Silver Values

The Declining Value of Your Dollar

I think that one thing illustrates the declining value of money very well. Simply look back at a point of time, and consider the amount of money took to purchase ordinary things that we still use every day. Then take a look at the amount of silver in $1 of US silver coins that actually circulated in currency. We have mentioned before that $1 of US silver coins contains .715 of an ounce of silver. So, for use as a standard, we shall call that a “standard” dollar, even though a quick look at the US silver coins calculator shows that today, that .715 ounces is worth about $12.23 of the coins or paper money you probably have in your pocket.

Now, with even The Wall Street Journal writing about potential food price increases, and that maybe we should stockpile food as an investment, we must look at some food items! Let’s take a common box of Cheerios cereal. It was .39 in 1963, but today that same box of Cheerios breakfast cereal tops out at $4.39. A loaf of Wonder Bread, the plain bread standard, was .29, and now it can sell for $2.89!

In 1963 a gallon of gasoline cost .29, and yes, I am just old enough to remember this. Where I live that same gallon of gas is about $3.30 today. Who knows what it will be tomorrow? Somehow I assume it will be closer to, or more than today’s price, and not closer to the 1963 price.

What is Silver Worth?

But look, $1 bought 3 gallons of gasoline or loaves of bread back in the early to mid sixties. That would have bene $1 in US silver currency (minted on or before 1964). Now the $12 and some change that the .715 ounces of silver in $1 of US silver currency is worth today, will buy about 4 loaves of bread or gallons of gas.

It may be time to consider hedging against inflation with some precious metals, and of course I like silver because it is, after all, the poor man’s gold! Or maybe we should just all go to the grocerty store and stock up on peanut butter and Cheerios. They store very well, and if the price inflation continues, may turn us a nice profit on the future breakfast cereal exchange or black market.

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We can find several sources of real jewelry at discounted prices online. Jewelry stores mark up items at an incredible rate. This becomes obvious if you ever try to resell old jewelry. At online markets you can find new jewelry without the high overheads you might find at a local high end retailer. So if you appreciate fine jewelry, but don’t want to pay more just for bragging rights, an online jewelry discounter is a place to start shopping.

Buy A Diamond Ring and Get A Second One Free at Diva Diamonds. This is a great idea with Mother’s Day coming up. Your wife will appreciate a gift, and so will your mom! Of give you wife the larger ring, and present your daughter with the smaller one. You can give them the value and security of real jewelry without overpaying on the street. In fact they offer real jewelry at 50 to 70 percent discounts over retail jewelry stores.

Send Online Jewelry Fast : Offers Discounted Jewelry, Gifts, and Flowers that you can send to the US, and in some cases, overseas.

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OK, so I’m a day behind. Silver-Prices.net just updated their silver stock portfolio. That post was yesterday on April 8, 2008. Even though they are, in general, bullish on silver, their opinion is that we could have a pullback on the bullion price, even down to $15 and ounce.

Now I can find lots of opinions out in cyberspace to the contrary, who believe that the time to buy is now. Personally, I cannot see how our weak dollar and increasingly challenged economy suggest anything but gradual increases in the silver price. Especially when people are having trouble finding bullion at coin dealers in many parts of the country!

However Silver-Prices does seem to make money on silver stocks, which does not entirely depend upon the price of silver, so the article is worth a glance.

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Ted Butler says that silver investement must be a long term commitment in this archive of his lastest silver article.

Silver Shortage?

Because of the many industrial uses of silver, and its value as a precious metal, he does believe the long term prospects for gain on a silver investment are still better then other PMs, including gold. And I agree that while most of the gold that has ever been minded is still around somewhere, silver gets used up in some applications. And lately, many investors were having trouble with shortages at local dealers, and even large online dealers, for common silver bullion products. In other words, he believes that silver is in short supply, even if that is not public knowledge.

However, all of us who watch markets know that the metal price is very volatile, and in the short term, is not a game for the faint of heart. A better strategy is to invest slowly and do our best to buy on the dips, not the spikes. Of course, during the hype and cries of shortages, it is much more tempting to push the buy botton, and that my friends, is the hard part of the game.

