Junk Silver Coins

What are the biggest uses for Silver

2011-04-16T03:52:00.000-07:00

Silver has been on a bit of ride since my last post here during September 2010. Here is an interesting chart from the Silver Institute showing the demand and supply for silver over the past few years. Photographic uses of silver are on the decline (with the advent of digital photography) while silver investment on the rise. Click on graph for more details.

Fake Peace Dollars - Methods for detecting counterfeit Junk Silver

2010-09-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Here's another video for spotting fake junk silver from real ones. In short:

Does it display the Cartwheel Effect?
Does it weigh close to the intended weight?
What do calipers reveal about its authenticity?
Use a real coin to test a fake one.

See video below for me details:

How to tell a fake Morgan Dollar "Junk Silver" with the "Cartwheel Effect"

2010-09-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

Ebay is a great place to buy Morgan Dollars. But how do you know if what you bought is the real deal or not? One way to check is to look out for the 'Cartwheel Effect' as highlighted in the video below:

What is the cartwheel effect?

The cartwheel effect is a term that describes the rotating, windmill like effect of light that mint state coins exhibit. The cartwheel effect is best known for appearing on Morgan Dollars, due to a fortuitous confluence of coin design, planchet size, and die preparation methods, although the effect can be seen on nearly any mint state coin. The cartwheel effect is caused by flow lines that occur during the coin striking process, and the effect is somewhat fragile, disappearing as a result of circulation or the coin being cleaned.

Silver at a 2 year high

2010-09-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

Here is some news tidbits about silver:

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Silver on Friday settled at its highest price since March 2008, and gold futures came off their two-month high, posting losses as a drop in U.S. payrolls didn't turn out as steep as forecast and thus reduced demand for the precious metal as an investment safe haven.

Silver overcame a weak start of the session to close in on $20 an ounce. Silver drew strength from both from the mild safe-haven buying present on Friday and from its industrial appeal.
Gold for December delivery lost $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,251.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal pared some of its losses as the session progressed, and notched gains of 1% on the week. That's gold's fifth consecutive weekly gain.
December silver added 28 cents, or 1.4%, to $19.95 an ounce. Silver has gained 3.8% this week. That's the highest close for a most-active silver contract since March 17, 2008, when silver closed at $20.22 an ounce.

On the week, silver soared 4.8%. That follows gains of nearly 6% the week before.
Silver is a "hybrid" metal, appealing as a cheaper safe-haven alternative to gold. As a jobs report wasn't as dark as investors feared, silver also drew attention as an industrial metal on hopes the economic recovery remains on track.

Silver buying was "coming from both sides," said Darin Newsom, a commodities analyst with DTN Telvent in Omaha. The run-up may have more legs, he added. "Certainly it seems like (silver) is gaining momentum.

Red text above is mine. Here we can see Silver having a two-fold strength - as a cheaper alternative to the metal gold and also as an industrial metal. Could it be a good time to sell off some junk silver reserves? Stay tuned....

Fake Gold Bars - What does it mean for Silver?

2009-11-17T23:13:00.000-08:00

Today I came across an interesting article - apparently gold bars can be faked quite easily, apparently enough to fool the Ethiopian Central Bank. But some believe that its been going on for quite sometime:

If anyone were contemplating creating “fake” gold bars, tungsten [at roughly $10 per pound] would be the metal of choice since it has the exact same density as gold making a fake bar salted with tungsten indistinguishable from a solid gold bar by simply weighing it.

Unfortunately, there are now more sordid details to report.

When the news of tungsten “salted” gold bars in Hong Kong first surfaced, many people who I am acquainted with automatically assumed that these bars were manufactured in China – because China is generally viewed as “the knock-off capital of the world”.

Here’s what I now understand really happened:

The amount of “salted tungsten” gold bars in question was allegedly between 5,600 and 5,700 – 400 oz – good delivery bars [roughly 60 metric tonnes].

This was apparently all highly orchestrated by an extremely well financed criminal operation.

Read more here

If true, this is horrible news. While I am not a card carrying conspiracy theorist - I don't anything past corrupt governments. But as with most stuff you read in my blog - this has a silver lining. If vast amounts of gold are faked, it may put make Silver a more attractive offer and boost silver prices.

