Extreme millesimal fineness: why .99999 (five nines) coins?

mmissinglink said:
The 4 and 5 nines pure is simply marketing to fanatics and those who insist that only .9999 pure or finer is "real" silver are true fanatics in my view.

Afterall, these fanatics have never reasonably answered why .9999 pure silver and not .9999999999999999999 pure or .99 pure silver is "real". In the real world, if and when the hypothetical SHTF scenario is in full effect, no one in their right mind will care if your silver blobs or bullion is .99999999999999 or .99 fine.

In the world today though, if there are people willing to pay for something, there are people willing to make money on selling it to these people.
.
Click to expand...


In a SHTF scenario, I doubt basic silver will do anyone much good at all. People will want food, gasoline, booze/smokes, generators/power, etc. Silver doesn't people meet basic needs or even basic wants. Silver is now a very versatile industrial commodity with a growing number of uses.

Collectible silver is in a different class. If the .99999 gives silver a perceived collectible value, then it is worth some extra cost.
 
I have NOT heard of any silver bullion coin with 99999 (5-9s) purity being issued/sold. For gold, I know only of RCM issuing them. It is mostly collectors who buy them (stackers avoid high premiums). To date, I have acquired 1 - 2009 99999 gold Maple Leaf, 1 - 2011 99999 gold Mountie and 1 - 2014 99999 gold Howling Wolf. All acquired for just a little more premium compared to normal 999, 9999, 9167 bullion gold coins from different issuing country mints. My rationale is that the extra 9 does add to the manufacturing cost to warrant the additional premium and a more limited mintage. The bonus is the bragging rights to owning one of the purest gold coins extant. :cool:

Additionally, The Howling Wolf is supposed to be the first in a series. May be a good series in 99999 gold for collectors to pursue. :D
 
Silver rounds are not bullion coins. They are not backed by the issuing country. RCM not issuing 99999 silver ML gives me pause on considering them from other non-official mints.
 
trozau said:
Silver rounds are not bullion coins. They are not backed by the issuing country. RCM not issuing 99999 silver ML gives me pause on considering them from other non-official mints.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I was somewhat confused on this topic. So .9999 (4x9s) is the highest purity silver bullion coin produced.
 
trozau said:
Additionally, The Howling Wolf is supposed to be the first in a series. May be a good series in 99999 gold for collectors to pursue. :D
Click to expand...

The Howling Wolf looks a great coin and it is on my eventual buy list, but the 1 million mintage didn't make me want to rush out and buy it.

For those interested in the CML Mountie .99999, Apmex has put them on sale at times.
 
dccpa said:
The Howling Wolf looks a great coin and it is on my eventual buy list, but the 1 million mintage didn't make me want to rush out and buy it.
Click to expand...
dccpa, where did you see the max mintage of 1,000,000 for the bullion Howling Wolf gold (the proof version has a 2,000 max mintage)? I know for the silver Call of the Wild series, they have a listed 1,000,000 max mintage set for each of the silver coin issues but I had not seen anything about the gold Call of the Wild. Curious to see what they will feature for the 2015 and 2016 gold Call of the Wild. A 3 year series run is an easy series collection.

On the matter of series collections, if the rumors about the China Mint NOT putting the actual weight on the Panda coins beginning 2015 and switching over to metric (grams, kilograms) instead of imperial (troy oz) for the coin weights then I may be finally ending my China Panda 1 troz gold series collection.
 
Reminds me of something else...

When I started shaving I used a single blade, that did the job nicely, no one ever complained that I looked poorly shaven.

Then they started making shavers with two blades, for an even closer shave, but no one ever noticed how better shaved I was.

Then you could get three blades, the third blade would take it closer to the skin and catch the last stray hair that the other two missed, not that anyone seemed to notice the missed hairs in the past.

I can't remember which company made the first four blade shaver but this one was even smoother, I don't know how I could show my face in public if I went back to three blades.

But then ALDIs brought out a five blade, count 'em, five blades, shaving never got so close!

I went down to pick up some replacement cartridges last week but they have discontinued the five blades, and replaced them with...

Six blades! If this doesn't take of the top layer of skin and remove the hairs at the roots I am going to be very dissapointed.

So I am swapping between Gillette and Aldis and as long as they don't cut my face I really don't care about the difference between three, four, five or six blades, functionally they do the same job and if I go out in public with a face shaved by a three blade razor, no one is going to know or care.

However I have noticed that I need to keep the razors for longer because I can only really afford one or two heads a year.
 
Right on JLizard....and for someone who is okay with being called "Lizzie", a really close shave of those facial hairs could be extra important. :)



The only "real" silver pure enough for my stack is .999990000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 fineness. Nothing less fine than that is pure enough and definitely not worth stacking.




.
 
mmissinglink said:
Right on JLizard....and for someone who is okay with being called "Lizzie", a really close shave of those facial hairs could be extra important. :)




.
Click to expand...

I need the 'seven blades' if I want my legs to be done convincingly :)
 
SilverPete said:
spannermonkey said:
Audiophiles :lol: :lol: :lol:
Can you really hear the difference between a copper cable & a silver one
Click to expand...

According to a description of another cable brand: "... anything less than the highest purity silver often have an obnoxious tweeter-in-your-face quality, if you have heard any such cables, you will likely be stunned by the pleasure and sonic purity of PSS silver."
Click to expand...


Oddly enough, general consensus is that silver brings forward the treble more than copper does, which tends to have a "warmer" sound.

I can hear the difference between absolute crap and decent quality, but for me the diminishing returns kicks in pretty quickly. I stick with decent gauge copper usually. I bought some of this for my main stereo system as it was on sale. The connectors are pretty solid which helps a bit I guess, but I wouldn't spend any more that's for sure.

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/qed-silver-anniversary-xt-speaker-biwire-cable-p-832.html#.VA1cO6Mymxs
 
trozau said:
dccpa said:
The Howling Wolf looks a great coin and it is on my eventual buy list, but the 1 million mintage didn't make me want to rush out and buy it.
Click to expand...
dccpa, where did you see the max mintage of 1,000,000 for the bullion Howling Wolf gold (the proof version has a 2,000 max mintage)? I know for the silver Call of the Wild series, they have a listed 1,000,000 max mintage set for each of the silver coin issues but I had not seen anything about the gold Call of the Wild. Curious to see what they will feature for the 2015 and 2016 gold Call of the Wild. A 3 year series run is an easy series collection.

On the matter of series collections, if the rumors about the China Mint NOT putting the actual weight on the Panda coins beginning 2015 and switching over to metric (grams, kilograms) instead of imperial (troy oz) for the coin weights then I may be finally ending my China Panda 1 troz gold series collection.
Click to expand...


I saw it at Provident when the coins first came out. I went back to the site and the mintage is no longer listed there. Someone at Provident probably assumed the 1 million mintage because of the CWL releases. Per the link below, the coins appear to be unlimited mintage with RCM sales stopping at December 31st.

http://canadianbullionservices.com/gold-2/1-oz-2014-call-of-the-wild-series-howling-wolf-gold-coin
 
Now that the Perth Mint is producing 9999 coins, maybe five nines will be coming too?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top