# buying gold and silver



## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

If have experience, what companies would you recommend.

Is Apmex any good?


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## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

...and in what form is best to buy, with the idea in mind that I may need to sell it to cover this or that emergency? Who would I be able to sell it to?




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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

There are bunches of threads already on HT that answer your questions. Try searching.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

City Bound said:


> If have experience, what companies would you recommend.
> 
> Is Apmex any good?


APMEX is excellent, one of the larger and most stable companies in the business. Been buying from them for years.

That said, it pays to *keep up* on their rep. I used to buy from Tulving Co in California, and he later went bankrupt, and beat many folks out of their money (think it's still in court).

You'll do better on price (both buying/selling) with a large outfit like APMEX, but there is something to be said for buying local if you have a source...you hand them the money (or vice versa), they hand you the metal.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

I've used APMEX a lot, certainly check their prices for comparisons. If you use eBay, their net pricing for say junk silver 25c rolls, once you figure in the 2% "eBay bucks" feature, is almost identical there for $10 face rolls to their direct price for $100 face bags paid to them by check. Unfortunately, eBay no longer lets you use gift cards for bullion purchases; I used to get a nice extra discount combining local supermarket gas purchases with their gift cards, running up to $1 off per gallon then taking extra gas cans to get the allowed 25 gallon total every time.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

CajunSunshine said:


> ...and in what form is best to buy, with the idea in mind that I may need to sell it to cover this or that emergency? Who would I be able to sell it to?


Best thing to do is have a well funded emergency fund of many months ( I like 4-6 personally) of normal income in cash, part at home, most in a small, local bank or credit union to handle emergencies.

Precious metals are a LONG term investment, IMHO....while you could sell for an emergency, you may well take a beating. Prices are subject to wild swings in the short term....which may be years, but over the long term, "I" think are going to rise for many reasons....dollar value destruction (the state goal of the FED is inflation), rising population, declining minable deposits, growing middle class income of 3rd world countries that traditionally value gold/silver as wealth (India, China, Middle East), even the trend away from paper currencies to govt controlled digital 'money'....

I've been buying silver, for example, from around 2000. Started buying 1oz generic rounds under 5 FRNs (Federal Reserve Notes....I can't really call them dollars since they are not). By 2008, price was up to 12-14 range, so I'd doubled my initial buys in 7-8 years....about a 10% return. I have continued to buy up to the 20 range, and watched silver swing up to near 50, then back down to it's current 17. So I'm under water on some, but mostly ahead overall.

My feeling is silver is setting up for the next run up to 50 again, and will eventually exceed 100, but it may well take 10-15 years for that to happen.....OR it could happen virtually overnight. 










I view gold/silver as "money of last resort".....real money I'd only convert ('sell') to 'fake' money if I really, really, really needed to. Most people hold paper promises.....paper (or mostly digital) 'dollars', stocks, bonds, etc. All of them have counter party risk....they depend on someone else to keep their promise in order for them to have value as a whole. 

Given the number of promises that have been broken in the past, and are likely to be broken in the future, I have zero long term faith in any of them. I've seen way to much paper wealth destroyed by theft....and I don't mean the 'stick up' kind...the Wall St. kind...., greed, corruption, incompetence and plain ole stupidity to put much faith in other folks promises when it comes to my savings. So I save in metals I can put my hands on, know where they are at night, and have thousands of years of history as money.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

thanks dry and andy. ampex looked the best when I ws looking round but as the saying goes looks can be deceiving.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

silver and gold have doubled in value since the recession hit.

looking back at gold and silver prices the values always seems to leap forward in a recession then pull back as the recession recedes. The recession in the 70's sent it shooting up till the early 80's then it bottomed out when the dollar came back. Historically though, the dollar coming back in the 80's was a fraud because the fed just flooded the economy with loans (debt). Silver seems to bottom out harder then gold when the dollar rebounds but both retain much of their value after a growth period. Gold holds its value more then silver over th long term. 

