(Topic ID: 286786)

Precious Metals? Gold, Silver, Prospecting and Collecting.

By phil-lee

3 years ago


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Post #34 Perspective from a rare coin seller. Posted by Coindork (3 years ago)

Post #86 Amazing photos from actual miner and a great story. Posted by Onwallst (3 years ago)

Post #109 Great power point on gold demand. Posted by ManyQuarters (3 years ago)


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There are 621 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 13.
#1 3 years ago

I wanted to start a discussion group for all things concerning precious metals. Gold Panner or Collector? Stacking Silver as a hedge or just like Collecting coins?
Instead of Metals being a scab on the back of day trading I felt it deserved its own place.
Personally I like the cull American coins, cleaned or not.
Morgan dollars are usually a little pricier than Peace but it fluctuates. Like both. I purchase a lot of Silver Eagles but they usually come with a high premium due to popularity.
Are you a Stacker? What are your goals?

#2 3 years ago

I’ve liked the Canadian maples silver coins. They have some nice variants. At some point silver has to trend up.

#3 3 years ago

I like shipwreck treasure. Much cooler than regular coins and bars.
cWhwgQKwXa-6 (resized).pngcWhwgQKwXa-6 (resized).png

#4 3 years ago

Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter, meanwhile, urged caution amid indications that the “RobinHooders and their ilk will soon target silver as the next market to flood into to trap the shorts.”

“That would be interesting to see…but be careful what you wish for,” he said in emailed commentary. “There are certainly enough fundamental forces driving silver higher over the coming years that we don’t need a manipulation in the positive direction to shorten or possibly forestall the trend already in place.”

#5 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter, meanwhile, urged caution amid indications that the “RobinHooders and their ilk will soon target silver as the next market to flood into to trap the shorts.”
“That would be interesting to see…but be careful what you wish for,” he said in emailed commentary. “There are certainly enough fundamental forces driving silver higher over the coming years that we don’t need a manipulation in the positive direction to shorten or possibly forestall the trend already in place.”

Look up what the Hunt brothers did in the 80s.

#6 3 years ago
Quoted from Coindork:

Look up what the Hunt brothers did in the 80s.

Well aware of the Hunt Brothers.
This may be a new time or paradigm for silver/gold.
There is a lot of it out there, but if all these Reddit folks just bought 1 coin it will change everything, price,availability, desirability.

#7 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

Well aware of the Hunt Brothers.
This may be a new time or paradigm for silver/gold.
There is a lot of it out there, but if all these Reddit folks just bought 1 coin it will change everything, price,availability, desirability.

I buy and sell coins for a living and have done so for nearly 30 years.
I’m not saying it not doable, but it’s going to take a lot more than them each buying one silver coin. I think you underestimate how much silver there is in the world and how much of it has been minted into coin form.

#8 3 years ago

My dad left us silver and gold coins and you should remember it'll cost you 15 percent or so to sell and you have to deal with storing it. Unless you just like collecting
Coins it's better to invest in silver or gold stock, like Barrick gold.

#9 3 years ago
Quoted from wtatumjr:

My dad left us silver and gold coins and you should remember it'll cost you 15 percent or so to sell and you have to deal with storing it. Unless you just like collecting
Coins it's better to invest in silver or gold stock, like Barrick gold.

If you are paying 15% on a strictly bullion transaction on physical metal you are being ripped off.

#10 3 years ago
Quoted from Coindork:

I buy and sell coins for a living and have done so for nearly 30 years.
I’m not saying it not doable, but it’s going to take a lot more than them each buying one silver coin. I think you underestimate how much silver there is in the world and how much of it has been minted into coin form.

As I understand it there are 20 million people on that sub Reddit. If one percent bought one coin it would drive the price much higher for the short term and lead to shortages in the stock of more popular offerings like silver eagles.

#11 3 years ago

Great forum topic!

Stealth hyper inflation Canuck style (2014 numbers):

- 1935 – 1967 one dollar Voyageur coin, 80 % silver, metal value = $12.73 cents
- 1968 – 1986 one dollar Voyageur coin, 100 % nickel, metal value = 32 cents
- 1987 - 2011 one dollar Loonie coin, 91.5 % nickel, metal value = 14 cents
- 2012 - 2014 one dollar Loonie coin, 91.5 % iron, metal value = 1 cent

To put this in perspective, if you exchanged metal for metal, in 2014 it took $1,273 in Canadian Loonie dollars to buy one pre 1968 silver dollar. (Similar results can be calculated for other sovereign coinage.)

