Well I won't be selling any silver for a while

[HighlandTiger]

Finally discovered my old spreadsheets in preparation for selling the rest of my silver. After I got over the shock of what I was paying in 2016, it seems I'll be keeping my not so small stack for the near and (the way its looking) far future.😥

I need silver to get back to £15 an oz again, before I can even consider selling again.

oh well, looks like I'm still a silver stacker.    😎 

[sovereignsteve]

28 minutes ago, HighlandTiger said:

Finally discovered my old spreadsheets in preparation for selling the rest of my silver. After I got over the shock of what I was paying in 2016, it seems I'll be keeping my not so small stack for the near and (the way its looking) far future.😥

I need silver to get back to £15 an oz again, before I can even consider selling again.

oh well, looks like I'm still a silver stacker.    😎 

why were you thinking of selling? If it's because you think it's a lost cause, you should still sell regardless of your buying price.

sitting on losses is not a  good investment tactic, sometimes things never go back to your buying price and you may be able to use the money for better buys.

[HawkHybrid]

48 minutes ago, HighlandTiger said:

Finally discovered my old spreadsheets in preparation for selling the rest of my silver. After I got over the shock of what I was paying in 2016, it seems I'll be keeping my not so small stack for the near and (the way its looking) far future.😥

I need silver to get back to £15 an oz again, before I can even consider selling again.

oh well, looks like I'm still a silver stacker.    😎 

 

I don't even need a spreadsheet to tell me that I'm

currently in the red on bullion silver. 

silver stacker: been there, done that, got the

underwater silver to prove it.

 

HH

[SiliconToad]

After taking premiums into account, there are very few windows in the last ten years where are person could break even on the principle spent bullion silver. Rather, its much more likely one would take a significant haircut on a dollar (or pound) basis, saying nothing about inflationary purchase power loss. 

Best not to dwell on such things and just admire the silvery gleam.  

[HelpingHands]

Metals are finally starting to look promising on the charts.

[DarkChameleon]

You can sell at a loss if you believe something else will make up your losses and then some...one reason I offered a sovereign for 20 eagles...for people who are silver poor buy believe gold will outperform silver which as the ratio grows shows it is...it's like home owners, if your home lost value then selling it didn't sound great unless you were moving into an area that would grow in value... y old home went up by 70k in a matter of a year but the owners spent 20k to do it and my new home has went up almost 40k since I bought it...sometimes you take the bit now to make the money later.

[HighlandTiger]

Some good points above to ponder.

My original thought was to sell the silver  coins/bullion/rounds to buy sovs, and to put some money into silver on Bullion vault and scrap sterling silver.

The idea being that it's easy to liquidate the sovs, sterling silver and bullion vault, plus the spread on gold is about 5% and the silver would be around 2% for BV and 10% for the scrap at the most.

Unfortunately I followed the advice of the "collectors" on here and bought into lunars, stock horses, Brits and the rest of the "stackers" bread and butter. I was new to the game and easily convinced. I see the same tactics here with slabbed and poured silver today.

I don't care what anyone thinks, unless silver reaches £50 in the next 10 years, everyone currently holding any silver coins, slabs or bars, will lose money, when inflation is taken into account. The vat and the premiums kill holding silver long term.

I should have stuck with my gut feelings with silver. I still think silver has its place in investment terms, but I need to buy and sell close to spot, and not have to contend with the vagaries of premiums and relying on collectors to buy.

Luckily I've not mortgaged the house to buy silver, I can afford to sit on it, bide my time, and keep my fingers crossed that it goes to the moon as promised. If not my kids and grandkids can have it. 

[HighlandTiger]

And a further thought, historically gold has usually held its value when compared to inflation, so as a storage of wealth it's a good asset.

Silver on the other hand is all over the place and historically never held its value when compared to inflation. Apart from the well known times that the silver price was manipulated. Anyone buying silver coins/bullion is going to have to rely on another price manipulation to make their investment become good over time. Trying to beat the 2% inflation per year is not easy with silver.

