“A HOARD OF ULTRA-RARE COLLECTIBLE MORGAN SILVER DOLLARS WAS RECENTLY UNCOVERED! YOU TOO CAN OWN ONE OF THESE COLLECTIBLE PIECES OF HISTORY FOR ONLY 22$!”
(Screen shows some guy in a suit – whoever he’s supposed to fucking be – going over mounds of SHINY Morgan dollars with a magnifying glass… Oooooooo, SHINY!!! If Suit-Guy is going over such a trove with a MAGNIFYING GLASS, then they MUST be Soooper-Valuabbbble!!!! )
And soooooo SHINY!!!
I’m a cheap bastard. I got no problem coughing up the coin when it’s on something that fucking matters… but with silver? Buy bullion.
Why pay some douche a markup for a coin that isn’t even 100% silver? Last purchase that we got from APMEX was for several pounds of 90% silver coins – US washington quarters and dimes. But they were all CULL coins… worth only their melt value. The reason we got them was just in case the Silver Eagles we purchased previously were too much to conduct transactions with… and people recognize US silver coins, cull or otherwise.
So what if it’s got some scratches, or been cleaned or buffed or whatever and it’s numismatic value is shot to hell? I don’t give a shit about it’s collectible value – I care if it’s a) silver and b) can help me feed my family and get what we need come SHTF… anything else just isn’t important…
Unless someone has a giant pile of “cull” Morgans, I’m staying with Silver Eagles…
SSS
January 14, 2015 4:52 pm
Holy crap. Some good statements and some bad ones in this ad to buy bullion. I can’t argue with the bottom line though. Unless you know what you’re doing with silver dollars (and fractional pre-1965 90% silver coins such as half dollars, quarters, and dimes), buy billion I oz coins such as the Silver American Eagle. Check today’s silver spot, add a $4-5 premium, and go to a reputable local coin dealer after calling first to ask what they’re charging. No muss, no fuss.
Oh, and you can usually, but not always, haggle with coin dealers. They’re used to it and do it themselves.
SSS
January 14, 2015 4:54 pm
Dagnabit. Bullion, not billion.
Southern Sage
January 14, 2015 5:11 pm
I like Morgans. Beautiful coins. So what if I pay a couple of bucks more for them than for some silver slug run off yesterday? No illusions about them being an investment, though. Just fun to have them.
SSS
January 14, 2015 5:16 pm
The pitch in the ad on slabbed, graded coins is very misleading. This is done by collectors who KNOW they have a coin, any coin, that has numismatic value. They just want the coin’s grade to be certified by experts (and they pay for that service), and put in a tamper-proof “slab.” This improves the coin’s value and marketability.
For example, pictured in the ad is an 1892-S Morgan Dollar graded XF-45 (XF is extremely fine). That coin has a retail value of around $900. The 1881-S pictured in MS-62 (mint state) is worth $55. If you have an 1893-S in MS-66, you hit the jackpot …….. $850,000.
Dutchman
January 14, 2015 5:16 pm
Buying ‘rare’ anything is a scam. You buy at retail and then when you want to sell they are auctioned off at a much lower price.
My father left me a coin collection – I speak from experience.
I would only buy bullion.
SSS
January 14, 2015 5:19 pm
Southern Sage is right about Morgan Dollars (“I like Morgans. Beautiful coins.”) It is the most highly collected series of any U.S. coin. Huge demand keeps the price steady, if not increasing.
card802
January 14, 2015 5:30 pm
Junk silver calculator: Just enter the number of coins and the days silver price.
I used to collect coins for their numismatic value and beauty, found out the hard way the price you pay to obtain a “collector” coin, is not the price a dealer will pay to obtain a coin. Ah well, lesson learned.
IndenturedServant
January 14, 2015 5:41 pm
Forget numismatic Morgans and Peace Dollars…………run of the mill, heavily circulated specimens have been selling for premiums up to 80% over spot for quite some time. As of December they had come down to 68.5% which is still insane! All of my local dealers have standing orders from several customers to buy all they can acquire. I don’t see the attraction myself, it’s just junk silver. I bought a nice pile of them at exactly spot almost ten years ago.
