On Gold, Silver, and Barter

“The value of a thing is what that thing will bring.”

similar to something my dad drilled into my head when i was a kid and everything was "collectible" and "worth" loads of money - sure, spend your hard earned money on something that sits there and may be worth something... but who are you going to sell it to, and what are they really going to pay?

It's not as bad of a problem now that the internet lets anybody in the world pay for stuff... but you still gotta factor in costs, and most things aren't worth what they seem.
 
DrScaryGuy said:
“The value of a thing is what that thing will bring.”

similar to something my dad drilled into my head when i was a kid and everything was "collectible" and "worth" loads of money - sure, spend your hard earned money on something that sits there and may be worth something... but who are you going to sell it to, and what are they really going to pay?

It's not as bad of a problem now that the internet lets anybody in the world pay for stuff... but you still gotta factor in costs, and most things aren't worth what they seem.
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Exactly.

A comic with a 20 cent cover price may be worth $100, but that presumes you'll find someone willing to give you that $100.

Often times it's only the big business dealers in such things that can get those prices, because they can afford to sit on them until someone with $100 burning a hole in their pocket comes along wanting to buy a piece of their childhood memories.

If you took that same comic, valued at $100, to a big business dealer, you'd likely find out in short order it's only worth maybe $10. ("Best I can do...")

If you put your item(s) up as part of an auction... then you may be able to get something approaching the stated "value" of it.
 
If things get bad. Coins, gold, silver will have little meaning.
Food, in some cases water, fire starters and the basics of life will have the most value.

Think about it, you need food. Would you barter for a silver dime or a cooked deer leg. 🤓
 
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Tailhunter said:
If things get bad. Coins, gold, silver will have little meaning.
Food, in some cases water, fire starters and the basics of life will have the most value.

Think about it, you need food. Would you barter for a silver dime or a cooked deer leg. 🤓
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This all depends upon how bad is bad. If things are getting bad or kinda bad then PM‘s will hold value, if we’re all knocked back to a subsistence lifestyle, then they lose value. Just my opinion, and I don’t see a subsistence lifestyle in our future.
 
maybe actual dollar bills will be good for a "while", but will decrease in value.

then gold/silver takes over unless things get worse. i read about the Agentinian
financial collapse where their currency was still used but worth only 6% of its
stated denomination. gold never "lost" value, and kept being used or bartered
until the recovery which was 9 years later. everything was still available during
the collapse (food, medicine, bullets) but had astronomical value.
 
turkeydance said:
maybe actual dollar bills will be good for a "while", but will decrease in value.

then gold/silver takes over unless things get worse. i read about the Agentinian
financial collapse where their currency was still used but worth only 6% of its
stated denomination. gold never "lost" value, and kept being used or bartered
until the recovery which was 9 years later. everything was still available during
the collapse (food, medicine, bullets) but had astronomical value.
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when certain other countries have had their dollars collapse, the bills weren't good for much more than replacing toy money for kids, or toilet paper.
1625623209913.png
Sure, you can cart your money to the street market... but is it worth the trouble?
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1625623276621.png

similarly, when we're both out of food, your gold bar will be worth less than the 83c i spent on store brand green beans on the 12 for $10 sale.
 
DrScaryGuy said:
View attachment 352077
Sure, you can cart your money to the street market... but is it worth the trouble?
View attachment 352078
View attachment 352080

similarly, when we're both out of food, your gold bar will be worth less than the 83c i spent on store brand green beans on the 12 for $10 sale.
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DrScaryGuy said:
when certain other countries have had their dollars collapse, the bills weren't good for much more than replacing toy money for kids, or toilet paper.
View attachment 352077
Sure, you can cart your money to the street market... but is it worth the trouble?
View attachment 352078
View attachment 352080

similarly, when we're both out of food, your gold bar will be worth less than the 83c i spent on store brand green beans on the 12 for $10 sale.
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There are varying degrees of how bad things could get. Sure if it’s a starvation scenario I’d rather have the cans of food. On the other hand some gold and silver might be handy to have in a financial depression event.
 
