Precious Metals Thread

[318AE]

Buy it, and then pray like crazy that it goes down in value. If it does, everything else you own is probably doing well. If metals are skyrocketing, something is wrong everywhere else.

That’s too dam funny, but true!

 

[farmer_john]

With respect to physical gold, I'll simply say at a 28% capital gain hit, I am very selective in what and when I buy, and especially when I sell. Most of our apocalypse stash and Mrs Redleg's jewelry will go to the kids where death day is their cost basis.

Best doomsday investments a second passport. And a small residence abroad.

 

[Altitude sickness]

“It's possible to buy and sell without even a shred of paperwork, in smaller quantities, but understand dodging tax liabilities can catch up to you.”

Until the DSA gets full control and taxes unrealized gains. No tax burden until you sell.

Buying small increments even now is better than spending on life’s normal day to day wasteful spending. So given the choice of throwing a chunk of metal in the cookie jar or buying a new widget. We all know the answer.

If drawing from a retirement fund to buy metal. Thats a whole different conversation.

 

[SETH RINGER]

WE BUY WHAT I DEEM AS "CHEAP" EVERY SO OFTEN. COLLECTORS VALUE NEVER FIGURES INTO IT. JUNK SILVER AND COPPER PENNIES ARE FUN. BAGS FULL OF COINS FOR THE GRANDKIDS TO DIG THRU ON RAINY DAYS LOOKING FOR THEIR "SPECIAL" COINS

 

[rookhawk]

WE BUY WHAT I DEEM AS "CHEAP" EVERY SO OFTEN. COLLECTORS VALUE NEVER FIGURES INTO IT. JUNK SILVER AND COPPER PENNIES ARE FUN. BAGS FULL OF COINS FOR THE GRANDKIDS TO DIG THRU ON RAINY DAYS LOOKING FOR THEIR "SPECIAL" COINS

There is something to be said about this @SETH RINGER . A friend of the family is a deputy sheriff and a dyed in the wool coin collector. (he wears "old coins matter" t-shirts) When they were a struggling family barely making it, his wife would make his sack lunch, recharge a pen light, and bought him $200-$300 in sack coins every week. Every week she'd go back to the bank and re-deposit the coins. He'd sit in his cruiser on graveyard shift doing traffic enforcement looking through every penny, nickel, dime, and quarter in the sacks.

Today he has amassed a substantial coin collection. He found many silver coins in the bags over the years. He found many collectible coins over the years too.

I love when I hear people that are very thrifty finding A.) A free hobby, and B.) A way to create a nest egg out of thin air.

People like this are the best part of the American dream.

P.S.- He's coming over for BBQ brisket tonight so I get to hear all his latest coin exploits. He's also a fortune hunter, pans for gold, and has a metal detector. The guy literally finds value for free everywhere he goes.

 

[Xpraetor]

The advice given by @Red Leg & @tarbe is solid in my opinion, but I'm certainly no expert. I got into coins through my Mother, she worked in a bank all her life, and all manner of coins & currency came through. She gave all she accumulated to me when my Son was born, and she also told me "collectibles", will only ever be worth spot", and in a down economy her words are true.

My Son, during his school days & college built himself a savings & investment funds by following the metal scrapping plan. He would stock pile (& still does) any manner of metal, lead, copper, tin, brass, aluminum, stainless, titanium, silver, gold, platinum, palladium .... When prices rise he sold/sells , and converts that money into ingots & non-collector coins. Of course his "scraping" method is a young man's game, but he has done well with it.

It isn't a precious metal, but the one metal he has made the most profit from has been Copper, and by my observation is due to selling/trading based on *spot or true market value , as collector value is irrelevant.

 

[Ray B]

One of my concerns regarding the "recently found" stashes of uncirculated gold coins is where were they found? It is not above highly skilled counterfeiters particularly in places such as China to make what is supposed to be a rare coin.

 

[318AE]

Best doomsday investments a second passport. And a small residence abroad.

I’m simply not a doomsday investor, but flats of 12 ga shot shells may be the best bet.

 

[farmer_john]

I’m simply not a doomsday investor, but flats of 12 ga shot shells may be the best bet.

Im not either. But its still a pretty solid hedge against major geopolitical issues

 

[JG26Irish_2]

I do not consider gold or silver to be great speculative investments. Collectible coins are not going to hold value above their metal weight price in SHIF scenarios, so I avoid them as investments. Where precious metals shine is they create a relatively stable valuable asset that is not going to depreciate as much should stock markets crash long term. Look at the long term history of the market. It dips and rises but is nearly always trending up. It will take a severe cataclysmic event to cause a lasting drop. Something like asteroid impact or alien invasion, global war, etc.

So, what should one do to protect your assets from such undesirable events? #1 recognize that this sort of event is rare and odds of it happening may be low. #2 remember that if such an event occurs, we will have bigger worries then the state of our investments. #3 Survival would be more important than wealth preservation.

