I like to handle them, unless they are gem unc's with numismatic value of course. I'm getting rid of a carded 1998 kangaroo, because the card makes it inconvenient to store, or handle. ($45 on feebay so far, not over yet!)
i rub my 10 oz bars all over my body for the antibacterial properties. Isn't this the reason we all collect silver???
I thought bars would be better but I just received 25 silver eagles in airtites and man, those are sweet. I like stacking them for sure. Just which I had about 4 sleeves instead of 1 and a half.
I play with my maples all the time, coins are so much more fun to play with than bars (unless you have those Scottsdale stackers, I think those would be cool to play with)
Unless it's a numismatic coin, there's absolutely no harm in cleaning the silver and quite the contrary, it can increase it's trade value on places like feebay which I know from experience. I cleaned these myself and even being a semi numis item (37 crown) they sold at full market value here on SS in seconds. I did a cleaning commission job of over 200 coins for John of Stella Concepts YouTube fame... they INCREASED in value substantially as a result! If it's silver valued on base metal only, knock yourself out with cleaning it. You won't devalue it in the slightest. If it's a numis investment, sure, leave it in it's original state. I wouldn't clean anything that's slabbed and graded or anything that's historical with it's collectable premium more than it's silver content value. You're right in that you shouldn't clean numismatics, but I think people assume that automatically carries over to all forms of silver (especially coins) and I can tell you straight up that's simply a misconception. Handling your metal personally is one of the simple pleasures that comes from stacking. Don't be afraid to handle your wealth. Some here (understandably) don't do so because they don't want to be attached to their investment (sounds like mantra to me) - but this in fact underlies the relevence of stacking in the first place.... recognition of the fact that your choice of investment is very personal and defines your rational mind.
My ex-gf never saw my stack because she was religious and wanted to take things slowly. I'm sure she would have given it a good polishing. She always talked about how she liked the idea of squeezing the last ounce out of the bag. I'm glad her best friend was around when I got dumped. I showed her my gemstones the next day. Her treasure chest is much bigger than my ex's anyway. But at the end of the day, it'll just be me and my stack.
I keep a stack on 66ers on my desk and shuffle them like poker chips while I'm in between thoughts. I barely even look at the rest of my stuff, and don't really handle anything except the bars.
I'm glad this thread has appeared, I was going to start something similar. A fun little game I play with my stack is building stonehenge out of 1oz bars. I'd quite like to make a replica of King Solomons temple and the Great Pyramid too, but need a much bigger stack for either of those... I'm a HUGE fan of polishing my stack, my Town Talk polishing cloth is fantastic for getting that perfect shine out of my coins. I might also be a bit biased considering they're made Bolton... If you haven't got one, go talk to Sue at Kellies Antiques in the Brisbane Arcade... Tell them Lee sent you
Just saw it Turk, I reckon thats British 1 penny coins. Far out, I could make that myself for 100 bucks...
