RacerCool

All this comes down to basic philosophical differences between investors, collectors, and stackers. My view is that gathering PMs is a matter of anticipating and preparing for the future.  It's not an investment where I try to time the market.  It's a rather black pilled expectation that the market itself will radically change, and that PMs as we know them will become foundational to that market. And so building a personal store of PMs is preparing for that future.

Having said that, I have no real strategy beyond creating that personal store of PMs.  I've gone completely away from collecting (other than the occasional Mexican onzas/Libertads) and try to have what could be the most useful collection of coins, should the market radically change.  But even the Mexican coins fit into that plan since they're 1 oz of PM, and are widely known and recognized, and therefore have a very realistic place in a PM economy.  Any other collectible types have been or are being sold off and replaced with usable coins.

On 12/01/2023 at 06:12, StackemHigh said:

I would think that keeping these high levels of publicity would  take a lot of work, time and money. At these levels the teams of publicists would clearly be expensive. How many photos of someone on holiday will make it to the press

I really would need someone who know what the kardashians look like to tell me that was them as they are never in my newsfeed. My top news feeds today were Jeff Beck and why the north needs to connect to the HS2 project.

 

The Kardashians look like Hispanics, like they could be from South America.  I don't think they are but that's what their appearance is.  Beyond that I can't tell you anything other than they're famous because they're famous, and that they're toxic and the worst examples to girls and young women.

If someone is a collector then the more expensive coin might be the one they're looking for.  Otherwise if you're just looking for silver then you might likely buy the cheaper coin.

Or maybe you hate Canadians so then you'll avoid the Maple leaf.

8 hours ago, TeaTime said:

Ironically (?) the coins that have increased in value the most for me have all been base metal. If it's low mintage and subsequent issues become popular then the material it's made from makes little difference in the collector world.

Saying that, you need to know what to buy and when to buy/sell them. It's a gamble that can be mitigated with a little knowledge.

The examples in this post i wouldn't touch for one (or more) of the following reasons - RM proof coins generally tank / there are too many of them / highly specialised coins have limited appeal. 

True, if you're in the speculative market to invest that way.  My perspective is from trying to obtain something more intrinsically valuable.  I say "more intrinsically" because even metals that have been historically considered valuable can be worthless if there's no market or means of using them.  But all you can do is try to understand what's possibly going to have value (ie- usefulness)  in the future.

My opinion is that collector coins that aren't actually made of precious metals are not worth buying.  What are you going to do with them?  They're just going to cost money and take up space.  And for what?  They're very very very likely not going to be worth any more than you paid for them.

But that being said, everyone has their reasons.

4 hours ago, stefffana said:

I think the best choice will be to collect some half dollars (50cent) Canada, up to 1966. They are very nice and not difficult to find, relatively low premium.

Weight: 11.6638g - .800 silver/.200 copper.

Diameter: 29.72mmm.

See https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces310.html and 

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces308.html.

Cheers!🤗

Stefan.

 

Another option is US silver half dollars which are 30.6 mm.  Maybe that's too big if 30 mm is the actual upper limit and not an approximation.

Canadian gold and platinum Maples are 30 mm.

Mexican 1/2 oz gold Libertads are 29 mm.

My view is that a coin should be at least 90% silver to be worth having, because they cost money, they are heavy, and they take up space.  So if I'm going to have it then it should be worth keeping.

My collection, if it hadn't been lost in that tragic event, would include mostly historical coins, which were minted by governments.  Not because I trust or am in love with gov't but because these coins are known and accepted.  For example, 1955-1960 Mexican 10 pesos crown-sized coins.  Those are beefy chunky silver coins!  For smaller coins, it's US pre-1965 silver dimes.  Because they're known coins they should be more practical and usable if silver coinage becomes currency again.

Same principle applies to gold stacking.

Is this the first king Charles coin officially minted?

Also, it's sterling silver (92.5% silver)which is what a circulated coin would likely be (or 90% silver).  They are likely sticking to that as tradition.

I generally will buy a roll of uncirculated silver dimes or half dollars.  Or the occasional 1 oz silver Libertad to slowly round out the collection.

On 09/08/2022 at 17:02, Happypanda88 said:

Will Silver Prices Go Down to $0.29?

If silver drops to this price level in a matter of weeks, will bullion dealers continue to sell or will all silver products magically become Out-Of-Stock ! 😎

I'll be super generous and offer the dealer 2x the silver price.  I'll give them $0.58 per ounce!  Because that's how awesome I am.  