1935 Voyageur (resized).jpg1935 Voyageur (resized).jpg1968 Loonie (resized).jpg1968 Loonie (resized).jpg1987 Loonie (resized).jpg1987 Loonie (resized).jpg2012 Loonie (resized).jpg2012 Loonie (resized).jpg
#12 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

As I understand it there are 20 million people on that sub Reddit. If one percent bought one coin it would drive the price much higher for the short term and lead to shortages in the stock of more popular offerings like silver eagles.

They would have to target specific items and not silver in general. One percent of 20 million is only 200,000.
At roughly $26 an ounce you are only talking about 5.2 million dollars worth of silver. That is not enough to make a massive move on the price of silver.
That is a small amount of money in the global metals market.

It is however enough to manipulate the market on a specific item.

#13 3 years ago

I use to be big time into metals, specifically silver bullion. Then I moved onto silver eagles. I love the coins and think they are beautiful. I’ve since gotten my boys into collecting silver eagles, maples and pandas. They like to buy graded coins, even though they come at a premium, I don’t mind it because the slabs keep the coins protected and the labels can be somewhat educational at least in this history of the coin.

One of these days I’ll start buying one monster box of eagles every year, if I would have done this when I thought of it I’d be in a good position right now.

#14 3 years ago
Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

I like shipwreck treasure. Much cooler than regular coins and bars.
[quoted image]

Like the Atocha? I looked some up years ago and they were only selling the copper, and it was high. Thanks for reminding me, need to check this Market again, would love to have a few examples.

#15 3 years ago
Quoted from topkat:

I’ve liked the Canadian maples silver coins. They have some nice variants. At some point silver has to trend up.

In 1983 The Boss took all of us to dinner and gave us an ounce Maple Leaf (gold), my first gold coin. I have collected since a kid but never had any gold.
Think he was doing it for a tax break or something but it was a nice gesture.

#16 3 years ago
Quoted from Coindork:

They would have to target specific items and not silver in general. One percent of 20 million is only 200,000.
At roughly $26 an ounce you are only talking about 5.2 million dollars worth of silver. That is not enough to make a massive move on the price of silver.
That is a small amount of money in the global metals market.
It is however enough to manipulate the market on a specific item.

I hear you and hope they don't move their profits into silver. I like it being cheap.

#17 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

I hear you and hope they don't move their profits into silver. I like it being cheap.

You completely misunderstand my post.
I would help my business tremendously if they can actually pull this off.
Has nothing to do with me being cheap.

#18 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

Like the Atocha? I looked some up years ago and they were only selling the copper, and it was high. Thanks for reminding me, need to check this Market again, would love to have a few examples.

There were no copper coins on the Atocha.
Perhaps you are thinking of the Admiral Gardner.
Very few 15th-17th century shipwrecks yield copper coins. There are predominantly silver or gold bullion shipment.

#19 3 years ago

Silver up 5%
Gold up 12%
Will it hold till Monday showing a trend or is it just a blip? We will see.

#20 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

Like the Atocha? I looked some up years ago and they were only selling the copper, and it was high. Thanks for reminding me, need to check this Market again, would love to have a few examples.

Yep. You can find it on Ebay. The nicer stuff at auction.

#21 3 years ago
Quoted from IdahoRealtor:

Yep. You can find it on Ebay. The nicer stuff at auction.

If you're interested in shipwreck coins, you might check out this auction company.

https://www.sedwickcoins.com

They are basically the only coin auction company the specifically specializes in shipwreck material.
They get some pretty interesting stuff.
Done quite a bit of business with them, both consigning and buying.

#22 3 years ago

Collected coins with my dad since I was a kid.
I’ve been in the auction business for like 10 years, so I have been through tons of jewelry boxes “digging” for gold and silver.

It’s always good to diversify, and like my dad said about coins it’s always good to collect money.

#23 3 years ago
Quoted from timtim:

Collected coins with my dad since I was a kid.
I’ve been in the auction business for like 10 years, so I have been through tons of jewelry boxes “digging” for gold and silver.
It’s always good to diversify, and like my dad said about coins it’s always good to collect money.

