Any silver stackers on the board?

[vintagetoppsguy]

Beautiful coins, Peter. I actually like slabbed coins. I don't collect them, but I do like them.

[barrysloate]

Teddy Roosevelt was very interested in making sure American coins were works of art, so he commissioned Augustus St. Gaudens, who at the time was one of the finest sculptors in the world, to redesign the gold coins.

David- I agree silver has the potential to increase in value, but we just haven't seen it happen in a very long time. But I can't predict the future, so who knows. I like bags of old silver coins over silver bars, since I am a coin collector.

[tonyo]

if paper money fails, how will the stackers go about using the metals to trade for goods and services?

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by tonyo

if paper money fails, how will the stackers go about using the metals to trade for goods and services?

That is the part I don't get at all. There is no way I would trade food or water for some worthless metal.

Thanks for the info everyone. I knew silver took a huge hit when they stopped using it in film. I didn't know if they had found a new use for it. Yes it has been a long time since I knew anything current on precious metals.

[58pinson]

As far as how would precious metals be used to acquire anything if a paper currency fails (and lets not restrict ourselves to the US $ here) the concept is that before central governments thought up the idea of paper currency precious metals (and other commodities) have been recognized as a "store of value" throughout history, and around the world. Look to Weimar Germany with it's astronomical inflation rate in the post WW1 era, when entire city blocks changed hands for a few pieces of gold. I would never try to cheerlead anyone into doing something with their resources that they are not inclined to do, but the idea that gold/silver/etc are "worthless" is belied by several thousand years of human history. They have always carried value.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by 58pinson

As far as how would precious metals be used to acquire anything if a paper currency fails (and lets not restrict ourselves to the US $ here) the concept is that before central governments thought up the idea of paper currency precious metals (and other commodities) have been recognized as a "store of value" throughout history, and around the world. Look to Weimar Germany with it's astronomical inflation rate in the post WW1 era, when entire city blocks changed hands for a few pieces of gold. I would never try to cheerlead anyone into doing something with their resources that they are not inclined to do, but the idea that gold/silver/etc are "worthless" is belied by several thousand years of human history. They have always carried value.

Very true. If you research history, it's amazing what just a little gold purchased in time of need.

[Peter_Spaeth]

When I started to buy a little gold, there was a sharp irreconcilable difference of opinion on whether it was best to buy bullion/modern coins with essentially no premium to the metal price or to buy the pre-1933 coins. Many of the opinions, oddly, seemed to align with what the authors were selling. But I never got to anything like a consensus. All that said, the pre-1933 $20 gold pieces even in nice grade sell for a relatively low premium to the melt price compared to the fractionals, and they are beautiful.

Some of the silver coins are beautiful too but of course there the value is nearly all numismatic.