Hello, Tony! Here are my thoughts. I hope others chime in too.
A numismatist is one that collects coins.
Numismatics is the study or collecting of coins. This term is often used for graded coins.
Junk silver refers to coins (dimes, quarters, halves and dollars) minted prior to 1965. Coins minted 1964 and earlier are made of 90% silver. “Junk silver” has no numismatic value. The only value is in its silver content, (but it still has face value too, but the silver value far exceeds the face value).
Semi-numismatics are coins that have both collector value and silver value. The American Silver Eagle is a $1 face value coin made by the US Mint annually, but it’s also 1 troy ounce of silver, so it has silver value as well.
Silver bullion is .999 silver in a given weight. It is not tied to any currency. You can get 1 ounce silver bars, 5 ounce silver bars, 10 ounce silver bars, etc. You can also buy in fractional amounts (grams), but that’s really not cost effective.
Scrap sterling is a term referring to sterling silver in scrap form. It could be broken jewelry, loose silver dinnerware (spoons, forks, etc.) really anything of sterling silver that has no other collector value and it’s only value is in the silver content. Sterling silver is .925 silver. You can usually pick this up at garage sales, resale shops, estate sales, etc. pretty cheap.
SilverTowne is the place that I buy most of my bars. You can buy as much or as little as you like. They offer fast shipping and they have a great reputation. There are other makers and places that you can buy from as well.
Silver stacking refers to the hoarding/collecting of silver. Stackers stack different ways. Some like numismatics, some like semi-numismatics, some like bullion (silver bars or rounds), some like scrap sterling silver, some like junk silver and some like a variety. Stackers also stack for different reasons. A lot are preppers thinking that in a SHTF type of event, silver will be a form a currency as fiat currency will be worthless. Some stack fearing the collapse of the dollar. I can see both of these reasons, after all you can’t just continue to print money over and over and over and expect that it’s not going to have an effect on the economy sooner or later. The dollar used to be backed by gold and silver (the gold standard), but now it’s just a promise that it’s worth what the government says it’s worth. But I stack as an investment. I think silver has great potential. It’s mined from the ground at a 9:1 ratio over gold. There is one ounce of gold mined for every 9 ounces of silver. However, the price difference is 90:1. So something has to give sooner or later. Either gold has to come down or silver has to go up. I’m betting that silver goes up.
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