Here is top 25 list from SilverSeek that purports trading in your gold for silver:

The following is a list of facts and reasons to switch all your Gold investments into Physical Silver:

1) The Gold Banking Cabal is heavily involved in the suppression of the price of Silver and would be mortally wounded when Silver breaks the bonds of manipulation. Due to the tiny size of the market and the lack of physical Silver available to the manipulators, the Silver battle is much easier to win than Gold.

2) Central banks have NO physical Silver to assist in the manipulation of the Silver market but they still have a lot of physical Gold (although much less than they claim).

3) The majority of Silver mined every year is consumed as an industrial metal in very small amounts and will never return to the market whereas the amount of above ground Gold grows year after year.

4) Silver has developed, due to its low price and superior physical properties, into a vital and necessary industrial commodity that makes it mandatory for modern life. If we woke up tomorrow and gold vanished from the face of the earth, life would continue pretty much as it was the day before. Without silver, modern life would change.

5) Due to the relative very low price of silver and very high price of gold, the man in the street, around the world, is in a position to buy silver in much greater quantities than gold.

6) In various forms there is an estimated 5B oz of above ground Gold and 5B oz of above ground Silver but Gold trades at $880/oz and Silver trades for only $17/oz. Both metal prices are obviously manipulated but Silver appears to be manipulated more. As for Silver bullion that is “in play” for the manipulators, I estimate that less than 300M oz remain (COMEX Inventories + SLV Inventories) with a current market value less than $5B.

7) Silver has been in a supply deficit for over 50 years! Governments held approximately 10B oz of silver in 1950 and have been supplying that physical stock steadily into the market. Today there is no more of that surplus silver left to sell.

8) At current Silver consumption rates there are only 18 years of known Silver reserves remaining in the world. AFTER THAT SILVER WILL BE GONE FOREVER! Think about it.

9) Demand for Silver is “inelastic” in its industrial applications because it is used in such small quantities per application. An increase in price does not translate into a decrease in consumption.

10) The COMEX Silver short position is the largest concentrated short position of any commodity, on any exchange in the history of financial markets.

11) Throughout human monetary history the Silver to Gold ratio hovered in the 10-1 range until the invention of futures and options trading in metals. Since that time the ratio has risen to where it now stands at over 50-1.

12) The US Dollar as defined in the Coinage Act of 1792 is Silver, not Gold, and contains “three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure, or four hundred and sixteen grains of standard silver.”

13) Silver is massively under reported in the media vs. Gold. Even Jim Rogers, the commodity guru, purposefully ignores Silver entirely in his best selling book “Hot Commodities” even though Silver exceeds all other commodities using his metrics on what makes a strong commodity.

14) Very few investors have physical Silver in their possession. Reasoning: because they claim it is “too hard to store”. Does that mean when Silver trades at over $1,000 oz people will be more willing to buy and store physical Silver? It is difficult to make up a more bullish reason to take delivery and store physical Silver TODAY…when the Cabal price rigging scam finally fails you can always buy your own Fort Knox to store all that pesky Silver you bought!

15) Gold’s strong fundamentals are only exceeded by Silver’s so when the gold manipulation stops and the Gold price takes off investors will be looking for the next under-priced investment with similar characteristics.

16) 470M oz of Silver owned by the US Treasury and used in the Manhattan Project for the construction of the atom bomb have all been melted down and sold into the physical market to support the “Strong Dollar Policy” http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/silvermystery.html

17) Silver mineral deposits, as opposed to Gold, are usually very shallow in the earth’s crust due to the nature of the geology so most of the large deposits of Silver have probably already been found and/or already mined limiting future discoveries.

18) There is a significant problem with counterfeit Gold bullion because of its high price. Silver bullion has not, to date, had as much of a counterfeiting issue because its price did not justify the effort. (although there is a problem with counterfeit Silver jewelry which may significantly suppress Silver scrap recovery in the future…oddly bullish by-product of counterfeiting Silver!)

19) The total dollar value of the Silver market is a fraction of the total dollar value of the Gold market.

