tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63623792448054127882024-03-14T04:48:00.750-05:00Silver Investing GuideStraight talk about silver investments including silver bullion coins and silver bars.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-49343207528613836032017-07-03T13:07:00.000-05:002017-07-03T13:07:10.150-05:00A Disappointing Coin Investment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had seen the ads for the "Treasure Chest of Historic Coins" for several months. A wooden chest containing "at least 50 old and intriguing coins" piqued my interest but at $39.99 I decided to wait for a better price. My patience paid off recently when I was able to purchase it at a 25% discount. Soon the chest arrived (pictured at left) with 51 old U.S. coins which consisted of: two 1936 Mercury dimes; a 1920 Buffalo nickel; a 1943P Jefferson nickel; a 1943 steel penny; a 1903 Indian Head penny; a 1901 Liberty Head V nickel; and 44 Wheat Ears pennies.<br />
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As a former salesman of precious metals, maybe I'm too critical but here is my analysis of what I received. First let me say that what I received was consistent with the description of the product on the sales page. The vast majority of the coins were Wheat pennies and the majority of these were from the 1950s (Wheat pennies were minted from 1909-1958). Nothing very special or intriguing <br />
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about these. The Buffalo nickel was so well worn that the date was barely
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legible (a total of 3,093,000 nickels were minted in 1920). The Liberty Head V nickel was so worn the V on the reverse was barely legible (a total of 26,478,228 nickels were minted in 1901). The two Mercury dimes, both minted in Philadelphia, were in fair condition but it would have been nice to have two separate dates (a total of 87.500,000 dimes were minted at Philadelphia in 1936). The Jefferson nickel, a WW II silver alloy nickel had decent detail but was the dirtiest of all the coins in the chest (a total of 271,165,000 nickels were minted in 1943 by the Philadelphia mint). The Indian Head penny, minted from 1859-1909, was in fairly good condition (a total of 85,092,703 pennies were minted in 1903). The steel penny (actually zinc coated steel) was in excellent condition (a total of 684,628,670 pennies were minted by the Philadelphia mint in 1943).<br />
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So the face value of the coins received was/is $.81 cents. Even though they are historic, the actual value isn't much better. The silver melt value of the two merc dimes is worth about $1.20 each and the 1943 nickel is worth approximately $.93 per www.coinflation.com. The steel penny's value is maybe $.25, the Indian penny about $2.00 and Buffalo nickel and V nickel about $1.50 apiece.<br />
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There are about a half dozen sites offering this product and if you were to search on "Historic Coins Wooden Treasure Chest" you would see them. After viewing the various prices it looks like I got a real deal. All of the sites use pretty much the same description - some using rare, others using intriguing or historic to describe the coins. But they all use the same picture of the 4-3/4L x 3-1/2W x 3H chest overflowing with coins. It just ain't true! The 51 coins cover the bottom of the chest and not much more. Just for the hell of it, I took a bucket of pennies and filled the chest to closely match the picture. It took between 350 and 400 pennies to fill the chest.<br />
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The chest itself is kind of neat but I am less than satisfied with the coins I received. Old coins do not necessarily equate to rare coins. And you can see the non-wheat coins all have high mintages plus most are not in great condition. If I were to take these coins into a coin shop and tell them I want to sell these rare coins, they would laugh me right out of the store. Maybe I just got a bad batch. Some of the reviewers stated they were "thrilled with their purchase". But others evidently had the same experience I did. So that's my story on the Historic Coins Wooden Treasure Chest (and I'm sticking to it).<br />
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One final note: both of my books, <b>The Last 90 Percent Silver United States Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide</b> and <b>A Guide to Buying and Selling Peace & Morgan Silver Dollars</b> are now available in hardcopy (as well as in eBook format). You can find them <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1545306370/" target="new">here</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1502332132/" target="new">here</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading.<br />
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JA</div>
sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-35804681447904426822017-01-23T21:58:00.000-06:002017-01-23T21:58:14.110-06:00Identifying Silver Nickels The Easy Way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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U.S. silver nickels had a very short life. They would have had no life at all if one of their metals, nickel, hadn't been critical to the war effort during WWII. So in late 1942, the composition of the Jefferson nickel was changed from .750 copper/.250 nickel to .560 copper/.350 silver/.090 manganese. The gross weight remained the same at five (5) grams so the .350 silver content equates to .05626 troy ounces of silver. <br />
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Three U.S, Mints produced the silver nickel: Philadelphia (mint mark <b>P</b>); Denver (<b>D</b> mint mark); and San Francisco (mint mark <b>S</b>). Lucky for us, the government decided to make it easy to identify these coins from those that preceded them as well as those that followed. Even the Philadelphia mint used their<b> P</b> identifier for the first time whereas before a blank mint space meant a Philadelphia coin.<br />
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At right is a picture of a silver Jefferson nickel - reverse view. Notice the <b>P</b> above the dome of Monticello. This is where the mint marks of <b>P</b>, <b>D</b>, or <b>S</b> will appear to identify it as a silver content nickel. If the nickel has a date of 1943, 1944 or 1945 and is missing a mint mark, it is counterfeit. <br />
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Compared to the vast ocean of nickels in circulation today, silver nickels are just a small pond. But that pond still has several million coins associated with it. Consider these silver nickel totals by year for all three mints: 1942 > 90,773,000; 1943 > 390,519,000; 1944 > 173,099,000; 1945 > 215,505,100. It should be noted that prior to the composition change to silver, the Philadelphia and Denver mints produced 63,727,000 non-silver nickels with the 1942 date. These will have no mint mark in the location described above. And don't look for 1942 <b>D</b> silver nickels as the Denver mint didn't produce any until 1943.<br />
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Will you get rich by saving these coins and turning them in later? Not likely unless you find one or more in pristine condition. However, the current worth for the average silver nickel is about 19 times their face value as listed by Coinflation which you can see <a href="http://www.coinflation.com/coins/1942-1945-Silver-War-Nickel-Value.html" target="new">here</a>. And those nickels don't wear out easily so there are most likely a bunch of them still in circulation. If you are motivated to start looking for these nickels, don't bother squinting at the date. Just quickly scan every nickel you receive for the special mint mark location, looking for a <b>D</b>, <b>P</b>, or <b>S</b>.<br />
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One last item, finally my ebook <i>Buying and Selling Peace & Morgan Silver Dollars</i> is now available in paperback. You can find it <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1502332132/" target="new">here</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading. JAsausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-1225855917160694002016-04-05T00:24:00.000-05:002016-04-05T00:24:53.080-05:00Another Laughlin Coin Show - Another Learning Experience<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During my annual trip to Laughlin Nevada, I was able to take in another local coin show. This one was held at the Aquarius with about 30 dealers present and admission was free. There were the usual silver coins and a smaller number of gold coins that are normally found at these types of coin shows. That included lots and lots of Morgan dollars - both those certified by the major grading companies as well as a large number of uncertified dollars (so don't believe the hype that Morgan dollars are becoming scarce). But I was able to view some amazing old coins I'd never seen before that went way, way back - coins minted just a few years after the first U.S. mint was established in Philadelphia in 1792. Many were in great condition and the prices for these historic coins ranged from a few thousand to several thousand dollars so I was a looker only. But it was great fun to see that kind of coin history.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the first dealer display I stopped at, a customer was completing the purchase of approximately 200 Walking Liberty half dollars. The dealer's price was $7.50 per coin or 15 times face. The customer may have gotten a volume discount but in smaller amounts that is not a bad price. These were circulated coins so each would have about .3575 troy ounces of silver (versus .3617 if uncirculated). Other dealers have told me that some customers of 90% silver coins are only interested in silver half dollars with the Walking Libertys much preferred. To me that is totally understandable. Not only is this one of the most beautiful U.S. coins ever minted, it was first struck prior to the U.S. entry in World War I, was used in daily commerce throughout the Great Depression and all of World War II before yielding to the Franklin half dollar in 1947.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On</span>e of my few purchases at the show was a one ounce silver Mexican Libertad. The dealer had a few on display but this one stood out from the others because it was struck with such great detail. Almost like a high-relief coin compared with the other Libertads he had available. One side of the coin features a winged Victoria of Mexican Independence Victory Column in front of a landscape with tw<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">o</span> volcanoes which I can't pronounce <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(</span>Popocatepetl and Ixlaccihuatl). The other side features the coat of arms of Mexico surrounded by historical Mexican coats of arms. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you are not familiar with these coins, Mexican Libertads are government-issued gold and silver coins. The .999 silver Libertad was introduced in 1982 in one ounce versions only. In 1991, fractional Libertads of 1/20 ounce, 1/10 ounce, 1/4 ounce and 1/2 ounce were introduced and in 1996 2 ounce and 5 ounce Libertads were added to the series. Also, beginning in 1983, silver Proof Libertads became available in the one ounce versions with Proof fractionals added in 1993. You can find out more about these silver bullion coins at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertad_%28coin%29" target="new">Wikipedia</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are really great coins to own and if you find some at a price you are willing to pay, don't hesitate to invest in them. They are universally recognized and accepted. I have not heard of counterfeit Libertads being discovered but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. It pays to deal only with trusted sources for any precious metals purchases.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thanks for reading. JA </span>sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-18204666064055482732016-02-18T21:18:00.000-06:002016-02-18T21:19:36.419-06:00Goldstur - An Automated Gold & Silver Jewelry Buying KioskThe Goldstur kiosk is advertised as an automated way to cash in on unwanted gold or silver jewelry quickly. A few of these kiosks were recently installed at Supervalu’s Cub Foods supermarkets in the Minneapolis/St. Paul MN area (not too far from me) - supposedly the first in the nation. I decided to find out more, starting with a visit to their web site <a href="http://goldstur.com/" target="new">Goldstur</a> and clicking on the kiosk icon. <br />
