Question for the silver stackers.
topstuf
Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
Why would anyone "stack" silver?
I've been in the bizz and even before and have seen silver disappoint time after time after time.
During the HUGE runup in 1980, there were days at the end of that run where I could find NO buyers for measly little 100 oz bars. "NONE!
So....that episode wore on until some years back when they again "tried" to run silver and what happened?
Well, spreads went crazy (like they always do) and the BIDS dropped and the ASK rose.... UNTIL... it turned when the "spread" did too.
It finally got to the point where the ONLY liquid size of silver that could be sold for spot was "Good delivery
1000 oz. Comex" bars.
Which begs the question: Why put up with such inconsistency and abuse?
The silver bulls and touts CONTINUALLY warn of "shortage"...and "potential." I've never seen either.
So...now... I ask again..... what is the use of stacking SILVER?
Any "event" that would drive metals (in today's violent "no prisoners" society) would result in a situation where "barter" would be a pipedream of optimism while the rest of the place turned to bedlam.
Now...gold... on the other hand was salable...and liquid..... EVERY day. I could make consistent spreads and be confident of completion of any commitment.
Silver? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!
Therefore, my question....
Why?
ONE ounce of gold will buy a car. OR a gun...WITH ammo..
Silver (as an exchange medium) is .. IMO... just silly.
I do know that the "public" customers ....were slaveringly confident when buying silver "for the future."
History says that GOLD is timelessly "liquid: and no "games" attend its acquisition or disposal.
So...
** WHY STACK SILVER ?**
Comments
I wouldn't call 100 ounce bars little or measly for most people. I never had a problem selling one ounce silver Engelhards during the run up in 1980. Maybe you should try stacking 1 ounce silver instead of 100 ounce silver because it is more liquid from what I have seen. 100 ounces of silver is expensive for most people. 1 ounce of silver is doable for most people. The benefit of silver is that it is the poor mans gold.
I also stack silver when I think the GSR is in my favor. Once the GSR flips, I will trade the silver for gold.
Lastly, 90% silver is easy to sell regardless of the price of silver and it was the same way during the last 2 run ups for me.
One more thought - silver did not disappoint during the last run up for me. I was a seller who was very happy
Along get with being a PRECIOUS Metal, It has very useful industrial properties...unlike gold. It is becoming more and more important with advanced circuitry, computer chips, solar panels, batteries, touch screens and other sophisticated tech/mechanical items.
I can also get into the GSR, but I'd rather beat a dead horse.
I like it because anyone can afford an ounce of silver. If you couldn't find someone to sell your silver to during a run-up, YOU were doing something wrong. Now, along with selling on forums, in coin shops, pawn shops, there are APMEX, JM Bullion and other big online PM dealers that will send you a pre-paid label to ship them your silver.
There a reason silver has been used in trade and as money for 3,000+ years.
At the end of the day, do whatever makes you happy with your $$& but there is a reason I have a little of my overall net worth in physical/precious assets.
I had no problem selling 90% silver during the runup in 1979-80, but at the height of the mania, both the buy and sell prices were well below 80% of melt. When silver collapsed a few months later the steep discount became a premium of over 15%. Nice profits could still be made, but during that period 90% did not correlate very well with the price of silver itself.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
Buying silver or gold is for me, totally based on the GSR.
Currently, at the GSR of 74 to 1, it's a no brainer to buy silver.
GSR of 50 to 70 range, is more of a judgment call and when the GSR is below 50, it's a no brainer to buy gold.
No other factors come into play for me.
okey dokey
Fine by me.
I ...HAVE.... all the sizes.
EXCEPT the 100's.
Sold them at 37.50 or so.
Too dumb to dump the entire lot.
Just let $20 ...PEEK.. over the horizon and I will finish the divestiture.
Don't interpret my attitude as against PRECIOUS METALS!
Far from it!
Just "poor man's gold."
but.... to each his own. I was also a dealer during the 1980 runup. Made buckets of money.
Silver had about a $4 premium (or more) during the initial backlog of refiners.
Sure shed that quickly.
I think it's very relevant, like the others said... Most can afford silver, not everyone can afford gold. Both have their place and silver is indeed used a lot in industry. I like both.
My YouTube Channel
I like silver, and have a few stacks...Mostly ASE's - both proof and mint... I do not sell my PM's (other than some darkside gold a few years ago), they are mainly a 'collection' and some silver trinkets... and sterling mugs... I am not in the business, so, although aware of the market, it does not concern me.... Cheers, RickO
The older and fatter I get, the less interested in silver I am. It has a place and it's fine in appropriate quantities. But when you can hold the gold equivalent of 4, maybe 5 monster boxes of silver in your hands (or a SDB, coat pocket, boots, glove box, etc.) it starts to lose its luster.
