Bought some today

Trying again. I asked earlier in this thread and only got a snarky answer. No big deal...but I am curious. Where does a newb turn to begin purchasing silver? Prices seem low and I want to wade in.

?????? I gave you a snarky answer don't remember ????? Sorry about that.

 

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I see $14.25-50 as the new low and that will be next week and after that, heading up. Trust me. Lol Keep Stacking
 

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I am with you on the addicted part. A while back I was reading something on the signs a person is addicted to something (I think the article was referring to drugs/gambling, etc) and I fit many of the traits with respect to silver/gold. For example: 1. Tolerance to the substance. I used to feel satisfied buying one ounce of silver, now I have to buy more to get the desired effect. 2. Secrecy. I cannot tell my friends and family about my addiction and keep it secret (ok not so much on this one since I talk here). 3. Can't stop. I feel compelled to visit my coin stores each week even if I don't have the money to spend. 4. Withdrawal. When I don't have any extra $$$ to spend and the price drops I have strong cravings to buy more. 5. Obsession with the substance. Self explanatory. 6. Continue to use despite health problems. Doesn't really apply but I keep buying as price drops and pundits call me a bug. I guess it could be worse? LOL! Jim

Well , I fit the bill too now. But as for #1 goes, when silver was $40 an ounce I could only afford one bar maybe two. now that it's 15.xx I'm going for the 5 ounce bars. They feel like they are worth more any ways!
 

I know this is not too exciting but I heard one of these fall on the ground at Walmart and this little boy was helping his mom put coins into the machine. So I paid them four dollars for each coin. His mom said she had more and I was so hoping for a role but ended up with two walkers.



image-1064842142.jpg
 

I use to buy off ebay but then found I could buy right from JMBULLION for less money then people were charging on ebay. I buy just for the silver content. I like getting stuff made by "SUNSHINE MINT" all the 1oz stuff has Counterfeit protection built into them. You need to buy there special decoder card to read weather its valid or not. I bought the card and have bought lots of ounces of sunshine mint from jmbullion. They have great deals going on all the time. So much over spot etc. I stopped buying off ebay after seeing people getting ripped off with counterfeit bullion. This give me great piece of mind. Now like I said im stacking for the spot price I don't care about numismatic coins as to me those would be a harder seller later on. and if things take a dive all you would likely get from them is spot price anyway. Thats just my way of thinking. may not be right and may not be everybody's but it sure is something to think about.
 

I use to buy off ebay but then found I could buy right from JMBULLION for less money then people were charging on ebay. I buy just for the silver content. I like getting stuff made by "SUNSHINE MINT" all the 1oz stuff has Counterfeit protection built into them. You need to buy there special decoder card to read weather its valid or not. I bought the card and have bought lots of ounces of sunshine mint from jmbullion. They have great deals going on all the time. So much over spot etc. I stopped buying off ebay after seeing people getting ripped off with counterfeit bullion. This give me great piece of mind. Now like I said im stacking for the spot price I don't care about numismatic coins as to me those would be a harder seller later on. and if things take a dive all you would likely get from them is spot price anyway. Thats just my way of thinking. may not be right and may not be everybody's but it sure is something to think about.

I think your way of thinking lines up pretty well with my way of thinking. I've said it before and I'll say it again... it only takes one "oops" on eBay to wipe out a whole lifetime of savings you may have gotten on previous purchases from that site. I'd rather stick with a reputable dealer. 30 years from now we aren't going to care whether we paid $15.50 per ounce or $15.55 per ounce (unless you are buying 1000's of ounces). The small premium you may pay to go to a reputable dealer is a drop in the bucket compared to what you could lose by going with one that isn't reputable. It's the common case of bending over dollars to pick up pennies...
 

I use to buy off ebay but then found I could buy right from JMBULLION for less money then people were charging on ebay. I buy just for the silver content. I like getting stuff made by "SUNSHINE MINT" all the 1oz stuff has Counterfeit protection built into them. You need to buy there special decoder card to read weather its valid or not. I bought the card and have bought lots of ounces of sunshine mint from jmbullion. They have great deals going on all the time. So much over spot etc. I stopped buying off ebay after seeing people getting ripped off with counterfeit bullion. This give me great piece of mind. Now like I said im stacking for the spot price I don't care about numismatic coins as to me those would be a harder seller later on. and if things take a dive all you would likely get from them is spot price anyway. Thats just my way of thinking. may not be right and may not be everybody's but it sure is something to think about.


I also don't like to buy numismatic or semi numismatic coins unless I can get them close to melt value. I have only bought a handful of coins for say double melt (silver) or so. However, I look at buying PM's with an eye toward the future, which future is not a Mad Max or total crash scenario, but instead one where PM's go up in value relative to other assets. Thus, by picking up good deals now on semi numismatics I am putting away assets I can sell on ebay for more than I paid even if silver drops lower. Part of the reason I do this is because I like to buy cool coins I can appreciate almost like art work. Simply buying bullion bars and stashing them is not what I am into for a number of reasons, although I used to have that mindset. From what I have seen in the wholesale markets over the past 10 years or so, when silver prices drop, premiums go up (not down) on certain cooler coins like old proof sets, etc, but when silver goes up like it did to near 50, those premiums evaporate. My goal is to sell much of my semi numis stuff once silver gets to the mid-20's or so then put the proceeds into other things, like maybe gold. I don't want to be holding them if we get to $50 again but instead will have ASEs or Maples, etc.

