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Are you giving silver and/or gold this year?

RedTigerRedTiger Posts: 5,608 ✭
in Precious Metals
With the holidays upon us, how many forumites are giving gold and/or silver as gifts this year?

Obviously some recipients will appreciate this kind of gift more than others, a good many will take the gift and sell it for 30 cents on the dollars on December 26th, but for the "right" recipient, it might be the start or a nice addition to a stash of hard money.

What say you?
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Comments

  • roadrunnerroadrunner Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I've thought about it a number of times but figure the urge to spend or sell them would outweigh any collector instincts. On top of that I'd rather keep my bullion preferences low key. I don't need one of my nephews telling their 5th grade class that Uncle Roadrunner owns a lot of gold. 5 years ago I got my brother to dabble in gold by getting him 8 MS64 Saints for $635 each. But he couldn't wait to get out of them when they jumped to $775 within the year. Had he held them until now he'd have been getting over $2000 each for them. For some of the above reasons I don't think PM's are an appropriate gift. While it might be neat to help create a young collector I'd rather that their parents help make that decision for them.

    roadrunner
    Barbarous Relic No More, LSCC -GoldSeek--shadow stats--SafeHaven--321gold
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,122 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yup. Jewelry for the wife.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • Norseman88Norseman88 Posts: 962
    I just gave my nephew who works on the farm a 1987 Bermuda sea venture 1 oz. Palladium proof coin, last year I gave him a 2000 1/4 oz. proof Platinum Eagle for Christmas.
  • bestmrbestmr Posts: 1,777 ✭✭✭
    Growing up, my grandma gave me and my sister an ornament each year till we were 18. Well, my sister had her baby 3 months ago and I'm playing with the idea of giving him either an American eagle each year or australian yearly animal coins.
    Positive dealing with oilstates2003, rkfish, Scrapman1077, Weather11am, Guitarwes, Twosides2acoin, Hendrixkat, Sevensteps, CarlWohlforth, DLBack, zug, wildjag, tetradrachm, tydye, NotSure, AgBlox, Seemyauction, Stopmotion, Zubie, Fivecents, Musky1011, Bstat1020, Gsa1fan several times, and Mkman123 LOTS of times
  • Coll3ctorColl3ctor Posts: 3,334 ✭✭✭
    Yes, I'm giving to myself image
  • PreTurbPreTurb Posts: 1,193 ✭✭✭
    I tried this a couple years ago (1-oz silver bars) and everyone thought I was nuts. Had no meaning to them...

  • secondrepublicsecondrepublic Posts: 2,619 ✭✭✭
    I gave my godson a 1/10 ounce Polish gold coin maybe five years back. Not sure if he still has it, but it's tripled in price since then. Right now, the premiums and prices are kind of steep for most of the smaller coins. It would end up being more than I want to spend.
    "Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
  • RedTigerRedTiger Posts: 5,608 ✭
    I forgot an option, along the lines of SecondRepublic's answer, that the current price is too high for buying as a gift. Also, who wants to be seen as giving a gift at what may be near a peak price? (Of course no ones knows where the peak is, but still.)

    Like I said, not that many people will appreciate bullion gifts. A good many might sell their bullion gift along with all their other gift returns, for next to nothing at the local pawn shop. As for jewelry, unfortunately most jewelry sold in American retail stores, only has melt value of maybe 10% to 30% of the full retail price (in some parts of the world, the melt value might be 80%+ for gold items).

    In the past, I've given small coin related gifts with some bullion value. I'm not doing it this year, in part because the prices seem relatively high. In part, because the state of the economy is such, that the odds of the gift being dumped are higher now. In general as the value goes up, the odds of cashing in increase. So one ounce of silver, may not be worth the trouble for a young person, but a larger amount is more likely to be seen primarily as a potential stack of ready cash, for dates, or video games, or ski trips, or whatever else young folks spend impulse money on.

    Investment blog: gold, stocks and more
  • mercurynutmercurynut Posts: 3,207
    I give my nephews a Proof SAE each year. They seem to look froward to it and have quite a little collection as the years roll along.
  • 1jester1jester Posts: 8,637 ✭✭✭
    I can sure say that I appreciated the half ounce gold eagle proof that people pooled money for on the Darkside and presented my son when he was born 2 1/2 years ago!! And I know he'll appreciate it when he's older. He already likes playing with silver "junk" second republic coins from Poland and toting around kilo bars.

