Any gold/ silver collectors out there?

Visit several of your local dealers and ask about price and what they keep in stock. I have found a wide range of markups and fees. One guy was selling me at spot price no mark up no tax I later found out he was lets say not legitimate. I have been buying form a second guy for about a year he charges 10% over spot and will buy back at 100% spot price he keeps a large selection of coins and bars from 1oz to 16oz but he is a bit nuts and lost me last week when I traded in 8 1oz coins for a 10 oz bar. I expected to pay spot plus 10% for 2oz. He charged me spot plus 10% for 2oz then a 1.00 per oz (10) fee for delivery. When I explained he should be paying me the fee on the 8 oz I was bringing him he got mad. I bought the bar but have now found a new dealer that I have clearly discussed the terms he will charge me spot price plus 1.50 per oz period not other fees but may not always have Silver in stock. Some people collect coins I just collect bullion the coins and bars I have only the value of silver and nearly all I have is pure .999. You can buy old United States coins but they are .90 so be sure to weigh the coins and do the math some dealers will charge a premium for these I would not pay it. Mexican coins are also very tradable but you must look for the silver content it can vary from 72% to 90% most of the ones I have seen have it marked on the coin as .72 ect. I hope this helps feel free to ask any question I am not a expert but have learned a lot over the past 2 years.

  I have never bought silver nor have I dealt with Silver Towne. I do know a lot of people who have managed to lose money buying silver, so do your homework and decide ahead of time what your investment objectives are. Stick to those objectives.

  Digging around online a bit, 37 seems a tad high for bars, not quite as bad if it was for coins. Look around for a local dealer and see what they can do for you. A good local jewelry store, not a chain, should be able to direct you to one. They might even be able to help you as well. Again, I'm just going by prices I've found online and am no expert. 

Closing price was 34.08 so 37 would be right at the 10% I was being charged I would reccomend shopping local and finding the seller who will buy back at spot incase you need cash some time.

Yes 10% is high but that was the best deal I had at the time but now I have found a better seller with a flat rate fee.

Not necessarily. On the 21st the world will flip on it's axi and we'll be tossed into the middle ages overnight. Gold and silver will once again be the standard currency used for trade. Jan. 1 will bring teh Zombie-pocalypse throwing things into a further state of higgledy piggledy. Get yourself a crossbow...

Winners win Losers lose

So if a item (silver) is going up up up (question that) than until there is a reason for it to fail it will continue to go up. The challange is to identify what will make it fall.

If you think the United States is sound than the dollar is strong it it is not than the dollar is weak and silver and gold are strong bu remember even if silver and gold retract they will not be worth nothing ever.

The way I see it is if someone gave you a $100.00 cash and a $100.00 worth of Silver and you had to keep it for 5 years before you could trade it, which would you rather have?

Silver.....

They ain't prinitn 80 bagillion dollars of silver every month at the federal reserve every month.

No, if you want to be a dooms day prepper and think gold is going to get you something when the entire world collapses... well have fun with that buying gold and silver at historic prices.

But with gold and silver at historic highs...and nobody can really say if we are at the ceiling... then I question it as an "investment".

Yeah, an ounce of gold will be worth a can of green beans. 

Don't forget to get at least 3 extra sets of strings......crossbow no good without strings

The following is a chart I made of the value of silver from 1966 to this year I am not going to debate the investment value of Silver nor will I reply to the doomsday comments all I say is divercity allows protection and Gold and Silver may well be a good part of it.

Sorry for posting the chart twice but I can not delete it.

Actually it has been a good investment for me, then again I bought mine from Credit Suisse Bank at the bottom of the recession and it has almost tripled in price.

I'm totally with Powerman on this one.  I feel gold/silver are VERY risky investments at this point simply because the value of Gold/Silver have been pumped endlessly by infomercials and preppers as the "only place" to put your money for the impending doom.  Now granted if the entire economy collapses and we all start riding in covered wagons it may be handy to have a little bag of gold with you, but other than that scenario it's just an expensive metal that has no real world value other than jewelry and some electronics.

The price of gold/silver are already drastically over inflated based on the cost to get it out of the ground so the only thing pumping up the price is the crazy demand from all they hype.  So even if the dollar crashes and inflation soars gold will not go up because it already has that speculated value priced in.

Now purely from an investment standpoint I think Oil ETF's would be a far better investment/hedge on inflation because it's a true world commodity, so if the dollar falls your Oil will go up proportionately.