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Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — December 17, 2025

With the recent spike in spot silver, I’ve had a number of readers contact me about making trades. For any of my current Elk Creek Company [1] inventory, I’m willing to accept in trade:

Generic commercial bullion 1-ounce rounds right at the spot price of silver. ($66.24, as I’m writing this on Tuesday evening.)

U.S. Mint American Eagle 1-ounce rounds at $1.50 over spot.

And, since U.S. Silver dollars contain .7734 oz. of silver, I’m willing to accept:

Non-professionally graded AU or Better $1 Morgan or Peace Dollars at $49.50 each

PCGS or NGC graded (“slabbed”) AU 50 to MS60 (non-1921, and non-cleaned) $1 Morgan or Peace Dollars at $53 each.

PCGS or NGC graded (“slabbed”) MS61 or MS-62 (non-1921, and non-cleaned) $1 Morgan or Peace Dollars at $55 each.

I also take pre-1965 “junk” circulated 90% silver dimes, quarters, or half dollars at an unprecedented 49 times face value. ($49 per $1 face value — for example, four silver quarters).

Let me know what Elk Creek Company [1] item(s) interest you, in trade. I greatly enjoy making mutually beneficial trades.

On December 17, 1777, George Washington’s army returned to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for their winter encampment.

December 17, 1845: German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt [2] arrived in Port Essington after a nearly 4,800 kilometer (3,000 mile) overland journey to explore Australia’s Northern Territory.

At 10:35 am on December 17, 1903, Orville Wright [3] piloted the first sustained, powered, and controlled flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft at Kill Devil Hills (near Kitty Hawk), North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered approximately 120 feet.

Today’s feature article was penned by Brandon Smith. He is the editor of the free Alt-Market.us [4] website and the by-subscription newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch [5]. Both are recommended by JWR.

We need more entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest [6]. More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail [7] us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics [8]. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.