If you do want to buy some nice numismatic silver dollars though, the most reputable guy I know is Patrick Heller at Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, MI. I’m pretty sure he has a buyback guarantee. He’ll give you the best deal but numismatics are still speculative.
SSS
January 14, 2015 7:23 pm
@ Dutchman and card802
Of course a dealer isn’t going to pay retail for a coin. S/he will pay what’s going on in the market. And they have access to dealer pubs and networks not available to the collector.
I bought a coin 20 years ago for $450 (the little woman was not pleased). Today’s retail price guide tells me it’s worth $2,500. Am I going to get that from a dealer? Hell, no.
Here’s the kicker for today’s seller. Get the coin authenticated, graded, and slabbed by a professional grading service. Then take it to a dealer to sell. If you don’t like the offer, try eBay. OTHER collectors may make you an offer you can’t refuse.
@ Dutchman
What did your DAD pay for the coins in his collection that you inherited (if he paid anything at all and just found some of them in circulation)? That’s the key question. Buying truly rare coins for profit is not a scam. It is, however, a tricky and fickle business best left to people who know what the fuck they are doing.
Billy
January 14, 2015 8:05 pm
BAHH-HAHAHAHAHA!!
I can hear the conversation now…
Fade in… 2 years, post-SHTF… small trading post in the Southeast somewhere…. but could be anywhere. All trading posts are pretty much the same….
“I can’t have any less than one ounce troy silver for this bag of seed corn…”
“Well, I have this super rare Morgan silver dollar… it’s worth quite a bit.”
“What do you mean ‘quite a bit’?”
“Well, I paid $4,000 for it, back before The Troubles…”
“BAHH-HAH-HAH!! That’s your own fuckin’ problem for getting soaked… I need one ounce troy, hard silver, or no deal.”
“B-but… it’s really valuable!”
“If you don’t have the coin, I’m gonna have to ask you step aside, mister…”
“I really need that seed corn! You need to understand how valuable and rare this Morgan dolla-”
“I ain’t got time for this… NEXT!”
“HEY! You can’t just blow me off like that! I need that seed c-”
(Mr. Valuable Silver Dollar is suddenly staring down the barrel of a 12 gauge shotgun)
“Hey Buck? Escort Mr. Fancy-Pants Silver Dollar off the premises…. if he gives you any shit, fuckin’ shoot him.”
Didius Julianus
January 14, 2015 8:06 pm
Hi Billy,
If you bought cull 90% I hope you bought based on actual weight and not “x” times the face value as culls are a lot more worn and contain notably less silver than lightly circulated examples.
As for common silver dollars, I would not mind buying at up to $5 or so per coin over actual melt value for decent coins. Rarer, mint state grade and the like you do need to know what you are doing. For example, there has been notable grade “inflation” in slabbed coins over the years and you do need to understand the current “market grading” conditions to know if what you are buying (even in a slab) is accurately graded for today’s “market”. I am more of a technical grader myself which means that a grade I gave a coin 20 years ago is the same grade it gets today assuming the coin is unchanged.
Been collecting since a kid in 1971, worked in coin shops from 1974 to 1983 off and on, sold quite a bit on eBay in the late 1990s to about 2007 or so and stay in touch with what is going on in the coin collecting community. Only buy bullion coins for what you consider a reasonable premium over melt value and only buy collectible coins if you really know what you are doing.
ottomatik
January 14, 2015 8:37 pm
SSS- On this matter we are in total agreement. Here is a link I found to a Numismatic guru discussing all things gold and silver and the law, especially the Trading with the Enemy Act used to justify the 1933 turn in.
Like I have said before, the Morgans I bought right are doing better for me price wise than my Eagles, I am a big fan of both. There is just something romantic about that 1879 date, imagine the shit that coin has seen!!
Don’t buy anything off the TV, do your home work and shop around, building a position should take time, its not a one off event. Rather a small amount of monthly saving should be set aside in your preferred bullion vehicle as a component of a diverse savings portfolio.
