Picked up some Ag - got some great steals AND got screwed.. all by the same guy!

[BBcardsRI]

Well... I had been calling around and dropping by coin dealers and jewlers for the last week or two but to no avail. No one had ANY bullion to sell except for 2 guys who were selling 10oz for $160-170 minimum.

Went to a dealer that a friend of mine knows fairly well from being in the shop a lot and I brought that friend along. He ended up have a very small amount of bullion, NO bars though, and some 90% junk.

I picked up two 1oz rounds that were pretty cool looking. They are both identical and and have a 24kt Gold Overlay. They have a bunch of animals depicted on the front and the company name (Hagen - a large pet supply company) and PM stats on the back. I ended up paying only like $12.40 a piece for them, which is well under spot, which was quite nice.

I also nabbed a roll ($10 face) of 90% halves. 3 Ken's, 4 Walkers, and 13 Frankies. They were all in good shape, none were rubbed smooth at any point on their surface. Ended up paying $85 for the roll, which once again was below spot for the silver content.

The part that I got screwed on... or rather screwed myself on was a Canadian commemorative dollar I bought. I paid $12 for it... case and all. It was a 1984 commemorative proof dollar, which I was told by the dealer was 80% silver and sold wholesale for $12 so thats what he offered to sell it out. I went to another dealer right after and saw they had a few of the same commemoratives. Asked how much they sell for and I was told $6 a pop. I knew something was up then. I looked it up online when I got home and saw that it was either 100% nickel or only 50% silver. I had it weighed at a third dealer I went to afterwards to unload some old fiat I bought earlier in the day and found out it was a 50% half worth only like $5 in silver content. It is still a nice coin, but I could have gotten it for MUCH less. The guy I bought it from is really cool though, so when I go back next week or later this week to buy some more stuff, I will tell him that he was wrong about the coin and he will probably drop a few more bucks off whatever I end up buying.

The guy is a GREAT dealer to buy from. He sells for exactly spot, then when you buy more than just a few ounces he'll lower the price of a few things to slightly below spot, and then when he rings it all up he will round down to like the nearest $5, thus lowering price per oz. even more.

I wish more guys were like him or that he had more people coming in to sell so I could pick up more stuff.

~Dave

 

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[LJ]

Congrats on the sweet deals there Dave. I really like the roll of 90% halves deal. Actually I like it alot. That truly is a great deal. You will almost double your money on that deal in the coming months. Actually the 1 oz rounds as well. Good work.

Bummer about that Canadian but if you think he will work with you in future deal......all good right?

Your definitely doing the right thing by buying silver......good move! I am trying to do the same on this end. I bought 27 1 oz rounds yesterday and today. The dealer I use said he is having a very hard time getting more....he can't get it. He said it is just not out there. People are in that "hold em" mindset....which is smart in my opinion.

Good luck............

 

[BBcardsRI]

I hear you about not being able to find silver and that dealers are complaining about not getting any in. We are in the same boat along with A LOT of other people.

At least we are able to round up at least a little silver here and there on occasion for a decent price though. Better than going crazy and paying insane premiums on ebay or waiting a month for a deliver from BD or kitco or something... assuming they are even still taking orders for anything.

What happened in my opinion was that silver dropped TOO much for there to be panic sellers. It got to the point where everyone realized that it is just better to hold on for the long haul. Good for them for being smart, but bad for us because there is less out there to buy.

Not sure how your dealers work, but mine all work off stuff customers bring in. If they really need other stuff for some reason on top of that, they order it out and incur premiums of like a buck or more an ounce... or at least that is what they have claimed to me. I'm not willing to pay that premium on ordered silver, so I am forced to rely on people bringing stuff in to sell.

~Dave

 

[jim4silver]

I was able to scrounge up some lower priced silver last week, but all my extra dough has been used up. If the price stays low long enough people will start selling their silver cause they are scared or they really need the money. I believe that the price of gold and silver will steadily rise again, or maybe go up quick if some crazy world event takes place, like the often discussed Iran situation.

If Iran gets attacked, oil will go through the roof because Iran plans to block the Strait of Hormuz, where a large amount of the global oil supply passes through. If oil goes up, gold and silver should follow if they behave like they have so far.

There is word that another big US bank is going down the tubes here soon. I think more stuff like this is gonna happen here and in other countries. Unlike the US, some cultures put a high value on owning gold and silver both as jewelry and as an investment. Some of them have times throughout the year where it is customary to buy gold. Remember, only so much can be mined at anytime. And with the high price of energy, it is even more costly to run a mining operation. Some silver companies were reporting operating losses when silver was 15-20 per ounce!

