Apush: Just some silver thoughts

apush · Apr 24, 2011

Hi All,
I wish everyone a very Happy Easter Weekend.

Pickins have been slim for CRH as of late. My banks are giving me no issues--I order as I need--but fewer silvers are coming my way. Just holding on to the next nice vein rolls in. A few keepers here and a few there, but nothing of real significance.

In the meantime, I have been spending a bit here and there culling silver. Purchasing silver bars (generally one ounces) and I must admit I have spent too much on U.S. Mint Silver Comms. I just had to have the Jamestown, US Constitution, and the Lewis & Clark Comms (silver). Does anyone else here buy the Comms?

Perhaps I am just going down the wrong road buying the silver Comms, but the historian in me cannot resist.

HSH,
apush :read2:

SFBayArea · Apr 24, 2011

I like commems myself. I bought a Thomas Jefferson one last year. I thought about buying them for a toning project since toned coins command a large premium if natural. I've had the Jefferson toning away in a cardboard hoarder for over a year now. If I had a significant amount of money to buy silver with and I knew I was going to hold onto them for a while, I would be getting commems and set them to tone for 10 years or so. After, they get a nice rainbow toning, send them off to be graded by PCGS and then sell on Feebay for moon money.

timbobwey · Apr 25, 2011

keep your head up, you'll find more and more. Eventually you'll get a nice score. Heck, with silver pushing 50 an ounce finding 1 or 2 a box isn't bad, 1 40%er is worth almost 7 bucks right now. It takes me about 20-30 minutes to go through 1 box. If I find 1 piece of silver that's not bad for the time it took. Happy hunting to you, and I hope you had a great Easter weekend.

ArkieBassMan · Apr 25, 2011

Not everything has to be "for profit." I think us CRHers lose site of that sometimes. The skyrocketing price of silver has caused me to do the same. The main reason I got into CRH was twofold. First, I knew I would enjoy the hunt. Second, I planned to parlay the "junk" silver I found into coins that I have always wanted for my collection, but as of yet have eluded my detector such as old U.S. gold coins - without having to dig too deeply into my pocket.

Now, it appears that I've gotten greedy. I have yet to swap any silver for a single coin.

quiksilver · Apr 25, 2011

Well i will buy any silver at a good price , but i do occasionaly trade my "lesser" silver for things that catch my eye like silver certificates or flying eagle pennies.

By lesser i mean hand poured bars , worn , bent , or holey 90%

I also will trade 40% for gold.

Diver_Down · Apr 25, 2011

Don't sweat the costs for buying the Commems. You can't equate the costs with the underlying silver content. You will lose everytime. What you are buying, is what appeals to you . Some of the commems are worth way more than their issue price due to limited mintage and current demand. Rest easy. If you are put off by the prices of the modern commems, then take a breather before you look into the old commems. In mint state, you can pay hundreds for a half dollar. Keep your bullion (junk silver and bars/rounds) separate from your collectibles. It is easier to justify your purchases when you try not to equate the two.

jim4silver · Apr 25, 2011

apush said:
In the meantime, I have been spending a bit here and there culling silver. Purchasing silver bars (generally one ounces) and I must admit I have spent too much on U.S. Mint Silver Comms. I just had to have the Jamestown, US Constitution, and the Lewis & Clark Comms (silver). Does anyone else here buy the Comms?
HSH,
apush

I have never heard of those silver coins before. Are they recent or old issues? I don't get into the US Mint stuff too much so I am unfamiliar with much of it.

I do agree though you should buy what you like. My "vice" is old US gold. Sometimes what you like and buy winds up going way up in value too, so it is like a double bonus.

Jim

SFBayArea · Apr 25, 2011

jim4silver said:
apush said:

In the meantime, I have been spending a bit here and there culling silver. Purchasing silver bars (generally one ounces) and I must admit I have spent too much on U.S. Mint Silver Comms. I just had to have the Jamestown, US Constitution, and the Lewis & Clark Comms (silver). Does anyone else here buy the Comms?
HSH,
apush

Click to expand...

I have never heard of those silver coins before. Are they recent or old issues? I don't get into the US Mint stuff too much so I am unfamiliar with much of it.

I do agree though you should buy what you like. My "vice" is old US gold. Sometimes what you like and buy winds up going way up in value too, so it is like a double bonus.

Jim

Those are modern silver dollar commems

kb4iqm · Apr 25, 2011

Diver_Down said:
Don't sweat the costs for buying the Commems. You can't equate the costs with the underlying silver content. You will lose everytime. What you are buying, is what appeals to you . Some of the commems are worth way more than their issue price due to limited mintage and current demand. Rest easy. If you are put off by the prices of the modern commems, then take a breather before you look into the old commems. In mint state, you can pay hundreds for a half dollar. Keep your bullion (junk silver and bars/rounds) separate from your collectibles. It is easier to justify your purchases when you try not to equate the two.

3 months ago I was offered a full roll of mixed date silver $1 commemorative proofs in a US Mint tube. For comparison, I checked prices on APMEX, and these commemoratives were priced at about $5 each less than the junk silver dollars were going for on APMEX. I jumped on that deal! Speaking of deals, saturday I was offered a batch of 23 really nice condition 1878 - 1901 Morgan silver dollars for $30 each. Many of the dates had multiple mints. They're in my collection now.

Bob

rileyboy · Apr 26, 2011

Apush,
Nice to see you are starting a collection rather then just silver hunting. I have a great collection of old and modern comemmoratives. You are correct. I love the history. These coins will remain in my collection for my children when my time comes. Hopefully...every time they look at them, they will remember me!
All the best to you
rileyboy
PS: Hips are doing just fine.

Generic_Lad · Apr 26, 2011

If you collect what you enjoy, you aren't losing any money off of it. Quite honestly, in this time I'd say that putting your money anywhere but in fiat currency is a good deal. Yes, you might make money off of it down the road, but if you just collect for the sake of collecting, you will enjoy your purchases a lot more than if you buy coins in hopes of making a profit. For example, I bought a few standing liberty quarters a while back because I enjoyed the design, if I was trying to make a profit off of them at the time I bought them, I over-paid by a lot, but today if I'd sell them back I'd make a bit of money, but even if the price of silver fell to $4 an ounce, I don't think that I'd regret my purchase because I like them as coins. Now, my junk silver that I bought, my Washington Quarters, silver bars and Roosevelt dimes I might be a bit upset if I didn't make at least a small profit off of them, but I bought them with investment in mind. If you know why you are buying coins, it helps with peace of mind.

Personally, I've never really got into US commemoritives, there are a few older ones I'd like to have (stone mountain, Isabel quarter, and some of the Panama Pacific gold coins) but, I really don't like any of the designs of the newer commemoritives. What I've been collecting lately are some of the older British coins, along with looking at some of the hammered medieval coins. With a lot of European countries you can get much older coins at relatively low prices. There's just something about owning a coin that was minted in the 1600s, and getting it for under $20 instead of buying a brand new coin for $75+.