Right now, I am sitting on my pile and watching. I could regret this, as silver could spike over $20 again. I could be relieved if silver drops as some reserves are dumped on the market to keep the price down.

Again, I am not any sort of professional investment advisor and you must DYODD! Comments?

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Do You Have Gold Jewelry But Need Cash?

If you need a place to sell precious metal jewelry, then look for a place with some third party verification in place. Cash4Gold is one of the largest US gold buyers, and does participate in the Better Business Bureau and The Jeweler’s Vigilance Committee.

A FREE, INSURED Refiner’s Return Kit Will Be Delivered To You!

After you send your gold in, you will be forwarded your money within 3 business days. If you want to keep the settlement, that’s great! If for any reason, you decide that you do not want to accept the offer, simply return the check, and your jewelry will be sent back without question. Learn More About Getting Quick Cash For Gold!

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Well, the beginning of the Year brought a mad rally in the PM market, just like in many other commodities. Now we are experiencing a pullback which can be pretty agonizing, but silver and gold are finding support well above anything we dreamed of a year ago.

I am reading some PM newbies who bought silver at $20 or gold at $1k who are really worried about their investment. Of course, most of us have been playing this game a long time, and we have added to stacks when silver was $6 and gold was $600, so we can average the price over that long term move, and losing a little here and there is no reason to panic when looking at long term gains.

I am still bulllish, and even added to my stack a bit this week-end. However, I am not quite ready to plunge back in with both feet at these levels. I could either be very relieved next week or I could be kicking myself. Nobody has a crystal ball.

Please add your thoughts to the forum!

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The Uses Of Silver

Many people who buy silver as traders or investers spend a lot of time thinking about the price of an ounce of silver. They only think about demand as it relates to that price of silver. They do not spend a lot of time thinking about why silver is in demand though.

Silver Jewelry

Of course, almost everybody realizes that silver is a precious metal that is used in jewelry. Silver jewelry is usually less expensive then gold jewelry because silver costs much less then gold. But silver jewelry still has status, and is not considered constume jewelry. And of course, silverware, is made from silver.

From High Tech to Dental Fillings

Dentists use silver in fillings, and silver is also used in photography. Some electrical and electronic products use silver for its superior conductivity, even when tarnished. Silver is also used to make solder solutions, electrical contacts, and high capacity batteries. Specialized mirrors which require superior reflectivity use silver as a backing, though normal mirrors use aluminum. Silver (upon some suitable support) is probably the only catalyst available today to convert ethylene to ethylene oxide (later hydrolyzed to ethylene glycol, used for making polyesters)—a very important industrial reaction.

Silver Money

Of course, silver has been used as money for thousands of years. Until 1964 many US coins were 90% silver, though today silver is only used in special commemerative or collector’s coins here.

Medicinal Uses Of Silver

And silver has had medical uses for thousands of years too. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote of the healing properties of silver. And silver does have a toxic effect on some bacteria, algae, fungi, and viruses. In fact, silver was used successfully in WWI to treat infections before the invention of antibiotics.

Silver has medicinal uses, even today. Today, wound dressings containing silver are well established for clinical wound care and have recently been introduced in consumer products such as sticking plasters.

Silver is Not Just Shiny Stuff!

So silver does have industrial uses, and it actually does get used up in some processes. Many investors compare this to gold which is usually not consumed. In fact, some experts suspect that the majority of gold that has even been mined is still in use today. Well, that is if you consider sitting in a bank vault somewhere to be in use.

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Avoid Buying Fake Coins on EBay

First let me tell you that I buy on EBay all the time! I think it is one of the most convenient ways to look for good deals on silver and gold. I have purchased gold and silver coins, rounds, and bars. However, along with an increased bullion price, the incidents of fake bullion coins that are being reported has increased. What has also come out, is that some of the fake bullion was made so cleverly that the seller is not even aware that they are seling a fake.

#1 Tip To Avoid Getting Scammed on EBay — Use a Trusted Seller with lots of good feedback, and prefer sellers in your own country!

