Seems like a good time to reiterate my "investment philosophy"

#1

I never “invest” except in closely held small corporations where I know the principals.

The rest of the market is for me too volatile and too stupid, because it’s mostly supported by hot air and greed. The very idea of a 29K Dow is ridiculous, especially in a zero-sum game with big fish rigging it every way there is.

Okay, I also buy into the utility companies I have to do business with (and that is probably so I can go to shareholders’ meetings and make an ass of myself, which I’ve only done a few times.)

And in the past, when I HAVE bought public stock, I bought it to stick in a drawer and pull it out after ten or fifteen years to see how it was doing.

I’ve never cared to invest in paper, not since the Reagan era where they rigged the 401Ks so you couldn’t put anything in them but crap.

Plus, I do have a few barrels of junk silver coins in various safe secure locations, which gives me a bit of comfort on a day like today. Silver bullion took a hit today also, about 3%, but the purpose of the silver is not really about that. It’s about real money in a possible era of crap money.

Change my mind.

3 Likes
#2

Your post makes sense. I too have lots of old silver dimes quarters, half’s and my favorite silver dollars. When Dad and Grampa had a Bar, they started saving silver coins in the 60s. There were some weird looking pennies they saved.

#3

The debasement of silver coinage began in 63 or 64 with the “sandwich” coins which were largely copper inside. In the mid-sixties, a lot of people started taking the .90 silver coins out of circulation, similarly to your folks.

If you take a .90 silver coin, regardless of condition, stand it on edge on a wood table top, spin it and listen as it twirls and falls over, it will have that satisfying “ka-chink” sound that one only hears from real money.

The allure of junk silver for me is, you don’t have to be a numismatist to understand it will always have value as a measurable exchange medium. Collectibility aside, a 1961 half dollar which originally contained half an ounce of .90 silver will contain less now (because circulation causes loss of metal due to abrasion.) But the amount of metal can be estimated just by eye, if you don’t care to weigh it, so your 1961 half dollar in a junk state but still recognizable and datable is probably in the 70 - 75% range, and if spot silver is sixteen bucks an ounce, that works out to a melt value of a little better than six bucks, and it oughta be able to buy a couple of loaves of bread. More importantly, in hard times, this is a value that almost everybody will be able to agree on, out on the street.

#4

Also, if those pennies are Indian Head rather than Lincoln, they have significant collector value. If they are Lincoln pre-59 with the older reverse instead of the Lincoln Memorial, not as significant but still not something to go out and spend.

#5

Yes, the “wheat back”. I have a bunch of those. My earliest penny is around 1920. I also have the “steel” ones that I bought as a kid in the 70s which are probably not original…

#6

IIRC, steel is only correct for 1943. Nearly the whole mintage was steel that year, and very few copper pennies which of course are valuable as hell.

#7

yes, I forgot to add that part. They are all marked 1943. Again, who knows if they are authentic or a re-cast marketed to dumb coin-collecting kids, because they came SHINY in the mail.

#8

Do you all find it strange that the price of gold has dropped in the last few days? Precious Metals are tricky.

#9

Yes I have and that is puzzling. It’s generally one of the destinations of the “Flight to quality” the pundits speak of in market gyrations like we’re seeing.

#10

Yeah. The silver doesn’t surprise me in the short term cause there are a handful of billionaires who are able to jack it around if they all happen to get on the same page. But the gold is another story, nobody has that kind of dough last I heard.