| Author |
 Replies: 51 / Views: 7,475 |
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
I just joined & have found navigating this board a challenge so I think this is the right place to post an introduction. I am retired on a fixed income that gives me $1-1.5K/month in discretionary income. I am a collector at heart & over the past 2 years have sold off a big collection of WW2 surplus military radar electronics equipment. A lot of the proceeds went into acquiring a substantial collection of cone snail shells. As with the radar gear, I lost interest in shells. I acquired over $20K in vintage gold coins, $1-20, but sold off the Philadelphia mints to focus on S,D & O mints. By chance I viewed a YT video on the value of fractional pre-1965 coinage as both a hedge against the inflation of paper money & as a very useful future currency in a barter situation. So I started collecting Liberty quarters & Roosevelt dimes. I located a seller who had attractive pricing & who would sell to me without sales tax or shipping charges. I now have over $5K (silver value) in square plastic roll holders in 12-compartment plastic boxes. I am now adding $1K/month of junk silver dimes & quarters to my stack, part of which I have in my 10x10x24 inch safety deposit box along with my vintage gold coins & Morgan dollars. The simple fact that a 1964 dime (when I was in college) that was worth ten cents then is worth $1.40 now gives me the warm fuzzies about stashing them in airtight plastic roll tubes. It was exciting to find that one of my plastic boxes containing 48 rolls of dimes weighed about 16.5 U.S. pounds. Edited by JacksinPA
10/07/2019 5:18 pm
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
768 Posts |
I have collected silver (not necessarily junk silver) as my mom and dad did back in the 60's In the form of Silver Kennedy half dollars! After their passing they passed their collection of around 100 silver Kennedy's (all 90%) on to me! I remember My mom used to say silver was "The poor mans Gold!" Having watched silver rise in value since the 1960's as a boy from $3.00 an oz to as high as $17 an oz when ever I run across a good buy of Morgan's Or 90% silver Kennedy's, I buy them! Every so often I buy a bar or two to add to that silver collection when they become available through my storage auction buddies who find them or a local auction house sells them I buy them to add to my portfolio ALL IN THE HOPES "SOMEDAY" it will get to the predicted $200- $300 an oz! (Of course predictions are just a hope) I have seen an increase in demand with the new wave of use in Solar Panels as an electrical conductor and solar becoming popular and the increase of use in other new wave electronics as an electrical conductor! I do see the demand for silver could get it up in the $100 in the near future and I feel is a smart investment either in coin or bars? Of course, as I said a prediction is just hoping it get to a good value to sell and make a nice profit!  |
|
New Member
 United States
30 Posts |
My next buy is going to be a $100 face value bag of mixed junk dimes (20 roll equivalent) from SD Bullion via wire transfer from my bank. The price will likely be close to $0.49 over spot, which means about a $50 savings over my current source for that amount. FWIW, I found the sales people at SD Bullion to be much more helpful than the one I talked with at a company whose name begins with A. |
|
Moderator
 United States
157721 Posts |
 to the Community! Your replies were split into their own topic and moved to the appropriate forum for the proper attention. 
|
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
5016 Posts |
@jacksinPA, I think that you will find that silver and gold are more a liquid investment than shells.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
Silver and gold are investments just as are wild hickory nuts. They both have commodity value.
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
|
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
@oriole, I became interested in cone snails after watching an instructional video in an adult class I was taking on evolution. As I posted, my main interest is in collecting. But as with the war surplus radar gear, I grew tired of the shells. I'm still fascinated by their biology but I'm more fascinated by junk silver. I discovered it when I watched a YT video I found at random on which forms of silver would be the best to own long term, especially if there was a severe economic downturn like a depression. The guy had a table with everything from big ingots to dollar coins to quarters & finally dimes. As he went he discussed the pluses & minuses of each & wound up at the end with just the junk silver dime. Highly affordable, very portable, inflation tolerant & negotiable in a barter situation as it is easily recognized. The cone snail shells are a comfort to me but were acquired for more intellectual reasons than as some form of currency. But now my interest is in hoarding junk silver dimes. This month I plan to purchase 3 $100 face bags (60 rolls) of Roosevelts. Owning silver in readily negotiable form makes me feel good.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
869 Posts |
I agree with your sentiments. I received my first Peace dollar as a child and have been collecting "junk" silver ever since. 
|
|
Moderator
United States
157721 Posts |
Quote:
Thanks, jbuck! You are very welcome.
|
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
Today I followed up on a referral from Speg Tacular, the guy whose YT video first alerted me to the field of stacking Roosevelt dimes to add to my my vintage gold, Morgans & stacked Liberty quarters. I had a very nice & informative telephone conversation with Jonathan, who owns Monument Metals. He turned me on to e-Checks, which will be a big help on eliminating bank wire transfer fees. He has me as a permanent customer if things go as planned. Tomorrow I pay a return visit to my bank to finalize arrangements for my first purchase of a $100 face value bag of Rosie dimes. The plan is to buy 4 bags this year, which will add about $5,600 to my stack of junk silver coins. As an end note, all the PMs are up. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
|
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
Counterfeit Roosevelt dimes is a different topic that I don't want to go into here. FWIW, I received the ones I bought before in paper tubes which I ripped open, dumped in a black plastic tray, & stacked one by one in piles of 10. So each coin is examined by me before going into its plastic tube. I expect the loose coins I receive from commercial suppliers to have been at least gone over as well but I will count & inspect each as I have before. I have a sensitive digital scale that goes out to 0.001 gram so any suspect coins I can put in a separate tray & screen by weight before stacking. I also have a very powerful neodymium magnet for spotting any containing ferromagnetic materials such as iron. Some may pass all my tests but that's life. I'm thinking about putting together a different type of testing apparatus, one that depends of electrical conductivity. That's only in the idea stage now but there are likely testers out there that work on that & other methods as well. Edited by JacksinPA
10/08/2019 8:07 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4077 Posts |
There's nothing wrong at all in stacking a little silver, but it's worth pointing out that 10 cents invested in the S&P 500 in 1964 is worth $3.50 today. $17.63 with dividends reinvested.
Edited by KenKat
10/08/2019 8:07 pm
|
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
I did a brief Google search but did not find what I was looking for: what was a dime worth in September 1929 compared to January 1931? The Great Depression must have had a significant effect on the value of all circulating silver coins. No one can see or predict the future but it's nice to be prepared just in case we have a major economic readjustment in the forseeable future.
|
|
New Member
United States
30 Posts |
There are a number of silver coin validity tests. Excepting nitric acid, which I've worked with in the chem lab, we have a few:
Magnetic (direct attraction, sliding)
Edge test (compare edges to legitimate coin by sight)
Ring test (comparative sound after falling onto a hard surface)
Tissue paper test (comparative reflectivity through single ply TP)
Checking dates (dimes may require a loupe or magnifying glass depending on your vision)
I'm beginning a literature search on coin validity testing methods & hope to have more complete info to submit either here or in a more appropriate forum.
Edited by JacksinPA
10/08/2019 9:54 pm
|
| |
Replies: 51 / Views: 7,475 |
Posted 10/07/2019 4:16 pm