My Mom was a waitress at a popular restaurant and brought home bags of tips, every night the family set around a table and helped roll the coins. In 1964 word went out silver would be phased out so we started throwing pre-64 coins in a box.I became really interested in collecting and kind of took over the box when interest had waned.
She continued to help as silver trickled through the system for the next 10 years. People would also try to pay with odd Mexican/foreign silver coins and she negotiated with the others to get them.
As it became scarce in the early 70's I converted allowance money to purchase rolled coins which I went through, picked out silver, then re-rolled them and traded for more.
A Family member who works at a bank still brings me pre-64 silver that shows up, though its few and far between.
I guess thats why cull American silver is my favorite, though I do have some collectable quality as well.

#24 3 years ago

Anyone remember Steve Martin in "A simple twist of fate"? Lives alone, drinks booze and plays with a massive collection of gold coins.
One of my favorite scenes.

#25 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

As it became scarce in the early 70's I converted allowance money to purchase rolled coins which I went through, picked out silver, then re-rolled them and traded for more.
A Family member who works at a bank still brings me pre-64 silver that shows up, though its few and far between.
I guess thats why cull American silver is my favorite, though I do have some collectable quality as well.

Yep, junk Silver is fun. The days of finding it in rolls seem to be behind us though.

The silver market moved a good deal the last couple of days. There just hasn’t been much industrial demand for silver since photography changed.

#26 3 years ago
Quoted from TigerLaw:

Yep, junk Silver is fun. The days of finding it in rolls seem to be behind us though.
The silver market moved a good deal the last couple of days. There just hasn’t been much industrial demand for silver since photography changed.

Sometimes hard times make people reach back in a box and spend a few. My friend from the Bank gave me a few Barber dimes the other day so its still out there.
I remember having to spend silver certificates for diapers and formula during a down period.

#27 3 years ago
Quoted from TigerLaw:

Yep, junk Silver is fun. The days of finding it in rolls seem to be behind us though.
The silver market moved a good deal the last couple of days. There just hasn’t been much industrial demand for silver since photography changed.

A few years ago people were sorting real copper pennies out from change. Never really respected copper unless it was a large cent or rare indian head.
Notice Dealers starting to sell a lot of copper variations.
I guess if a DOGEcoin, which was created as a joke, now has value copper is a contender.

#28 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

Never really respected copper unless it was a large cent or rare indian head.

I agree. Copper would be very challenging to collect for many reasons, where would you store it? Not worth enough to make the juice worth the squeeze, just buy a mining stock and don’t try and stack it.

#29 3 years ago

APMEX has suspended Silver sales. The are waiting for the Contract Market to open tonight at 11.
All large silver traders seem to be doing the same, they are either out of physical or refusing to sale.
When silver went to 11 dollars an oz a few years ago they did the same.
Friends in Europe and Ireland are saying they cannot find silver anywhere.
This can only mean they expect POSSIBLE higher than usual prices and wish to hold on to current stocks rather than sell and the price continue to rise after its in the mail. Logical from a Business standpoint.

#30 3 years ago

It appears Youtube is jamming all comments for recent silver discussion videos. Hmm..

11
#31 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

It appears Youtube is jamming all comments for recent silver discussion videos. Hmm..

Getting sick of the censorship everywhere. I understand YouTube is a private company, but in a sense it is not. Where would YouTube be with without the public uploading videos?

#32 3 years ago
Quoted from Bud:

Getting sick of the censorship everywhere. I understand YouTube is a private company, but in a sense it is not. Where would YouTube be with without the public uploading videos?

The chatter out there on silver is crazy right now. Perhaps the unknown that currently presents itself is so big it freaks them out. They don't know what side to get on so they shut down speculation until they figure it out.
Tomorrow will tell the tale as to whether there is an actual movement that strays from the norm or just a blip.

#33 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

APMEX has suspended Silver sales. The are waiting for the Contract Market to open tonight at 11.

Wow! They just opened up again and it is $41 for a one ounce silver Eagle. That said, the spot price is $28.11 so it makes absolutely no sense for the mint fee to be $11 a coin, but that is what they are asking. I’d love to see silver go on a crazy run.

#34 3 years ago
Quoted from TigerLaw:

Wow! They just opened up again and it is $41 for a one ounce silver Eagle. That said, the spot price is $28.11 so it makes absolutely no sense for the mint fee to be $11 a coin, but that is what they are asking. I’d love to see silver go on a crazy run.

Eagles always have a higher premium on them than something like silver rounds or bars.
Going into this new situations premiums were already up as there’s been a run on physical for most of 2020 due to the pandemic and people fearing inflation.