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The kiosk requires an appraisal fee of $2.00 (cash or credit card) to begin the process. The customer is then requested to enter his/her first and last name and email address. Once these have been successfully entered the user is requested to swipe his/her driver's license at which point the first item can be placed in a container for analysis. After a few minutes the analysis is complete and a price is offered for the piece. If the offer is declined the piece is returned to the user. If the user accepts the offer, s/he is given the options of a receipt for cash or a gift card.<br />
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After viewing the video on their site I decided to give the Goldstur a test. So I drove to one of the installations in the twin cities' northern suburbs. But there was a problem - it was out of order. Thinking it had not yet been activated, I asked the lady at the nearby customer service area if the kiosk had previously been working. She said it had but couldn't tell me how long it was in service or how long it had been out of service. So my test will have to wait for another time.<br />
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It will be interesting to see how well the Goldsturs are accepted by shoppers who bring along their unwanted jewelry. If a person has one or two pieces and lives in the general area, this seems like a handy alternative for cashing in on jewelry no longer worn. I am assuming the $2 appraisel fee applies to each piece although that was not demonstrated. If a person has several items, this may work against it - unless the seller is flush with cash after accepting the first one or two pieces they have presented. I don't know how it would work on silver or gold coins such as an American Silver or Gold Eagle.<br />
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Among the competitors for Goldstur kiosks would be jewelry stores, pawn shops, local coin shops that also deal in jewelry, traveling buyers of gold and silver and maybe even home "gold parties" (I haven't heard much about them lately but they will be back when gold takes off again). <br />
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It appears the company has big plans to expand the service and even offer a mail-in service in the future. So you might discover one or more Goldsturs coming to a location near you. Here is another video on the workings of the Goldstur kiosk <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ88UFi1o_8" target="new">Goldstur Video</a><br />
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Thanks for reading. JAsausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-7080730243241011952016-01-11T19:55:00.000-06:002016-01-11T19:55:53.413-06:001964 And The Last U.S. Silver CoinsAs many of you reading this know, 1964 was the last year the U.S. minted 90 percent silver coins for circulation. What you may not know is the campaign waged by the U.S. to convince people to stop hoarding these coins by mass producing them before "giving in" in 1965. The campaign involved the dimes, quarters and half dollars used in every day commerce. Silver dollars are not included as Peace dollars (1921-1935) are the last for-circulation silver dollars produced. Let's look at these coins starting with the Roosevelt Dime.<br />
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The silver Roosevelt Dime was produced from 1946 through 1964 replacing the popular Winged Liberty Head (a.k.a. Mercury) Dime. The anti-hoarding campaign for this coin started in 1962 when the Philadelphia and Denver Mints produced a combined 407,398,380 dimes versus 302,876,550 the year before. This was bumped up to 545,126,530 in 1963 and a whopping 1,286,877,180 in 1964. It didn't help but gave people more silver dimes to salt away.<br />
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The silver Washington Quarter was produced from 1932 through 1964 replacing the Standing Liberty Quarter. The anti-hoarding campaign for this coin also started in 1962 when the Philadelphia and Denver Mints produced a combined 163,710,756 quarters versus 120,692,928 the year before. This was increased to 209,604,184 in 1963 and a whopping 1,264,526,113 in 1964. It didn't help but gave people more silver quarters to save for a rainy day.<br />
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The anti-hoarding campaign for half dollars involved two different coins-the Franklin Half Dollar (1948-1963) and the 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar. In 1962 the Philadelphia and Denver Mints produced a combined 45,187,281 half dollars versus 28,566,442 the year before. In 1963 this was increased to 89,233,292 coins. The Kennedy Half Dollar replaced the Franklin in 1964 and the Philadelphia and Denver Mints produced 429,509,450 of this popular coin. The Kennedy coins were produced in a 40 percent version from 1965 through 1970 before converting to a clad version like the other coins mentioned.<br />
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You can expect these higher mintage coins in the 1962 to 1964 range to be worth their silver melt value and very little more. With spot silver at $14 that would be approximately $1.00 for a circulated dime, $2.50 for a circulated quarter and $5.00 for a circulated half dollar. The coins that are worth more are identified in my eBook "The Last 90 Percent Silver United States Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide". You can find it <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ACA2M0O" target="new">here</a>. Read the first few chapters free on your Kindle or non-Kindle device.<br />
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Thanks for reading. Keep the faith. JAsausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-32671212576520838852015-10-11T14:50:00.003-05:002015-10-11T14:50:23.404-05:00Canadian "Junk" Silver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Based on my past experience in selling precious metals, it is clear that most Americans know very little about U.S. junk silver coins. You know the ones I mean, the circulated pre-1965 dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollars containing 90 percent silver. And it's a safe bet they know even less about the junk silver of our good neighbors to the north. But there may be some silver investing opportunities for you if you know some basics about Canadian junk silver.<br />
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The U.S. eliminated silver in their business strikes (coins produced for circulation) after 1964 but Canada kept silver in their business (a.k.a circulation) strikes until 1967 and into 1968 for some. The degree of silver fineness in U.S. business strikes didn't exceeded 90 percent (coin silver) while Canada maintained a silver fineness of 92.5 (sterling silver) until 1920. By keeping your eyes open for Canadian coins while at garage sales, flea markets or local coin shows, you may be able to find deals from sellers who either aren't aware of what they have or they simply want to sell because these coins are not big sellers like their other stock.<br />
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Because Canada is part of the British
Commonwealth, Canadian silver coins have the image of the ruling British monarch on the obverse. So the Canadian junk silver coins you are most likely to see are the 80 percent silver coins bearing the image of Queen Elizabeth II (1953 to 1967), King George VI (1937-1952) or King George V (1920-1936). Here are their circulated silver content details...<br />
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Silver Dime(1920-1967): Silver Content=.0585 Troy ounce (.0600 uncirculated)<br />
Silver Quarter(1920-1967): Silver Content=.1463 Troy ounce (.1500 uncirculated)<br />
Silver Half(1920-1967): Silver Content=.2925 Troy ounce (.3000 uncirculated)<br />
Silver Dollar (1935-1967): Silver content=.600 Troy ounce. <br />
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Due to a significant increase in the price of silver, in 1967 the Royal Canadian Mint changed the silver content of the ten-cent piece and twenty-five cent piece from 80 to 50 percent silver mid-year. Unfortunately, there is no practical way of determining which coins contain 50 percent silver and which contain 80 percent silver (what were they thinking?). For your information, a 50% silver dime contains .0375 troy ounces of silver and a 50% quarter .0937 troy ounces. No silver half-dollars or dollars were minted for circulation after 1967. In mid-1968, silver was removed from all business/circulation strike Canadian coins.<br />
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If you are lucky enough to come across Canadian silver coins dated earlier than 1920, these contain the higher silver content of 92.5 percent. If circulated, they are still considered junk silver but there is nothing "junk" about them. Here's a nice little coin I bought from a local coin dealer for one U.S. dollar. It is a 1917 King George V (he reigned from 1911-1936) sterling silver dime. It contains approximately .0690 troy ounces of silver uncirculated (this one a little less as it has been lightly circulated). With a spot silver price of $15, this coin (uncirculated) would have an intrinsic value of $1.04. Total mintage for this coin was 5,011,988 which is one of the higher mintages for sterling silver dimes. I was able to pick up a few others at a price less than their current book value. Here is some basic information on these coins...<br />
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Silver Canadian Nickel(1858-1919): Silver Content=.0347 Troy ounces*<br />
Silver Canadian Dime(1858-1919): Silver Content=.0690 Troy ounces*<br />
Silver Canadian Twenty-Cent Coin(1858): Silver Content=.1382 Troy ounces*<br />
Silver Canadian Quarter(1870-1919): Silver Content=.1730 Troy ounces*<br />
Silver Canadian Half-Dollar(1870-1919): Silver Content=.3456 Troy ounces* <br />
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*The silver content for the above coins are for uncirculated coins. Circulated coins have a slightly lower silver content due to their wear in daily commerce.<br />
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I want to mention another silver coin I purchased recently that is truely a one-off silver investment - a <b>Mardi Gras silver doubloon</b>. This one is a .999 silver coin that contains more silver than an uncirculated Peace or Morgan silver dollar. You can see pictures and details of this unique coin at <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/MardiGrasDoubloon.html" target="new">Doubloon</a> on my silver investing<br />
web site.<br />
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In closing this post, (and as stated at the beginning), the information on Canadian silver coins is basic but may be enough to get you started. Especially if you have passed on opportunities to buy silver Canadian coins in the past because you lacked the knowledge. There is much more to Canadian silver coins than the brief descriptions given above. To become a savvy investor of Canadian silver coins, I recommend you invest in one or more books on the subject. If nothing else, you can preview the first few chapters of my Canadian Coin book for free. You will find it <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DH8J792" target="new">here</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading. Keep the faith. <br />
<br />
John Ausiman<br />
