Richard Rowland

Thanks again, to all who offered suggestions and told of their experiences with the Hummingbirds. Next question: I've been toying with the idea of buying some gold. However, I fear I could get snookered; I'd probably end up with gold painted washers. Has anyone here on the forum, had experience purchasing gold?

If so, was it a plus or minus experience. Also, would you mind sharing the name of the agency from where purchased and a recommendation if one is warranted? I made the mistake of responding to a television add, unfortunately, I now have a sales agent calling me regularly.

If when buying, is there a commision charge on top of the price of the gold? I would think the price of gold would be a universally standard price. Any profit to the dealer would be an add-on. A dealer who doesn't advertise on television, or other expensive mediums, would be better situated to offer better deals.

Any information will be appreciated.

buffalo Loc: Texas

I think now would be an excellent time to buy both gold and silver. I have been investing in both for 30 years. I am actually right now, with the low prices of silver about even. But not worried as I am holding for the long term. I am into gold at a average of about $800/troy ounce. Sold some gold back when it was $1600+/-. I think the near future is going to see some big spikes in prices of both metals as the government has intnetionally kept the prices of both low. High gold and silver price3s are bad for the dollar.

I would suggest buying silver and gold eagle coins. SilverTowne.com is an excellent, trustworthy online store to pourchase gold and silver coins and bullion. The bigger quantities the lower the commissions. Some even ships free. I used to know an individual dealer for 30 years but he died. He taught me the ins and outs so to speak.

archie bunker Loc: Texas

Howdy Richard.
It's been a year, or two, but we have purchased several gold, and silver coins from a local business. Of course, they charge a little above market value. They're a business, they have to make money. The gold has grown in value, so we did well with it. It seems like silver fluctuations make it sketchy to me, but it isn't expensive. I haven't kept up wit it lately, but I used to.
We once purchased 6 one ounce silver bars at a pawn shop at $6.00 below market price because I was watching it, and they weren't.
I don't know about online sites because I don't trust a lot of that, but I've heard Gold Line is good.
We bought ours from this place, and they struck me as honest in the face of my skepticism. Very nice people. I don't know if they do any online stuff, but give em a look.

http://www.bbb.org/us/tx/amarillo/profile/safe-deposit-box-rental/stout-safe-storage-inc-0815-11030474

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

For what they're worth, Richard....

https://www.thebalance.com/pros-and-cons-of-owning-assets-like-gold-1290619

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/investing/pros-cons-investing-gold-1.aspx

pafret Loc: Northeast

Richard if you are buying gold as a hedge against currency collapse stay away from coinage. The US Mint gets a terrific Seigniorage which is the profit made by a government by issuing currency, especially the difference between the face value of coins and their production costs. Find a dealer in bulk gold and buy ounce or whatever size you prefer then you pay "spot" value, which refers to the price at which a futures contract for nearest active delivery month was most recently traded. It fluctuates up and down from second to second while the exchanges are open and trading – much like stock prices do. It is the price most commonly used when pricing bullion. Spot plus some service charge/premium is usually less ounce for ounce than buying coins of the same weight. Bullion pieces like "Bullion coinage" come in four nines purity (0.9999 %). The silver or gold slabs will have purity and makers mark stamped into them.

You can see the differences between bullion and coinage at current spots on this web site.

https://www.moneymetals.com/precious-metals-charts

no propaganda please Loc: moon orbiting the third rock from the sun

It is great that many on OPP have information on things like gold and silver and are willing to share it. I've never had the money to even think about buying gold but the information presented sounds worth looking into particularly because the people presenting it seem like people of integrity. Now, if you have questions about buying or training a dog, ask away, we can help.
NPP and SWMBO

pafret Loc: Northeast

Those were yesterdays activities when I used to be a numismatist and collector. I worked with an Engineer, whose parents had escaped from NAZI Germany and they impressed on him the necessity of keeping any wealth in Diamonds and Precious Metals. I got the Gold Bug from him.

My wife's and my own illnesses stripped us of all of our major assets so my precious metal buying days are long gone, along with my accumulations. The only precious metal I get these days is fillings in my teeth and I think those have been switched to plastic. I have a bunch of (250) Mercury Dimes that were all worth about ten bucks each the last time I checked.

Best profit I ever made was due to my wife. On a vacation trip in 63, we were in Tonapah Nevada and were gambling at the old Casino. My wife kept asking for more Travelers checks and when I figured she had blown enough of our vacation cash I put a halt to it. That night she showed me a horde of Silver Dollars which she was sorting for rare specimens. Instead of gambling she was "buying" silver dollars. We went back the next day and before the casino called a halt we had about 2400 coins. They stayed in my collection even though they were mostly low grade and of no numismatic value. Silver Dollars were 90% silver at the time.