[Gildeon]

All interesting points, I suppose each one has their style, which also changing by the time (at least mine all the time!). Currently I am trying to be in a balanced state with 1/3 gold, 1/3 silver bullion and 1/3 higher premium items. The last one is to keep me satisfied, as I was going to collect something else instead. And in most of the cases, when I tried to sell my older collections, I lost money. So I am prepared for that, up to a point.

The collectible coins present good opportunities in several cases. One is a quick flip for something very successful but you have to read the market carefully. Another is a slower appreciation over time, for series getting more and more fans as we go (Perth stuff, older Pandas, Queen's Beasts etc.). And sometimes it can be just luck, when something skyrocketed without any previous signs (maybe the first year Roger Rabbit is a good example...). But we must point out that the chances of failure in all the above are probably more than the chances of success. So if someone goes for profit (or at least can't accept a loss), must tread carefully and treat it like any other volatile investment.

Or you can just choose your metals, stick close to spot and let it follow its course. And if some items increase their premium on the way, it will be an extra bonus.

[HighlandTiger]

1 hour ago, Gildeon said:

 Currently I am trying to be in a balanced state with 1/3 gold, 1/3 silver bullion and 1/3 higher premium items.

If I keep buying gold and scrap sterling, my percentage of premium items will fall, and won't look so bad. It's a good plan

[Gildeon]

3 minutes ago, HighlandTiger said:

If I keep buying gold and scrap sterling, my percentage of premium items will fall, and won't look so bad. It's a good plan

Also if the spot price falls, the increase in the premiums is the only way to get your money back or even some profit. For example you mentioned stock horses, I don't know your buying price but these seem to have appreciated well through the years.

[HighlandTiger]

12 minutes ago, Gildeon said:

Also if the spot price falls, the increase in the premiums is the only way to get your money back or even some profit. For example you mentioned stock horses, I don't know your buying price but these seem to have appreciated well through the years.

Stock horses were being bought for £50/£60 when they first came out. If anyone wants to buy them from me at that price I have quite a few for sale. Any takers? 😋

[Gildeon]

My mistake, didn't know they were so expensive from the beginning. 🤔

[HighlandTiger]

4 minutes ago, Gildeon said:

My mistake, didn't know they were so expensive from the beginning. 🤔

I blame @ChrisSIlver, if I remember right I bought some off him using a bit of bitcoin I had. Bitcoin then went through the roof, and the stock horses went lame.

🙄

[sovereignsteve]

49 minutes ago, HighlandTiger said:

Stock horses were being bought for £50/£60 when they first came out. If anyone wants to buy them from me at that price I have quite a few for sale. Any takers? 😋

example of a series that never took off, still surprised they didn't do better.

[swAgger]

1 hour ago, HighlandTiger said:

Stock horses were being bought for £50/£60 when they first came out. If anyone wants to buy them from me at that price I have quite a few for sale. Any takers? 😋

Were they the 1,000 carded version at those prices, by any chance? Looking back to 2013, each year never cost me more than 38 euro, and from different dealers each year.

Your overall point is totally valid, though. This series can be,and often is, selected as an example of one that failed to deliver, and deserved to be humanely put down. I bought a healthy qty of the first one, then down to just a few each year after. I will say i have always made a decent profit selling on a '13 now and then which has helped round down the premium-pain on the later issues.

P.S. i still haven't bought the last one, 2017. For completion sake on my own set, i will buy one. But not until the price is low enough. The main distributor still has plenty of these in stock. Some day they'll get sick and tired of having them.

[ilovesilverireallydo]

1 hour ago, HighlandTiger said:

If I keep buying gold and scrap sterling, my percentage of premium items will fall, and won't look so bad. It's a good plan

There is a member here selling silver shot at £12 an oz... pure and cheaper than sterling scrap - should bring your average down  

[sixgun]

The retail prices for stock horses are picking up a bit https://gold.de/kaufen/silbermuenzen/stock-horse/ - they are a nice series but for some reason didn't ignite enthusiasm. i expect their prices will improve but it needs a few more years. 

