An old but thought provoking thread, with a lot of interesting and different answers, but none of the answers appear to be incorrect, as each uses a different scenario to support the conclsion, which got me thinking... d'oh
The original question was, 'Numismatic silver vs Silver bullion'. Based upon the answers I think, IMHO, the question should have been,
'In what scenario will silver bullion outperform numismatic silver in the future?'.
This is based on the example used of the year 2000 Panda, whose numismatic value has increased far in advance of its bullion value. I guess as a result of the relatively 'benign' economic conditions up to 2008 keeping PM prices down and the scarcity/collectability of the coin itself.
The scenarios I can think of are:-
1) The next 10+ years be a repeat of the past 10+ years, therefore it's better to concentrate on numismatic?
2) The next 10+ years will be totally different, the last thing we'll be thinking of is buying collectables, therefore it's better to stack bullion silver to the roof?
3) Who knows what the heck's going to happen, so hedge your bets and split your Silver 80/20, 50/50, or 20/80 (numismatic/bullion).
I think its now widely excepted that the last few decades of economic growth were fuelled by a binge on debt, and now we're going to spend the next 20+ years paying it back, in addition the powers that be will use inflation to erode the true value of that debt.
So IMHO Bullion is the best future play.
So FWIW I think 80% Bullion, with 20% in numismatic (just in case they discover a way to turn water into Silver)
Oh, and if the SHTF.. Gold, as it fits nicely in your pocket when you run away, FIAT because it'll make a nice fire to keep you warm, but lugging 1000Toz of Silver is a no-no
Does this lot make sense, or have I made a fundamental mistake or missed something?