In the late seventies I was in a coin store looking for more coins for my collection, when a kid brought in a silver dollar. The dealer didn't look at the coin, threw it in a box under his counter and gave the kid forty bucks. Seems Herbert and Bunker Hunt were running up the silver market and that is what you could get for a silver dollar. I arranged to bring him 2000 coins and he gave me a check for 80,000. Spot was over 48 bucks for silver so the dealer was collecting about $1.25 per coin, $2500 on my transaction. I had to pay taxes on the windfall profit but I paid one dollar each for the coins.

Never made that big a profit percentage on any other of my holdings. Sounds funny considering I advised not buying Coinage but the days when you could acquire silver coinage at face value are gone. The coin markets were always up with terrific demand when I was buying and depressed, with coins selling at or below bullion, when I was selling. Coin collectors reverse the market adage, they buy high and sell low.

vernon

I have been buying silver eagles since the 80s.The reason i buy eagles is because if something really bad happens to our economy I think they will be easier to spend at a store than gold.That is the reason i only buy eagles and not maple leafs.

Richard Rowland

Interesting pafret. When I was a kid, I had a couple of paper routes at different times. At that time everyone usually paid for their weekly subscription with coins, for a weekly paper, depending on which paper, was at 25 to 50 cents per week. Wishing I had all those coins now that I had collected. What a different world it was back then. Silver dollars and half dollars could be had by the bushel if desired.

I've Googled information since requesting input from OPP's participants, I'm thinking gold may not be for me.

Richard Rowland

One thing I've discovered over the many years no propaganda is, as a whole, folks are decent and always willing to put aside any differences to be helpful, if asked, by giving advice and sharing information gleaned thru experience.

Richard Rowland

Makes sense, Vernon. I'll think about that, thanks.

Wolf counselor Loc: Heart of Texas

In 1986, I bought gold at less than $400 an ounce.

I haven't purchased any since then except in the form of jewelry.

That same year I bought a Colt Navy .36 caliber revolver for $200 bucks.

The time for buying gold and guns at reasonable prices has long passed.

But if you're buying....buy 'today'.

And buy enough so you never need to buy again.

Then sit back and watch it all appreciate in value.

Richard Rowland

Thanks, Wolf. I'm not really thinking of it as an appreciating investment, but more as a means of barter, if things really go in the toilet. I liked the idea of silver as a better medium, as a means to barter.

pafret Loc: Northeast

Since I no longer have any store of bullion I have pondered about what good it was. As a hedge against inflation it has to be converted into a readily acceptable form of exchange. This gives you the problem of having to cash out and in, constantly and at the peaks of its value so you get the maximum return. Without a crystal ball and the ability to scry the future this is very difficult and the price of gold and silver is manipulated by government regulations, market sharks and a myriad of other factiors. It is like the sudden Bitcoin millionaires, up one day and down the next..

As a medium of exchange we are so far removed from the days when people accepted metals as payment I don't know if it will ever return. Even then, it had to be divided as in pieces of eight, two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar. If it is the ultimate repository of value in the event the entire economy is crashed via some disaster then who wants gold or silver? Food is the desired commodity. I think that the best investment is land which can be put into some form of production to produce wealth, farmland, timber forests, wilderness recreational facilities and the like. Land is a limited commodity and you can live on and from its bounty.

I have about fifteen Silver Trade Dollars, of one ounce weight, minted in the Phillippines and South America. These were used in the China Trade at the time the nation was not unified but a series of fiefdoms under some local warlord. Each Province had to verify the silver content of the coins and to indicate their acceptance, the warlords chop mark was pounded into the coin. This mangled the coin and rendered it worthless numismatically but of inestimable value as a repository of history. Some of my specimens have five and six chop marks punched into horribly bent coinage. I picked these up in Paul Brombal's shop in Santa Barbara California back in the early eighties, as a present for my wife, who taught world history among her other majors. She used them as props in her teaching work. As I recall, Brombal gouged me five bucks apiece for them, I overdisplayed my interest and he knew he had a fish on the hook. They were in a bucket destined for the smelters and were on a last chance to be sold before meltdown.

lindajoy Loc: right here with you....

Gold bullion is beautiful to see. When my father past he told me of safety box hidden .. He said it is for all of us and then told me stories of how popular they were early 70’ and 80’s.. He loved collecting them.. Prices fluctuated strongly and he’d wait and then buy more..,

Anyway when he past I opened it to find 25 per child 1 oz bars.. that’s times 6 children.. His note said he hoped we would each keep them... Don’t know what my siblings did but I still have mine... BTW each bulion is stamped just you say too..