20) Most flat screen televisions use Silver in their internal electronics/screens and the US transfer from analog to digital signals in February 17, 2009 should temporarily increase the demand for new TV’s when the switch is made. http://www.dtv.gov/consumercorner.html#faq3

21) Retail physical shortages of Silver are already beginning to appear around the world.

22) Hedge funds are bleeding from the credit crunch and they are looking for ways to save themselves. A single hedge fund can scoop up the remaining physical Silver and blow the price sky high.

23) In the US, Gold confiscation laws are still on the books but there are currently no silver confiscation laws.

24) In March 2008 the Gold price breached $1,000 or 120% of its historical high. Silver, on the other hand, only approached $21 or 40% of it’s historical high suggesting that Silver has a long way still to go.

25) Un-backed paper Silver programs such as silver certificates and unallocated pooled accounts are the “industry standard” these days and will be scrambling for metal when redemptions are called in by the investors.

read more here

I find this all very fascinating, hope you have silver stashed away somewhere!

Silver Price still looking sharp despite minor gains for US Dollar

2009-10-30T00:34:00.000-07:00

Just watched news that the US Dollar is on the recovery. What does that mean for Silver prices? Here is an article about future silver prospects

Few opportunities are so striking and promising. One can purchase silver under $17 per ounce. One very well connected colleague said recently “Silver is an absolute steal at any price under $20, but the coming breakdown in the Western banks and monetary system will be centered on their gold mismanagement.” The silver price filled an early October gap evident in the faster charts. In the view shown below, the old resistance, now new support at 16.1 held firm. The price revisited the 50-day moving average. The moving averages are all on the rise. Who knows? The price must have felt the urgent need to touch the 50dMA after having spent all this time since mid-August above it. Nah! The Powerz are scared white, are soiling their stolen underwear, and are increasingly desperate. They get away with their corrupt games, using paper still to push down metal prices, as they anger the world further. They motivate the search and establishment of alternatives to the USDollar in its key role. The real motive was the huge $115 billion in USTreasury for sale at auction this week. They needed some cloud cover, and a listless US$ rally would serve the purpose. The ultimate problem they have is the grossly inadequate silver supply in physical form. They more they offer silver at a deep discount, the more they drain their physical supply for delivery, and the more they tighten the noose around their own necks.

World Silver Production in 2009

2009-09-17T01:12:00.000-07:00

Production of Silver in Millions of Ounces

Peru 118.5
Mexico 96.4
China 83.5
Chili 64.3
Australia 57.8
Poland 41.7
USA 40.5
Canada 25.7

How much silver has been mined?

2009-09-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

All the silver ever mined fits in a 55 metre cube, according this interesting history of silver mining:

3000 BC: The first major silver mines were discovered in Anatolia, modern day Turkey.

1st C. AD: Roman discoveries developed Spain into a major silver producer.

Early 1500s: After Columbus’ New World expeditions, the discovery of huge, prolific silver deposits in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia changed the focus of silver mining and enriched the Spanish Empire for 300 years.

1500 – 1875: Approximately 1.5 billion ounces mined in Mexico with the majority produced during the 1700’s.

1700s: The backbone of the Spanish Empire was the one billion ounces of silver produced from Veta Madre (The Mother Vein) in Guanajuato Mexico (Endeavour Silver has mines hosted in the Veta Madre) .

1857: Silver mining became an important industry in the State of Nevada (The Silver Sate) when the fabled Comstock Lode was discovered.

1859 - 1877: Comstock yielded silver and gold with a value aproaching $400 million, the equivalent of more than $500 billion today.

1900 – 1920: 50 percent expansion in global production to about 190 million troy ounces annually spurred by discoveries in several countries including Canada, the United States and Mexico.

1921-Present: Improved techniques in ore separation allowed for concentration of silver with lead, zinc and copper. The explosion in production of these various base-metal sources has led to an increase in both silver output and silver usage.

3000BC- Present: All the silver ever mined would fit in a 55 metre cube.

Canadian Commemorative Silver Video

2009-09-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

There is no commentary to this video, but it shows commemorative coins for the 1976 Montreal Olympics that were made of Sterling Silver. Might be useful if come across the coins for sale some where. Not sure if these where official mintage or not, but they do contain a good amount of silver.