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<br />sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-43371651972908298492015-04-26T21:31:00.000-05:002015-04-26T21:31:18.133-05:00Buying Junk Silver At Multiples Of Face Value. How Does That Work?So you have decided to start buying circulated U.S. 90 percent silver coins also known as "junk" silver. You stop in at a local coin shop you've passed by many times before and tell the dealer you have $1000 and want to purchase some old U.S. silver coins. So the dealer takes out a box containing dimes, quarters and half-dollars, all dated 1964 or before, and begins counting out your coins. As the dealer is doing this, s/he explains that the current spot price of silver is $18.00 and their current price of selling junk silver is 14 times the face value. And it turns out your $1000 fiat currency will get you about $71.40 in junk silver.<br />
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At this point you might be thinking "this dealer is scamming me, I thought $1000 would get me more silver coins than that". Actually this "deal" isn't bad at all. Even if the dealer was charging 15 times face value, it would be fair. So how can you be prepared to spot a fair deal from a bad one prior to visiting the dealer? Here is what you need to know...<br />
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It is generally recognized that a $1000 bag of 10,000 circulated silver dimes, 4,000 circulated silver quarters or 2,000 circulated silver half-dollars contains 715 ounces of silver. With a spot silver price of $18.00, the silver value of that bag is $18 times 715 or $12,870. Divide the $12,870 by the bag's $1000 face value and the result is $12.87. So for each $12.87 of fiat money you would receive $1.00 of silver coins - but only if the dealer was running a non-profit company. Since the dealer has a right to make a decent profit, 14 times face would be generous for such a small transaction (far less than a full bag) and 15 times would be more like it. If you were <u>selling</u> silver coins to a dealer with the 12.87 times face value, the dealer might offer you 11 times face as the spread would help them stay in business.<br />
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If you are offered uncirculated silver coins at multiples times face, such as rolls of Brilliant Uncirculated Franklin or 1964 Kennedy half dollars, the amount of silver in an uncirculated $1000 bag is approximately 725 ounces so use this number instead of 715. Or you might come across some 40 percent silver clad Kennedy half dollars minted for circulation (business strikes) from 1965-1969. Although not as desireable as 90 percent silver coins, if the price is right <u>get the silver</u>. A $1000 bag of silver clad Kennedys contains approximately 300 ounces of silver (each coin contains .1479 ounces of silver). I have never seen Morgan or Peace silver dollars offered at multiples times face but that doesn't mean offers like that don't exist. A $1000 bag of circulated Morgan or Peace dollars is considered to contain 765 ounces of silver with uncirculated silver dollars at approximately 780 ounces (each uncirculated Morgan or Peace dollar contains .77344 ounces of silver).<br />
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You can find lots of information on U.S. and Canadian silver coins in my ebooks <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ACA2M0O" target="new">The Last 90 Percent Silver U.S. Coins</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DH8J792" target="new">The Last 80 Percent Silver Canadian Coins</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading. JAsausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-77756739852966807142015-02-19T19:32:00.000-06:002015-02-19T19:32:05.491-06:00The Carson City Morgan Silver Dollar - A Favorite of Collectors and Investors<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I like Morgan Silver Dollars a lot. What I don't like is how some sellers often misrepresent them, either by advertising these dollars as rare when most are not, and/or correctly stating they are 90% silver but omitting how much silver they actually contain. And I'm not too crazy about the healthy premiums of Morgan (and Peace) dollars being charged by dealers. But I make an exception for Carson City (CC) silver dollars. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Carson City mint produced the Morgan CC silver dollar for 13 years, from 1878 through 1885 and again from 1889 through 1893. Of the slightly more than 656,000,000 Morgan dollars minted from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921, only about 13,862,000 Morgans (approximately 2%) were minted by the Carson City mint, the least of any of the five U. S. Mints that produced Morgan silver dollars. Here are those production numbers by year...<br /><br />1878CC = 2,212,000; 1879CC = 756,000; 1880CC = 591,000; 1881CC = 296,000; 1882CC = 1,133,000; 1883CC = 1,204,000; 1884CC = 1,136,000; 1885CC = 228,000; 1889CC = 350,000; 1890CC = 2,309,041; 1891CC = 1,618,000; 1892CC = 1,352,000; 1893CC = 677,000</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">(The most valuable CC Morgan, by far, is the 1889CC followed by the 1893CC and 1879CC).</span></i><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But it's anybody's guess how many CC Morgans exist today. Most likely some were lost in 1918 when 270,232,722 were melted down by the government to recover their silver content (the Pittman Act). And more were probably turned in and melted down when silver was on its way to $50 per ounce a few years back. Others may be hidden in buried caches, their location long forgotten and their owners no longer on this earthly plane. No wonder CC Morgans are in high demand and fetch a generous premium.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ifN5mmsxQX4/VOU8uENd9bI/AAAAAAAAAHc/bt3ivxrbjzI/s1600/CCThree200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ifN5mmsxQX4/VOU8uENd9bI/AAAAAAAAAHc/bt3ivxrbjzI/s1600/CCThree200.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The CC Morgan you see at left was purchased from a local coin dealer a few years back. The story on it is:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> The U.S.Government "discovered" a bunch of CC Morgans in the mid-1960s, encased them in plastic, boxed them up along with a numbered certificate and sold them to the public. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It doesn't show up well but this coin has some noticeable bag marks and would probably be graded in the low Mint State grades of MS-60 or so a.k.a. Brilliant Uncirculated. Current dealer bid/ask price (the Coin Dealer Newsletter) on a BU 1883 CC Morgan is $190/$205. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The places I like to shop for Carson City Morgans (including encased CC Morgans like that pictured) are at local coin shows but you can find them elsewhere. But beware as there are some very good counterfeits. Higher valued Morgan dollars, including CC Morgans</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">, </span>are a prime target for counterfeiters (</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">the asking price for a Brilliant Uncirculated 1889CC is currently at $25,000)</span></span>. For any higher priced Morgan silver dollar, CC or not, buy only from a dealer you trust. And expect to pay a higher premium for the CC mint marked Morgans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you are interested in Canadian silver coins, I am offering a free download of my eBook <b><i>The Last Canadian 80 Percent Silver Coins - A Buying & Selling Guide</i></b> for a limited time. There are over 100 pages and 70+ detailed coin photos. If you take advantage of this freebie, it would please me greatly if you would provide your honest review of this eBook when you have read it. You can find it <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Canadian-Percent-Silver-Coins-ebook/dp/B00DH8J792/" target="new">here</a> at Amazon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Happy investing. JA</span><br />
<br />sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-79390595546774228522015-01-27T17:07:00.000-06:002015-01-27T17:10:39.059-06:00Turning Dollars Into NickelsUnfortunately, I have this knack of turning dollars into nickels at our little local casino. Nothing big, mind you, just a little entertainment in an area that doesn't have much else to offer. Limiting my entertainment dollar at the casino lets me spend money on the meaningful stuff such as food fuel, silver, etc.<br />
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More often than not, the slot machines turn nasty so I cash out, visit the redemption machine for whatever dollars and coins (mostly nickels and pennies) are left, stick them in my back pocket and take them out when I get home.<br />
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On a recent trip, my little pile of nickels presented me with a nice surprise. A 1917 S Indian Head (Buffalo) Nickel in decent shape. Now if you know a little about U.S. nickels, you know there were very few years that nickels were minted with any amount of silver in them and 1917 wasn't one of them (see my article on <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/SilverCoins.html" target="new">US Silver Coins</a>). So this nickel is probably worth about five cents, right? Not so fast. Here are the stats on this nickel...<br />
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The San Francisco mint produced 4,193,000 Indian Head nickels in 1917, less
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than half of the Denver mint's production of 9,910,000 and less than 10 percent of the 51,424,019 produced by the Philadelphia mint. After consulting the latest Coin Dealer Monthly Supplement Newsletter (<a href="http://www.greysheet.com/" target="new">Greysheet.com</a>), I found out this coin has a bid/ask price of $15.50/$17.00 if graded as just "Good". But I think this coin would grade higher than that. A "Very Good" (VG) grade coin would be worth $30.00/$33.00 and a "Fine" grade would be worth $60.00/$66.00.<br />
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The only other Indian Head nickels I have are in this mint set pictured at left. The set contains a 1930 S (mintage 5,435,000), a 1936 D (mintage 24,814,000) and a 1935 Philadelphia (mintage 58,264,000, no mint mark) and would all probably be graded "Good" as they show a good amount of wear. In that grade, the 1930 S is worth $1.00/$1.10 bid/ask, the 1936 D $.065/$0.75 and the 1935 Philly nickel $0.75/$0.85. Only in the higher circulated and Mint State grades would these coins be worth much more.<br />
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So the lessons I was reminded of from this little experience are: 1) you never know where you might come across an old coin worth more than its face value so keep your eyes open to that possibility; and 2) when you find an old coin, you can't just assume the coin has little or no value over its face value so refer to reputable resources that will let you know a coin's value.<br />
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After enjoying a record year in which 44,006,000 were sold in 2014, the American Silver Eagle is off to a strong start with 5,127,500 being sold so far in 2015. Typically January is a strong sales month for ASEs as a crowd that grows larger every year wants to get their hands on the 2015 coins. Have you got yours yet?<br />
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Thanks for reading and keep the faith.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-6916056113514783262014-12-10T21:03:00.000-06:002014-12-10T21:03:27.913-06:00The Fabulous Four Silver Bullion Coins'twas the month of December<br />
and all through the land<br />
precious metals were stirring<br />
again starting to look grand<br />
<br />
I see promising signs in the price of metals and this time it looks more encouraging. Traffic is up on my silver web sites plus I have a new one to tell you about... but more on that later.<br />
