Silver Eagles Or 90% Halves

Go with 90%. And in case of a situation like you are referring to, I would go with smaller 90% units such as dimes and quarters versus halves.

I have always said ASE, and think that is still great investment, but I am starting to see the beauty of the 90%, and think both is best....

I think it was Mitch above here who said in another thread, the smaller stuff like dimes, quarters, and nickels makes more sense in a trade or barter situations if it ever comes to that, and that makes complete sense to me. I love my nicer stuff, and surely do NOT wanna trade it if possible or sell anytime soon. But if the brown stuff does hit the proverbial fan, than I would like to have some of the fore mentioned stacked away for trades of, 5, 10, 20 dollar transactions, possibly for food or gas....

My local shop has quarters and Merc dimes in sleeves, and they go for like 7 to 10 bucks perhaps depending on the silver spot of course. I think I will clean them out....

I agree with both the ASEs and the 90% silver coins as insurance against an O-S! situation. I would use the ASEs for buying the bigger things I need, such as a week's worth of groceries or a tank of gas. Depending on the exchange rate at the time, that might take 1-2 ASEs for the gas and 3-4 of them for the groceries.

That said, exchange rates for real goods tend to be less than neat, so also having some silver dimes, quarters, and halves would be good. Not sure about nickels. Unless you get the WW II era nickels with 35% silver in them, they may not have much value. Even if you do get them, how many people out there are aware that WW II nickels even had any silver in them? Until a few months ago when I joined up here, I did not know that. I suspect that most people do not.

Although you did not ask about amounts, I suggest that you think of your coins as a pyramid, with the ASEs at the top. They would be the most valuable but the fewest in number. Then, for each lower denomination, you would have double the number of them as the layer above. A minimum arrangement would be something like this: 1 tube ASEs, 2 tubes of 1/2 dollars, 4 tubes of quarters, and 8 tubes of dimes. You could go 1-2 tubes either way with most of these since there is nothing cast in stone about it. It's just a way to get some buying power with the ability to make change in most any situation. For larger amounts, just scale up these amounts.

My collecting goal is to have 1000 ozs. of silver at some point. This would be in the form of ASEs, bars, and 90% silver coins. I only have about 74 ozs. now, so this is not an immediate goal. I would like to make some good progress on it this summer, though. I have some cash that can be converted into silver over the course of the summer, so will be buying in regular increments. Typically, I buy $800-1200 at a time but will also spend less if I find a few nice coins at good prices at the local coin shops. The hunt is on!

Thank you all for your help. I like the pyramid idea, it makes sense. I feel now is the time to buy since who knows what the future will bring. I guess I need some more of the smaller denominations. I felt buying the halves that generally contain a slightly higher amt of silver due to less use were a good idea since I was able to get them for the same cost as the quarters/dimes.

ASE's are great, but I wouldnt pay 10-15% premium for them...stick with nice, low wear 90% for about spot if you can!

I do have a small amount of gold, but as for gold, if things really go bad I just think an oz. will be so valuable that it won't be a common exchange item. On the smaller 1/10 oz, it seems the premium is a little high that is why I have decided on silver. It's very frightening how now we seem to have a 'mob' problem often now, beginnings of what seems organized chaos. I often wondered about the 40% halves of which I have some from back in the 60s as well as finding some in rolls of halves. I wonder why when looking up pricing, those are higher? Thanks again for all your help!

I think get both is good. Diversify!

Go heavy on 90 percent, as you can't beat the low premium and divisibility factor. If you really like silver Eagles, buy at least a few of them as well. They are definitely a very cool coin. You really can have the best of both worlds.