Jim

 

[BBcardsRI]

That fiat I mentioned buying earlier was 3 $1 silver certs and 1 $2 red seal. Paid $8.50 for it all and sold it for $14 like 20 minutes later. Nifty little profit lol. I went back to the dealer I bought it from today to see if there was some more stuff I could round up. The only realy silver he had for sale were Peace and Morgan dollars. Fairly heavily circulated for $14 and better condition for like $15.50 or something. I tried to talk him down on the 14's if I bought a lot, but no such luck. Picked up 5 of them anyway for $70. Got 5 peace dollars just to add something new to the stash. :P What are your dealers selling peace and morgans for? I have a feeling it wouldn't be ALL that hard to get them for less than $14 a pop for fairly heavily circulated ones... If I am wrong and $14 is a good price, I might go back and grab like 5-10 morgans or something in another day or two, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

No good dates to choose from. Could have sworn I saw a 28 or two, but those 23's look A LOT like 28's and fooled me, lol. =) Some decent old Morgans though if I choose to go back... into the like 1880's and such, though some of them were cleaned... not like that hurts the silver content though! And they are better to look at. I wouldn't buy them if I was in it for coins for a coin book or something, but for this I don't care. I actually picked out a gold plated and something else plated Peace dollar for the 5 I bought just for a littel variety, lol.

I also went back to try and talk him down on the lone baseball card he had in his store (a 1955 Bowman Hank Aaron) which he said he would sell for $40. I could probably resell it for 40-50 so I wanted to talk him down to like 30 or so, but when I asked him what he was selling it for THIS time, he said $60. I didn't feel like telling him the card wasn't worth that and arguing with him so I just let it go. Didn't want the card THAT bad anyway.

~Dave

 

[jim4silver]

That fiat I mentioned buying earlier was 3 $1 silver certs and 1 $2 red seal. Paid $8.50 for it all and sold it for $14 like 20 minutes later. Nifty little profit lol. I went back to the dealer I bought it from today to see if there was some more stuff I could round up. The only realy silver he had for sale were Peace and Morgan dollars. Fairly heavily circulated for $14 and better condition for like $15.50 or something. I tried to talk him down on the 14's if I bought a lot, but no such luck. Picked up 5 of them anyway for $70. Got 5 peace dollars just to add something new to the stash. :P What are your dealers selling peace and morgans for? I have a feeling it wouldn't be ALL that hard to get them for less than $14 a pop for fairly heavily circulated ones... If I am wrong and $14 is a good price, I might go back and grab like 5-10 morgans or something in another day or two, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

No good dates to choose from. Could have sworn I saw a 28 or two, but those 23's look A LOT like 28's and fooled me, lol. =) Some decent old Morgans though if I choose to go back... into the like 1880's and such, though some of them were cleaned... not like that hurts the silver content though! And they are better to look at. I wouldn't buy them if I was in it for coins for a coin book or something, but for this I don't care. I actually picked out a gold plated and something else plated Peace dollar for the 5 I bought just for a littel variety, lol.

I also went back to try and talk him down on the lone baseball card he had in his store (a 1955 Bowman Hank Aaron) which he said he would sell for $40. I could probably resell it for 40-50 so I wanted to talk him down to like 30 or so, but when I asked him what he was selling it for THIS time, he said $60. I didn't feel like telling him the card wasn't worth that and arguing with him so I just let it go. Didn't want the card THAT bad anyway.

~Dave

When I first got into buying PMs, I bought Peace dollars and Morgans (circulated) for the silver content. I didnt really know any better and could have obtained a much better return on 999 bullion. They are cool coins for the stash and I kept the ones I bought, but for "junk silver" you really get screwed in that dealers seem to mark these up because alot of new to PM people load up on them thinking they are a good deal. Also, collectors like them because they are cool coins.

At 13.05 spot silver, a Morgan or Peace only has 10.09 value of melt. At 14.00 each you are looking at four bucks over melt. I would rather have an ASE or Maple and the premium would be less.

Jim

 

[BBcardsRI]

I know I took it up the bum in respect to silver content. I realized I was paying a decent premium. But these coins tend to keep the premium in selling as well in relation to spot, so I could probably unload them on ebay or something for the same $14 I paid.

But with what you said, and me thinking about myself some more, I probably won't go back for more.

In desperation I am buying whatever silver I can... there is just so little GOOD junk silver or any bullion at all out there. When silver corrects, the $14 I paid will probably be right at the actually silver content so in the long run I can't lose... but I would prefer non-premium 90% like quarters or halves or some bars.

~Dave