[HighlandTiger]

11 minutes ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

There is a member here selling silver shot at £12 an oz... pure and cheaper than sterling scrap - should bring your average down  

I can get sterling silver for well under spot. Never had a problem doing that. Just bought 500g of sterling silver for about 7% under spot delivered. It's easy to find, you just have to have the cash available for when it appears. 

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7 minutes ago, sixgun said:

The retail prices for stock horses are picking up a bit https://gold.de/kaufen/silbermuenzen/stock-horse/ - they are a nice series but for some reason didn't ignite enthusiasm. i expect their prices will improve but it needs a few more years. 

I hope you're right. 

[ilovesilverireallydo]

7 minutes ago, HighlandTiger said:

I can get sterling silver for well under spot. Never had a problem doing that. Just bought 500g of sterling silver for about 7% under spot delivered. It's easy to find, you just have to have the cash available for when it appears. 



Aye - when I started out its what I was doing. and buying 50% silver coins too. 

 

[HighlandTiger]

20 minutes ago, ilovesilverireallydo said:

Aye - when I started out its what I was doing. and buying 50% silver coins too. 

 

Unfortunately too many people got into the pre 1920 coins and the 50% silver coins. It's getting harder and harder to find coins under spot. 

[Pampfan]

I bought lots of silver and frequently take baths in it to remind of how much I lost to hold a metal that takes up lots of space and is difficult to store.  

All kidding aside - my bathroom needs a new floor - so I was thinking on placing some colored silver eagles down as tiles and putting a nice shinny clear coat over it. 

At least that will take care of the storage aspect and it might actually look really nice.  I have seen it done with copper pennies - I will test it out and take some pics.

[ilovesilverireallydo]

6 minutes ago, Pampfan said:

I bought lots of silver and frequently take baths in it to remind of how much I lost to hold a metal that takes up lots of space and is difficult to store.  

 All kidding aside - my bathroom needs a new floor - so I was thinking on placing some colored silver eagles down as tiles and putting a nice shinny clear coat over it. 

 At least that will take care of the storage aspect and it might actually look really nice.  I have seen it done with copper pennies - I will test it out and take some pics.

[DarkChameleon]

8 hours ago, HighlandTiger said:

And a further thought, historically gold has usually held its value when compared to inflation, so as a storage of wealth it's a good asset.

Silver on the other hand is all over the place and historically never held its value when compared to inflation. Apart from the well known times that the silver price was manipulated. Anyone buying silver coins/bullion is going to have to rely on another price manipulation to make their investment become good over time. Trying to beat the 2% inflation per year is not easy with silver.

It's right that silver and gold are not beating Inflation right now but when they do move it can  be quick....when I started buying gold back in 88 I knew that gold was not going to be the great winner...yes at times it was and at times it wasnt, but I bought it because I liked it, I got a sense of collecting and it was an intrinsic play, I knew it would have a worth when the day finally came that I retired...I put money into a retirement account, I put money away buying other things I thought would hold their value more then pound notes would...I was just thinking that if I bought a new car, a caravan, a house even (after the 87 farce) that it would lose money fast...I was taught to put myself in a position to avoid debt as soon as I could, so loans I would take out if I didn't have the money bt could pay off at double the monthly payment to get rid quick, my collection does not exceed 10% of my pension so if the markets good then the PMs are not,if the markets bad then the PMs are that 6 month of cash you should hold and I have savings to make sure I don't need to sell by the next week if things got bad...the best move I have done is not to buy silver or gold but to move my IRA to move conservative investment and have no mortgage or car payments...debt free makes pm's the thing they should be, not a drain on your pension, on your wages and on your stress levels.

[DarkChameleon]

2 hours ago, HighlandTiger said:

I can get sterling silver for well under spot. Never had a problem doing that. Just bought 500g of sterling silver for about 7% under spot delivered. It's easy to find, you just have to have the cash available for when it appears. 

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I hope you're right. 

I have found that some local auctions can bring sterling goods at a nice cheap price, if not you get to see people buying sterling weighted for sterling spot and that can be fun too...lol.