Silver now at pre Lehman levels, 4 year low.

[Oregonhunter5]

I listen to all of them, And believe none of them. If I believed him the last thing I would be doing was buying more silver

Then I would pick the middle. And your still going to make money.
But, it may not be about making money, but just surviving. If your have a family, or will, your a good dude. Keep it up!

 

[Just Jim]

It's all about timing

 

[IronMonster]

well, I would not argue that but if the intent is to hold them for 30 + years, which is my intent (unless they make a race for the moon then I might sell only so I could buy more later after they crash) then the timing becomes far less important. With the unprecedented money creation of the last decade there is no doubt that the dollar will be worth far less in the coming years. I think even 10 years from now it wont matter if you bought at $10 or $40 you will be glad you bought .

I could be very wrong, but life is full of risks and you never get anyplace without taking a few.

 

[Just Jim]

Everything is at risk in the Obama economy Looks like we may get some deflation, hope it all works out for you monster.

 

[Just Jim]

Something to wonder about...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102021996

 

[IronMonster]

It goes both ways

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...-rush-to-buy-Italian-Job-style-gold-bars.html

I think we have already had some deflation and would not be surprised if we have more.

 

[Just Jim]

Holding cash would point to deflation, what would hoarding gold mean?

 

[IronMonster]

Inflation? Dollar devaluation? Could be lots of things. If we where pulled into a real currency war with Russia and China gold would be a very good place to be.

Deflation is a consequence of too much money in the system, more money chasing fewer goods and less demand. Which at some point always leads to inflation, sometimes very rapid inflation.

Holding cash when you think prices are going to drop is sensible, as long as you trust the banks the cash is in and the government who backs the cash...

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Something to wonder about...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102021996

My dad is a really big guy in the market, personally, and as a business. I had large amount of money in a 401k, and was leaving that company. He told me to roll into there safest account.
So when I read this article, I don't see rich guys holding cash cause it's worth a lot, I see them worried about the market dropping.
Buying real hard metal, not paper metal, is the way to go if possible.

 

[AMProducts]

Realistically... I regularly buy amounts of precious metals, because I use it. Silver solder (I just buy silver shot) gold I buy as strip or shot, platinum comes in wire, and then there are the industrial metals... cobalt, manganese, ruthenium, scandium, etc. Most of the silver and gold I have I started buying in the 80's... I paid about $3.50/oz for the silver, and between 300-400 for the gold. Since I was a kid at this point, much of the gold purchases were made by family members as a lump sum christmas/birthday present.

Thing is, these metals have no value to me except their utility, don't buy PM just to hoard it. Hey MM, you made yourself a set of coining dies yet? Wouldn't it be cool to coin your own?

 

[Just Jim]

I don't believe anything is a safe deal in this Obama economy. Since he has been potus what has Gold and silver done? What has food done and fuel?

 

[IronMonster]

I have actually coined several, and forged some silver coins into other things. I even made a platinum medallion that had a family crest on it for a guy.


The top one is a penny I used to test the die, the second one is the platinum, Second pic is the die

I did it in a 400 ton press I have.

The last picture is a hand carved coining die that my granddad had. Not sure what the coin is but its dated 1802

 

[NoFlinch]

I have actually coined several, and forged some silver coins into other things. I even made a platinum medallion that had a family crest on it for a guy.


The top one is a penny I used to test the die, the second one is the platinum, Second pic is the die

I did it in a 400 ton press I have.

The last picture is a hand carved coining die that my granddad had. Not sure what the coin is but its dated 1802

View attachment 104515 View attachment 104516 View attachment 104517

VERY COOL!

 

[NoFlinch]

I have invested in Gold/Silver....
I have many OUNCES....

But when Geo. Soros sold 4 TONS of Gold a year or 2 back, I knew sompun' was wrong with this picture.

 

[Just Jim]

Monster you are probably smart to learn how to change metal into something besides coins. Doubt government would confiscate family heirlooms.

 

[nehalemguy]

I think it was the eighties that gold went to $800 and silver to $40. Only to crash for 20 years to very low prices. Who sets the values on PMs? I don't think they are set by the free market so they are controlled. I don't buy them for that reason, in my opinion the prices are rigged.

Silver hit $48 in 1980 when the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market. At one point they controlled 1/3 of all silver, but it was mostly bought on borrowed money so the attempt quickly failed.

PM prices are driven by supply and demand, not control by some unseen entity. I can remember buying silver for a little over $3 throughout the '80s and buying gold for around $225 in 1999 at the peak of the dot com stock bubble. It was cheap at that time because no one was interested in buying it for investment.

 

[AMProducts]

I have actually coined several, and forged some silver coins into other things. I even made a platinum medallion that had a family crest on it for a guy.


The top one is a penny I used to test the die, the second one is the platinum, Second pic is the die

I did it in a 400 ton press I have.

The last picture is a hand carved coining die that my granddad had. Not sure what the coin is but its dated 1802

View attachment 104515 View attachment 104516 View attachment 104517

That's totally sweet! I think the bottom one may be a stamp for making medallions or it might have also been a wax stamp. These were fairly common that even down to the provincial level they were used for sealing letters before the advent of the envelope.

I don't recognize the coin at all, but I'm hardly an expert on the topic.

Silver hit $48 in 1980 when the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market. At one point they controlled 1/3 of all silver, but it was mostly bought on borrowed money so the attempt quickly failed.

PM prices are driven by supply and demand, not control by some unseen entity. I can remember buying silver for a little over $3 throughout the '80s and buying gold for around $225 in 1999 at the peak of the dot com stock bubble. It was cheap at that time because no one was interested in buying it for investment.

What gets me is silver, gold, etc are all still valuable industrial metals, granted they're used in smaller quantities than copper, zinc, and iron, but they all play important roles. I've come across all kinds of non-standard stockpiles of silver, one thing I have is about 5lbs of silver nitrate someone gave me. I still havn't figured out what to do with it (it's valuable as the nitrate for a wide variety of uses from making mirrors to explosives) or whether I want to refine it back to metal (pretty simple, just add copper)

 

[NoFlinch]

"To buy, or not to buy",(more), That is the question................

 

[Just Jim]

Silver hit $48 in 1980 when the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market. At one point they controlled 1/3 of all silver, but it was mostly bought on borrowed money so the attempt quickly failed.

PM prices are driven by supply and demand, not control by some unseen entity. I can remember buying silver for a little over $3 throughout the '80s and buying gold for around $225 in 1999 at the peak of the dot com stock bubble. It was cheap at that time because no one was interested in buying it for investment.

Who sets the value on PMs?

 

[nehalemguy]

Who sets the value on PMs?

The value perception and pain threshold of willing buyers.

If a PM broker were to offer up silver today at $20 they would get few if any takers. Offer it up at $10 and buyers would tear out the doors to buy it up. Somewhere in between is the value and price buyers have decided they are willing to pay.

In 1979-1980 the Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market by buying up a very large share of the world silver supply. I've heard varying numbers ranging from 30% to possibly 70% of the world's silver was under their control for a brief time. Buyers, such as industrial users, suddenly found supply very limited and began paying higher and higher prices to secure stocks and if I remember correctly, silver hit $50-55 for a day or two. Once the Hunt's scheme imploded, prices crashed.