In Jim Cook's Archive

OLD MONEY

Back in 1971 I went to Miami and started a business that sold water through vending machines in large condominiums and apartment buildings. The tenants bought filtered water for 10¢ a gallon. Each month we’d collect the dimes and pour them out on our kitchen table. Sometimes we’d have $9,000 in dimes. Then we’d sort through the coins and pick out those that were silver. Most of the silver dimes had already been removed from circulation by the public, but just enough remained to make it worthwhile. At the time, we never dreamed that in a few years each dime would appreciate thirty-five times and be worth $3.50.

It all started when the price of silver began to rise in the early 1960s. People began to hang on to the coinage because it was 90% silver. The government tried to combat this hoarding by minting much larger quantities of silver coins. Instead of the usual 300 million new dimes in a year, they struck two and a quarter billion dimes in 1964. Instead of a hundred million quarters, they struck well over a billion. Instead of the 25 million half dollars they struck in 1960, they minted over 425 million Kennedy Halves in 1964. It didn’t work. The silver coins were grabbed up and disappeared from circulation. The country was running out of coinage.

In 1965, they dropped silver altogether and came out with a copper-nickel substitute. Subsequently, silver coinage totally disappeared from circulation. Over the years, a lot of these coins went into the melting pot and supplied industry with silver. Nobody knows how many are left. When demand is high, they take on a premium over their silver value. It’s possible that this premium can grow with higher prices.

Recently, I’ve been revisiting the idea that people should keep a supply of these silver coins on hand in case of a monetary breakdown. I never placed much stock in that idea. However, with the possibility of inflation getting out of hand, and other economic problems, it may make sense to have a $1,000 face value bag at home for each family member. The primary reason to buy silver is to make a profit. A second reason is to hedge against inflation, or some other crisis. A final reason may be that if unbacked paper money begins to lose value too fast, you may need an alternative. Yes, it sounds like a remote possibility, but it’s still worth having some silver coins around.

Silver coin bags are one of the best ways to own silver. With the Silver Users Association confirming that silver is much scarcer than most people thought, silver coin bags may come under buying pressure and there may be far fewer than anyone thinks. Certainly the supply is not endless and you should buy them while they are still available at today’s price. You get 10,000 dimes, 4,000 quarters, or 2,000 half dollars in a bag that weighs 56 pounds and contains 715 ounces of silver. You can also buy uncirculated bags that contain 725 ounces of silver. We ship them by registered mail in half-bag lots, each in a plastic bucket that weighs a manageable 28 pounds. We mark them “machine parts” to maintain privacy.

Call us now at 1-800-328-1860 and buy some bags of silver coins. We don’t think you can go wrong owning these bags of silver.

What happens if silver goes to $50, as it did in 1980, and you don’t have much of it? Will you kick yourself? After all, you’ve had exposure to bullish predictions from the nation’s foremost silver analyst and expert. He argues forcefully that the potential for silver may be better and more exciting than any other asset on earth. You just don’t find this kind of expertise combined with his extreme bullishness and lofty price predictions. Find the money to buy silver now and call us today. 1-800-328-1860

P.S. In the early stages of the 1979-80 silver price rise, a number of coin company failures deprived many people of the silver they paid for. Don’t get caught by a firm that may not survive. We just had a company fail locally by the name of Best Price. Their customers didn’t receive over a million dollars in coins and bars they had paid for. The cheapest price is generally the best tip-off to a firm that won’t last long.

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