$ (Au, Ag, Pt) Precious Metals - Gold, Silver, and the Platinum family of metals

[Rabidcolombian]

I see crypto and stocks discussed here, but haven't seen a metal thread yet.

For anyone whose had experience with metals, please share your advice on bars vs coins, JM vs Apmex, silver vs gold, etc.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

For a while I was obsessed with reclaiming gold from old computer boards/processors.
I even found the recipe to make aqua regia which is one of the few solutions that will break down gold and other noble metals.
I saved up a bunch of shit to process and then never got to it.
I still have a shitload of stuff too, lol.

 

[Chaos Theorist]

my favourite metal is speed

 

[CivilianOfTheFandomWars]

Tweakers try to steal the copper wire out of construction sites around here sometimes.
Beyond that, my general theory is that once an asteroid is actually mined for it’s metals things will get fucked.

 

[Godzilla1984]

Physical Metals > Paper Metals.
Coins > Bullion > Bars.
Personal Storage > Bank Storage.

The problem is that after the United States decoupled the dollar from physical gold most of the world followed their lead.
Getting anything other than coins from a secondhand dealer is a bitch with a bunch of traceable strings attached in a lot of jurisdictions these days.
Confiscations has happened before, and will happen again.
Truth be told, gold, platinum, palladium are way too much of a hassle in terms of value dissonance and upfront costs for run of the mill investors.
I like silver personally.
Buying a roll of silver coins every once in a while adds up over time, doesn't nuke your wallet, and dodges historical confiscations since it's all GOLD GOLD GOLD when it happens.

Fun Fact:
There are silver coins still in circulation if you know what to look for.
1964 and older for for the US.
1967/1968 and older for Canada.
All over the map for Mexico. See link below.
http://www.coinflation.com/unitedstates/. Archive.
http://www.coinflation.com/canada/. Archive.
http://www.coinflation.com/mexico/. Archive.
http://www.coinflation.com/

 

[nagant 1895]

If you want to protect money or save for retirement then just buy whichever of the big three is at a low point whenever you have some extra cash and take physical ownership.
If you want to make money:
Always check the 10yr 5yr and 1yr price charts before buying. About a year ago silver was at a ten year low and that's where I bought in.
Be aware of what premium you're paying the dealer and what sort of price you can resell for. Coins tend to have higher premiums but also most dealers will buy them back for spot or slightly better. So if spot is 17, and the premium on the coin is 2 then you need to bet on spot rising above 19 before you can make money. That doesn't get into accounting for inflation on the currency your trading in. Basically it's all about balancing the premium you're paying against what you expect to be able to sell it for.
I use SD Bullion because their prices tend to be marginally better on the things I buy, namely major national coinage, USA, Canada, Mexico, China etc... whichever has the lowest premium at the moment.
If you get really into it and live near chicago you can place an order for physical delivery with the comex and pick up your one thousand ounce bars which is neat.

 

[Rabidcolombian]

Confiscations has happened before, and will happen again.
Truth be told, gold, platinum, palladium are way too much of a hassle in terms of value dissonance and upfront costs for run of the mill investors.
I like silver personally.
Buying a roll of silver coins every once in a while adds up over time, doesn't nuke your wallet, and dodges historical confiscations since it's all GOLD GOLD GOLD when it happens.

How would the government know I have it? Would they just look at my previous bank transactions from metal websites?

I only know the basic summary of 1933's gold confiscation, so don't know how they enforced people to do this. I would think threat of jail time and a fine would be worth risking if the government was literally going to storm in and take your gold. I know a horrible depression was going on, but why didn't the people fight more against it?

 

[melty]

Metal is boomer currency

 

[1Tonka_Truck]

Subtitle should be Oro y Plata in honor of the best state moto.

 

[Godzilla1984]

How would the government know I have it? Would they just look at my previous bank transactions from metal websites?

I only know the basic summary of 1933's gold confiscation, so don't know how they enforced people to do this. I would think threat of jail time and a fine would be worth risking if the government was literally going to storm in and take your gold. I know a horrible depression was going on, but why didn't the people fight more against it?

It wasn't really tracked back then so most people hid it an claimed ignorance.
Nowadays there's electronic transaction records like credit card purchases, bank records of deposits, vendor records, and so on.
For example, in Canada, vendors are required to maintain and submit gold transaction records upon request by the RCMP like firearm vendors.

