Gold and Silver markets

12/7/2023                                                                                    link back up to main Chapter 262 Coins

precious metals

 This is a continuation of last weeks dip back into the coin world to learn a few things. I had cleaned up this example of my 1331-1371 Bulgarian silver (90%) coin and updated a prior chapter on it. 

 I had picked up this item from a coin show for a less than a dollar maybe last year. They weren't sure what it was but thought it was not worth much. I expected  that to be true but sometimes you get a lucky find. Liked it's look at any rate.

 By googling I was able to come up with this example that looked like mine. Although the design matched up, my item was punched from a flat piece of metal rather than hand hammered. Expected it to not be worth the $2000, but still intriguing.

 Doing more googling I was able to match the characteristics of my item to this web listing. This $300 item seemed like a match to my object. 

 Decided to sell my old gold ring at a dealer. Thought I might as well take my silver and gold pieces with me for some evaluation at the same time. I wanted to see how 3 dealers compared. Expected the Crossgates Mall aisle kiosk to be the least reputable and then chose two reputable established brick & mortar shops. Surprised that the pleasant Uzbekistan guy, Lou,  in the mall gave me the best deal. 4.6grams ring wt / 31.1g/troy ounce X $2028/oz gold spot market  X 14karat ring / 24K pure gold= $174 spot value. He gave me $155 or 89% (155/174) of the spot market which covers his profit and protection against loss as markets change. That wasn't bad as I saw youtubers reporting 75-90 % evaluations.  The lowest "reputable" dealer would have given me $115 or 66% (115/174) of spot value. Another "reputable store" came in at $142 or 81% of spot value (142 / 174). Pleased to not get screwed out of $40. Treated self to the $7 Chinese buffet with enough left for a steak dinner out.

Mall guy weighed my Bulgarian coin for me so I could advertise it. Then I aquired a $9 cute digital pocket scale. He and the other dealers only report one decimal place on their scales which gives them an extra tenth margin giving them and extra $3 on a ring. [ ie my ring could have weighted 4.69g still showing only 4.6g on the scale, but still only an extra $3 profit on a one ounce gold deal- better to sell in a larger fractional.]

Asked one dealer if he thought my gold quasi Florin was plated. He ran it through his very large machine and it confirmed, plating. However, my trusted source below indicated that my object is not even gold at all. Perhaps it came back with a tourist from Italy. FAIL.

JM Bullion spot market

SD Bullion spot market

CME futures market Chicago Mercantile Exchange

 Ended up cashing a hundred dollar bill at the bank just in case to check it's validity. Teller simply ran it thru their machine and it accepted it as genuine. That's what that's for. Then I asked for 4 rolls of circulated half dollars which she got out of the vault. I had seen some youtube videos where customers got rolls which included silver coins worth much more than the 50 cent copper sandwich moderns.

They all turned out to be Kennedy Halves. All in great shape and five of the 80 coins were the bicentenial 1776-1976 coins said to be valued at around $2. However dealers said no, only 50 cents. Perhaps I'll try to sell at January coin show?

I did have four 1964 silver coins (90%) that I had bought back when issued . Their melt value calculates to $8.60 but the dealer offered $8. There's that 80% margin again. Supposedly the collector value might be a couple bucks higher but not worth the hassel for me. Sold. Pretty sick of all the finagling . That's why I never delved into the weird world of (especially US) coin collector geeks. However you might find a Kennedy worth $150,000 if you really look for one and luck out. That would be rewarding.

Took Colleen to the local well attended coin show where she picked up a Christmas present of a 1 Oz Silver Patriot round from the Mason Mint in Florida. It will fill the bill for a person in Boston with its Revolutionary War theme. It's attractive. Paid not too much premium over spot value.

There is a stacker (survivalist) (hedge against inflation) mentality out there that the world is coming to an end with hyper inflation, the banking system collapse and a 1929 type Depression. Maybe? However you pay a margin, markup, premium for these pure silver rounds on the buying end and the selling end. Then there is the volatility in market price , which could go either way. For example if you bought silver 11 years ago you would have lost 35% today on your initial "investment" not even counting the margin lost.