I prefer Morgans and I am not alone by any stretch, this article was written for simpletons.
ottomatik
January 14, 2015 8:51 pm
Billy- Rarity has survived all of the worst calamities the earth has mustered to this point, what you are suggesting has questionable merit. No one here is suggesting you buy MS65+ grade morgans to trade for food. Would you trade a work of Cezanne, Van Gough, or Monet for a chicken? Does that make them worthless, because it is just paint and paper? Obviously not, but those works have held thier value through multiple fiat collapses and have proven themselves to be champions of wealth preservation for those that can play at that level.
Bullets might be a better barter vehicle for seed corn, or seeds, whiskey, and smokes should do well maybe better than APMEX rounds if it goes full retard.
EC
January 14, 2015 8:59 pm
The title says: how Morgans used to fleece investors, the guys at work got interested in coins back in the 80’s (these manias go in cycles) and they were comparing coins slabs that had been graded ms-63. Rick had a Morgan dollar he said had been ‘jizzed’. To the naked eye it seemed the features were very good. He showed me on the microscope a fine line scribed around the head, it was very fine but also shaky, like a line you’d draw around a profile using PAINT.
llpoh
January 14, 2015 9:15 pm
This all is “buyer beware” stuff. If I do not understand it, I avoid it. If I break this rule, I get stung.
For instance, right now I am all swollen up and itchy over art I have. Some is quite nice investment grade stuff, but nonetheless if I were to try to sell it now I would take a big beating. I simply do not know enough about art to try to invest in it – and the market is extremely cyclical, and it is not easy to cash art in. But at least I am reasonably happy with the art – I can look at it, and I really did not buy it to be a great investment.
The sting I got on an apartment once was much less welcome. Not all property is a good investment. Lesson learned.
I think I will avoid coins. I do not need another lesson.
Billy
January 14, 2015 9:44 pm
Bullets might be a better barter vehicle for seed corn, or seeds, whiskey, and smokes should do well maybe better than APMEX rounds if it goes full retard. – otto
There’s a world of difference between overpaying for some schmoe Morgan dollar and a freaking Van Gough… I worry about the practical value of things…
Didius asked if I bought those cull coins based on actual weight… of course I did. I know a coin worn almost slick weighs less than a moderately circulated one… I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night.. I bought by weight and even though the coins are classed “cull”, most are still in pretty good shape. The worst of the bunch, you can still tell they are US coins…
That said, I would not trade bullets for anything.
Reason being, whomever you trade them to now might not be on such agreeable terms several months down the road, and might decide to Express Mail those bullets back your way… that would suck, living through SHTF, taking all the precautions and stockpiling… and then get greased with your own ammo…
When things go full retard, booze, smokes, food, medicine, first aid shit, tools, etc, for trade?… yeah, not a problem… ammo? Nope. Not a chance in hell.
Golden Oxen
January 14, 2015 9:45 pm
I collect Morgans and buy bullion coins as well. A properly graded slabbed Morgan key date coin is a good investment in my view.
You need silver eagles or maple leafs however to use as money, premiums are small and liquidity is good. Collecting, Investing, and every day use for money are three different things and require three different types.
When investing in silver, in it’s own right, silver bullion bars are the best way to go, smaller premiums than coins especially in 10 oz size.
SSS
January 14, 2015 10:16 pm
“This all is “buyer beware” stuff. If I do not understand it, I avoid it. If I break this rule, I get stung. I think I will avoid coins. I do not need another lesson.”
—-Llpoh
Bingo, buddy. Buy bullion, if you are so inclined to precious metals. Get the best price and take physical possession. Easy peasy.
Rarity and investment value in any niche market requires exceptional knowledge, research, and sophistication. Exceptional. I don’t give a shit if you are talking about art, coins, stamps, furniture, Navajo rugs or whatever. You’d better know what the fuck you’re doing.
P.S. If you’d like an advisor on U.S. coin investment, I’d be happy to assist. At a small, nominal fee, of course. Since you have expressed a displeasure with my remarks of late about your justifiably proud heritage, I’m running a special rate this week for Choctaws. Heh.