As for gold coins I prefer Mexican and US, and always stick to fractionals.

Before that terrible and unfortunate perfect storm that included a train wreck, boating accident, and nuclear attack, all at the same time and place, I used to have 5 peso coins (approx 1/8 oz) and 5 dollar coins (approx 1/4 oz).

On 31/07/2022 at 13:47, RDHC said:

Lucky you! 5 oz. must be amazing. Also, I like the owl, a querky touch if not entirely appropriate, and this Britannia looks distinctly louche to my eye, which some may find appealing!

The owl is perfectly appropriate if you understand who Britannia actually is.  She might be the same entity as Colombia (Lady Liberty, whatever), the Mexican Victoria, or any of those female national spirit personifications.  Regardless, she's probably Athena (Greek) or Minerva (Roman).  The owl would be called "Minerva's owl" and is often seen with her in images.  

Though when it comes to Colombia/Lady Liberty, as in the Statue of Liberty, there's debate on who or what that actually is.  

Place a non-sticking tape around the capsule with words on it "LEAVE COIN IN CAPSULE DO NOT HANDLE COIN WITH BARE HANDS" in bold red letters.  The tape can easily be removed and tossed aside but they have to have seen those words before actually accessing the capsule.

Beyond that there's nothing I can think of short of gluing the capsule shut.

Unless you have a serious amount of cash to turn into 1 oz coins then I'd suggest regularly stacking fractional gold, whatever coins in decent condition you can afford.

On 09/04/2022 at 22:30, ady said:

Is this not why gold is the currency of kings, silver the curreny of...etc. The modern sov being a known weight, it is just a adjustment to mental calculation of worth, maybe silver as a commoner had to be stamped with value for ironically the more illiterate. Calculation of value has even been done on other threads to value of copper and nickel in coins.

For the unwashed maybe the coin should be stamped with two beer pints showing how much it's worth.  Or something similar.

Just now, SilverStorm said:

Nice pickup.  With regards to the finger print smudges, have you tried baking sofa/hot water or acetone to remove it?   

I haven't yet.  I used some isopropyl alcohol to remove the smudges, while wearing nitrile gloves.  I gently tried to wipe the alcohol away but just ended up moving smudges around.  Though some of it came off.  I'll try the baking soda idea.

On 29/01/2022 at 06:39, Happypanda88 said:

So how much do we think is held by private citizens in the UK?

 

I'll say very low, much lower than the french population - perhaps half the amount.

Besides, nearly all of the UK forum members here have suffered at least one tragic boating accident. Otherwise, it could have been slightly more. 😬

We all need to stop going out to sea floating on old patched up inner tubes!

I use nitrile.

I added two more gold coins to the stack. 

Another $5 gold commemorative from US Mint (approx 1/4 oz), this time a 1997 FDR.  Previous owner had handled it with bare hands and got fingerprints all over it.  That irritates me to no end.  I tried to get them off but only smudged some of it around.  Whatever; I knew it and got it for spot price with free shipping.

The other one is (again) yet another run of the mill 5 peso coin (approx 1/8 oz).  It has some copper spots on it but no biggie because I got it for 7% over spot.

Very nice! Congrats on getting such a mint specimen. 

I don't think it's that easy, just melting them down.  Look up sreetips on youtube.  He's a jeweler and he has tons of videos on how he melts and separates precious metals from things like electrical contacts, junk metal, etc. It involves various chemicals and multiple processes.

Then again he often tries to separate gold from various alloys so maybe it's the gold that's the difficult metal. But silver seems like it takes a lot to separate from other metals.

On 02/09/2021 at 10:32, LawrenceChard said:

I think their dictionaries are written by some cunt country bumpkin. 

 

I wouldn't argue against that possibility. Though I prefer not to insult the bumpkin and instead call them "university educated".

"That's Latin, darling. Evidently Mr. Ringo here is an educated man. Now I really hate him."

Also, it's Freedom Fries, thank you very much.

On 20/09/2021 at 01:24, SidS said:

I've long tried to imagine what a beast the $100 Union would have been, 5oz of gold!

That's like 20 odd sovereigns in weight.

Yes please! I'll take a several of them and a handful of the the half unions and a bunch of the little $20 double eagles as pocket change.

On 31/08/2021 at 03:58, LawrenceChard said:

Doug provided a tweaked version of the obverse:

 

 

The details in Victorian era coins are amazing. I'm often amazed at how a talented artist can pull detail and dimension out of a small essentially two dimensional medium.

A pep talk?