Buy silver! (Page 4 of 5)

As with my previous post, if everyone who reads this goes out and does it, it could very likely cause a ripple effect at least in some areas.  But we seem to be reaching a point where it may not matter and/or that ripple may be a good thing anyway.

The only real silver investment I have made has been in John F. Kennedy half dollars which I obtained at face value.  The coin is not exactly in high circulation but surprisingly there are still quite a few silver ones sitting in vaults.  1964 half dollars are 90% silver and 1965-1970 are 40%.  Everything 1971 and after we'll have to wait for copper and nickel prices to skyrocket before they're worth anything.  I'm still not sure exactly how the financial mechanics of this relate to us switching from the "gold standard" to "fiat money" but I know they're related.

In order to do this you have to go to a fairly large, probably fairly icky financial institution where you have an account.  Tell them you would like to buy a $500 box of half dollars.  If they don't have any, ask if they would please order some with their next regular shipment fromt the Fed and make sure you have the funds in your account to cover it.  At this point they will probably either do it or make a suggestion of another institution which they know of that carries half dollars, but if they simply balk at you and say "we only get those when other people bring them in", you have to be ready to end the conversation with "if you don't do this, I'm closing my account", then make good on you threat and find another one of those god-awful places that will get them for you.  Once you get it, open up the box and start sorting.

Granted, this is not the most convenient way to obtain silver but it is possibly one of the cheapest.  The only possible drawback is you will have a bunch of face-value half dollars sitting around.  While those may be worth something someday if metal prices continue to rise, I say spend them unapologetically.  That coin is a good reminder of the political and monetary mess we have been mired in and going along with since the mid-20th century.

Ok...so some months back both gold and silver reached record highs, since then their market value has dropped right back down again.

So, good time to buy some more silver or gold I thought.  Well seems not, the prices for silver and gold bullion coins are still the same as they were back at their highest.  Market value for silver is around  £6.50 at the moment, but most coins are selling at around  £11 to  £13!  Likewise with gold the current value is around  £320 per ounce, but coins are still selling at around  £400 per ounce.

There has always been a markup for coins...but this really is over the top I think.  Sure it's good for any stock already held; but not too good if you want to buy a load more.

So anyone else seeing this?  Any suggestions on where it maybe possible to buy coins at more realistic prices?

Not sure if that was aimed at me Hildegarde...

I am not really after "investing" in the normal sense of the word.  Just want to buy some silver to hold over for the long term.  So if anyone has any links to UK / EU stores that stock gold / silver at reasonable prices it would be great.

Most the stores in the UK seem to be keeping their prices high - and holding out for the next inevitable metals rush.  As it is currently a Bull market - I guess I don't really blame them.  At any rate, that doesn't help out those of us that would like to buy some physical silver or gold at just over market value...

Ok thanks...

Well I tried to order some silver from www.ccsilver.com along with some wire for making colloidal silver but this is their reply:

----------------------
Greetings:

The many regulations, international insurance availability, customs
guidelines etc. has prevented us from shipping precious metals outside of
the US (including Canada) so we have decided to stop all international
orders.
----------------------

Just further goes to show our governments are up to something.

Anyone know of any Canadian suppliers I can order from?

On the Silver coins page, everything from the 1oz rounds to the 100oz bullion are currently sold out.  Perhaps the market prices are being held artificially and are not reflecting the actual demand...

Gold and Silver is valuable simply because in people's mind it has always been valuable.  People have believed silver and gold to possess value for thousands and thousands of years.  Another reason is because there is only a "limited supply" of it.

Yes it is very sad - and superficial, but that is the way a lot of the sleeping world works...