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The worse things get there will be less people willing to take PM's in trade. However, if you are well prepared you can take the PM's in holding for when things get better.

Someone who invested in preps in good times can collect valuable in bad times. When good times return you could cash in on the "stupid tax" paid by those who failed to prepare.
 
Car0linab0y said:
The worse things get there will be less people willing to take PM's in trade. However, if you are well prepared you can take the PM's in holding for when things get better.

Someone who invested in preps in good times can collect valuable in bad times. When good times return you could cash in on the "stupid tax" paid by those who failed to prepare.
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HOARDER!

😉
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
HOARDER!

😉
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Lol.... nope. If you grab it up when things are scarce you're a hoarder. If you have the foresight to get it in advance of the crisis you're a prepper. I didn't say I am that prepared person.... my plans for all that were in the boat with my red Ryder air rifle...
 
"And while Goldman prefers Ether to Bitcoin (as risk-on devaluation bets), "Gold is a value buy" according to Goldman Sachs' Jeff Currie and his Commodities Research group."

according to Jeff, gold is cheap right now.
 
turkeydance said:
"And while Goldman prefers Ether to Bitcoin (as risk-on devaluation bets), "Gold is a value buy" according to Goldman Sachs' Jeff Currie and his Commodities Research group."

according to Jeff, gold is cheap right now.
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Is that cause Jeff is selling gold?
 
I bought guns with my silver and gold that I sold in 20007/2008 when silver was $50 an oz. I sold those guns last year when little plastic guns and small frame revolvers were bringing $600-$800. Timing is everything. I know the stock marked is completely rigged to screw the little guy and I'm pretty sure the precious metals market is too. If the ballon goes up and we are dressing in rags and living in the woods, the only thing a silver dime would be good for is a 12ga shotgun projectile.
 
Car0linab0y said:
Lol.... nope. If you grab it up when things are scarce you're a hoarder. If you have the foresight to get it in advance of the crisis you're a prepper. I didn't say I am that prepared person.... my plans for all that were in the boat with my red Ryder air rifle...
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Nobody needs that much food. You're trying to keep private control over a limited resource that others have every right to in order to live. For the good of everybody, your stockpiles will be confiscated and distributed to the community. DO NOT RESIST.
 
Naysayers always couch this in an either/or style argument.

The right answer is probably both. PMs and beans bullets bandaids.

While I may not need or even be able to use PMs during a bad mamajama collapse, if my kids/grandkids/survivors/friends/conquerors/whatever can take that pile of silver and buy another 50 acres to tack onto the family farm (just like folks did in post-war Germany and to a lesser extent here after the Great Depression) why wouldn't I want that option as well?

PMs were never high on my prep list, but once I got most everything else squared away I darn sure started adding them to the mix.

It ain't gotta be "one or the other".
 
thrillhill said:
PMs were never high on my prep list, but once I got most everything else squared away I darn sure started adding them to the mix.
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Having been prepping with base metals (copper, lead, brass... preferably assembled) since the early '90's, I suddenly realized - ALMOST TOO late - in 2007, as the world came financially UN-glued - that my college minor in Business Administration... was CRAP-O-LA. Especially my economics classes. :mad:

My dad - a coin collector - had given me the EXAMPLE, but he never gave me the LESSON. So I set about to teach myself, primarily through J.W. Rawles "Survivalblog" site. And thereafter became a confirmed gold & silver bug, and contrarian investor of same.

I wish I had a BIGGER budget FOR it, but I've been setting aside rolls of "junk" (circulated, but not rare) silver dimes & quarters mostly (half dollars & half dollars as well) ever since.As I was quite squared away on beans, bullets, & band-aids (MUCH more essential) by the time ChinaVirus came along, I've been stocking up even more of late - especially since even OVERPRICED bullets weren't available. If SlowJoe is gonna send me Chucky Cheeze tokens, I'm gonna turn 'em into REAL money... so I have something to spend, AFTER the world ends. :cool:
 
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