EC
January 14, 2015 11:06 pm
Do you require a CIB for the special rate?
Desertrat
January 14, 2015 11:09 pm
I started messing around in Morgan/Peace $ collecting and in bullion trading in 1966. Did well, put collections together at around 20% back of bid plus made profits on hustling gold and silver bullion. Lots of good people in the game, and some fun in putting the screws to a few crooks. 🙂
IMO, common date circ Morgans and Peace $ are bullion, just like junk silver. High-grade, key dates? Not bullion–but as said above, know what the heck you’re doing or stay away from them.
Heck, I’d buy anything if the price was right. I was sitting in a bar one night and got to BSing with a guy about bullion. He pulled out a Double Eagle and asked if I was interested. I pulled out my 16X lens and looked it over. Blems in the field. I sez 10% back of spot. “Oh, no! A $20 gold piece is worth more than that!”
“Nope. Blems in the field. Probably from the Beirut branch of the Philadelphia mint.”
He then grinned, and I bought it. 🙂 Gold went on up a bit and I sold it for spot–as a fake.
The law in Lebanon is that if the amount of gold you put in your counterfeit coin is the same as in the real coin, you’re legal in Lebanon. And that’s why so many $2-1/2 Indian gold coins are fake.
SSS
January 14, 2015 11:46 pm
Desertrat
Not a good story. But thanks for sharing.
ottomatik
January 15, 2015 11:18 am
Billy- Good point. No man is a island though, or at least your survival quotient goes up with a supportive community. Its possible you might hear those bullets being shot that you traded your neighbor late at night alerting you to Humongous and his band of desperados pillaging your neck of the woods.
BUCKHED
January 15, 2015 3:02 pm
I’ve got a few silver bullets to go along with my silver cache,yah never know who the werewolves are?…LOL
ragman
January 15, 2015 4:18 pm
I lost many thousands of dollars in the 80s on this shit. Bought “MS65” Morgans and suddenly they were only 60s when I had to sell ’em. Lost my job and I had no choice. I will never, ever buy or recommend anything but bullion to anyone. This includes diamonds, “rare coins”, antique firearms or cars, &tc. When TSHTF the Chevelle 396ss Convertible will just be another car. The expensive Morgans will just be .77oz pure silver, &tc. Just because something is graded by a
professional”, it can still drop in value precipitously. An ounce of gold or silver is just that, an ounce of PM. A box of .22lr could very well be worth more than an ounce of silver. I learned my lesson. I have bought nothing but 90% silver, gold bullion and tactically useful stuff for the last 30 yrs.
Yeah, I caught this on the t00b…
“A HOARD OF ULTRA-RARE COLLECTIBLE MORGAN SILVER DOLLARS WAS RECENTLY UNCOVERED! YOU TOO CAN OWN ONE OF THESE COLLECTIBLE PIECES OF HISTORY FOR ONLY 22$!”
(Screen shows some guy in a suit – whoever he’s supposed to fucking be – going over mounds of SHINY Morgan dollars with a magnifying glass… Oooooooo, SHINY!!! If Suit-Guy is going over such a trove with a MAGNIFYING GLASS, then they MUST be Soooper-Valuabbbble!!!! )
And soooooo SHINY!!!
I’m a cheap bastard. I got no problem coughing up the coin when it’s on something that fucking matters… but with silver? Buy bullion.
Why pay some douche a markup for a coin that isn’t even 100% silver? Last purchase that we got from APMEX was for several pounds of 90% silver coins – US washington quarters and dimes. But they were all CULL coins… worth only their melt value. The reason we got them was just in case the Silver Eagles we purchased previously were too much to conduct transactions with… and people recognize US silver coins, cull or otherwise.
