JWR,
My wife and I have been discussing which type of physical silver to buy to get out of dollars, but we are unsure of where to start. On your blog and in your books, you expound on the benefits of pre-1965 coinage with its 90% silver content, and we have looked at buying these coins in bulk from Northwest Territorial Mint. While perusing that site, we also found that they sell one troy ounce Silver Eagles struck by the US Mint that are .999 pure silver. There are pros and cons to both the pre-1965 coins and the Silver Eagles, and if we had enough money we would buy both in bulk, but our funds are limited. Could you provide any input as to which silver you would suggest as a starting point?
Thanks for your site and all that you do! – Adam in Indiana
JWR Replies: I consider so-called “junk” silver (90% silver pre-1965 mint date U.S. dimes or quarters) to be the top choice for you, for three reasons:
1.) It has the lowest premium (“dealer markup”), per ounce, and
2.) It is the mostly widely recognized and trusted form of silver coinage in the United States, and
3.) The coin weights are low, making the cost per coin fairly low.
The per-coin weight could be an important factor in a post-collapse situation, when the dollar value of silver zooms up past $100 per ounce. In situations like that, a silver dime would be just the right size/value for small barter purchases such as a can of beans or one or two loaves of bread. But a full one-ounce silver trade dollar would buy you several days worth of groceries. Granted, these larger coins are still divisible into quarters or eighths with a cold chisel, but using dimes is far more convenient!