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I have included pictures of the fabulous four silver bullion coins, reportedly the best selling silver bullion coins in the world. They are: the American silver eagle of which 42,675,000 were sold last year and that number has already been overtaken with just a few days of production left to go in 2014; the Canadian silver maple leaf of which 28,200,000 were sold last year with that number already have been overtaken for 2014; the Austrian silver Philharmonic of which 14,536,400 were sold last year (current year estimates unknown) and the Chinese silver panda of which a reported 8,000,000 were sold last year with 2014 numbers unknown.<br />
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Yes there other government issued silver bullion coins and numerous silver rounds, some more popular (and more attractive ) than others. But these are the top dogs and if you can get your hands on any of them at reasonable premiums, you will be in good shape for the coming explosion in silver prices. <br />
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Here are the totals for American Eagles thus far in 2014...<br />
<br />
Platinum Eagles=16,900 one-ounce coins thus far<br />
(don't look for more of these in 2014 or 2015 due to low demand)<br />
<br />
Gold Eagles = 414,500 one-ounce coins<br />
46,000 half-ounce coins<br />
118,000 quarter-ounce coins<br />
560,000 tenth-ounce coins<br />
total ounces of Eagles gold = 523,000<br />
2015 Gold Eagles will be available 1/5/2015<br />
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Silver Eagles = 43,051,000 one-ounce coins<br />
top three months of production<br />
October = 5,790,000<br />
march = - 5,354,000<br />
January = 4,775,000<br />
2015 Silver Eagles will be available 1/12/2015<br />
<br />
and here is the total for the... <br />
<br />
American Buffalo (thus far in 2014) = 175,500 one-ounce 24k gold coins<br />
2015 Buffaloes will be available 1/5/2015<br />
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As mentioned above, I have a new silver web site dedicated to a very unique silver coin - the Maria Theresa Thaler. This silver coin has a rich history (several decades old) and, in terms of popularity and acceptability, is almost unmatched. You can read more about this thaler (or taler) at <a href="http://mariatheresathaler.com/" target="new">M.T. Thaler</a>.<br />
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If you have the time, also stop by my other silver web sites at <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/" target="new">SilverInvestingSimplified</a> and <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/" target="new">SilverGuide</a> to see what's new.<br />
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Thanks for reading and keep the faith. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-13013565686109498292014-08-21T22:29:00.000-05:002014-08-21T22:36:24.618-05:00Cavorting At A Local Coin Show<b>Well maybe not cavorting</b> in the true sense of the word but I had a great time at a small, local coin show recently. And small it was with less than 10 dealers present. But most had impressive inventories to display (it wasn't just a bunch of Morgan dollars, Mercury dimes and Silver American Eagles). It just goes to show that even small coin shows can have value for coin collectors and investors. <br />
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I took time to examine some old silver coins, most notably a Capped Bust 1827 silver half dollar in About Uncirculated condition. It is a great coin for serious collectors but for the asking price of this coin, I could purchase just shy of 15 Silver Eagles or Silver Maple Leafs which is more to my liking (confirming my casual investor status). This 1827 coin will have to be someone else's treasure to have and hold. <br />
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I am less of a fan of silver rounds and tend to favor government-issued silver bullion coins. But I do make exceptions for silver rounds at a good price BUT they must have good eye appeal. As luck would have it, I found some nice rounds at a good price (in the low $20's with the spot price at just over $20.00) at this show...<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPJfjSmwUNA/U_a3VAmKemI/AAAAAAAAAFE/QwC4zITRLAI/s1600/indr175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPJfjSmwUNA/U_a3VAmKemI/AAAAAAAAAFE/QwC4zITRLAI/s1600/indr175.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SI0973XHq7s/U_a2TQsQlgI/AAAAAAAAAE8/lI7IDmDNQi8/s1600/ind175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SI0973XHq7s/U_a2TQsQlgI/AAAAAAAAAE8/lI7IDmDNQi8/s1600/ind175.jpg" /></a>This first silver round is modeled after the U.S. Indian Head Quarter Eagle and Half Eagle minted from 1908 through 1929 (none were struck from 1917-1924). These gold coins set a U.S. precedent in that the figures (a.k.a. devices) and lettering were sunk below the coins' surface (incused) as opposed to other U.S. coins in which the "devices" were and are raised from the surface of the coin. The silver round's obverse closely matches the gold coins' obverse but the reverse of the silver coin differs from the gold coins as it identifies a private mint plus the weight and silver fineness of .999. <br />
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I was not familiar with the issuer of this round, the <b>Golden State Mint</b>, so I visited their web site at <a href="http://www.goldenstatemint.com/" target="new">GS Mint</a>. They have a number of interesting silver and gold rounds and bars (of various sizes) with a $500 minimum purchase. To their credit, they have survived the many lean years, having been founded in 1974. Next I did a quick Internet search for "Golden State Mint Reviews" and "Golden State Mint Complaints" with nothing alarming showing up. They look like a good company to do business with but please be aware: 1) I have absolutely no affiliation with this company and receive no compensation for any purchases by anyone; and 2) I am not recommending that you do business with Golden State Mint without doing your own due diligence. You are responsible for your own decisions regarding the purchase of precious metals. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-juNUGmEwS0c/U_a4XOgcs_I/AAAAAAAAAFU/6fOu20Djmf4/s1600/buffr175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-juNUGmEwS0c/U_a4XOgcs_I/AAAAAAAAAFU/6fOu20Djmf4/s1600/buffr175.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nlM7n8fe9Hw/U_a3tpFRTHI/AAAAAAAAAFM/HVKGtuz7JQU/s1600/buff175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nlM7n8fe9Hw/U_a3tpFRTHI/AAAAAAAAAFM/HVKGtuz7JQU/s1600/buff175.jpg" /></a>Another silver round I picked up at the show is also modeled after a U.S. gold coin - the 24-karat (.9999 fineness) American Buffalo which began production in 2006 (and this gold coin was modeled after the historic buffalo nickel minted from 1913-1938). The silver round's obverse closely matches the gold buffalo's obverse (just missing a date) but the reverse of the silver coin differs from the gold coin as it specifies the weight (one troy ounce) and silver fineness (.999) among other lettering differences. The Silver Buffalo was also purchased at a good price in the low $20's. <br />
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To my way of thinking, silver rounds that are modeled after well-recognized <br />
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and popular designs (24k Gold Buffalos, Morgan dollars, gold Krugerrands, $20 Saint Gaudens, etc.) stand a better chance of being favored over lesser known (and less attractive) designs when it comes time to sell. In addition to the purchased silver rounds, I was able to pick up some nice Barber and Standing Liberty quarters, a 2014 Australian Saltwater Crocodile 1 ounce silver coin and my first Maria Theresa thaler (a historic but not so rare Austrian coin containing .7520 troy ounces of silver) but that is the subject of a future post.<br />
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Changing gears, are you familiar with the IRS reporting requirements when buying and selling precious metals? The good people at <b>JM Bullion</b> have put together a helpful Infographic if you are unfamiliar with these requirements or need a refresher. You can find it at <a href="http://www.jmbullion.com/reportable-bullion-transactions-infographic/" target="new">JMInfographic</a> Its purpose is educational and shouldn't be considered financial advice. Of course you are responsible for any capital gains tax on profits from sales even if your transaction(s) don't require dealer reporting. <br />
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At the time of this post, spot silver is at $19.45, Silver Eagles month-to-date are at 1,510,000 and the year-to-date total is 27,613,500. <br />
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One last note, I have published my ebook "The Last Canadian 80 Percent Silver Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide " on Smashwords so it is now available on Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Oyster as well as Kindle and a few more. You can see the Smashwords listing at <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/462296" new="" target-="">Canadian Silver Coins</a> . My other ebooks, "The Last 90 Percent Silver United States Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide" and "A Guide to Buying and Selling Peace & Morgan Silver Dollars" are still available on Amazon only.<br />
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Thanks for reading, keep the faith. <br />
<br />sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-21338045933040989242014-03-17T22:02:00.000-05:002014-03-17T22:02:46.302-05:00Pausing A Vacation To Shop For SilverAfter surviving most of the brutal winter of the upper midwest, I was more than ready for the warmer weather of AZ and NV. Las Vegas was our first destination for some gaming and relaxation. I made a special trip downtown to check out the <b>GOLD To Go</b> machine at the Golden Nugget. If you are unfamiliar with this gold dispensing ATM, you can see more details plus a picture <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_to_Go" target="new">here</a>. The gold choices for purchase were 1 gram, 2 1/2 gram, 5 gram and 10 gram gold bars ranging in price from $87 to $517 (spot gold at the time was approximately $1330.00). Also available were a 1 oz. gold bar priced at $1525 and a 1 oz. gold eagle at $1555 (nearly a 17% premium). The last coin available for purchase was a silver eagle for the princely sum of $49. That was a bit of a shocker as spot silver was under (but flirting with) $22. If the silver eagle offered were a proof coin, the $49 would be closer to the going price but I didn't see that advertised. I decided against making any purchase.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2y1mftWeYZw/UyevAh6RLcI/AAAAAAAAAEs/FCGcpQH-f-I/s1600/pandar200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2y1mftWeYZw/UyevAh6RLcI/AAAAAAAAAEs/FCGcpQH-f-I/s1600/pandar200.jpg" height="150" width="150" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s6BRuUEB6FE/Uyeu8k8Y4mI/AAAAAAAAAEg/jfCh0g8yV6I/s1600/panda200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s6BRuUEB6FE/Uyeu8k8Y4mI/AAAAAAAAAEg/jfCh0g8yV6I/s1600/panda200.jpg" height="150" width="150" /></a>The next vacation stop was Laughlin, NV. Whenever I am in Laughlin, I always make sure to stop in (usually more than once) at the coin shop across from the Golden Nugget Laughlin (Laughlin Jewelry and Collectibles) to discuss prices and trends. Their price for silver eagles were much better at just $26 each with silver maple leafs even less. One of my purchases was a 2014 silver panda. This is a beautiful coin and I didn't mind the $30 price. But at that price, I won't be stacking silver pandas as the silver eagles and maple leafs are cheaper and more popular in my world. Of course silver rounds can be purchased for even less than those two popular bullion coins but I tend to favor government issued, government backed coins. And unless I fall into a really good deal on silver rounds with an attractive design, I'll usually pass on these.<br />
