Junk Silver or .9999 Silver Coins in an Economic Collapse Scenario?

[campandtravel]

You can count the total face value of a pile of American 90% silver coins (except silver dollars) by just weighing the pile and dividing the weight in grams by 25.

That is interesting but if the goal is to get the face values... you can also just look at the faces.

 

[campandtravel]

If you are planning on using silver as a trading medium be prepared for most people to be clueless

Also be prepared for most people to be clueless the rest of the time.

 

[campandtravel]

A cell phone? Jupp. A smartphone? No.

Thank you for correcting me by making that distinction.

 

[campandtravel]

7234 Troy ounces of silver per dollar.
For the silver dollar, it is 26.73 grams per dollar, and .7734 Troy ounces of silver per dollar (close to 3/4 of an ounce like you said)

That is interesting. I didn't know that. I think I would still probably expect people to just lump them in together at 75%, except for the smart people (whom yuo have just educated) who will be sure to follow Gresham's Law and spend the smaller bits first.

 

[Stu77000]

The 90% silver coins less than a dollar all have a weight and silver content exactly proportional to their face value, but the silver dollar has slightly more silver proportionally. You can count the total face value of a pile of American 90% silver coins (except silver dollars) by just weighing the pile and dividing the weight in grams by 25. Provided of course that they aren't badly worn.
So for the smaller coins there is 25 grams total weight per dollar, and .7234 Troy ounces of silver per dollar.
For the silver dollar, it is 26.73 grams per dollar, and .7734 Troy ounces of silver per dollar (close to 3/4 of an ounce like you said)

When are you Americans going to get with the times and switch to the metric system the imperial system is just so cumbersome and complicated.

 

[DrHenley]

When are you Americans going to get with the times and switch to the metric system the imperial system is just so cumbersome and complicated.

We use both. For some things, the old system is more intuitive if you just need an approximate measure. Width of your thumb, length of your foot, length of a stride, how far you can kick a football, normal temperature range in temperate regions, distance from your elbow to the tip of your fingers, amount of water in a normal sized drinking cup, how much beer you can drink without getting drunk, etc. None of these have scientific precision, but they don't need to because we live in the real world where things are messy.

 

[campandtravel]

I prefer assessing people eye to eye. The most of us are "those" und play mostly by the rules. I think, that will change fast, when the strangling of personal freedoms goes on. And so will bartering with goods and coins.

If that was true, the Patriot Act would have been repealed 15 years ago. Anyone who hasn't stood up so far is dead weight.

 

[keepitlow]

Junk silver is your best bet. Gold is too $$. Premium silver is too $$. Go with junk.

 

[Antidavos]

Ok, I don't live in the US, but I'm wondering if you have the same situation as over here.

Let's say we go into a worldwide economic collapse scenario where all fiat currency goes to close to zero.
Those with some foresight would have stocked up on food, water, etc. but after that if you still have money left to invest then it is either silver or gold for most.

So my question is - do you go with junk silver, ie. old currency that can have anywhere from 50 - 90% silver content, or do you go for the pretty looking Silver Eagles with .9999 silver content.

Here's why I'm asking. In my country the Silver Eagle type coins have a 40% premium! So on top of the silver content you add 40%. It's crazy. So...

- In a SHTF scenario where trade is taking place people aren't going to be worried about the shiny looking .9999 coins, just the silver content.

- The problem with old currency junk silver is that will the average person on the street recognise and understand that these old coins actually have silver content in them and are worth something?

- To add to that, in my country there is a 50% and 80% 5 Shilling depending on the date of the coin.

So you could be sitting on a pile of silver but people don't want to trade for it.

It is so tempting to go the junk silver route as you can get so much more silver compared to the Silver Eagles, and over time people probably will come to learn that these old coins do contain silver. Certainly preppers will know.

Thoughts?

we have thought about this to, at the end of the day silver is silver regardless of what it is, I always think having some is better then not having any and without the way the economy is going its going metal is a good hedge, history has shown that fiat money becomes worthless as inflation increases.

 

[Gray-man]

Back to the original question...
I first stacked .999 silver, but after getting more experience in buying and selling silver I realized that the "junk silver" was the most economical way to buy silver. Junk doesn't mean the coins are worn out or damaged, it just means they don't have any special collector value, and can be bought and sold based on what their "melt value" is.
And with American coins at least, the silver coins are recognized immediately as "money" by everyone because they are the same size as the current coins. Brits will have a harder time because they completely revamped their coinage when they decimalized. But everyone in the US knows what a dime, quarter, half dollar, and silver dollar are and can recognize them no matter how old they are. And once they realize that the silver ones are the "real money" there won't be a big learning curve to figure out how to use them in trade like there would be with .999 coins, bars and rounds, or even pre-decimalization British silver coins.

Dr. as usual is spot on and right around 1.40 in junk is a Troy oz. of silver, so based on spot and premium (individual value which varies from individual to individual) you should be able to both calculate if you want to complete a transaction based on that amount and the face value needed for a transaction.