    I have also bought birthyear silver eagles for children of friends.

    I bought my wife a 10 zloty coin (half ounce of silver) for her last birthday that had been mounted for jewelry purposes most likely back in the 1930's, and she likes it and wears it proudly. She gets a lot of comments on it. So while I don't give coins or bullion often, I do give it selectively.

    imageimageimage
    .....GOD
    image

    "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9

    "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5

    "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
  • GeotovoreGeotovore Posts: 169


    << <i>I bought my wife a 10 zloty coin (half ounce of silver) for her last birthday that had been mounted for jewelry purposes most likely back in the 1930's, and she likes it and wears it proudly. She gets a lot of comments on it. So while I don't give coins or bullion often, I do give it selectively. >>



    Are you referring to the 10 Zlotych from 1932-34? Now those are some beautiful coins!
  • BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    Thought I would try Myrrh and Frankincense this year.image
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • cartermurphcartermurph Posts: 141
    In 2005 my uncle gave me a $20 gold piece for Christmas. That was the spark that turned me on to metals. So not everyone sells on the 26 of december. In this case it made me pay attention to what was going on in regards to our economy. I have been stacking gold and silver ever since. Jason
  • 1jester1jester Posts: 8,637 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I bought my wife a 10 zloty coin (half ounce of silver) for her last birthday that had been mounted for jewelry purposes most likely back in the 1930's, and she likes it and wears it proudly. She gets a lot of comments on it. So while I don't give coins or bullion often, I do give it selectively. >>



    Are you referring to the 10 Zlotych from 1932-34? Now those are some beautiful coins! >>



    Yes, exactly like your avatar - Queen Jadwiga. She must have been a hotty back in the day. image

    image

    imageimageimage
    .....GOD
    image

    "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9

    "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5

    "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
  • GarneteyeGarneteye Posts: 1,168
    For several years I have given an ASE, in a Christmas tree holder, to my nieces and nephews on the first Christmas after they are married. They seem to appreciate them and say it causes them to think of their first Christmas together.
    The glass is half full!
    image
  • BaleyBaley Posts: 22,660 ✭✭✭✭✭
    would have checked "yes to lots of folks" in years previous, as I have distributed hundreds of silver eagles to our employees on behalf of our CEO (to every employee, from 8 of us in 2003, and as the company has grown, to 124 last year, with proof ASEs going to 5-year veterans in 2007 and 2008. This year would be 142, but we decided to scale back to 5 year silver eagles and ten year gold eagles going forward. We have (5) five-year tenure people with us, who will get 2009 ASEs in 2005-2008 proof ASE packaging and a note and public handshake from our big boss. Had to punch "Yes to a few" this time.

    edit to add: over the years, quite a few people have had an interest in more metals, some buying older coins, some buying a handful more ASEs as seasonal gifts. One woman wanted more because her husband wanted to "get into silver as an investment and hedge against inflation at about $12 the oz. I referred them to Apmex when she wanted more than I had on hand as extras. Not sure how many moster boxes they bought, just that she refers to them in the plural. They're obviously pleased image

    Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry

  • GeotovoreGeotovore Posts: 169
    So you're the reason they're hard to find...image Nice collection, I don't have any 5's or 2's, or the KM#28.
  • 1jester1jester Posts: 8,637 ✭✭✭


    << <i>So you're the reason they're hard to find...image Nice collection, I don't have any 5's or 2's, or the KM#28. >>



    LOL, I am indeed a Jadwiga stalker and try to get as many as I can afford as the opportunities present themselves. Unfortunately, they are not too common and usually run 2-4 times melt, so it's hard to consider them bullion.

    imageimageimage
    .....GOD
    image

    "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." -Luke 11:9

    "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." -Deut. 6:4-5

    "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us." -Isaiah 33:22
  • Norseman88Norseman88 Posts: 962


    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>I bought my wife a 10 zloty coin (half ounce of silver) for her last birthday that had been mounted for jewelry purposes most likely back in the 1930's, and she likes it and wears it proudly. She gets a lot of comments on it. So while I don't give coins or bullion often, I do give it selectively. >>



    Are you referring to the 10 Zlotych from 1932-34? Now those are some beautiful coins! >>



    Yes, exactly like your avatar - Queen Jadwiga. She must have been a hotty back in the day. image

    image

    imageimageimage >>



    I really like the look of your Silver coins, something different than the Barbers, Walkers, Franklins and Kennedies that I have.
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