 

[drfuzzyballs]

I would recommend only getting official gooberment bullion since it gains value as a collector coin as well as the meltdown value. I've got like $300 worth of silver total

 

[Godzilla1984]

I would recommend only getting official gooberment bullion since it gains value as a collector coin as well as the meltdown value. I've got like $300 worth of silver total

Yeah.
People also tend to trust official coins/bullion from national mints.
Less dodgy.

 

[Rabidcolombian]

If I'm just in it for protection against a financial crisis, what is the best thing to get that will basically equal the US dollar worth? (I'm a beginner at this so please bear with me). I keep hearing conflicting opinions.

I know nothing probably as the values keep going up and down although gold prices tend to get higher.

I got a 1/10oz American Gold Eagle as my first buy at $200. Probably not the best time to do it during the coronavirus. Within 24 hrs I wanted to cancel it.

 

[Godzilla1984]

If I'm just in it for protection against a financial crisis, what is the best thing to get that will basically equal the US dollar worth? (I'm a beginner at this so please bear with me). I keep hearing conflicting opinions.

I know nothing probably as the values keep going up and down although gold prices tend to get higher.

I got a 1/10oz American Gold Eagle as my first buy at $200. Probably not the best time to do it during the coronavirus. Within 24 hrs I wanted to cancel it.

The asset doesn't really matter.
Metals, collectibles, property (usually), are long term investments that you're supposed to slowly liquidate over your retirement period.
The long game, if you will.
Sit on your purchase and forget about it for a decade and it'll go up.
You'll laugh at your short term regret with the backing of long term gains.
Just be patient and logical about it.

 

[No. 7 cat]

I've lots of half and full Sovereigns and a Krugerrand (1 troy oz). A fair bit of silver too. It's notable to me that ordinary Dutch and US coins were silver until some time in the '60s. Collection is more my thing.

 

[Skeletor]

Long term investments that don’t yield interest or dividends seem pretty dubious to me.

 

[Godzilla1984]

Long term investments that don’t yield interest or dividends seem pretty dubious to me.

The interest comes from fiat currency devaluation, AKA inflation.

 

[Mr Himmler]

I have a strange infatuation with gold, I must have some swiss in me.

Nowadays there's electronic transaction records like credit card purchases, bank records of deposits, vendor records, and so on.
For example, in Canada, vendors are required to maintain and submit gold transaction records upon request by the RCMP like firearm vendors.

Given this,

For a while I was obsessed with reclaiming gold from old computer boards/processors.
I even found the recipe to make aqua regia which is one of the few solutions that will break down gold and other noble metals.

this is starting to seem pretty attractive.

Is there any other way besides reclamation to safely and discreetly own gold & silver?

 

[Godzilla1984]

I have a strange infatuation with gold, I must have some swiss in me.

Given this,

this is starting to seem pretty attractive.

Is there any other way besides reclamation to safely and discreetly own gold & silver?

I'm not a fan of it, and it's almost a punchline:
Pawn shops.
They usually mark up gold jewelry over spot price, but nothing says discreet like cash transactions.

 

[Horus]

Ok gents, not to power level myself here, but silver stacking is a huge hobby of mine and I can talk for hours about it.

Instead of rambling on and on, I going to give all of you the quick and dirty advice to make it caveman level simple for you.

If you are in North America, just buy ASE's (American Silver Eagles) or Canadian Silver Maple Leafs. These are government backed coins, but are also .999 and .9999 (respectively) pure silver. This means virtually no junk metals are in these coins, and normies will trust them because of the government backing.

Any coin store or pawnshop will buy/sell these coins. Just Google these coins to get an idea of what a reasonable premium is, as it goes up and down constantly. DO NOT BUY FROM EBAY.

EBay is full of scammers, and unless you have the correct chemicals and/or magnets, you can't test the purity of any potential metals you buy at some "too good to be true" price.

Reputable (but a little expensive) online dealers include Silvertowne, JMbullion, Apmex, and the Pinehurst Coin Exchange.

If you are in Europe, just go with the Austrian Philharmonic coin...cant speak to the quality (or lack of quality) of online dealers over there though.

DO NOT BUY "German Silver". So called German Silver is not silver that comes from Germany, but is an alloy that is made from copper, nickel, and zinc. Its typically sold to scam you.

Good luck, have fun stacking coins.