What year did you first buy precious metals? ~poll~

Baley

For the sake of this poll, click the year you first bought some significant amount of precious metal bullion?
"Significant" is self-defined, but we want to eliminate the first little bits and pieces one acquires here and there, and concentrate on the year you bought, say 10 oz of silver or a quarter oz of gold, for example.
As a lot of us started as coin collectors, we'd also like to eliminate "collectible" PM items in which the melt value comprises less than half of the market value of the item.

s4ny

I started by going to the bank in 1964/65 and getting rolls of quarters.

Started buying Double Eagles, Krugerrands, and Peace Dollars in 1975. Sold out in 1980.

Came back in 2009 with Double Eagles, Peace Dollars, and Franklins.

mrpaseo

I purchased a roll of ASE some time ago, sent them all to PCGS and got them graded. Didn't do too well on them, no 70's but I did get about half 69's and the rest 68's. Sat on them for awhile then sold them when Silver hit $50 and ounce. This is when I started looking at metal as an investment rather than numismatically (Is that a word).

Somewhere in 2011 I guess, I sold some Gold, Silver and Platinum (All purchased for numismatic value) for their metal value as the melt value out paced the numismatic value. I Walked them into my local B&M. He was nice enough to refuse my MS70 Gold and Platinum (I still own them). I was going in to turn them all in to pay off my house (Not a significant amount mind you, just the final $10k or so).

I finally started buying metal when I retired in 2012. Yes, I am under water right now Not to worry, I have a bamboo straw long enough to keep me breathing.

Best,
Ray

johnny9434

i really wish i would have brought a bunch when it crashed back in the early 80s. oh well.........

derryb

1962 - I got change for a dollar bill. Those four quarters are now worth $14.16. Can't say the same for the dollar bill, it's now worth much less than it was then - in 1962 it was worth over three gallons of gasoline, about the same as are those four silver quarters today.

Who woulda ever thought that silver could be dollar insurance.

jmski52

100 Onzas in 1975, (but I did have a roll of 1963 dimes in 1963).

Jinx86

2002, I was 16 and buying on ebay. Living on the farm in a small town it was only source I knew of at the time.

Timbuk3

Early 1970's !!!

Overdate

1963, war nickels from circulation.

fiveNdime

i have been collecting the silver coinage i found in change & from the retail shops i worked since the 80's.

id always grab a few random 1oz (~$5 ea) every time i was at the B&M across the street from where i worked.
when the state quarters came out, i was getting more rolls of quarters and halves to search.
i was only buying a single ASE for the dansco until 2002 (poll date selected) = the birth year of my son. i have 5oz of silver for his set.

my first big sale was when silver hit $26, and i used the proceeds to upgrade and fill the remaining holes in the WLH album. now its just upgrades.
didnt feel too bad paying $15 face for a VF 21s.

TwoBitWilly

Before I had any clue about the PM markets and being more of a collector than a stacker.

I remember back in 06-07 buying approx 18-20 XF grade walker rolls for $60-70.
ASE's for $6-8 bucks each.
$20 libs & saints $600-700 each.
Used to flip the stuff in hindsight for minimal profitsup untill about 2009ish
and stepped away from it all (lack of income) untill a few months ago.
Wish I could have a do over with knowing what I know now.

Thanks for asking.

Twobit.

renman95

Franklin Mint art bars in the early 1970's….Christmas 1972 (Hauling the Yule Log), etc.

yellowkid

I think around 2007, gold was around $700 and I bought into a fund, sold a good deal of it around $1000, then bought back in around $1100, sold some of that at around $16 or $1700. All my "profit" was spent on high grade toners, mostly at FUN. I must have bought some more because part of what I have now is down.

Coulport

I did not like silver eagles since I considered them to be just overpriced bullion. I stuck with collector classic coins. Five or six years on the ASE's became both bullion and a collector series for a lot of people. More people were wanting them as well as bars and rounds. That was when I started to stack all of them.

Typo

cohodk

Bought 2-100 oz Engelhard silver bars in 1987. I thought the deficit spending would ruin the country. I thought silver was cheap after falling 85% from its highs. 17 years later it was still cheap. I shoulda bought MSFT, or beer, or a jet-ski. Even if I had held to today would only be up about 180% after 26 years. Thats about 3.9% annualized return. I should have just kept the money in a savings account. Lesson learned. Time is the most important (and most misunderstood) asset.

derryb

<< <i>Bought 2-100 oz Engelhard silver bars in 1987. I thought the deficit spending would ruin the country. I thought silver was cheap after falling 85% from its highs. 17 years later it was still cheap. I shoulda bought MSFT, or beer, or a jet-ski. Even if I had held to today would only be up about 180% after 26 years. Thats about 3.9% annualized return. I should have just kept the money in a savings account. Lesson learned. Time is the most important (and most misunderstood) asset. >>


Wouldn't the 3.9% annualized return (after compounding) have been a better play than a savings account?

cohodk

No I don't think so. The Fed funds rate averaged about 4% from 1987 to present. CD's pay more than the fed funds rates. I suppose we could call it a draw but that would only support my view that silver is just another asset class that over time will have a return similar to all other assets.

TwoSides2aCoin

2009. Up to then, it was strictly coins.

Baley

1977 here

Kip

1984 used tour bonus and bought Saints

ricko

Late '80's and more seriously, very early '90's...... and still smiling.... Cheers, RickO

NVU

Summer of 2012

Baley

This poll was about our first major PM purchase, probably the next one should be, when did you buy most of your PM stack?

My answer to that one would be 2001 or 2002

OnlyGoldIsMoney

First purchases January 2009.

Big years:

Gold 2010

Silver 2014

Justacommeman

2003 in earnest. 2005 I really stepped it up

Timbuk3

Bullion, in 1968 !!!

JGnumismatics

I'm a YN, so for me 2013. It was a good learning curve though, I witnessed silver at $35 come all the way down to approx $17 now. I remember as well I bought a 1/10th gold maple as well for spot which I think came to 145 or 150 at the time.

jmski52

It does add up if you are consistent.

mariner67

First big purchase of gold....a handfull of Krugerands in 1974.

seebelow

2014. I know the month if you'd like to know.

dpoole

I started in when the U.S. Mint started issuing bullion again in the 80s.