So what if it’s got some scratches, or been cleaned or buffed or whatever and it’s numismatic value is shot to hell? I don’t give a shit about it’s collectible value – I care if it’s a) silver and b) can help me feed my family and get what we need come SHTF… anything else just isn’t important…
Unless someone has a giant pile of “cull” Morgans, I’m staying with Silver Eagles…
Holy crap. Some good statements and some bad ones in this ad to buy bullion. I can’t argue with the bottom line though. Unless you know what you’re doing with silver dollars (and fractional pre-1965 90% silver coins such as half dollars, quarters, and dimes), buy billion I oz coins such as the Silver American Eagle. Check today’s silver spot, add a $4-5 premium, and go to a reputable local coin dealer after calling first to ask what they’re charging. No muss, no fuss.
Oh, and you can usually, but not always, haggle with coin dealers. They’re used to it and do it themselves.
Dagnabit. Bullion, not billion.
I like Morgans. Beautiful coins. So what if I pay a couple of bucks more for them than for some silver slug run off yesterday? No illusions about them being an investment, though. Just fun to have them.
The pitch in the ad on slabbed, graded coins is very misleading. This is done by collectors who KNOW they have a coin, any coin, that has numismatic value. They just want the coin’s grade to be certified by experts (and they pay for that service), and put in a tamper-proof “slab.” This improves the coin’s value and marketability.
For example, pictured in the ad is an 1892-S Morgan Dollar graded XF-45 (XF is extremely fine). That coin has a retail value of around $900. The 1881-S pictured in MS-62 (mint state) is worth $55. If you have an 1893-S in MS-66, you hit the jackpot …….. $850,000.
Buying ‘rare’ anything is a scam. You buy at retail and then when you want to sell they are auctioned off at a much lower price.
My father left me a coin collection – I speak from experience.
I would only buy bullion.
Southern Sage is right about Morgan Dollars (“I like Morgans. Beautiful coins.”) It is the most highly collected series of any U.S. coin. Huge demand keeps the price steady, if not increasing.
Junk silver calculator: Just enter the number of coins and the days silver price.
I used to collect coins for their numismatic value and beauty, found out the hard way the price you pay to obtain a “collector” coin, is not the price a dealer will pay to obtain a coin. Ah well, lesson learned.
Forget numismatic Morgans and Peace Dollars…………run of the mill, heavily circulated specimens have been selling for premiums up to 80% over spot for quite some time. As of December they had come down to 68.5% which is still insane! All of my local dealers have standing orders from several customers to buy all they can acquire. I don’t see the attraction myself, it’s just junk silver. I bought a nice pile of them at exactly spot almost ten years ago.
If you do want to buy some nice numismatic silver dollars though, the most reputable guy I know is Patrick Heller at Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, MI. I’m pretty sure he has a buyback guarantee. He’ll give you the best deal but numismatics are still speculative.
@ Dutchman and card802
Of course a dealer isn’t going to pay retail for a coin. S/he will pay what’s going on in the market. And they have access to dealer pubs and networks not available to the collector.
I bought a coin 20 years ago for $450 (the little woman was not pleased). Today’s retail price guide tells me it’s worth $2,500. Am I going to get that from a dealer? Hell, no.
Here’s the kicker for today’s seller. Get the coin authenticated, graded, and slabbed by a professional grading service. Then take it to a dealer to sell. If you don’t like the offer, try eBay. OTHER collectors may make you an offer you can’t refuse.
@ Dutchman
What did your DAD pay for the coins in his collection that you inherited (if he paid anything at all and just found some of them in circulation)? That’s the key question. Buying truly rare coins for profit is not a scam. It is, however, a tricky and fickle business best left to people who know what the fuck they are doing.
BAHH-HAHAHAHAHA!!
I can hear the conversation now…
Fade in… 2 years, post-SHTF… small trading post in the Southeast somewhere…. but could be anywhere. All trading posts are pretty much the same….
“I can’t have any less than one ounce troy silver for this bag of seed corn…”
“Well, I have this super rare Morgan silver dollar… it’s worth quite a bit.”
“What do you mean ‘quite a bit’?”
“Well, I paid $4,000 for it, back before The Troubles…”
“BAHH-HAH-HAH!! That’s your own fuckin’ problem for getting soaked… I need one ounce troy, hard silver, or no deal.”
“B-but… it’s really valuable!”