Survival Silver - US Junk Silver Video

2009-09-12T19:58:00.001-07:00

This video gives general overview of some Junk Silver coins in the USA. Talks about about various American junk silver coins from Morgan Dollars to war nickels. Makes a good point about Eisenhower Dollars - make sure that you have the San Francisco mint mark (S). Briefly talks about the survivalist aspect of coins (maybe not relevant for NZ audience) ?

Junk Silver: The Peace Dollar Video

2009-09-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting and informative history of one my favourite Junk Silver Coins, the Peace Dollar, the replacement for the Morgan Dollar. It was minted from 1921 to 1935.

Junk Silver: The Morgan Dollar Video

2009-09-12T18:19:00.001-07:00

The Morgan Dollar is one of the most popular junk silver coins on the market. It seems more readily accessible to a fair price to New Zealand than most New Zealand silver coins. Minting from 1878-1921, they actually weren't very rated by coin enthusiast at the times. This video below is fantastic for the information - however its target mainly for the coin collector, not the 'junk silver' collector, who's primarily interested in the silver content. Lots of good information on this coin!

China: Dumping the Dollar, Going for Gold,

2009-09-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

Typically I talk about Junk Silver - but this is another interesting article about China and currency. Most notably the fact that they have been stung holding the US Dollar which is worth less and less each day. So what to do? Get precious metals to back their currency. Its well know that China in mining in Africa and a player in Australia as well. In a previous article talked about the history or China and silver, this is more what is happening currently:

With Chinese state institutions hawking gold and silver to the general populace as a good investment (see China pushes silver and gold investment to the masses) - the latest news on this front being that the biggest Chinese bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), is setting up a special precious metals department to handle growing investor demand for gold and silver within the country, the corollary is that therefore the country cannot afford to let precious metals prices fall substantially and thus alienate millions of its citizens who have been taking state advice to buy them.

......

Chinese disenchantment with the dollar as the world's principal reserve currency has been apparent for some time and the huge trillions of dollars overhang in the country's reserves are already seen to be being reduced by whatever means possible - notably by the Chinese Sovereign Wealth fund CIC and other state bodies buying into western resources, property and other companies it sees as strategic investments (see Chinese sovereign wealth fund dumping dollars for strategic investments like gold). It is thus logical that at least much of the country's domestic gold production - and China is now the world's largest gold producer - is already finding its way into the state's coffers.

read more here from MineWeb South Africa.

Will silver go over $20 USD this year?

2009-09-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

I've taken my eye of the silver price for awhile, but it nice to see it get a bit higher. A recently youtube podcast says it could go $2000, but experts think its more likely to go above $20 and follow gold. Here's a quick article I got from google news:

The silver spot price is expected to move higher following gold, but “significant and sustained momentum” is needed, says Forex analyst Anna Coulling, if the white metal is to break out above $18.50 and test last year’s high of $21 an ounce.

Many analysts believe gold may climb to $1,200 in the near future, especially if inflation becomes a reality. If gold can maintain its hold on the $1,000 level and advance further, spot silver will power through its own resistance levels.

On Ebay I've been seeing 'junk silver' peace and morgan dollars sell for about $20 and above per coin, so something is definitely cookin' with silver (about 1 month ago it was about $15ish).

Silver price manipulation video

2009-09-08T00:43:00.000-07:00

There $30 billion of silver that is traded for only 75 million ounces of silver.

This not actually a video - its a podcast put to youtube. Anyways - it talks about the Silver Spot Price vs Physical Silver Price - and how this has been manipulated. The sound is a bit rough, but its interesting none the less. Another reason to stock to up on Junk Silver!