The worst buy in coins I see people make is buying old US silver dollars for 100% or more over melt for AU or XF coins. Even culls of US silver dollar go for almost 50% over melt, and these coins look like crap. The spread on these coins is huge in my area. Usually when I get semi numis stuff I can get it for less than what the premiums are on ASE's, sometimes a buck over for lower mintage/rarer gov bullion from other countries that I see ebay for 50% or more than what I pay for them.




Just my opinion.

Jim
 

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I hear ya. The way I look at is, I'm in it for the long haul. I'll pass it on to my kids before I cash it in under $100!
 

The worst buy in coins I see people make is buying old US silver dollars for 100% or more over melt for AU or XF coins. Even culls of US silver dollar go for almost 50% over melt, and these coins look like crap. The spread on these coins is huge in my area. Usually when I get semi numis stuff I can get it for less than what the premiums are on ASE's, sometimes a buck over for lower mintage/rarer gov bullion from other countries that I see ebay for 50% or more than what I pay for them.

Very true. I've been looking to buy silver dollar rolls for years, but the prices are just plain nuts. The last silver dollar roll I bought was in 2005, a roll of BU 1921 Morgans for $180.00. Can't get anywhere near that number these days.

TCK
 

And I bought 3 Mercury dimes this morning for $3.00 and my 3 10oz bars arrived today from Christostock. Keep Stacking
 

Picked up a good deal recently. I am not really a John Lennon fan, but I got a 2010 John Lennon coin from the Royal Mint for $50. Only has about an ounce of sterling silver, but sells for much more on ebay.

I plan to set up my ebay account soon. Look forward to selling some of my semi numismatic stuff I got cheap (relative to spot) and turn the proceeds into cheaper metal or actually save some of the cash for a rainy day.

One technique I started during the silver price fall was to pick up semi numismatic stuff when I can get it cheap because then, even if silver falls further, I can still sell and not lose money. To be able to buy like that you either need to by from private individuals, or dealers that don't know or don't care about higher prices on ebay. Chances are though if silver takes off, much of those semi numismatic premiums will vanish in large part, so I want to sell them before the take off. I probably don't need to worry about that for a while though. Here is a coin like the one I bought.

John Lennon £5 Silver Proof Special Edition | eBay

Unfortunately mine is not still sealed like the one that sold above, but I still have all the paperwork, box, etc. I doubt it will fall in value below 50 any time soon though.

Just my opinion.
Jim
 

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Nice coin Jim, you get some good buys -

Thanks FFD!

I have spent the last 9 years or so developing good relationships with some of the local coin dealers. The main few that I deal with regularly treat me like a fellow coin dealer with respect to selling me stuff at prices close to (and sometimes) below wholesale, because then they don't have to ship it and I pay in cash so they get their $$$ right away.

After I gave up CRHing a few years ago I put the extra time and addiction into learning the markets with respect to the stuff I was interested in. I am not meaning to brag, but I feel I know more than all the guys I deal with (on the coins I am in to) when it comes to the various spreads, what is trending now and what might be trending in the future, what ebay is paying, etc. Also, I know which type of metals each dealer is "weak" on and which ones they aren't. Although I don't do this often, I have sometimes discovered arbitrage scenarios where I could buy from one local dealer on an item and go sell it to another for a profit. This really only applied to gold (old US gold) or platinum coins due to the higher values. I could do it on silver coins and have, but for a $10 or $20 profit it is not worth running all over town.

Also, some don't do ebay (which is really dumb for a major coin shop) so they either retail the coins in their shop or wholesale them. Right now the wholesale and ebay prices for some coins are quite far apart (like those 2oz Lunars I mentioned below), that is how I can get them fairly cheap because they charge me what another dealer will pay them for the same thing. That John Lennon coin sat in a display case for a while with a $65 price tag. I told the guy "hey I'll give you $50 for it, halfway BS'ing, and he said OK it's yours. I don't know what he paid for it, but as much as I like they guy I would not sell him a thing because he pays crap for stuff, that is how he can make money flipping it instead of having to get retail. I can also get good foreign silver coins from him because he focuses on the popular stuff for his shop, like ASEs, Maples, etc. Really cool Canadian, UK and such (often sterling silver coins) must bring crap on wholesale because I can sometimes get those close to melt, even though on ebay some sell for 2 to 4 times their silver content.

But all the good things I just mentioned work in reverse for selling the semi numismatic stuff at the local stores. For example, the few 2 oz type 1 Australian silver Lunars I have (Rooster, Pig, Goat, Tiger, etc) that I got fairly cheap a while ago won't bring much locally. The tiger (2007) sells for over 300 recently on ebay, my local guys offered around 100 to 125 when I inquired recently to see what they would pay, so I will have to sell to a private person or ebay to really do well on that, even though I paid less than they offered me. So my places are great for buying but I need a different outlet to sell to make some $$$.


Jim
 

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