“If you don’t have the coin, I’m gonna have to ask you step aside, mister…”
“I really need that seed corn! You need to understand how valuable and rare this Morgan dolla-”
“I ain’t got time for this… NEXT!”
“HEY! You can’t just blow me off like that! I need that seed c-”
(Mr. Valuable Silver Dollar is suddenly staring down the barrel of a 12 gauge shotgun)
“Hey Buck? Escort Mr. Fancy-Pants Silver Dollar off the premises…. if he gives you any shit, fuckin’ shoot him.”
Hi Billy,
If you bought cull 90% I hope you bought based on actual weight and not “x” times the face value as culls are a lot more worn and contain notably less silver than lightly circulated examples.
As for common silver dollars, I would not mind buying at up to $5 or so per coin over actual melt value for decent coins. Rarer, mint state grade and the like you do need to know what you are doing. For example, there has been notable grade “inflation” in slabbed coins over the years and you do need to understand the current “market grading” conditions to know if what you are buying (even in a slab) is accurately graded for today’s “market”. I am more of a technical grader myself which means that a grade I gave a coin 20 years ago is the same grade it gets today assuming the coin is unchanged.
Been collecting since a kid in 1971, worked in coin shops from 1974 to 1983 off and on, sold quite a bit on eBay in the late 1990s to about 2007 or so and stay in touch with what is going on in the coin collecting community. Only buy bullion coins for what you consider a reasonable premium over melt value and only buy collectible coins if you really know what you are doing.
SSS- On this matter we are in total agreement. Here is a link I found to a Numismatic guru discussing all things gold and silver and the law, especially the Trading with the Enemy Act used to justify the 1933 turn in.
http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/gold-confiscation-ganz.html
Like I have said before, the Morgans I bought right are doing better for me price wise than my Eagles, I am a big fan of both. There is just something romantic about that 1879 date, imagine the shit that coin has seen!!
Don’t buy anything off the TV, do your home work and shop around, building a position should take time, its not a one off event. Rather a small amount of monthly saving should be set aside in your preferred bullion vehicle as a component of a diverse savings portfolio.
I prefer Morgans and I am not alone by any stretch, this article was written for simpletons.
Billy- Rarity has survived all of the worst calamities the earth has mustered to this point, what you are suggesting has questionable merit. No one here is suggesting you buy MS65+ grade morgans to trade for food. Would you trade a work of Cezanne, Van Gough, or Monet for a chicken? Does that make them worthless, because it is just paint and paper? Obviously not, but those works have held thier value through multiple fiat collapses and have proven themselves to be champions of wealth preservation for those that can play at that level.
Bullets might be a better barter vehicle for seed corn, or seeds, whiskey, and smokes should do well maybe better than APMEX rounds if it goes full retard.
The title says: how Morgans used to fleece investors, the guys at work got interested in coins back in the 80’s (these manias go in cycles) and they were comparing coins slabs that had been graded ms-63. Rick had a Morgan dollar he said had been ‘jizzed’. To the naked eye it seemed the features were very good. He showed me on the microscope a fine line scribed around the head, it was very fine but also shaky, like a line you’d draw around a profile using PAINT.
This all is “buyer beware” stuff. If I do not understand it, I avoid it. If I break this rule, I get stung.
For instance, right now I am all swollen up and itchy over art I have. Some is quite nice investment grade stuff, but nonetheless if I were to try to sell it now I would take a big beating. I simply do not know enough about art to try to invest in it – and the market is extremely cyclical, and it is not easy to cash art in. But at least I am reasonably happy with the art – I can look at it, and I really did not buy it to be a great investment.
The sting I got on an apartment once was much less welcome. Not all property is a good investment. Lesson learned.
I think I will avoid coins. I do not need another lesson.
Bullets might be a better barter vehicle for seed corn, or seeds, whiskey, and smokes should do well maybe better than APMEX rounds if it goes full retard. – otto
There’s a world of difference between overpaying for some schmoe Morgan dollar and a freaking Van Gough… I worry about the practical value of things…
Didius asked if I bought those cull coins based on actual weight… of course I did. I know a coin worn almost slick weighs less than a moderately circulated one… I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night.. I bought by weight and even though the coins are classed “cull”, most are still in pretty good shape. The worst of the bunch, you can still tell they are US coins…
That said, I would not trade bullets for anything.
