Buy gold or junk silver is the advice I continually hear. Are the 1 oz. Silver Eagles not a good investment? Aren't they 100% silver? And aren't they relatively cheap? (less than $8 each). And aren't they cheap enough for most transactions if TSHTF? And won't they increase in value tremendously if things get bad? I saw where the historical ratio of gold to silver is 16 to 1; today it is 40 to 1. Which looks like the best investment to you?

-- G. Bennett (bennett@peachnet.net), August 01, 1999

Answers

I agree. A bag of junk silver is somewhere around 5K. One gold eagle will still be close to $300. I would rather have 50 silver eagles. I'll put one in each pocket and see what I can trade for.

-- Dan The Man (Farrar@campuscwix.net), August 01, 1999.

I wonder why you don't hear more about the silver eagles? I haven't invested in gold or silver yet; but the silver eagles certainly look like the way to go. The average Joe can't spring for a bag of junk silver and I'm not going to feel very confident with 3 or 4 gold eagles put away. But if I have at least 100 silver eagles, I might sleep better at night knowing I could use them for barter or a tremendous increase in value down the road.

-- Fence Sitter (Fence@sitter.com), August 01, 1999.

In today's market, with today's prices, with today's jobs and employment, and with today's product availability Silver Eagles may be OK. But what happens if one SE is worth $50 in todays terms. Also, junk silver is more easily recognized. However, if you have to bug out, you will likely leave some of your silver behind. I can easily hold $20k of gold in my hand. $20k of silver would require a back brace and arch supports, or more.

I agree with the people you continually hear from I think both are good and would not choose SE until I had a comfortable mix of AE and junk.

-- daryl (rushmore@dailypost.com), August 01, 1999.

I would more prefer to have silver morgan or liberty dollars that were minted in the 1920's. They have more value than the silver Eagles. Place both next to each other and you would prefer the morgan or liberty dollar.

If you get the one ounce rounds, they cost about $5.50 each. They have more claut than 4 silver quarters! For trading, junk silver is worthless. One ounce rounds, Eagles or morgans or liberty's will get you more for your money than junk silver. That is why they call it junk, because it is junk and has not much value!

If Y2K is a 10, silver will go up in value more than gold. Silver has been at $50 an ounce agains gold at $800.

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), August 01, 1999.

I agree that Silver has the potential to go UP in fiat money terms much more than gold....

However,

I nearly gave myself a hernia when I took delivery of 500oz of silver eagles, 500oz is pretty heavy, gold eagles OTOH are VERY tranportable...

you pays yer money and takes yer choice :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 01, 1999.

freddie: Is anything other than coins considered "junk" silver such as silverware?

-- Neil G.Lewis (pnglewis1@yahoo.com), August 01, 1999.

I like the silver eagles over the "rounds" because they are more likely to be accepted , they are clearly US coins. With the rounds who knows if the weight or silver is correct?

-- kozak (kozak@formerusaf.guv), August 01, 1999.

I have 1000 silver eagles, 9 1000 oz bars of silver, 50 1 oz. golden eagles and 200 1/10 oz golden eagles. Also have 26 300 strike price december calls on gold, 50 7000 strike price December puts and 100,000 shares of Caladonia Mining(CAL-T) at .07 per share. This has all been purchased in the last 6 months due to the financial calamity on our door step and Y2K. I have no money in the stock markets. With my December Puts I am betting the the dow crashes before the end of the year.

An Annonomous RGI

-- RGI (silverbull@marketcrash.com), August 01, 1999.

"I would more prefer to have silver morgan or liberty dollars that were minted in the 1920's. They have more value than the silver Eagles. Place both next to each other and you would prefer the morgan or liberty dollar. If you get the one ounce rounds, they cost about $5.50 each. They have more claut than 4 silver quarters! For trading, junk silver is worthless. One ounce rounds, Eagles or morgans or liberty's will get you more for your money than junk silver. That is why they call it junk, because it is junk and has not much value!"

Uh, in a word, no.

If TSHTF, numismatic coins will have no value greater than their bullion value. IOW, *all* silver coins will be "junk" silver.

Your elitist attitude towards numismatic coins may buy you some smug points *now*, but *now* is not why people are buying bullion coins.

If you don't like the notion of someone offering no more for your precious Morgan dollar than they would for two "junk" halves, well, your best move would be to not offer the Morgan.

Presuming TSHTF. If it *doesn't*, then it's all moot, and your crowing about your collection of Nice Coins is pointless.

Remember: if things get certifiably *bad*, "collectibles" will be valued at no more than their *intrinsic* value. How much is the cloth that makes up a Beany Baby worth? Find *that* out, and you'll know the value of your "collectible" Beany Baby. How much is the silver that makes up your silver coin (Morgan, Eagle, or "Round") worth? That's how much your coin is worth.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), August 02, 1999.

All of the above. DIVERSIFY. Do as much and as many different options as you can afford.

Good point on the weight factors. If you have a lot of wealth, then put a proportionate percentage into gold.

Numismatic coins will definitely hold value in the long, long term - but will be on par with bullion in a desperate barter situation. Only hold onto collectibles if you have 20-30 years or more available to wait.

-- Jim (x@x.x), August 02, 1999.

Think about good ol' American Quarters. You can go to your bank and buy a box of quarters for 500 dollars, thats right, 2000 quarters for 500 dollars. If this Y2K things ever gets rough, who needs gold or silver to trade with. You"d have someone following you home to see if you had any more, and with a threat to your family you'd sure show them your loot. With quarters, you can trade, and just say you were lucky to have some quarters laying around. If Y2k turns out to be just a bump in the road, then you can take them back to the bank and get some bills. Don't wait to long to buy quarters, its only 151 days till the end of the year, and only l45 days till Christmas. LOL

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), August 02, 1999.

You mean those good old worthless sandwich quarters of copper and nickel plate? If they work for trade then surely paper dollars will too so whats the point of the quarters?

-- kozak (kozak@formerusaf.guv), August 03, 1999.

Kosak ---- Ever try to go to your bank and get 500 dollars of one dollar bills? Try it and see what happens.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), August 03, 1999.

thinkIcan wrote:

"Kosak ---- Ever try to go to your bank and get 500 dollars of one dollar bills? Try it and see what happens."

I did this about 8 months ago. I got a rather strange look and the usual questions. I played it off and told the clerk I was throwing a bachelor party at a strip club for 20 guys and needed singles for obvious reasons. It seemed to placate her.

It was also around Christmas when I did this. That may or may not have something to do with it. When I was a kid, my dad would crumple up loads of singles in a box and throw in a bunch of miscellaneous stuff to make noise if you shook it. He wrapped these boxes for my nosy sister so she couldn't guess what it was.

What experience did you have when trying to get $500 in singles? I'm interested in hearing about it.

-- Jay (havocuz@mindspring.com), August 04, 1999.