I am no expert and my history and perceptions may be wrong but that was what I gathered.


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## CajunSunshine (Apr 24, 2007)

Thanks everyone! Although there are older threads addressing this topic (considering the nature of ever-changing markets and vendors) it does not hurt to refresh the idea. 



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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

I tend to buy from JM Bullion. They almost always run a special on 1 oz silver bars or rounds at 75 cents or so above spot. I just compared their price with APMEX, and they are 15 cents lower on Sunshine Mint rounds which are on sale. But APMEX was the same or a bit lower on the non-sale items. The next time I buy silver I'll check both places.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

How do you know if you are buying real silver or cold from these companies?


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

One of the reasons to buy from companies like these is you have near zero chance of getting fake.....whereas on Ebay, the odds go up quite a bit....sellers have 'replica' coins on there all the time.....nothing to stop someone from selling these as genuine, or buying them there and duping people locally on Craig's List.

A magnet will sort out the truly lousy fakes...no steel in precious metal coins.

A good digital scale, a set of calipers, and know specs for various coins/rounds will go a long way toward verifying what you have. 

Just looking at the quality of the stamping is another thing....there are fake US silver dollars out there (Chinese origin) with a stamped base metal, like copper, then coated with a thin layer of silver.....the coating makes a far less 'sharp' image than die stamped coins.

For gold coins, and some silver, the Fisch scale is one of the best and quickest ways to catch fakes...

https://www.thefisch.com/


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

Nobody is going to fake pre-1965 US quarters and dimes, imho. They're absolutely 90% silver content by weight so I'd think would be accepted by anybody wanting to take silver content in a future "hard times" transaction and of course could be calculated out easily at any time by a commercial metals purchaser. That thinking always gives me a nudge towards simple junk silver buys, as unsexy as old Washington quarters are, lol. Still, I do have near as much total (and it's not *that* much) in US gold Eagles and 1 oz bars, too, as well as some silver rounds and Morgan silver dollars even though they have a collectible markup beyond scrap value that would be irrelevant in really hard times. I suppose I was imprinted on those as a kid with my parents having set a few aside during the Depression era.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

DryHeat said:


> Nobody is going to fake pre-1965 US quarters and dimes, imho.



Wish that were true....

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro....TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=replica+dimes&_sacat=0


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

dry your parents set aside silver coins during the depression?

I use to find them in my change as a kid and I would save them.
It is so hard to find silver in my change these days. 
The last coin I found was a silver quarter under a floor I was taking up.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Sunshine Mint uses a mint mark as do other companies. You have a have a special scanner to read the mark. Mathey prints ID numbers on their silver, but they are also more expensive than Sunshine.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

City Bound said:


> dry your parents set aside silver coins during the depression?


Probably nobody did for the silver, and given any money was hard to come by then. There was no reason to think silver would ever be removed from coins at that time. In fact, until June, 1968 you could take US dollars (silver certificates) to the US Treasury, and exchange it for silver at the official rate. As a kid, I remember seeing the evening news one night a story that showed folks showing up at the Treasury just before the cut off and loading pickup trucks with silver in exchange for paper certificates. I wondered at the time "What is THAT about ?".....now I know !




Plus the spot price of silver actually fell below what the govt was paying for it for coins....one reason the govt ended up with 4 billion ounces in stockpiles. Good article on how all that stockpile got sold off dirt cheap: http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/silverheist.html




City Bound said:


> I use to find them in my change as a kid and I would save them.
> It is so hard to find silver in my change these days.
> The last coin I found was a silver quarter under a floor I was taking up.




Last one I found in change was a 1959 quarter, and that was like 15 years ago. I figure some kid raided dad's collection for pop machine money and didn't know the difference.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Who knows. I save old pennies because they have more copper content then the new ones. Eventually the copper ones will be out of circulation. It may take 40 years to get there, but it is not skin off my back to simple save the ones I get.


