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Post by dg on Feb 26, 2011 20:25:13 GMT -5
Can someone explain to me why it costs something like $38 to buy a one ounce bar of silver (or $380 for a 10 ounce bar) when the spot market price is $33.40/ounce?
Does anyone know a way to obtain small numbers of silver bars in the 1-10 ounce size way closer to spot market price?
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Post by dg on Feb 28, 2011 10:55:56 GMT -5
With the interest of having a form of money that could be used should our currency explode, I started my accumulation of silver yesterday. I plan to dollar cost average my way in since prices seem on the volatility high end at the moment.
I bought online thru APMEX. Two 5 troy ounce silver bars cost me $358.10 + $19.95 S&H. This comes to $37.805 per troy ounce when the spot price reference was $33.40. I think it is absurd to have to buy silver at 13% above market price. There has to be a better way (other than getting discounts for very large purchases). I feel like I just obtained nine $1 bills in exchange for a $10 bill -- actually worse.
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Post by bankedout on Feb 28, 2011 20:18:07 GMT -5
I have thought about buying precious metals. If there is a major collapse in our currency, it is hard to say who would accept precious metals as a form of payment. For instance, if you wanted food from a local farmer, would they take gold or silver as the trade? Only if the farmer was quite certain that whoever he/she wanted to purchase something from would accept it as currency.
So much money is now electronic. I'm not sure what would happen if we went to something physical only.
Is anyone ready to give change if you hand them a 5 oz bar of silver? How do they know if it is real silver?
I have considered doing a foreign currency transaction at a local bank. They will take my US dollars and give me Swiss Francs in return. However, let's say there is some sort of collapse and the bank could no longer exchange my currency, or had terms that were terrible. Who would want my Swiss Francs around here?
The idea of money itself is so faith based now that it is hard to predict what the conditions will be if the current faith is shattered.
Maybe buy some smaller value bars too in case you need to purchase less expensive items and the seller does not have change for your 5 oz bar.
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Post by dg on Feb 28, 2011 23:20:26 GMT -5
bankedout:
Any pawn shop or jewlery store will pay spot price for gold or silver. And you can verify the article by appearance and density measurement. APMEX puts their logo, weight etc right on the bar. There are localities in the USA that already trade in silver and gold.
Yes, I intend to buy some 1 ounce bars for change, and perhaps even smaller denominations -- just in case.
Personally, if our currency explodes, I feel that silver and gold are the safest forms of trade other than outright barter. Lots of folks I know have started accumulating these metals for just such a possibility. And if nothing bad ever happens, they make a decent long term hedge against gradual inflation.
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Post by dg on Mar 9, 2011 10:49:53 GMT -5
After extensively researching my area, I found a coin shop less than 30 minutes away that will buy the well known silver bars (englehard, johnson walsh and royal canadian) at spot market price and sell it at $1 above spot. Yea! (markup on my online APMEX order was $4.40 per ounce above spot; $2.40 above on markup charge plus $2 more on S&H)
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Post by dg on Apr 8, 2011 10:19:04 GMT -5
I find it hard to believe that the silver I bought back in february overpriced at net 37.80 per ounce when the spot was 33.40 is currently over 40 spot. Now that I've found a less expensive source, I've been waiting for a pullback to buy more; but there has been no pullback. Could this mean that the s**t has finally hit the fan?
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Post by dg on Apr 20, 2011 18:01:20 GMT -5
I keep waiting for a pull back. There hasn't been one; and now silver is over $45 per oz. I wanted more than a mere 10 oz for currency insurance going forward; but I would be very afraid of adding more here.
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Post by sd on Apr 22, 2011 21:51:22 GMT -5
DG, I think your hesitation is well-founded. Silver now appears to be over extended as a trade,At a 31 year high and a buying opportunity should see a 10-15% pullback in the SLV, from today's range - Just my guesstimate. .I saw on Thursday one of the Pro traders on Fast Money decided to throw in the towel and go long SLV- Got to be a short term top when everybody is talking about it. Of course SLV and GLD are also considered to be undervalued when compared to past historical highs I understand. That does not mean we will continue to move higher to reach that comparable inflation adjusted level.
SLV-stock- etf. I don't know how that actually relates to the market price of the actual bars however.
Hopefully, you will be able to pass down your hard silver to the next generation, and we will not find ourselves in a US economy where it is a desireable medium for currency. Good Luck! SD
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