Chapter 698

Feb 4, 2026

Gold & Silver

Precious metals

I started my recent collections in October with the 1887 Morgan Silver Dollar coin like the ones Grandma gave me as a kid. Back then you could get them at the bank for $1. Basically I spent them on candy never saving them. It's 90 % silver and costs about the melt spot price for silver plus a small premium since this one has minimal numismatic value. In October it cost $38 at a local coin shop but today it could approach double that price with the tremendous surge in silver prices.

Grandpa Hayden made our jewelry box above in 1973. After a lifetime of  farming he retired to working at a sawmill and carpentry shop. Thereafter  he did local carpentry and odd jobs. Here working in his cellar workshop at a home he built in the 30's where my brother still lives. My garage workbench is quite similar.

Spent a lot of time with my grandparents a short walk down the street.

Capital District Coin Dealers hold a coin show each month in Colonie. Would you trust shady looking Joe from Gardner Coin Shop Gardner Mass.? 

I bought the 1904 Gold Double Eagle coin at a coin show which is  alloyed at 22 Karat or 92% gold purity. That cost $3925 in November including a 1.5% premium that the dealer keeps for doing business but is worth hundreds more now with the rapid rise in the price of gold.

Yes, he was deemed reputable by the coin guys but  I had Joe verify the gold on his Sigma Metalics Verifier anyway and he trusted me also taking my check. 

I started buying silver and gold bullion rounds and bars from on line bullion dealers when their margins were less than what local shops were doing. Findbullionprices.com is an excellent source to find best continuously updated prices.

 BullionExchanges.com became one of my favs with low margin and trustworthiness. See Wall Street Journal video on Ben's shop.

With prices skyrocketing I decided to sell off most all of what I had accumulated to take a smaller profit rather than waiting for a price pullback or crash. I was only in it for for the knowledge and fun anyway simply wanting to beat the minimal bank interest rates. When they  only pay 4% in a year and you can get 100% in a month with silver- it's worth a risk just nibble on price increases with a portion of savings.

Sold US Mint Silver eagles, buffalos, South African Kruggerands, Canadian Maple Leafs, British Brittanias, Australian Kangaroos, miscellaneous generic commerative issues from a variety of US private mints, Golden State Mint, Sunshine Mint, Apmex, Republic, Scottsdale, Turkish Istanbul Gold Refinery, Heraeus German mint, Swiss Argor Heraeus mint  makes quality metal. Mostly all gone but saved a few interesting pieces.

Then I bought back more with prices still climbing. Swiss PAMP Lady Fortuna etc and sold again taking small bites out of the up swing not trying to get greedy or pick the exact  bottom to top run.

I awaited a significant price drop which did occur Jan 29 and bought some more during that dip. Prices going back up now and most smart guys believe there is significant upside potential in the future for a variety of reasons, mostly supply and demand (industrial, military, ai, and green energy). It is expected to be volatile.

Meanwhile I'm also taking a few buy and sell opportunities on stocks: ETF's and mining stocks just for fun. With Schwab it's a simple mouse click to buy or sell. They allow trading outside of regular trading hours in the am and pm and also some traiding 24/7 on their Think or Swim platform for some stocks. Here the technicians discuss the moving average prices verses fibonacci retracement predictions.

Get a kick out of billionaire  Eric Sprott and his stocks. There seems to be plenty of upside potential for precious metals prices historically rise but fluctuations can be normal and abnormal with interesting  market forces in the mix.