If you came into some quick cash, which kind of silver coins would you buy, and why? (The choices are Silver Eagles vs. junk (pre-65) silver) If there's another good choice I've overlooked, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks for your insights!

Betty

-- Betty (betty@blondes.com), November 24, 1999

Answers

Junk siler coins give you the biggest bang for the silver buck. Silver eagles you pay a premium for the new shiny coins. The question is what is the purpose, ie medium of exchange, an inflation hedge investment?

For a straight investment why pay the premium but others might have differing opinions. For a Milne 8+ some shiny new coins might be more easy to use but again depends on the purpose. You might try the "gold eagle" web sight they have an area on silver.

-- squid (Itsdark@down.here), November 24, 1999.

Some pretty good Silver Eagle buys on Ebay occasionally. also try www.ajpm.com usually very competitive pricing. May also consider canadian silver maple leaves, not too much premium but still 1 oz. of .999 silver.

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), November 24, 1999.

Try searching for "100 oz silver"; Krugerrand; gold eagle coin, maple leaf coin, etc. on e-bay.

-- tom (tom@home.com), November 24, 1999.

As mentioned-- it drpends on your objective - - i.e. for TEOTWAWKI - pre'65' coins ; for investment - silver bullion - 1 oz. silver rounds or 100 oz. silver bars; for pretty silver bullion - pay more of a premium and go for eagles. - - - - HiOOO

-- MeTonto (HiOO@silver.com), November 24, 1999.

This was censored (from a cut and paste) on a previous thread. It is the Richmond Federal Reserve, Marvin Goodfriend (senior vice president), Rep. Ron Paul, and George Selgin (University of Georgia economics professor). Their email addresses were removed from previous posts. Guess someone doesnt want you to have that information!

Federal Reserve at it's best WASHINGTON - US currency should include tracking devices that let the government tax private possession of dollar bills, a Federal Reserve official says.

The longer you hold currency without depositing it in a bank account, the less that cash will be worth, according to a proposal from In other words, greenbacks will get automatic expiration dates.

"The magnetic strip could visibly record when a bill was last withdrawn from the banking system. A carry tax could be deducted from each bill upon deposit according to how long the bill was in circulation," Goodfriend wrote in a recent presentation to a Federal Reserve System conference in Woodstock, Vermont.

The 34-page paper argues a carry tax will discourage "hoarding" currency, deter black market and criminal activities, and boost economic stability during deflationary periods when interest rates hover near zero.

It says new technology finally makes such a scheme feasible. "Systems would have to be put in place at banks and automatic teller machines to read bills, assess the carry tax, and stamp the bills 'current,'" the report recommends.

Goodfriend said in an interview that banks might place a kind of visible "date issued" stamp on each note they distributed. "The thing could actually stamp the date when the bill comes out of the ATM," he said.

Congressional critics say they would oppose any such move.

"The whole idea is preposterous. The notion that we're going to tax somebody because they decide to be frugal and hold a couple of dollars is economic planning at its worst," said "This idea that you can correct some of the evil they've already created with another tax is just ridiculous," Paul said. Other economists say a carry tax is not a wise plan.

"This is going beyond taxing banks for holding reserves. It's taxing the public for holding currency too long. That's even more wild an idea," says
-- (1929@ll over.again), November 25, 1999.

Investment Ratities....just bought a half bag of junk silver... I've been dealing with them for 20 years....they are very reputable and they will repurchase anything to buy. They ship registered mail.

phone 1-800-328-1860

-- curt (zztop@epix.net), November 25, 1999.

Junk silver is a good idea. Very spendable. If gold goes high, like we hope, silver will be much more convenient. Find a reliable, honest broker and ask him/her all the questions you have.

-- Liz Pavek (lizpavek@hotmail.com), November 25, 1999.