From Jason Hommel via here:

Read a bit more here http://silvernjin.blogspot.com/2009/09/silver-spot-price-vs-physical-silver.html:

I think silver spot (or paper) prices can be easily manipulated, and some people are trying darn hard to suppress prices. A company can short (i.e. sell) tons of silver futures (futures are just mere promises to deliver silver) to artificially suppress prices. There is, however, a tremendous upward pressure on the physical silver price. So even if spot price were to drop to below $10, it is irrelevant to physical silver price. And from my observations and personal buying experiences, I find that this is true. I used to compare physical silver prices to the spot prices, and was uneasy when physical silver prices seem to rise faster than spot prices. I thought that the sellers are taking advantage of the rise in spot prices by charging more and more premium above the spot price for the physical bullion. This is true in a way, but not entirely true now that we know spot prices and physical prices should not be compared like that

So try to get as much physical silver as you can now!

China and Silver

2009-09-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

Does this get your attention?

… Apparently China is pushing the idea of buying gold and silver for investment purposes to the general population in the way that Western television sells soap powder. If 1.3 billion Chinese citizens start buying gold and silver, even in tiny quantities, imagine what that will do to the market!

Apparently China has a long history with Silver; Silver was the standard for chinese currency for a long time until it became the last to abandon the silver standard in1935.

From the same article:

… What appears to have happened in China is a total relaxation of strictures on holding precious metals by the individual with the government pushing gold and silver as an investment option, seemingly at every opportunity. This is a far cry from the situation only a few years ago where the distribution of gold and silver was strictly controlled. Now, the Thunder Road Report notes that every bank will sell gold and silver bullion bars in four different sizes to individuals and gold related investments are said to be soaring in popularity.

… [Leyshon Resources managing director, Paul Atherley says] … “…Also, for the first time in history, Chinese investors can even trade gold abroad (in London) with the swipe of a ‘Lucky Gold’ card. I can’t even get Bank of America to open a foreign currency account.”

5 years ago David Morgan said this:

China-silver, China-silver, China-silver, I realize that is only three times, repeat until you see, hear, and understand the connection. There is a connection, China is going to need, want and use silver and a lot of it. Will this change the dynamics for silver in a big way, yes in a way few see or understand presently?

Seems prophetic now, what will happen to the silver price if over 1.3 billion decide its a sound investment?

How high will silver go?

2009-09-06T01:38:00.000-07:00

Despite the Teddy bears - this is any interesting vidcast for Silver. It does an interesting historic comparision of days wages in Rome as 1/10 ounce of silver, which is extrapulated to about $2000 USD an ounce. I don't think it can go this high, but biven the scarcity of silver, it can go pretty high. Its currently at $16.24.

What do you think of this video? I think its a bit sensationalist, however I do think it'll go much higher than the current price.

Another Junk Silver Calculator

2009-09-04T21:35:00.001-07:00

Silver Stackers has a more thorough Junk Silver Calculator than Coinflation, check it out when you get the chance. Check out my other post on Silver Calculators here. Click on image below:

Silver Affiliate Programs

2009-09-04T04:27:00.001-07:00

If you are interesting in selling silver, and have a website - a silver bullion afflilate program may not be a bad idea. I am going to try a few on this website. The list I present here is an ongoing list. - if you any you can recommend please ad them below.

Commission Junction: This is one of the most well know Affilate Programs out there. You can join quickly. The good thing is that they have all sorts of silver affiliate programs. Even junk silver. Commissions seem decent.
ClixGalore: This another one - it also offers silver products.
ClickBank: Interface is a bit clunky, but commissions seem good. Mostly books and stuff (a few book on coin collecting seem good).
Amazon: They have a great interface, and its not just books. There are few coins there as well.

Just a small post for now, I'll add more programs later.

Where to Buy Junk Silver

2009-09-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

This is list of places to buy Junk Silver - unfortunately, the only 3 places I know that will ship Junk Silver to New Zealand, however, I'll list them out in case anyone is going overseas or can have them shipped from a friend from overseas. This is primarily targetting US Junk Silver coins - see my post on other junk silver coins.

Keep in mind, NZ Customs will scalp you for extra money if you buy large bags. Most companies have minimum $1,000 USD (1485 NZD) purchase as well, so this usually doesn't fit in well with the average Kiwi investor (I am sure its expensive for most small investors).

If you have any other companies to add, please comment below. Also if you have any experience with these companies below, add your comments. In addition, if you know if these companies ship to New Zealand, let me know!