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

FYI: I sold a Spanish gold shipwreck coin to Blanchards in Metarie/New Orleans, and used it to buy a car secondhand. Blanchard's has an on-line auction site that anyone can bid on. (I know CB is buying, not selling, but just in case for another reader).


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

I buy from APMEX, but my recommendation is before you first purchase gold or silver, you should be fully stocked on lead, brass, and steel.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

MichaelK! said:


> I buy from APMEX, but my recommendation is before you first purchase gold or silver, you should be fully stocked on lead, brass, and steel.


why is that mike? 

I scrap but I have nowhere to store large amounts for a long time.


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## FarmerJoe (Nov 14, 2009)

I buy from APMEX, but my recommendation is before you first purchase gold or silver, you should be fully stocked on lead, brass, and steel.


```
why is that mike? 

I scrap but I have nowhere to store large amounts for a long time.
```
He meant ammo


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

Note the variety of replica dimes shown look to be ones with rare collector dates and mint marks. You don't buy a roll of "junk" to get those, the quarters are predominantly 1964 or whatever with zero value added for uncommon dates, dimes are generally Roosevelts similarly of no special attraction; APMEX bags etc sometimes have earlier dates included but they're poor condition circulated ones with zero extra collector value.

I recall traveling with a buddy in the mid to late 70s through Nevada, stopping at a little casino for a bit of blackjack and noticing you bought in for silver dollars and could apparently just take as many away with you as you liked if you felt like leaving. I still kick myself for not taking a flyer and salting away a couple hundred of them, lol.


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

City Bound said:


> why is that mike?
> 
> I scrap but I have nowhere to store large amounts for a long time.


FarmerJoe got it. Code words, like zombie protection. In dire times, you will have nothing if you can't prevent others from taking it way from you by force.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Well, economic hard times come more often then total medieval collapses of the civilized world, but I get your point


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## Alaska (Jun 16, 2012)

I have been using provident metals. But I will have to check out APMEX Don't remember if I have compared their prices and reviews.


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## ItalianStallion (Jun 5, 2018)

I feel like this thread hasn't been updated in a while. I've been shopping around for a number of years and since this thread started, there's been a lot of new players in the gold and silver game... anyone still shop around?


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

I sold some coins at Blanchard's in New Orleans, in 2000, when they started their on-line bidding (for coins). Got 3X the true value from someone enthusiastic.


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## AggieChris (May 9, 2015)

JM bullion has a first time buyers deal for 10 ounces silver at spot.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

When I purchased silver bullion my favourite was JM Bullion and Provident the 2nd. JM is always running specials so most of what I got I purchased at spot or 49 cents per ounce above spot.


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## ItalianStallion (Jun 5, 2018)

AggieChris said:


> JM bullion has a first time buyers deal for 10 ounces silver at spot.


Yeah, I've see that deal on their site too. how much research do you do with their competitors? I've seen other companies with lower premiums than the starter pack


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## AggieChris (May 9, 2015)

I’ll admit I probably don’t shop around as much as I should. I normally go to JM, Apmex and Providence. All three have free shipping over $99 so it usually comes down to whats on sale. Right now Providence is the winner with 1 oz random rounds.


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## ItalianStallion (Jun 5, 2018)

AggieChris said:


> I’ll admit I probably don’t shop around as much as I should. I normally go to JM, Apmex and Providence. All three have free shipping over $99 so it usually comes down to whats on sale. Right now Providence is the winner with 1 oz random rounds.


I checked them out, especially since PMs tanked. Have you ever dealt with Bullion Exchanges? I saw them as one of the top dealers on ebay, plus I keep getting hit with their ads too. It looks like they have $75 for free shipping...which is a plus


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## AggieChris (May 9, 2015)

I can’t say that I have. I did buy Junk today from Provident as its on sale at $.19 over spot and free shipping over $99. Will see how this order goes, haven’t ordered junk from them before.


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