My business is almost entirely rare numismatic coins and I do very little bullion.
That said, most of the guys I know that run shops have been putting larger than normal premiums on bullion for the last 12 months simply because of the demand.

This is going to be an interesting week to watch the metals. Going into this, there was already a pretty big run on physical metal where it had much larger premiums (if you could deliver) than paper or futures.
There was already a big growing disparity.

Call me skeptical, but I still don’t think they can inject enough capital into the metals market to really move it. Might they get it to $50 an ounce? Yeah maybe.
I would be shocked if they get it to triple or quadruple. There’s an awful lot of physical silver in the world and it would take a ton of funds to move it big.

A couple things to keep in mind about the mining industry. Mines have a fixed cost per ounce in pulling metal out of the ground and refining it. If the price gets too cheap where it’s not economically feasible, they simply stop production. If the price increases, the ramp up production.
The only issue would be the rate the refineries can refine the metal. With ramped up production, you might get a bottleneck in refining like there was in the 80s with the Hunt brothers run up. This would have to go for a while for that to happen.

Retailers have already raised their prices in anticipation of the run up and will continue to do so to stay ahead of the curve.
People with large position are going to hold and see what happens. The smart money will do this and when the gold to silver ratio gets too far out of wack they will dump their silver and put in in gold or whichever other precious metal they think is undervalued by ratio to silver.

Anyhow, not my market but closely related to what I do. I’m happy to see the metals move one way or the other because some of that money will be channeled into the collectible coin market. When the market goes up or the market goes down is when you get people buying and selling. You want the market moving one way or the other so transactions are happening. When the metals are stagnate is what I don’t like to see.

#35 3 years ago
Quoted from Coindork:

If you're interested in shipwreck coins, you might check out this auction company.
https://www.sedwickcoins.com
They are basically the only coin auction company the specifically specializes in shipwreck material.
They get some pretty interesting stuff.
Done quite a bit of business with them, both consigning and buying.

Dan is my next door neighbor at work. Great Guy.
Plenty of silver and gold here, time to think about scrapping.
Maybe some people want it in the form of jewelry again, before I melt.

#36 3 years ago

Here's a few of my silver treasure coins, large 8 is from the Bahamas, the other 3 are from Florida.

IMG_0903 (resized).JPGIMG_0903 (resized).JPGIMG_0904 (resized).JPGIMG_0904 (resized).JPG
#37 3 years ago
Quoted from Coindork:

Call me skeptical, but I still don’t think they can inject enough capital into the metals market to really move it. Might they get it to $50 an ounce? Yeah maybe.
I would be shocked if they get it to triple or quadruple. There’s an awful lot of physical silver in the world and it would take a ton of funds to move it big.
A couple things to keep in mind about the mining industry. Mines have a fixed cost per ounce in pulling metal out of the ground and refining it. If the price gets too cheap where it’s not economically feasible, they simply stop production. If the price increases, the ramp up production.
The only issue would be the rate the refineries can refine the metal. With ramped up production, you might get a bottleneck in refining like there was in the 80s with the Hunt brothers run up. This would have to go for a while for that to happen.
Retailers have already raised their prices in anticipation of the run up and will continue to do so to stay ahead of the curve.
People with large position are going to hold and see what happens. The smart money will do this and when the gold to silver ratio gets too far out of wack they will dump their silver and put in in gold or whichever other precious metal they think is undervalued by ratio to silver.

This is very interesting and I totally agree, Silver is simply too big of a market for the manipulation the day traders are seeking. If silver doubles there will be a flood of it on the market. I remember when silver hit $45 an ounce some years back people were melting down old family silver Ware sets for scrap value.

#38 3 years ago

When you purchase a PM coin or bar from one of the Dealers it won't be near spot price. A "Premium " is added to the cost.
Today the Premium approached 15 dollars on a one-ounce silver eagle, thus making a 29 dollar spot price for an ounce of silver coin 44 dollars. Add in shipping (if you don't order a minimum amount required for free) and it rises.
The current silver hype is manufactured and pushed so that hedge funds with large silver futures contracts that lost in the recent GME debacle can recoup.
I wouldn't recommend anyone buy silver right now. If the Premiums come down in a few days maybe.
Listen to Coindork, he has extensive experience in the PM Markets.