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Here are the Silver American Eagle totals so far for March, 2014 from the U. S. Mint: 2,921,000 one-ounce silver coins which, added to January's number of 4,775,00 and February's 3,750,00, brings the number for 2014 to 11,446,000 silver eagles.<br />
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Sales of my 3 ebooks on U.S. and Canadian silver coins have been steady. It appears people like what they are reading but are not inclined to giving reviews. If you want to see short descriptions of each, you can do so at a special web site I have set up for them at <a href="http://www.silverinvesting.guru/" target="new">Silver Investing Guru</a>.<br />
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Thanks for reading. sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-41701420402951485832014-01-16T00:44:00.000-06:002014-01-16T00:48:37.408-06:00American Silver Eagles - They're Back!!!After an extended vacation, American Silver Eagles are back in production (Kitco discusses it <a href="http://www.kitco.com/news/2014-01-15/US-Mint-Notes-Strong-Sales-Of-2014-Gold-Silver-Coins.html" target="new">here</a>). As you may recall, the U.S. Mint suspended production of 2013 silver eagles back on December 9th in order to make way for the 2014 silver eagles. It's a good thing this four weeks plus halt coincided perfectly with a time of low demand/low interest for these bullion coins - NOT! What it did do is raise already healthy premiums even higher because investors really like and want these coins (this was the subject of a recent article on the Bloomberg site which you can see <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-14/silver-coin-premiums-poised-to-climb-as-u-s-mint-supplies-ease.html" target="new">here</a> ). So the buying continued during the weeks the U.S. Mint meticulously changed the dies from a "3" to a"4". Hopefully they were also able to stock up on blanks (planchets) during this time so investors can enjoy several months of uninterrupted production and sales. Here are the 2013 silver eagle totals in case you haven't seen them before. <br />
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U S MINT Silver Eagle Sales 2013<br />
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January 7,498,000; February 3,368,500;<br />
March 3,356,500; April 4,087,000;<br />
May 3,458,500; June 3,275,000;<br />
July 4,406,500; August 3,625,000;<br />
September 3,013,000; October 3,087,000;<br />
November 2,300,000; December 1,200,000<br />
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Total 42,675,000<br />
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The Canadian counterpart to the American Silver Eagle, the Silver Maple Leaf, has a new look for 2014. The addition of radial lines from the center of the coin outward plus a micro-engraved security mark on the reverse of the coin make for a stunning silver bullion coin. More info and detailed pictures of this coin appeared on the Coinupdate web site and can be found <a href="http://news.coinupdate.com/new-security-features-for-silver-maple-leaf-bullion-coins-3055/" target="new">here</a>. Counterfeiters will be hard-pressed to master these new security features. It reminds me of the battle between the safe manufacturers and safe crackers in years gone by. No matter what the manufacturers did, the safecrackers always found a way to break in. Finally, at least one manufacturer came up with what they felt was the ultimate solution. They incorporated a vial of nitroglycerine inside the safe so that anyone trying to punch their way in would have their ticket punched permanently in a very explosive way. No report on how many lost their life this way.<br />
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Thanks for reading and keep the faith. sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-37502729440149286572013-11-04T21:12:00.000-06:002013-11-04T21:12:07.646-06:00Looking For Cheap Silver At Coin ShowsBefore getting to the main topic of this post, a free promo for my newly revised <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AXEEDL0" target="new">A Guide to Buying and Selling Peace and Morgan Silver Dollars</a> has been scheduled for November 7 and 8, 2013. If you have a Android phone or tablet, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows PC or Windows 8 tablet, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone and the free Kindle reading app for your device, you can download this eBook for $0.00 on these two days only. It is written for the casual investor of Peace and Morgan dollars as well as those persons who already may own some of these coins and don't have a clue as to their worth. I hope you are able to take advantage of this free 2-day promotion.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6CPsnd_gKYc/UnhYlI3n0iI/AAAAAAAAAEE/N3lABdlyWlA/s1600/turks2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="20 Crowns Turks and Caicos Commemorative Coin" border="0" height="200" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/-6CPsnd_gKYc/UnhYlI3n0iI/AAAAAAAAAEE/N3lABdlyWlA/s1600/turks2.jpg" title="" width="200" /></a></div>
One of the things I like to do when attending coin shows is to look for the one-off silver coins and bargain with the dealer for a good price. As you might guess, these are coins that are not well known which means the demand is low to non-existant and the dealer is willing to bargain so s/he can concentrate on the popular, higher-demand coins. One such coin I found recently is a 1993 20 Crowns silver coin from the Turks and Caicos Islands commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The obverse features the image of Queen Elizabeth II and the reverse has the image of an astronaut (Neil Armstrong) stepping on the moon from the Lunar Module. This is one of the more attractive silver coins I have seen and I could get it at the current spot silver price with no premium. <br />
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So far, so good. I found an attractive silver coin for a good price. But there is a potential problem with this coin without doing some homework. And that problem is that nowhere on this coin are markings to indicate the silver purity or troy weight. Without seeing a .999 (or .9999) purity marking plus some kind of weight designation, I could only assume it is a full one-ounce pure silver commemorative coin. So I asked the dealer to "prove" it was what I assumed it to be. And he was able to by showing me the coin details in a huge reference book he had on hand. So I bought the coin.<br />
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At the next coin show you attend, keep your eyes open for deals like this. The dealer I bought this from is a one-man show whom I know and trust. But I still wanted the assurance of knowing the coin was as I expected. If a small dealer like this can have the resources to identifying a wide range of coins, whoever you deal with should be able to also. If not, go elsewhere. Once I got home, I took out my handy Neva Pocket Scale and weighed it just to be sure. It weighed 480 grains (gr.) and 31.1 grams (g.) which is what I expected to see. On a more precise scale I would have seen 31.1034 grams. As you probably know, One troy ounce=480 grains=31.1034 grams=1.097 avoirdupois ounce.<br />
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The October sales of Silver American Eagles stands at 3,087,000. For the year so far the total is 39,175,000. Don't look for the premiums of these popular bullion coins to go down anytime soon. The
US Mint has notified its Primary Dealers that all
sales of Silver Eagles will be suspended for 4 weeks beginning the second week in December. Guess what that will do to the premiums. I hope you have yours.<br />
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Happy investing.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-63842695732696768702013-09-22T20:58:00.001-05:002013-09-23T01:31:41.455-05:00Ready To Board The Silver Investments Train? Be Sure You Watch Your Step!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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More bad news on the counterfeiting of precious metals. This time it's the popular 10 ounce silver bars where a dealer in Michigan recently had a customer come in with two 10 ounce Engelhard silver bars which were obvious fakes - at least to the trained eye (the bar at left is legit - the real thing). Too bad as these are still quite affordable for many people that invest in or are ready to invest in silver - the poor man's/poor woman's gold. They now join the list of fake Silver Eagles and one ounce silver bars (silver or nickel plated with brass cores) reported earlier this year. In the "old days" most counterfeiters were targeting the more profitable bars and coins where the huge profits were such as the tungsten filled gold bars(now including even 10 ounce and one ounce gold bars) and common Morgan dollars made "rare" by altering the date or mint mark. Now the prudent investor has to be suspicious of almost all silver and gold products unless they invest in safe ways. Whoever in the world is making these fakes (wink, wink) is doing a good enough job to fool the average investor and even some of the more sophisticated investors. <br />
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The best solution, of course, is to deal with only reputable dealers that not only know fakes from the real items but are actively on the lookout for all types of counterfeits that are known to exist (plus will make things right if there is a problem). If you like to frequent coin shows, you can invest in an inexpensive gram based scale to take with you to check potential purchases if you have doubts. Of course you will have to know the various weights of those purchases you want to make but that is not too difficult from online sources. As far as eBay and other online auctions selling precious metals - buyer beware.<br />
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As you can see from my last post on this blog, I have been ignoring it in favor of my Kindle eBooks. In addition to publishing another eBook, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DH8J792" target="new">The Last Canadian 80 Percent Silver Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide</a>, I have re-published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ACA2M0O" target="new">The Last U.S. 90 Percent Silver Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide</a> which is now almost twice the size of the original edition. And I am currently revising <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AXEEDL0" target="new">A Guide to Buying and Selling Peace and Morgan Silver Dollars</a> to expand it as well. If you are interested in reviewing any of these eBooks for free in exchange for a review of the book(s) on Amazon and Goodreads, please contact me thru either the GoldInvestingSimplified.com or SilverInvestingGuide.com web sites.<br />
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Happy (and safe) investing. JA sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-60376945924689292322013-01-17T00:11:00.000-06:002013-01-17T00:11:41.849-06:00Silver Eagles Off to a Strong Start in 2013At the time of this post in mid-January 2013, sales of Silver American Eagles stand at 5,132,000 with lots of month to go. This is on course to mimic 2011 and 2012 in which January was the most productive month for Silver Eagles at 6,422,000 and 6,107,000. <br />
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The mint ran out of 2012 Silver Eagles in mid-December so buyers had to wait until January 7, 2013 to get their hands on additional coins, those bearing the 2013 date. So that 5,132,000 was achieved in less than half a month.<br />
