I keep hearing that the easiest and cheapest way to start investing in silver is to buy junk (90%) silver coins. Plus, they would be great to barter with in a post-fiat currency society. But I can't seem to find this cheap junk silver everyone is talking about. My local coin shops charge 14 X face value, which is too high over spot for me. I checked out JM Bullion, APMEX, Silver.com, Provident, and Gainesville and they charge anywhere from 3.09 to 9.44 per oz over spot, even when buying in bulk. It's cheaper for me to buy rounds and bars. Heck, it's sometimes cheaper for me to buy American Eagles and Maple Leafs! So what am I doing wrong? Where can I find junk silver besides going to the flea market and haggling down to spot or below? On a related but separate note, how good is Junk Silver for bartering anyway? I'm in my 20s, and I'm pretty sure that most people around my age (20s and 30s) have no clue that pre-1965 dimes, quarters, and half dollars have 90% silver in them and that the weight is .715 X the face value. But it's going to be my generation that will be in charge of all of the stores and providing all the services should the US dollar go to zip. So if I show them my handful of dirty, unrecognizable coins with the date and words practically worn out, will they actually know that they are valuable? I can imagine standing there, talking to someone my age, and trying to convince him that what I have in my hand is worth the goods and services he's providing me. Wouldn't it be better if I had a well-preserved round, bar, or government coin, that says clearly the content, weight, purity, and manufacturer right on the metal? Wouldn't he be more likely to trust and accept this type of metal than the old junk silver? I'd like to hear your thoughts and input. Thanks!
I think the chances of a modern country going back to junk silver as a medium to barter with in a post monetary collapse is slim to none. At least I no longer believe in that scenario ever coming to life. The best thing one can do is have ample amount of non perishable food so you dont have to barter for them. Gold, on the other hand is a commodity that the whole world and banking system actually recognize as a form of value. Therefore, imo this metal is a better option as a form of "wealth preservation or a form of saving" outside of the fiat system. And in case of a shtf scenario i would feel a bit more better having au than ag as my metal of choice. Again this is just my opinion on PM at the moment and after stacking for more than 3yrs, this now what makes more sense to me.
My longer term plans for most of my generic and junk silver is to trade up to gold as soon as the gold silver ratio makes that an attractive proposition. The only silver I will hang onto will be the numismatic and semi numismatic plus some coins that are of interest and value to me personally. I see nothing attractive about junk silver other than it being an opportunity to acquire cheap silver and most of the junk I have acquired has been at or below spot. If it exceeds the spot price by anything more than a very small margin I am usually not interested in it at all. Calling it "junk" is entirely appropriate I believe, it's mainly just scrap metal to me and mostly not worth paying any premium for.
Not as good as well-known one ounce silver coins. Back in the late 70's in the US when silver and gold were sky rocketing, the local news stations would announce a few times a day what the price of an ounce of silver was. If you had American Silver Eagles, you had exactly one ounce of silver so it was easy for all to know how much your coin was worth and would therefore make it easy to barter with. If you had junk silver at the time (I did) you would have to do some calculations to figure out the value of your coins. The calculations are something like this: faceValue * .7324 * silverPrice = value of the silver in your coins If having junk silver gives you some kind of peace of mind go ahead and buy some. If not I recommend well-known one ounce silver coins. But Don't sweat it. I don't think it is a major life or death decision in any case. Here is an article I wrote some time ago that will give you more info. http://www.choosingsilver.com/junk-silver-coins.html
Well, I'm a small stacker/starting out yet. I have a little of everything. And as far as the market for junk coins, there are two main players if you will. The numismatist and the scrapper. The one saves and hoards the nice "key date" coins, even copper nickel etc. and bases the value of the coin based on its condition, and mintages. Or how many they produced that year. (And theres a lot of debate in this community. "Professional graders" and "private". Whole other post..) Anyway thats the numismatic end of junk coins, then the other. The scrappers like pawn shops just hoard piles of these coins and eventually get them refined. At least thats what they say around here. Because, thats a lot of work for silver. Im sure it has to reach a certain weight point. So, in a shtf scenario someone covered it perfectly. A lot of confusion it being 90% silver. In the mean time, liquidation should be a large factor when buying. Where would I sell this (insert item) if I needed cash? Is that even part of the stack plan? Im learning as I go. Good luck! Hope i helped a bit.