#39 3 years ago
Quoted from beepnutz:

Here's a few of my silver treasure coins, large 8 is from the Bahamas, the other 3 are from Florida.
[quoted image][quoted image]

Found diving or purchase? Cool either way, they blended into the game. The big one should be permanentally mounted.

#40 3 years ago
Quoted from beepnutz:

Here's a few of my silver treasure coins, large 8 is from the Bahamas, the other 3 are from Florida.
[quoted image][quoted image]

That’s awesome.
You may already know this, but all four are Mexico City mint.
The first picture is of Philip V (ca. Dies of 1715).
The other picture, two look like Philip V, one might be Philip IV (hard to tell from the photo).
Really cool way to incorporate them in the machine.

#41 3 years ago
Quoted from TigerLaw:

This is very interesting and I totally agree, Silver is simply too big of a market for the manipulation the day traders are seeking. If silver doubles there will be a flood of it on the market. I remember when silver hit $45 an ounce some years back people were melting down old family silver Ware sets for scrap value.

Old family silverware still gets scrapped all the time when it turns up in estates and what not (unless it’s a really good maker or pattern). Simply stated, the younger generations don’t care to own such items, especially when the melt value is at the levels it’s at. It’s a lot of money to have sitting there, just to break out once or twice a year on special occasions like Christmas and thanksgiving. There is a collector base for it but it’s smaller and for really good pieces. Nobody’s melting down stuff like a Paul Revere spoon (unless they don’t know what it is).

#42 3 years ago

There is a free (somewhat) source of Gold, it's called Prospecting.
This Summer into late Fall scouted out some creeks. You want virgin Creeks, means they have been flowing a long time.
Too many snakes and insects then, now is the time to go back and do some panning.
Gold veins run all over the Eastern Seaboard, North to South along whats called "Fall Lines".
In the Colonial Times people followed this source of power and water and all the early Mills were built along it.
Thats where people are still finding, daily tracer, flek and yes nugget gold and having fun doing it.
Going to hit those creeks. Not going to get rich but it is profitable in so many ways

#43 3 years ago
Quoted from phil-lee:

There is a free (somewhat) source of Gold, it's called Prospecting.
This Summer into late Fall scouted out some creeks. You want virgin Creeks, means they have been flowing a long time.
Too many snakes and insects then, now is the time to go back and do some panning.
Gold veins run all over the Eastern Seaboard, North to South along whats called "Fall Lines".
In the Colonial Times people followed this source of power and water and all the early Mills were built along it.
Thats where people are still finding, daily tracer, flek and yes nugget gold and having fun doing it.
Going to hit those creeks. Not going to get rich but it is profitable in so many ways

We have a dry wash that runs though the back half of the property. It’s a dry riverbed 99.9% of the year, except when we get monsoon rains. Here in Arizona you can find very small 1/2 gram size nuggets in these washes if you dig town to the bedrock.
Been thinking about building a rig and putting my kids to work. I don’t know that it would be all that cost effective, but would be really cool to do with the kids.

#44 3 years ago
noshortagehere! (resized).pngnoshortagehere! (resized).png
#45 3 years ago

Watching,Interesting stuff,Silver Eagles are a beauty of a coin !!

#46 3 years ago

January purchase (before the rise of premiums). Going to concentrate on Gold this Month.IMG_2268 (resized).JPGIMG_2268 (resized).JPG

#47 3 years ago

The premiums over spot are just at comical levels right now. APMEX in particular is no longer worth utilizing. Safe deposit box prices are going up now as well as many banks close out their boxes, that could become a real problem as only a crazy person would keep a large stack at home.

#48 3 years ago

I will continue with Apmex for gold but silver is out for now. My friend at the Bank just helped me upgrade the safety deposit box. I wasn't aware SPD were under pressure .
Silver is no longer a deal at these high premiums and takes up too much real estate. Gold premiums don't bother me as much.

#49 3 years ago

Some Silver Eagles here............well at Bank deposit box - Bought a $20.50 each..................... sell or hold ??
Your thoughts or knowledge - Rookie here -

#50 3 years ago

Inflation is well on its way. Even though the metals Market is heavily manipulated it would stand to reason they will still go up in value. What were your goals when you purchased them? Have those goals changed?
When you sell for fiat currency you negate the reason for holding metals as a hedge against inflation.
When you need dollars to pay bills thats another thing. Hold long term otherwise( this is not financial advice, just some random guy on the internet opinion.

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