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Dealers are reporting great demand in not only silver Eagles but silver Maple Leafs, 10 and 100 ounce silver bars and 90 percent silver coins. If you are running into a shortage of silver pieces to buy, you might have better luck shopping for silver rounds and one-ounce silver bars. Anything with a Engelhard or Johnson Matthey stamp or hallmark is a plus.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BetY6MVbWHg/UPeQXLepA6I/AAAAAAAAAC8/wjBegaNp-SA/s1600/libr200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/-BetY6MVbWHg/UPeQXLepA6I/AAAAAAAAAC8/wjBegaNp-SA/s1600/libr200.jpg" /></a>Other options are lesser known government issued silver coins such as the one-ounce silver Mexican Libertad. Upon first seeing this silver coin, I thought the obverse was the reverse and vice versa. It is the reverse that features The Angel of Independence (a reproduction of the one that stands atop a victory column commemorating Mexico’s War of Independence) with two volcanoes (Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl) in the background. The obverse displays the current coat of arms of Mexico surrounded by the historical Mexican coats of arms. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MYqnoQRpMgA/UPeR2In2sGI/AAAAAAAAADM/zVV-ZuMOvUo/s1600/libo200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/-MYqnoQRpMgA/UPeR2In2sGI/AAAAAAAAADM/zVV-ZuMOvUo/s1600/libo200.jpg" /></a> The Mexican Libertad comes in both gold and silver in various sizes beginning at 1/20 of an ounce but I like the one-ounce
silver coin as it has the heft and feel of a "real" coin, not the clad coins we usually have to deal with day in and day out.<br />
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In my last post I mentioned my first eBook on Amazon titled "The Last U.S. 90 Percent Silver Coins - A Buying and Selling Guide" which can be found at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ACA2M0O" target="new">Last 90 Percent coins</a><br />
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I have just published the next in the U.S. Silver Coin Series titled "Tips on Buying and Selling Peace and Morgan Silver Dollars". In this eBook I expand on the Peace and Morgan dollars to include more grading information, where wear marks first appear and even a bit on cleaning these coins (with warnings about doing so). Priced at just $.99 you can find out more at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AXEEDL0" target="new">Buy/Sell Peace and Morgan Dollars</a><br />
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Thanks for reading. sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-84729524097163650742012-11-26T20:17:00.000-06:002012-11-26T20:17:12.767-06:00The Last US 90 Percent Silver CoinsBefore focusing on the main subject of this post, I want to mention a nice silver coin found at a garage sale. I attend a fair number of garage sales but very few that have silver coins. After seeing the ad in our local paper with a mention of silver coins, it was worth it to me to drive a little distance. Seeing that item listed in a garage sale is always taking a chance since there are a number of situations you can run into. The ideal situation is when you can find some really nice silver coins and get them at a bargain price because the sellers don't understand what they have. There are other times you may find silver coins but they are way over priced and you may break even if (when?) silver hits $100 per ounce. The worst case is when the seller thinks they are silver and valuable but you find out they are neither silver nor valuable.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gIoMwFpMbPg/ULQdALNFU-I/AAAAAAAAACg/m9MXxfIK1PM/s1600/commo225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/-gIoMwFpMbPg/ULQdALNFU-I/AAAAAAAAACg/m9MXxfIK1PM/s1600/commo225.jpg" /></a>What I ran into was some nice silver coins that the seller knew the value of and had them priced a little over their true value based on the current spot silver price. There were some Roosevelt dimes and Standing Liberty quarters in fair condition but what caught my eye was the coin you see at left - the first U.S. commemorative coin. Officially called the World's Columbian Exposition Half Dollar, this coin features the bust of Christopher Columbus on the obverse with the image of his flagship, the Santa Maria above two <br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RiwVXugG3ms/ULQdZEfZOQI/AAAAAAAAACo/yEnPxozJECI/s1600/commr225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.ggpht.com/-RiwVXugG3ms/ULQdZEfZOQI/AAAAAAAAACo/yEnPxozJECI/s1600/commr225.jpg" /></a>hemispheres, on the reverse. A total of 950,000 were minted with a 1892 date and 1,550,405 were minted with the 1893 date so they are not especially valuable. This 90% silver coin is considered to contain .3575 troy ounces of silver if circulated and is worth approximately one and a half times it's intrinsic (silver melt) value if the wear marks are minimal. If uncirculated, this coin contains .3617 troy ounces of silver and can be worth several hundred dollars in the higher Mint state grades of MS65 or higher. I didn't get a deal on it but paid less than $20 and am happy to get the first commemorative coin that the U.S. issued.<br />
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<u>Now onto the subject of The Last US 90 Percent Silver Coins...</u><br />
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Back when I was selling gold and silver for a large precious metals dealer in the midwest, it was not unusal to receive calls from individuals who had inherited a number of coins for which they hadn't the slightest idea of their worth and wanted help. With the large variety of old US gold and silver coins, it is no wonder the average person is confused as to their value.<br />
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And again, I am aware of more than one situation where finders of old silver coins took them to their local bank to convert them into the only money they were familiar with - paper (fiat) money, thereby allowing the bank to cash in on the silver profits that should have rightfully been theirs. Too many people don't understand the true value of pre-1965 US silver coins. <br />
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Finally, in my last encounter with a traveling buyer of gold and silver (who had set up shop at a local motel for 2 days), he mentioned that he was buying Morgan and Peace silver dollars for $15 apiece. The average person bringing in some silver dollars were probably thrilled with that price. The problem is who ever brought in silver dollars to this buyer should have been getting more like $21 or $22 each based on the spot silver price at the time. He was screwing them out of about $7 per coin.<br />
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So I decided to write a quick reference book to counter the lack of knowledge about pre-1965 silver coins. Titled "<b>The Last US 90 Percent Silver Coins</b>" it is now available on Amazon.com as an eBook for the various flavors of Kindle plus iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone 7 with a free Kindle Reading App. <br />
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Priced at under $4 it has in-depth information on the Roosevelt Dime (1946-1964), Mercury Dime (1916-1945), Washington Quarter (1932-1964), Standing Liberty Quarter (1916-1930), 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar, Franklin Half Dollar (1948-1963), Walking Liberty Half Dollar (1916-1947), Peace Dollar (1921-1933) and Morgan Dollar (1878-1921). You will find it at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ACA2M0O" target="new">The Last US 90 Percent Silver Coins</a> if you want to take a free look at the table of contents plus the first chapter to see if
it is right for you. I plan on expanding it in 2013.<br />
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At the time of this post spot silver is at $34.24. up $2.08 (6.48%) in the last 30 days and $3.19 (10.30%) in the last year. So far in November the U.S. Mint has produced 3,059,500 Silver Eagles which is 32,007,500 year-to-date. They should be able to top the 2010 total of 34,662,500 but it will take some doing to top the Silver Eagle total for 2011 of 39,868,500.<br />
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Silver has made some nice moves up since the election and it would be nice to see that continue.<br />
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Thanks for reading - keep the faith. sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-71774634738342440402012-06-23T22:49:00.000-05:002012-06-23T23:05:57.373-05:00A Lesson In Silver Investing<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In a recent episode of Pawn Stars, a client brought in an impressive amount of silver to sell. This segment of the show provided some insights into why investing in silver can be a smart move.<br /><br />If you are not familiar with Pawn Stars, it is one of the top cable TV reality shows currently being aired. The scenes take place at a small pawn shop located in Las Vegas between downtown and the start of the Las Vegas Strip (I have driven past the shop on a few occasions but never stopped - there was always too long a line of people waiting to get in). As with all pawn shops, the public is free to walk in to pawn or sell their valuables with some leaving highly satisfied and others having their hopes of quick riches dashed. <br /><br />On this particular day, this young man brought in a cart containing 3,372 ounces of silver. He had taken his father's advice to invest in silver about 12 years ago when it was cheap to buy. In studying the scenes, it appears this silver "pile" consisted of 1) one bag of circulated 90 percent silver dimes (715 ounces of silver), 2) one bag of circulated 90 percent silver quarters (715 ounces of silver), 3) ten 100 ounce silver bars (1000 ounces of silver), and one 1000 ounce silver bar (942 ounces of silver) for a total of 3372 ounces of silver.<br /><br />Just a few comments on the above list. 1000 ounce silver bars are rarely (if ever) exactly 1000 ounces. They are somewhat roughly cast so the refiners stamp the actual weight of each bar along with a unique serial number, purity and the hallmark of the refiner. Because of their weight (just under 70 lbs), investors usually don't take delivery of their 1000 silver bars but pay a reliable financial organization to store the bars for them for a fee. And if they are wise, they only invest in 1000 ounce bars that are allocated or assigned to them by serial number. One last note, if the hallmark or identity of the refiner is well recognized, the silver bars are accepted as good with no testing necessary. If not, the buyer may and should require testing. The hallmark I saw on the 100 ounce bars was Engelhard which is rock solid. The hallmark on the 1000 ounce bar was not clearly shown and evidently required testing by drilling into the bar and testing the shavings with nitric acid. It was good (more info on silver bars can be found at <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/Silver-Bullion-Bars.html" target="new">Silver Bullion Bars</a>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Over what period of time this silver was accumulated was not discussed. But if the majority was purchased about 12 years ago, the seller may have paid about $5 per ounce (a good average for all 12 months of 2000). Let's do the math working with that figure...<br /><br />$5 times 3,372 ounces of silver = $16,860 initial investment.<br />Spot price of silver at time of sale was in the low $30's.<br />Buyer offered close to the spot price, total of $110,901.00.<br />Final offer was $111,000 which the seller accepted.<br />$111,000 minus initial investment of 16,860 = $94,140 profit.<br /><br />This is a nice profit of course but the IRS probably watches this show too and the seller has taxes that must be paid. I believe the $94,140 is treated as a Long Term Capital Gain and taxed as such. And if the seller didn't keep his 12 year old receipts, $111,000 may be the taxable gain (this is my take on it and is not to be considered legal or financial advice). <br /><br />The burning question is did the seller sell too soon? The current spot price of silver is $26.90. If the price stays under $30 and in a narrow trading range for the next few years, he will look like a genius. On the flip side, if silver goes to $50 per ounce or higher in the next year or two (as many experts predict), he will have lost a bundle. My questions to him would be why now and why didn't he keep some back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Whenever silver experiences a significant price drop (it is almost half of what it was in April 2011), physical silver becomes a hot commodity. You will have to decide if this price low in silver represents a final buying opportunity before the price takes off to unimaginable heights. As for me, I would not be selling at this time but looking to invest in more. That would include low premium silver bullion and leaving the higher priced, higher grades to others.<br /><br />By the way, if you are interested in viewing the Pawn Star episode discussed above, you can find it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eidl_DWLqdw" target="new">here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Thanks for reading. </span>sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-48808612407140922482012-04-26T00:41:00.000-05:002012-04-26T00:41:50.389-05:00Silver Investing - The Other One-Ounce Silver Coins<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
