[NMPRN]

I was making my 'end of the month junk silver run' to the coin shop today and found a couple of fun items.

I found a gold plated Walking Liberty half dollar in a roll of silver half dollars. Being gold plated probably hurts it's practical value as SHTF currency but I thought it's be fun to have. I also found some tiny (5 grain) silver ingots. The premium is too high to be worth stacking them but it was worth getting a few just to have.

 

[Spenser]

I also found some tiny (5 grain) silver ingots.

I actually had to google what the hell a 5 grain silver ingot was, as I never had heard of that term used, & the smallest silver ingot I personally ever saw I think was like 5 oz. Was thinking maybe Werewolf rounds...

I learn something everyday, and I pray that never changes thx.

 

[NMPRN]

The five grain ingots are just a novelty. It probably costs more to make them than the silver is worth. As SHTF currency they're so small they might buy a cigarette. The other side of that coin (no pun intended) is you might sell cigarettes for 5gr of silver each and make a decent profit. ...I'd buy a pound of them if the premium wasn't so high.

IMHO: Junk silver and GoldBacks are the way to go. Most silver, that's not junk silver, comes in 1oz ingots, rounds or coins. A 5oz. ingot is great for storing silver because of the lower premium but it's too big to be very handy for SHTF currency. You can get a 10oz bar of silver for under $250, that's cheaper than 10oz equivalent of junk silver but it's going be a lot more hassle to spend if there's a serious economic problem.

 

[Spenser]

thx for the explanation.

 

[MGNick]

The premium isn't high. That is simply the price of physical these days. Yes, I know some dealer are gouging a little but the spot price you are seeing is a fabricated value set by those who are trading in paper PM's. Not real. If you are watching the PM market on a daily basis, typically you will see a sharp drop in PM prices right around 5 am to 8 am (CDT), almost everyday lately. That is someone shorting the market with paper PM's to drive price down. They can then buy back on the cheap. My guess is JP Morgan or one of the other big Bankster's loading up on physical PM's. When the music stops in this game, you will see that there 100+ people looking for one chair. Better physically have it in your hand when that happens.

 

[Back Pack Hack]

Not sure if my math is right, so someone check it.
5 grains = 0.010417 ozt.
0.010417 * 22.343 (what my app shows as silver right now) = 22.7¢ per ingot. There's five of 'em, so that's 22.7 * 5 = $1.58 in silver. If you paid $4 for 'em, that's 2.5x spot price.

If one pays 2.5x spot for a 1ozt bar or round, that's almost $56.

 

[NMPRN]

The spot price is definitely manipulated by paper PM traders, it's always been that way. But that's a good thing if you have something like PM mutual funds. Your dividend doesn't come from an increase in the spot price, it comes from production profits and the difference between the dump and buy price.

There's a lot more paper PM in the market than there is real PM to back it up. If there's a panic that causes people to cash out of paper PM ('when the music stops' as MGNick said) it's going to be an epic mess and only winners will be the ones holding real PMs.

Paper PM makes you money, real PM protects your money.
.

 

[Back Pack Hack]

Agreed. Paper to silver is 394:1 as of the time of this post. So if there's "a run on the bank", there's gonna be 394 sheets of toilet paper compared to every ounce of silver someone has in their paws.

 

[NMPRN]

Paper PM is still good to have. My paper PM helps pay for my real PM.

We have to live in the world we have right now. If you invest all your money in hard PM you'll be in good shape when the economy collapses but you'll be missing out on a lot of potential growth before that.

 

[Back Pack Hack]

Or... one is defensive, the other is offensive.

 

[MGNick]

Paper to silver is 394:1 as of the time of this post.

OUCH! I knew it was high but not that high. A good time ago I heard was over a 100 to 1. Not going to be ANY chairs left when the music stop.

 

[Back Pack Hack]

It's been higher in recent weeks, but it's slowly going down.