Junk Silver Hoarding

The premiums for silver dollars are high, I agree. But I'm not totally against that because it saves a lot of beautiful pieces from getting melted.

What, by the way, has the lowest premium when it comes to junk? I'm talking about just buying individuals and bulk/lots, and not from roll-searching. I'm leaning towards halves right now.

I don't collect or hoard junk silver. The few coin dealers that I go to seem to treat it just like what it is called, junk. I would rather look for an individual piece for my collection than buy a roll of any thing in AG or junk silver. If the US dollar becomes worthless(highly unlikely) you would still have to convert your junk silver into another fiat currency so you could spend it at the grocery store.

Unlikely perhaps, but consider this... Since 1913 the USD has lost about 97% of it's value. It really took a big dive after Tricky Dick took us off the gold standard in 1971. All fiat currencies have eventually become worthless.

When/if the USD collapses the grocery store will probably not have any food left in it. Ammo will be just as (or more) valuable than silver at that point.

Regarding pictures...
I'm sorry guys I'd love to oblige, but I do not have time to line up and stack 1000's of silver dollars in order to take pics of them. Nothing really much to look at anyway... most are VF-XF. I do have a few nice uncirculated rolls of MS-60/62 Morgan's, but they are mostly commons.

I love reading this forum!

I understand that the USD has lost a significant amount of value. But even with that said, you are still using the USD is all retail transactions. Dispite the loss of value, you are still using it to buy your groceries at the store. What is ammo going to do for you if the store shelves are empty? You could have a room full of Morgan dollars, but if no one is willing to buy them or have the currency to buy them, what good are they? If things are in that condition, what kind of worthless currency would you sell them for? I am just not into the thinking that things would ever get that bad. I still think that hoarding junk silver is not a thing that I am interested in. Possibly, if someone did it and sold it for retirement money.

Dont really know why I hold on to all my junk silver. A lot of it is metal detecting finds. Old silverwear, dimes, silver jewelry, etc. Guess maybe trading stock. WOLF

I've been collecting junk ag for some time but in the past year I've been trying to get more. I buy all kinds, not just coinage. The other silver I sell on ebay for melt value. Recently I bought 3 925 silver chains which weighed over 1 oz total for $1.00 at a flea market. Gong to sell them and use the cash for numismatic coinage.

Junk silver is just one way of having coins as protection from inflation (government debasement of currency). Of late I have been selling mine in order to pay a lot of bills. Never the less I am a big believer in having a few hundred dollars in junk silver coins lying around.

One reason for this is that government may one day institute rationing and fixing of prices due to hyperinflation (people losing faith in fiat money) as government prints ever larger quantities of it. The game the government and banks are now playing cannot continue indeffinately without severe economic consequences.

Let us say you want to buy something that someone has for cash that the government says they can only charge x amount of dollars for. If the seller charges more than the government mandated maximum price (to protect the sellers interests as is their RIGHT) the seller would be "gouging" according to government. The thing the government will not admit though is that the seller is not "gouging" but instead protecting themselves from the collapse of the fiat money. The seller will not be able to replace that which they are selling once it is gone for a profit.

At this time which do you think the seller would prefer? A fiat paper or electronic money during hyperinflation or a silver coin which is still legal tender at face value? In a nut shell I will bet it is the silver (or gold) every single time. Everyone needs to have some junk silver. Got gold and silver? Sincerely, John Leckrone

I recently read an interesting quote in a history book: "Fiat currency does work as long as individuals keep their heads and don't get overwhelmed with greed." Which I think actually reinforces your point MDM. Fiat money itself isn't the problem, human nature is the problem: there is no such thing as "rich enough".

More to topic, I like junk silver better because it's more interesting than bullion. But because of that I'm probably better off buying bullion (ASE's) since it would be harder for me to part with junk silver if need be: "hey, this isn't just silver, it's 1920's silver!"

More like coins that aren't "special" in terms of being key dates, that sort of thing. For example (and I don't have the figs in front of me, just making it up) -- let's take some silver coins, we'll say silver quarters. Let's say we've got a 1935D, a 1941, and a worn 1964. Odds are most would call that 1964 (and maybe that 1941) a junk silver coin. Is it junk? No. It just means that compared to the others it is easier to find and doesn't have particular appeal as a key date or otherwise rare coin (condition or otherwise).

I love junk silver. It's most of my collection. My strategy is to buy junk as close to melt as possible. I don't care about key dates. Hold a coin long enough and eventually it becomes rare and goes up in value. Every coin will inevitably follow this path, I don't care what it is. Even in my lifetime I have seen this with something as lowly as bicentennial quarters, which are vanishing from circulation and (slowly) rising in value. Twenty years back you'd find em' in change every ten minutes.

My strategy is to hedge my investment on both sides: I have the intrinsic value and the aesthetic and numismatic value as well. I would much rather have some multiple silver rosies from common dates than one beaten-up gray dog from a key date. I believe that over time my investment will pay off in a way a similar investment in just high-grade, rare date coins might not. If you don't think so, look at how many gold coins are trading at the same price now because the gold spot has exceeded numismatic value for most of them.

The same will happen with silver.