Trademe.co.nz - Not your best source, you won't find many (if any) bargains here. Mostly from coin collectors who want a premium on the coins
Sella.co.nz - Same as Trademe above.
Ebay.com - This is your best source if you are New Zealander. There are many sellers who are willing to ship to New Zealand
Lynn Coins - The don't ship overseas, bought based on what I've read on forums they are very reputable.
ApMex - I don't know too much about this company, but they look like they have good selection.
Gainsville Coins - When I was in the US earlier this year, I've bought Junk Silver from them. They have great coins at great prices. So if you are in the US - I would buy from them. Great customer service in the USA; the caveat - if you live overseas they put placing orders in the 'too hard to do' basket. I don't think there selection of Junk Silver is as high as it used to be.
Tulving - They some to be quite reputable based on what I've read in forums. I've contacted Tulving via and they do not ship to New Zealand.
Monex.com
CMI Gold and Silver
CC Silver
Bullion Direct
Norwest Territorial Mint - This is another reputable dealer from what I've read on forums. Seem to have a good selection.
Silver Trading

Melting Silver, Purifying Silver, Refining Silver resources

2009-09-03T01:14:00.000-07:00

There comes a point where you may look into refining your silver such as junk silver, sterling silver jewelry or silverware. I've found several tutorials on the net how to do this. Melting silver doesn't seem to too big of a deal. However, refining silver can be dangerous and undertaken with extreme caution.

Note: I haven't tried any of this - so I can't give any commentary. I've just listed the sources for you to follow.

Here is a list of silver melting tutorials

Here is a list of silver refining tutorials

When too much Silver is a bad thing...

2009-09-02T04:40:00.000-07:00

As you can tell I quite like silver, so forgive me if I divulge a bit and show some photos here of Argyria, a disease from to much exposure or ingestion to silver. The most dramatic symptom of this disease is that the skin becomes blue or bluish-grey colored. People who ingest strong silver colloid compounds for health and workers who breath silver dust in factories have been known to get the disease. It believed that the condition is permanent.

A famous case about Argyria can be found here. Read more about Argryria at wikipedia. See more Argyria photos on Bing.com.

Types of Silver Alloys and Compounds

2009-09-01T00:42:00.000-07:00

There are many types of silver out there, here is a list of some common alloys and compounds:

Sterling Silver: Also Stirling silver. This alloy is 92.5% Silver and usually 7.5% copper. The copper gives the silver its strength.
Britannia Silver: An alloy of more than 95.84% silver, and up to 4.16% copper; in use for British coins from 1697 to 1720
Electrum: An alloy of gold and silver, it can be natural occuring or artificially produced, occasionally called 'White Gold'.
Amagram: An alloy of mercury, silver and other metals used in dentistry. Click here for more.
Silver nitrate: Is a silver compound that is used in Photography. Demand for this compound has decreased with the advent of digital photography. Also has antibacterial properties. Read more here:
Fulminating silver are explosive silver-containing substances that that are easily detonated.
Silver Iodide: This used for seeding clouds to produce rain. Read how Russia use Silver Iodide during the Chernobyl disaster

See also wikipedias article on Silver Minerals and Silver Compounds

Where to store Junk Silver

2009-08-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

If you have Junk Silver/Coins/Gold Bullion, you may want to store it in safe place like a Safety Deposit Box. The New Zealand goverment doesn't have much of precedent of stealing gold like the US government has, so its a safe bet if you don't mind paying a few hundred dollars per annum for a box.

However Here are some DIY options (time to get out the number 8 wire) for storing valuables at home:

Top Collectible Large Silver Coins

2009-07-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

Numismaster has a nice little post of the top collectible silver coins. Keep in mind, junk silver does not mean coin collecting - however, its good to know what the best coins are. The top 2, the morgan dollar and the peace dollar, are my favourites. Read the article here

Top 10 Larger Silver Coins

The Morgan Silver Dollar
The Peace Silver Dollar
Seated Liberty Silver Dollar
Spanish Colonial Silver Reales
Mexican 'Caps and Rays' Silver Peso
Canadian Silver Dollar
US Trade Dollar
British Trade Dollar
British Silver Crown
Maria Theresa Thaler