Leafs, Chevrolet Volt/Bolts, and even a few Mustang Mach-E’s and F-150 Lightnings around here. Maybe one car in five is electric, it seems.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

I did a bit of price comparison shopping, and believe it or not, I managed to snag a Johnson Massey-brand 1 oz. silver bullion bar from APMEX by way of Walmart for less money than if I had bought it from APMEX directly. Saved about $4 on the overall transaction when you figure in the shipping/handling - APMEX wanted $9.95, but Walmart's was free because I'm on the Walmart+ plan.

Here's what I bought:

Let me tell you a short, sad tale. Back when I was a kid, I had a little bit of money - just under $100. I took some of it and used it to get into the booming silver market of the day, in the mid-70s. I bought a 10 oz. silver bar (which turned out to be a junk silver pour) for a tad less than $80. I then held onto it until hard times hit, after I'd got married in 1983. I tried to cash it in. Lo and behold, the place from where I bought it no longer existed, and the exchange where I tried to sell it at first didn't want to accept the Certificate of Authenticity that came with it. They eventually caved in, but with me taking a loss of almost $30. The lesson they imparted? "Buy something like Englehart Fabricated next time."

Well, Englehart no longer fabricates ingots, although their bullion is still around. Their ingots look like crap, though. For a trader, that doesn't matter. For a collector like me, it does. So, I picked a happy medium between reputability and holdability, then bought the best I could afford (Johnson Matthey, above - mine will have a different serial number). I could have bought something in Assay, but I'd never have been able to put my fingers (well, my cotton-gloved fingers) on it. Plus, it'd have been more expensive.

So, come next week, I'll finally have a reputable, sellable (in case of emergency only), ingot of silver bullion of my very own. I'm stoked. Can't wait.

[Darth Fluffy 354]

10 hours ago, ijuin said:

About half of the electric cars around here are Teslas, but the majority of those were from back before Musk took his hard right turn. I think that half of them are owned by current or former Tesla employees and their families.

There are plenty of Nissan Leafs, Chevrolet Volt/Bolts, and even a few Mustang Mach-E’s and F-150 Lightnings around here. Maybe one car in five is electric, it seems.

There are a lot of Leafs on my area, but the Teslas are very popular, because they've had better range than most of the herd.

The Tesla software is buggy. I have a friend that has one, not new, and it sometimes tries to pull to the side for no discernible reason.

 

10 hours ago, ijuin said:

About half of the electric cars around here are Teslas, but the majority of those were from back before Musk took his hard right turn.

Musk was born on the hard right. His Tesla manufacturing facilities have an atrocious (lack of) safety record.

[mlooney 3,687]

46 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Musk was born on the hard right.

He's a rich white South African.  That can pretty much be assumed.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,349]

I decided to make one more purchase this month, just to play a bit of a collector's game with some of the silver "rounds" that are available. The company I've been buying through, APMEX, has its own mint, 9Fine Mint, and they've been running a sale on the 1 oz. "rounds" (think coins, but not legal tender) that they carry. They've got 3 basic designs, and all of them are coincidentally priced exactly the same at the moment. So, I decided to buy one of each and see which one gets the most traction, just for the hell of it.

Here they are. First, the "beehive" model:

Next up, the "radial":

Finally, the "diamond":

All have the company logo, but with different embellishments. The back designs differ as well. These I got straight from APMEX instead of going through Walmart, since it was cheaper that way even with the shipping.