When it comes to one-ounce silver coins, the American Silver Eagle and Silver Canadian Maple Leaf seem to take center stage. But there are several other one-ounce silver coins that are worth investing in if you come across them and the price is right. Although not quite as popular as the above two, the coins I list below are well recognized and their liquidity tends to be very good.</div>
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Other one-ounce silver coins (not in any particular order) include the <b>Silver Koala</b>, <b>Mexican Silver Libertad</b>, <b>Silver Kookaburra</b>, <b>Silver Panda</b>, <b>Silver Britannica</b> and <b>Silver Philharmonic</b> (pictured below).</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fQw0zY9sLcc/T5diWlwkBkI/AAAAAAAAABY/jA8JVY7LBLw/s1600/philo400t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fQw0zY9sLcc/T5diWlwkBkI/AAAAAAAAABY/jA8JVY7LBLw/s320/philo400t.jpg" width="200" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Silver Philharmonic was first minted in 2008 by the Austrian Mint in Vienna. It closely matches its counterpart - the Gold Philharmonic first introduced in 1989. This .999 fine silver bullion coin features the image of the "Great Organ" found in the concert hall where the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performs with the flip side featuring a variety of musical instruments. You can't go wrong investing in this coin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Another silver item I want to mention is this Silver Krugerrand. When I first spotted this Krugerrand, I assumed it was produced by the South African Mint as a silver version of the famous Gold Krugerrand. Come to find out this is not a legal tender coin produced by the SA Mint (they do not produce a Silver Krugerrand) but is considered a silver round produced by a private mint. This silver round is commemorating the continuous production of the Gold Krugerrand from 1967 until 1983. I purchased it because it closely duplicates the gold version and is more appealing to me than many of the other silver rounds I see advertised. The Silver Krugerrand isn't that rare so you shouldn't be stuck with a high premium if you decide to purchase. I would think the liquidity would be good because of the familiar images on both sides. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">If you were to have purchased either the Silver Philharmonic or the Silver Krugerrand one year ago, they would have cost you over $50 each as the spot price of silver peaked at just under $50 on 4/24/2011. Today you should be able to purchase each for somewhere in the low $30's (spot silver is at $30.66 at the time of this post). If the price of silver goes back up (as many predict it will), you will find yourself with a nice profit. </span><br />
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Stop by the <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/" target="new">Silver Investing Simplified</a> and <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/" target="new">Silver Investing Guide</a> for more info on silver investments.</div>
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Thanks for reading.</div>sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-7257764833058593072012-03-11T23:59:00.004-05:002012-03-13T00:11:15.129-05:00Beware Of These Morgan Silver Dollar "Deals"Let me first say that the Morgan Silver Dollar is one of my favorite silver coins. But I want to clear up some of the dis-information and half-truths in some of the ads I have seen for these historic coins. There is no shortage of Morgan dollars despite the fact that <span style="font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:-1;"><big>270,232,722</big></span></span> were melted down in 1918 by the U.S. Government to replenish their silver stockpile. Every coin show I have been to, including the latest one mentioned in my <a href="http://goldinvestingguide.blogspot.com/" target="new">Gold Blog</a>, has had a surplus of Morgans for sale in many different grades. So if you are shopping around for some Morgan dollars beware of misleading ads such as these...<br /><br />One ad was promoting 1921 Morgans, stating this was the last year they were struck (true) and implied they had special value because of it (false). The truth is Morgan dollars were minted for the first 11 months of 1921 - a total of 86,730,000 between the three U.S. Mints. Not exactly a small number and far from scarce (the 1921 Peace dollar has a higher value as only 1,000,473 were minted). So don't go paying a high premium for circulated or uncirculated 1921 Morgans. And be VERY careful if you are interested in Mint State 1921 Morgans that are graded and slabbed. Even some of the higher grades are not that scarce and counterfeit Morgans in these grades are not unheard of. If you want truly special Morgan Silver Dollars, look for <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/Morgan-CC-Silver-Dollar.html" target="new">Carson City Morgans</a> in the higher uncirculated grades and shop around.<br /><br />Another ad states you can buy Morgan (or Peace) Silver Dollars at a very low premium over the spot silver price. So if spot silver is at $30 and you can get each silver dollar for $32 it sounds like an okay deal. They are hoping the buyer doesn't know the actual silver content or just assumes that these 90% silver dollars contain an ounce of silver. They DON'T. An uncirculated Morgan and Peace silver dollar contain .7734 troy ounces of silver and at $30 spot their intrinsic or melt value is $23.20. A very good deal for the seller but a very bad deal for the buyer. The silver price would have to go up another $11 just to break even on this deal. And if the silver dollar is lightly circulated, it is considered to contain .7650 taking in account the wear factor. If you are not sure of how good some of these deals are, ask any reputable dealer and they will tell you.<br /><br />After a strong showing for Silver Eagles in January, the numbers kind of dropped off a cliff in February - from 6,107,000 to 1,490,000. So far in March the number is at 1,065,000. Gold Eagles are down in numbers too. After going through 127,000 ounces of gold for all the Gold Eagles produced in January, only 21,000 ounces of gold were used for February's Gold Eagles and 21,000 so far in March. Let's hope they "spring ahead" in numbers in the coming months.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-63343111612616282402012-02-11T21:45:00.004-06:002012-02-11T22:51:40.372-06:00Silver Eagles - Missed It By That MuchAlthough entirely possible, I really didn't think that the January 2012 final number of Silver Eagles minted would top the January 2011 number of 6,422,000. And it didn't. The 2012 number came in at 6,107,000. Missed it by 315,000 but it was/is still an impressive number. In February of 2011, that number was cut in half (3,240,000) and with only 710,000 Silver Eagles minted so far in February 2012, they will be lucky to make it to the half way mark of January's total.<br /><br />I want to talk a little about bags of junk silver. When I first started selling precious metals in 2003, spot silver was hovering around $6.00 an ounce. With a full bag of junk silver dimes, quarters or half-dollars considered to contain 715 ounces of silver, a full bag ($1000 face value) could be had for approximately $4300.00. The old-timers (the sales staff that had been around for 20+ years) talked about how the company was buying back bags of silver for $35k when silver hit $50 an ounce. I was impressed by that talk. Back then I didn't think it was possible again in my lifetime. Now I do.<br /><br />I just visited a site that is offering for sale: a full bag of 90% junk silver dimes, quarters or half-dollars for $24,700 with spot silver at $33.65. That works out to be about $.90 cent premium over spot. That might be a little steep for many budgets BUT they are also offering half-bags for $12,405. That is 357.5 ounces of silver at $1.05 premium over spot. BUT WAIT! You can also get a quarter-bag for $6265. That's 178.75 ounces of silver at $1.40 premium over spot silver. THERE'S MORE! They offer a tenth of a bag ($100 face value) for $2531. That's 71.5 ounces of silver with a premium of $1.75 over spot. Still too much? Finally you can buy one- twentieth of a bag ($50 face value) from this company for $1276.50. That is 35.75 ounces of silver at $2.05 premium over spot.<br /><br />I really like junk silver and if you are shopping for bags or partial bags of junk silver, this should give you a good idea of competitive prices. Some dealers also offer junk silver bags of silver dollars (Peace or Morgan) but a full bag of those contain 765 ounces of silver. You can find out more about junk silver bags at <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/Junk-Silver-Bags.html" target="new">Junk Silver Bags</a>.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-61744051366641090562012-01-11T00:03:00.011-06:002012-01-11T21:43:56.843-06:00Should Physical Silver Have It's Own Spot Price?Silver had a great start in 2011, climbing the chart steadily until the great silver price "take-down" in early May. After flirting with $50 per ounce (high of $48.48), spot silver drifted in a lower range and hit a low of $26.87 around year-end. Officially, silver lost about 9% for the year (it's first loss in three years). If only there were two prices quoted for silver, one for the paper traders and the other for the physical market, we would see quite a different story.<br /><br />The physical silver market is booming and don't let anyone tell you different. Total 2011 Silver Eagles were reported at <span style="font-weight: bold;">39,868,500</span> (most likely they topped 40,000,000 but weren't reported that way). Here are the totals for Silver Eagles beginning in 1986 (their first year)...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1986</span> 5,393,005, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1987</span> 11,442,335, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1988</span> 5,004,646, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />1989</span> 5,203,327, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1990</span> 5,840,210, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1991</span> 7,191,066, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />1992</span> 5,540,068, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1993</span> 6,763,762, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1994</span> 4,227,319, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />1995</span> 4,672,051, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1996</span> 3,603,386, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1997</span> 4,295,004, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />1998</span> 4,847,549, <span style="font-weight: bold;">1999</span> 7,408,640, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2000</span> 9,239,132<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2001</span> 9,001,711, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2002</span> 10,539,026, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2003</span> 8,495,008, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />2004</span> 8,882,754, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2005 </span> 8,891,025, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2006</span> 10,676,522,<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2007</span> 9,028,036, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2008 </span>20,583,000, <span style="font-weight: bold;">2009 </span>30,459,000,<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2010 </span> 34,764,500<br /><br />On January 3, the first working day of 2012, the US Mint received orders for a whopping 3,197,000 Silver Eagles. That is about 8% of 2011's total figure. It should be noted that the Mint doesn't sell Silver Eagle coins directly to the public but rather through its network of authorized purchasers. So it isn't actual sales to the other coin dealers and investing public. But this huge number seems to indicate the Mint's authorized resellers expect strong demand.