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 Replies: 31 / Views: 2,665 |
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Valued Member
United States
206 Posts |
I can't seem to buy Engelhard or any silver at spot value. The other day, silver was at $8 per ounce, and I paid $16 per ounce. Why is this?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Physical silver is scarce right now. The only thing you can get remotely close to the spot price is "paper" silver(ETF, pool account, etc)
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Valued Member
 United States
206 Posts |
Where has all of the physical silver gone right now? Have people bought it up/hoarding it?
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Moderator
 United States
187567 Posts |
Quote:
Physical silver is scarce right now. The only thing you can get remotely close to the spot price is "paper" silver(ETF, pool account, etc)  The "paper" silver has plummeted in price as people sell it off to pay their margin calls and other immediate debts in this declining economy. Good luck exchanging that paper for physical silver! Quote:
Where has all of the physical silver gone right now? Have people bought it up/hoarding it? For people that have it, the physical silver is being held tight as a hedge against the failing markets, therefore it is going to be priced much higher. Edited by jbuck
10/30/2008 11:46 am
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Valued Member
United States
429 Posts |
The physical silver is being bought like no other if people can find it. My local coin store has not been able to hold onto any for a couple of months now because of the price drop and buying it seems to be even more difficult. Along with that, just because the spot price drops, does not mean all silver does as well, if so I would go buy every silver dollar I could find. The seller still has to find a way to make up their personal loss and still not under sell the coins at the same time. Just last week I went in and could buy junk silver for 14x face value on most coins. The only problem was that the guy in front of me decided to dump his retirement money into silver and bought almost everything they had (dimes, halves and dollars) I just wish I could spend 1/100th the amount he did. The only part that made me mad was that he knew nothing about coins and did not care about what he was buying except that it was silver, I could spend months going through everything he had and find something every day he could care less about.
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Valued Member
United States
442 Posts |
Quote:
Quote:
Physical silver is scarce right now. The only thing you can get remotely close to the spot price is "paper" silver(ETF, pool account, etc)
The "paper" silver has plummeted in price as people sell it off to pay their margin calls and other immediate debts in this declining economy. Good luck exchanging that paper for physical silver!
Quote:
Where has all of the physical silver gone right now? Have people bought it up/hoarding it?
For people that have it, the physical silver is being held tight as a hedge against the failing markets, therefore it is going to be priced much higher. JBuck has nailed it. We are selling silver as fast as we can get it. I think some people that are buying "on paper" are going to be very sorely disappointed. I WORK in a shop and can't get physical anywhere NEAR spot. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
Spot prices for Precious Metals have become almost meaningless in today's market.
In small quantities, gold is trading at +10% and silver at +40%. As mentioned, only paper is trading at spot and only large quantities (1,000 oz.+) is trading NEAR spot.
That said, prices are low right now and I don't mind paying a SMALL premium.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2734 Posts |
Quote:
The only part that made me mad was that he knew nothing about coins and did not care about what he was buying except that it was silver. That's the kind of guy that (even a year ago) most large dealers would have sold him rolls and/or green boxes of bullion American Silver Eagles, but now most places are either out of bullion ASE's or don't have sufficient quantities of them to accommodate such a large purchase. The U.S. Mint has been having to ration and delay production of Gold and Silver coins in the last few months.... It seems inevitable that more and more bullion traders are going be trying to claim the physical 1000 oz. bars at the end of their 'paper' contracts...  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
I was at a coin show Sunday and the silver buyer usually has a couple of hundred $ in junk silver for me to look at.
Sunday he had zero!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
anybody have any ideas why everyone is so crazy about silver right now?
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1682 Posts |
Seems that since the credit crunch people are rethinking their investments/savings/etc and are buying gold & silver if they can find it and afford it.
Was able to find one place with 52 Weiner Philharmoniker at £12.37 and 8 maples at £12.78 for a friend who was looking.
Spot price is about £5.90
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1267 Posts |
Listen to JBuck and Clembo for these guys are speaking 'Gospel" when it come to the precious metal Ag.
There's vastly more 'promissory' and 'investment pool' notes/paper than there are ounces of silver to cover it all.
Take Care
Ben
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
But silver is not as much a store of value as it used to be since the majority of it is used in industry. Bad economy would thus drop the price of silver in my thinking. Am I way off on this?
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Moderator
United States
187567 Posts |
Silver is a precious metal so it has value as a currency, not just for industrial use. It will hold this value regardless of what government entity is in power (which is what gives value to our coins and notes). If the economy completely crashed, the "price" of silver won't matter because dollars would be worthless. One would have to value silver by what it could be traded for: food, housing, etc.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3294 Posts |
but silver is not used as a currency, so how does it still have value as a currency? I am not trying to be confrontational, just trying to understand why supply and demand economics seems tilted on its side in this case.
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Moderator
United States
187567 Posts |
Maybe not now (at least not regularly, there is the Liberty Dollar for example), but silver or any other precious metal (or commodity) could be used as currency in the event that a local government issued currency were to become worthless. BTW, I do not see you as being confrontational, just inquisitive, and that is a good thing, IMHO!  |
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Replies: 31 / Views: 2,665 |
Posted 10/30/2008 11:44 am