At the risk of being politically incorrect, I would say to avoid bullion sellers in Asia or Eastern Europe. These seems to be the root of many fake bullion coins, though of course, many legitimate Asian and Eastern European bullion dealers are out there. The problem is, when you do have a problem, it may be very hard to get your money back.

On the other hand, if you deal with a US or Canadian seller who has a clear return policy, they are much more likely to care about their business reputation, and they will want to keep their buyers happy, even if it means eating a loss on a returned coin. Look for sellers with high feedback ratings, and those who have been in business for awhile. Look for feedback near 100%. Every seller who has been in business for awhile, will risk getting a negative feedback or two. Even sellers who really go the extra mile, will have a buyer who would rather apply negative feedback then communicate. So if you find a seller with 100′s of positive feedback ratings, but one or two negative ratings, I would look into the reasons for the negative feedback.

Use the EBAY GUIDE TO FAKE COINS AND BULLION. EBay community members are probably your best source of information, and they have published many guides on signs to look for. Of course, one big sign, is a “BUY IT NOW” price that is too good to be true. If you think you have found a bargain from a stupid seller, you have very likely stumbled onto a fake precious metals scam!

Again, I have hundreds of satisfactory transactions on EBay, and I will continue to buy US silver coins, and other precious bullion in the form of coins, rounds or bars. But I will take the time to check out the seller’s previous transactions and educate myself on the many silver and gold scams out there!

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Can You Still Find US Silver Coins In Circulation?

It seems like the subject of searching bank rolls for silver coins comes up in every coin or silver related forum I frequent these days. While some people claim that, after so many years, the search is fruitless, others claim to make a nice haul. The deal is, people go to their local bank (or banks) and ask for rolls of half dollars. I’m not sure why half dollar rolls are more fruitful then rolls of dimes or quarters, but maybe it is because half dollars were minted from silver for a longer time. While most coins were no longer made out of silver after 1964, half dollars were minted from 40% silver from 1965 – 1970.

Now I have seen the comment made that the larger coin distributor (think Brinks) sort the coin rolls by date, and probably do their own culling of sillver money. A company like Brinks would tend to deliver to larger banks, probably in larger cities. However, people in rural areas or small towns where distribution is less automated, tend to be the ones who report a good haul when searching half dollar rolls for silver coins.

 One person, from a small town, did report searching about $2,000 worth of half dollar rolls and finding $1,000 in 90% and 40% silver halves! And of course, you can always take the clad halves back to the bank or spend them for purchases. I have seen other reports of less impressive hauls, and then of course, many people reported that they spent hours looking through hundreds of dollars worth of coins and finding no silver.

However, if you have some time on your hand, and a local bank with half dollar rolls, you could spend some time hunting. You may have to unroll and roll a lot of coins, before you find any silver, but when you do, I’ll bet it will feel like you struck gold silver!

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Is Nickel Ever Silver?

It may seem odd to think of a common nickel as being made out of silver. Most of us think that the face value of a 5 cent nickel would be too low to ever be made from a precious metal. Besides, the common name of a 5 cent piece implies the base metal that is is minted from.

However during WWII, the war effort needed the base metal more then they needed the precious one! So WWII nickels are made from .35 silver, as well as 56% copper, and 9% manganese! An easy way to identify them is to notice the large mint mark over the dome on the reverse.

Silver Melt Value of WWII Silver Nickels

Don’t get me wrong. I think that collectables like WWII silver nickels are interesting pieces of history, and I don’t just see every coin as a source of bullion. And if others didn’t think like me, we would probably not have any of these nickels left because they actually are a source of silver in US coins.

If you have $1 in WWII silver nickles, or 20 nickels, then the silver content is about 1.12 troy ounces. Note that is more then the silver value in a dollar’s worth of 90% silver, which would only be .715 troy ounces! At today’s price of about $17.30 an ounce, 20 silver WWII US 5 cent pieces would be worth about $19.47! So if you find some, please do not stick them in a gumball machine. Go here to estimate the silver bullion value of WWII nickels at the current price.

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