Metal

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I play the market, sure, but I also don’t put all my eggs in one basket. And, once in a very rare while, I get a deal. Today’s case in point:

What did I pay? Spot. See, some forms of gold are more marketable than others. When someone sells the gold/silver guy some gold ‘over the counter’, he usually buys it as close to spot as possible. But if the gold/silver is in a form that is not really sought after in retail, he buys it for less than spot. An example would be a 100-oz bar of silver. Not alot of people walk into a shop and ask for a 100 oz. bar. As a result, he needs to get into it at less than the price he’d have paid for, say , 100 1-oz. bars/rounds.

So, as it turns out, while small (‘fractional’) bits of gold (1 gram, 5 gram, 10 gram, etc) are easy to resell, the larger metric-denominated versions are less desirable. So…he bought it at less than spot. I offered spot. And he took it. So…score.

The lesson here is that if you’re going to buy metals, and you’re planning on holding them for a long time, and if you can swing the cash, your best value is in the larger single-unit quantities…. 10 oz bar vs 10 1-oz bars, 100 oz bar vs 10 10-oz bars etc.

As for this little guy, it goes in the safe and sits there quietly until next years land purchase. Or the apocalypse. Whichever comes first.

ETA: By the way, I never, ever, buy gold in any quantity without testing it on one of these. A tester like this will set you back about a grand. But if it keeps you from buying one fake gold coin, it’s paid for itself. My guy at the coin shop understands that even though I know he tests any gold he buys across the counter, I need to see it being tested. I could take his word for it, and I trust him when he says he tested it and it tested okay..but доверяй, но проверяй…doveryay, no proveryay…trust, but verify. And he’s cool with that. Honestly, if your PM guy isn’t cool with retesting something while you watch and just expects you to take his word for it….you need a new guy.

14 thoughts on “Metal”

  1. Wow, good for you & well done. I’ve only ever bought silver, and I ‘test’ with a combination of a magnetic coin-slide, a digital scale, and a set of calipers.

    • A simple way to confirm silver is to use a supermagnet. It can take some folks a bit of trial and error to develop the touch, but basically silver actually slightly repels a magnet. The property is called diamagnetic and a number of metals have it- silver is just the strongest.

      To teach yourself this, start with a strong supermagnet and a silver half dollar. Hold the half in your palm, and the magnet lightly in your fingertips and pass it over the half as near as you can get it but without touching it (touching doesnt affect the property but friction can interfere).
      When you feel the repulsion, move to a quarter, then to a dime, etc.

      If you are touchdead in your fingertips or you have a smaller supermagnet (i use about a 60#-rated one and note that a strong regular magnet will NOT work), theres a more sensitive way. Float the silver on a small piece of foam in a bowl and use the supermagnet to push the silver/raft around.

      side note: you can use this raft method on some gemstones too.

  2. Great buy,little less than 2oz. Did you buy the dip? Thoughts on storage-home safe/depositary(Texas)/foreign vault (outside US confiscation). Recent story of private depository being raided and all contents of boxes being seized(without warrant) makes private institutions a no go.

  3. Well done. I’ve paid .49 cent premium on silver not too long ago now it’s like $4, bought platinum at the dip in March of last year, loaded up on 2020 Silver Eagle rolls but I don’t think I’ve ever bought gold at spot.

    Came into some money back in 2001 and picked up Maple leafs at $265/oz and it was still just above spot.

    Strike while the iron is hot and the time to get a good deal is when you see it and the trick is to have the cash handy to buy it quick.

    • “….in 2001 and picked up Maple leafs at $265/oz….”

      Good God, the opportunities I was too young & short-sighted for.
      Then there was bitcoin back in 2012…….a ‘trusted colleague’ talked me out of it.

  4. I noticed you aint pimpin’ for the metals pimp anymore.
    I bought from him once, thanks to your recommendation.

    • I just don’t see him much these days, the guy at the other coin shop I see almost every day.

  5. Question: Can your metal tester work through the tamper-proof packaging, or do you have to break the seal for it to work?

    • If you read the link for the tester that I linked to, it answers that.

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