<br /><br />I want to call your attention to this article "<strong>For the first time in history, Silver Eagle & Maple Leaf sales will surpass domestic silver production in the U.S. and Canada in 2011</strong>". Although it points out that silver production has fallen in both countries, the demand for Silver Eagles and Silver Maple Leafs is on the rise. This interesting article with multiple charts can be found <a href="http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article32456.html" target="new">here</a>. <span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph">Lest you fear you won't get your fair share, at the end of 2011 the U. S. Mint stated "it has enough American Eagle gold and silver bullion coins to meet demand and does not expect to allocate them in early 2012". This Reuters article can be read <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/28/us-usmint-eagles-coins-supply-idUSTRE7BR14Y20111228" target="new">here</a>. </span></span><br /><br />That's it for now. Thanks for reading.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-9244346026555123722011-11-27T21:25:00.008-06:002011-11-28T21:52:58.686-06:00Silver Investing - Cleaning Silver Coins (Or Not)For some time I have been meaning to write an article about <span style="font-weight: bold;">cleaning silver coins</span>. It wasn't high on my list because, in general, I don't recommend it except in a few special cases. Most dealers will tell you never to clean your silver coins (referred to as <span style="font-weight: bold;">whizzing</span>) as you may destroy any value it/they may have over and above the intrinsic value. Even if it doesn't have great value, you won't get a better price for a whizzed coin and, if you do it wrong, you may get less than if you just brought it in as is.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g-47pTu43lI/TtMJP8mVikI/AAAAAAAAABE/ZoHubC1T954/s1600/peace300.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g-47pTu43lI/TtMJP8mVikI/AAAAAAAAABE/ZoHubC1T954/s320/peace300.jpg" alt="Peace Silver Dollar before cleaning" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679893724613937730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-atcyjhb4tYg/TtMJ7gHjB4I/AAAAAAAAABQ/kxJ9mjAo0_s/s1600/PeaceDollarCleaned2.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 75px; height: 75px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-atcyjhb4tYg/TtMJ7gHjB4I/AAAAAAAAABQ/kxJ9mjAo0_s/s320/PeaceDollarCleaned2.jpg" alt="Clean silver coin - Peace Dollar" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679894472882849666" border="0" /></a>Another reason I have taken so long in writing this article is because I didn't have good pictures of coins before and after the cleaning process (actually I describe two different cleaning procedures in the article). I was able to find two good examples to work with which you can see in great detail along with an example of a really bad whizzed coin. You can read about it at <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/Cleaning-Silver-Coins.html" target="new">Cleaning Silver Coins</a>.<br /><br />It appears that November's Silver Eagle totals are headed for the lowest amount so far of all months in 2011. There for a while it looked like the U.S. Mint wouldn't even reach 1,000,000 but as of today (11/28) the number stands at 1,284,000 with just two more days to go. Compare this with the next two lowest months of March (2,767,000) and April (2,819,000) versus January's 6,422,000 and September's 4,460,500 and you can see the numbers are all over the board. We'll have to see where December's total comes in at but I would be very surprised to see it go higher than 2,500,000.<br /><br />Spot silver stands at $31.93 and can't seem to break the $32 mark for any length of time. That's down $3.36 in the last 30 days but still up $5.23 over the last year which is +19.59%. Time is running out for the rosy projections of a much higher silver price by year-end. But keep the faith since 2012 appears to be shaping up as a most interesting year.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-72086562619393006262011-10-30T21:40:00.007-05:002011-10-31T18:56:12.141-05:00Silver Investing - I'm Going To Stop Puting Things Off, Starting TomorrowMy last few silver purchases have been with a small dealer in my area. When I say small dealer, I mean small in that he is a one-man show. He travels around to local and regional coin shows, rents a booth and conducts business. Maybe I could get better deals elsewhere but Artie the dealer is as honest as the day is long and we trust each other.<br /><br />Artie and I have a mutual friend that believes he missed the boat on profiting in silver and refuses to invest. The trouble is he has been saying that since silver was in the mid-teens. So he really did miss the boat then and he is still missing it. <u>He has to stop puting things off</u>. One thing our friend does like to do is spend time at the casino in our area. If he would take just half of his gambling funds and invest in some silver, he could be accumulating some real assets. I mean $40 will maybe get him 5-10 minutes of "fun" on a tight slot machine. With that same $40 (or less) our friend could become a full-fledged silver investor. It's all a matter of priorities and a little future planning.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V2QCso9m8kM/Tq4dLnksaMI/AAAAAAAAAA4/pqsW09KlhPg/s1600/ben300.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V2QCso9m8kM/Tq4dLnksaMI/AAAAAAAAAA4/pqsW09KlhPg/s320/ben300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5669501066344687810" border="0" /></a>My most recent purchase from Artie was a small amount of Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) Ben Franklin half-dollars (1948-1963). These are beautiful coins and, since they are uncirculated, each coin contains .3617 troy ounces of silver. With spot silver hovering around $35 per ounce, the intrinsic value (the value of the silver content only) of each coin is about $12.66. These coins would be worth a little more because they are uncirculated and in beautiful condition. Silver half-dollars that have been in circulation are considered to contain .3575 ounces of silver due to the wear factor. Based on the current spot price of silver, I paid a healthy premium for these half-dollars. But based on where I think silver is going, I won't be losing money on them. You can find out more about different silver coins at <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/" target="new">Silver Investing Guide</a> and <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/" target="new">Silver Investing Simplified</a>.<br /><br />It can be confusing and frustrating trying to decide what to invest in these days. There are lots of conflicting stories on what is a safe investment. If you decide not to invest in precious metals and stay in other markets, I respect your decision. Just use good judgement and some good old common sense. Those that don't can expect the following...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">When a person with money meets a person with experience,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the person with the experience gets the money and</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the person with the money gets the experience.</span><br /><br />Thanks for reading.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6362379244805412788.post-26994549052674968372011-09-26T23:28:00.005-05:002011-09-27T22:02:26.871-05:00Silver Investing - Buying Silver From Classified AdsBefore I discuss the mauling silver prices have been taking lately, I want to share a couple of classified ads that recently appeared in my local paper offering silver coins for sale.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ad #1</span>: 250 Silver Dimes, $750. <u>How good of a deal is this?</u> Circulated silver dimes (I'm assuming they are circulated) are considered to contain .0715 troy ounces of silver. So 250 x .0715 = 17.875 ounces of silver. Divide $750 by 17.875 for a cost per ounce of $41.958. The seller probably placed the ad when silver was going for $39-$40 an ounce (just last week). Spot silver at the time of this post is at $31.05 so the current worth of each silver dime is $2.22 (31.05 x .0715). Paying the asking price of $3.00 per coin, or a premium of $.78 per coin, is a little steep. I'd pass on this one.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ad #2</span>: 6 Silver Dollars, 5 Walker 1/2, 5 Silver Eagles $575. <u>let's look at this offer a little closer.</u> Circulated silver dollars are considered to contain .7650 troy ounces of silver, Walking Liberty half-dollars .3575 ounces of silver and Silver Eagles a full-ounce of silver. So total them all up (6 x .7650, 5 x .3575 and 6 x 1) and you have 12.3775 ounces of silver. Divide $575 by 12.3775 and you get an asking price of $46.455 per ounce. Ouch!<br /><br />To take advantage of either "deal" would require great faith that 1) silver will one day surpass $50 per ounce and, 2) the buyer is willing to buy and hold despite the volatility of silver. I think it will go above that price sometime in the future but there are probably better deals to be had with silver presently in the $30-$31 range.<br /><br />Now on to the shellacking the price of silver has taken lately. I've discussed this before but there is a world of difference between the silver paper traders and those dealing with physical silver. From all accounts I have read, this drop in prices has U. S. precious metals dealers scrambling to fill the huge demand their customers see as a fantastic buying opportunity. Silver buyers in Canada are of the same mind. In an article titled "<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Maple Leaf silver coins seeing record demand</span>" a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mint stated they are on track to raise sales of its silver bullion coins by around 30 percent to 25 million ounces this year. The article is <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2011/09/20/maple-leaf-silver-coins-seeing-record-demand/" target="new">here</a>.<br /><br />You would never know that physical silver demand continues to be strong by watching the downward action - a probable result of technical paper trading in the futures market. The anti- higher-silver-price crowd certainly flexed their muscles last week - silver had its biggest single-day decline in two decades. More downward pressure came after the CME again increased margins on Friday. How many does that make now?<br /><br />The U.S. Mint is starting to crank out Silver Eagles again after a slow September start. The total so far for the month is 3,425,500 (year-to-date 32,376,500) with a few more days to go. Still far from January 2011's total of 6,422,000.<br /><br />Be sure to visit my web sites on silver to read helpful information on common U.S. and Canadian silver coins. Again, they are <a href="http://www.silverinvestingsimplified.com/" target="new">Silver Investing Simplified</a> and <a href="http://www.silverinvestingguide.com/" target="new">Silver Investing Guide</a>.<br /><br />Thanks for reading. Keep the faith.sausimanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12956502116392540760noreply@blogger.com0