Reason being, whomever you trade them to now might not be on such agreeable terms several months down the road, and might decide to Express Mail those bullets back your way… that would suck, living through SHTF, taking all the precautions and stockpiling… and then get greased with your own ammo…
When things go full retard, booze, smokes, food, medicine, first aid shit, tools, etc, for trade?… yeah, not a problem… ammo? Nope. Not a chance in hell.
I collect Morgans and buy bullion coins as well. A properly graded slabbed Morgan key date coin is a good investment in my view.
You need silver eagles or maple leafs however to use as money, premiums are small and liquidity is good. Collecting, Investing, and every day use for money are three different things and require three different types.
When investing in silver, in it’s own right, silver bullion bars are the best way to go, smaller premiums than coins especially in 10 oz size.
“This all is “buyer beware” stuff. If I do not understand it, I avoid it. If I break this rule, I get stung. I think I will avoid coins. I do not need another lesson.”
—-Llpoh
Bingo, buddy. Buy bullion, if you are so inclined to precious metals. Get the best price and take physical possession. Easy peasy.
Rarity and investment value in any niche market requires exceptional knowledge, research, and sophistication. Exceptional. I don’t give a shit if you are talking about art, coins, stamps, furniture, Navajo rugs or whatever. You’d better know what the fuck you’re doing.
P.S. If you’d like an advisor on U.S. coin investment, I’d be happy to assist. At a small, nominal fee, of course. Since you have expressed a displeasure with my remarks of late about your justifiably proud heritage, I’m running a special rate this week for Choctaws. Heh.
Do you require a CIB for the special rate?
I started messing around in Morgan/Peace $ collecting and in bullion trading in 1966. Did well, put collections together at around 20% back of bid plus made profits on hustling gold and silver bullion. Lots of good people in the game, and some fun in putting the screws to a few crooks. 🙂
IMO, common date circ Morgans and Peace $ are bullion, just like junk silver. High-grade, key dates? Not bullion–but as said above, know what the heck you’re doing or stay away from them.
Heck, I’d buy anything if the price was right. I was sitting in a bar one night and got to BSing with a guy about bullion. He pulled out a Double Eagle and asked if I was interested. I pulled out my 16X lens and looked it over. Blems in the field. I sez 10% back of spot. “Oh, no! A $20 gold piece is worth more than that!”
“Nope. Blems in the field. Probably from the Beirut branch of the Philadelphia mint.”
He then grinned, and I bought it. 🙂 Gold went on up a bit and I sold it for spot–as a fake.
The law in Lebanon is that if the amount of gold you put in your counterfeit coin is the same as in the real coin, you’re legal in Lebanon. And that’s why so many $2-1/2 Indian gold coins are fake.
Desertrat
Not a good story. But thanks for sharing.
Billy- Good point. No man is a island though, or at least your survival quotient goes up with a supportive community. Its possible you might hear those bullets being shot that you traded your neighbor late at night alerting you to Humongous and his band of desperados pillaging your neck of the woods.
I’ve got a few silver bullets to go along with my silver cache,yah never know who the werewolves are?…LOL
I lost many thousands of dollars in the 80s on this shit. Bought “MS65” Morgans and suddenly they were only 60s when I had to sell ’em. Lost my job and I had no choice. I will never, ever buy or recommend anything but bullion to anyone. This includes diamonds, “rare coins”, antique firearms or cars, &tc. When TSHTF the Chevelle 396ss Convertible will just be another car. The expensive Morgans will just be .77oz pure silver, &tc. Just because something is graded by a
professional”, it can still drop in value precipitously. An ounce of gold or silver is just that, an ounce of PM. A box of .22lr could very well be worth more than an ounce of silver. I learned my lesson. I have bought nothing but 90% silver, gold bullion and tactically useful stuff for the last 30 yrs.