--Severian the Lame
That was my experience in the shop, too.
The well heeled professionals just kept buying gold with no fanfare.
The younger and wilder folks (some dipping into money they could ill afford) were continually running in on silver "down" days and discovering that silver ASK.... will ALWAYS.... go up on down days.... and the BID will drop precipitously on any UP times.
Effect of physical demand in such small quantity as to be meaningless.
I knew when the door opened which metal a customer was itching to buy.
I can understand SOME silver in the stack. ONLY American Silver Eagles and 90% IMO, though.
That realization of the quantity needed to amount to anything will strike sooner or later.
But..... people buy what they like to buy. Fine with me. Silver was FAR more profitable than gold for me as a dealer.
Classic $16 dipper post.
Loves me some shiny!
Quite contradictory to your OP.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
As an investor in 1978-80, I made some very nice gains in both silver and gold, on margin contracts. I bought some physical metal and real estate with the proceeds. My ex went to law school on some of the profits. In 1981, I lost $1,000 overnight on a short contract and I was out for good. I took my bat & ball and went home.
I started accumulating again in 1998 and I'm still accumulating silver, gold and platinum. The only larger chunk of silver I've sold since about 1985 was at a coin show to buy a Large Cent in 2011. If you wanna talk about inconsistency and abuse, we can spend considerable time discussing TPG-graded classic old coins.
The only thing that's not to like about silver is that it's more of a hassle to keep up with the accounting for a gazillion different small purchases. The solution is to save up and pull the trigger a little less often on a larger chunk. You can always liquidate piecemeal and the cost basis is a single data point instead of a gazillion data points.
Random timing on purchases and sales pretty much eliminate the market risks. Over time, the main objective is to accumulate more ounces. Over time, many good things are observable. If the market spikes and you just can't stand the suspense, you can always sell half and keep the rest as a freebie.
With precious metals, it all averages out, hopefully at a profit over time - but one thing is certainly true - all of the precious metals give a sense of security once you reach a threshold. All other assets can do the same thing, but they aren't the most basic form of liquid capital like the metals. 'nuff said.
I knew it would happen.
Not at all.
The SPREADS on silver that make it a poor choice for stackers are the bread and butter of those who buy and sell it as a ....DEALER!
I don't expect many to have the faintest idea of HOW a coin shop actually works unless they've owned one or worked in one or talked at length with someone who has.
SILVER IS GREAT for dealers.
The OP "disappointment" was directed at those who buy physical silver as a speculation.
The USUAL retail quantities are so small as to be almost meaningless.
I sell a little silver occasionally to fund a coin. But when I have extra and no coin to buy I just buy more silver. I've sold off twice and both times in the run up and both time withing pennies of $41oz. I did not wait for anything higher and am pleased with my profits. If it ever gets to $40 again, I'll sell off again. Until then I'm stacking. Might not happen in my lifetime as I'm 70+ but then the kids can screw with it. It'll all be profit to them at whatever.
bob:)
PS: I have gold but don't really stack it per se. My gold is all PCGS or NGC slabbed old stuff. No modern at all.
I'm only waiting til 20.
If I'm lyin' it'll be 25 ...without a doubt.
The GOLD can wait for the heirs.
It's substantial.
I am also a DAMN FOOL for not swapping the silver that's LEFT for a cool Gobrecht.
or a $50 territorial slug.
Those $50 slugs are awesome.... Never owned one, but if I had a time machine, I would get several
Cheers, RickO
BTW: If the SHTF, having 1 ounce rounds and constitutional silver will allow us to spend money in small increments Something that gold and 100 oz bars cannot do.
P.S. Keep in mind that gold is usually recycled and used again. Silver however, is used in industry and frequently cannot be recovered (i.e. solar panels). Some believe that cruise missiles use ~500 oz of silver in each. Once they blow, good luck finding the bits.
@BearlyHere agree with your first statement. But 500 oz per missle if even so is not a drop in the bucket for silver consumption
Martin
I agree. The point is there are quite a few industrial applications using various amounts of silver that will never be recovered. Silver supply is always being challenged, while gold does not get destroyed.
A 6 year old thread??
But yes, your point is understood... many applications of silver are not realistically recoverable or recyclable.
6 days, 6 weeks, 6 years, 6 decades yes redundant but I believe the OP was trying to show that nothing ever changes in the gutter. THKS!
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Except the price. Use it. Or don't and keep complaining.
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