I invested in Brass and Steel as my hedge. Not a perfect plan but they do hold vale about as well a Gold. And ever try to defend your home and family with a gold brick? Not every effective. FN FAL with cases of 7.62 on hand is one potential solution.

 

[Altitude sickness]

True for real doomsday scenarios, you need water filters, seeds, antibiotics, ammunition, and as history has proven cigarettes and alcohol have a lot of value when humans are suffering.

Then, as things get a little better, small denominations of currency are better. you don’t want to take a 1 ounce piece of gold and trade it for a loaf of bread.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Many lament that they didn’t get into gold when it was at $180 and $1200 etc. etc.

But they don’t look around at things that are low now stockpile them now. Then sell them when they are high. There are a lot of opportunities like that without the huge outlay of cash.

.22 LR, 9mm, 5.56, 7.62x39 are all back to sane prices. If you have the means to store them correctly, you could buy pallet loads of that and sell it off a case at a time ( as a hobby) the next time the Democrats are in complete control.

There are hints of their plans to tax ammunition so high you won’t want to use it. If you remember how high .22 ammunition went, you could easily make 10 times your investment.

Of course this is just an example of buying things low. I am not saying you should run out and get into the Black market ammunition business

 

[farmer_john]

Many lament that they didn’t get into gold when it was at $180 and $1200 etc. etc.

But they don’t look around at things that are low now stockpile them now. Then sell them when they are high. There are a lot of opportunities like that without the huge outlay of cash.

.22 LR, 9mm, 5.56, 7.62x39 are all back to sane prices. If you have the means to store them correctly, you could buy pallet loads of that and sell it off a case at a time ( as a hobby) the next time the Democrats are in complete control.

There are hints of their plans to tax ammunition so high you won’t want to use it. If you remember how high .22 ammunition went, you could easily make 10 times your investment.

Of course this is just an example of buying things low. I am not saying you should run out and get into the Black market ammunition business

Stocks do the same thing.

 

[TheGrayRider]

I recently found an 1853 US Braided Liberty One Cent coin this spring at an old pioneer homestead in North Central Indiana after recent heavy rains. (Obverse side of coin pictured above.)

173 year old copper coin and probably my best free range find (no metal detector) at this site on private land. This coin was minted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when Franklin Pierce was President. Also, my first pre-Civil War find that I can actually date and document.

Good luck and happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.

Reverse side of coin next to a modern US penny.

Picture of coin when found at the homestead.

 

[rookhawk]

The coin market has been interesting the past couple of weeks. I'm seeing some real bargains at spot price lately. St. Gaudens Double Eagle 1oz, 10 guilder dutch coins, and even US Mint $5 commemorative 1/4 oz coins.

It's pretty rare to find fractional ounce coins in uncirculated condition at Spot prices.

 

[Betterinthebush]

I own a lot of PM. I’ve been buying since I was a kid. Auction, estate sales, pawnshops, and (believe it or not) Walmart.

I’ve bought from apmex regularly for years.

I put my kid through medical school on Au/Ag sales of metal I bought below spot (<$8/oz. Silver and <$400/oz. Gold)

Truth is; it was the cheapest investment for me for years and It’s always been good to me. I’m still a buyer.

 

[Altitude sickness]

1/10 or 1/4 ounce are easier to buy. So that translates to you will buy one or two occasionally or routinely. And easier to trade or sell.

 

[318AE]

I don’t think its particularly rare or valuable to find mint/commemorative/bullion coins in uncirculated condition, as they were never generally circulated.

Uncirculated pre ‘33 St Gaudens double eagles carry a premium (and are a beautiful coin to boot), but are not 1oz of gold.

 

[rookhawk]

I don’t think its particularly rare or valuable to find mint/commemorative/bullion coins in uncirculated condition, as they were never generally circulated.

Uncirculated pre ‘33 St Gaudens double eagles carry a premium (and are a beautiful coin to boot), but are not 1oz of gold.

But gold is gold, as long as you're paying by gold weight and not total weight.

 

[318AE]

But gold is gold, as long as you're paying by gold weight and not total weight.

That’s my second point exactly.

My first point being mint/bullion coins are generally uncirculated with little to no premium for being uncirculated (and are generally .9999 pure).

The St Gaudens motif is on a 2009 double eagle mint coin, a $50 American eagle and, of course, the original pre-33 double eagle. While you’re more likely to find pre ‘33 MS60+ double eagles, than say the contemporary peace silver dollar, as the gold coins just didn’t circulate/trade as much as currency when issued, if uncirculated, they carry a premium. If you find those “St Gaudens Double Eagle 1oz” coins (and not the 2009 bullion coin) at true spot, that is a very good deal.

It’s a little like BPE and NE double rifles, but the timeline is in reverse