Something I would like to see.

Right now silver is worth about $28 an ounce.

If SHTF, how many people only have 1 ounce coins?

What if you go somewhere and want to buy a bottle of water, you hand the clerk an ASE, what are you supposed to get back in change? Cash? Ya right, cash is now worthless (scenario).

I see a lot of people talking about HOW to prepare for SHTF, but I see little talk on what to do once it happens.

I would like to see smaller units of silver, cheaper.

Some people invest in silver dimes, quarters, etc. But the weights of them go into the decimal points.

Some coins are more worn than others, so if someone gives you a worn out morgan dollar, your not getting as much silver.

They do make small units of silver. 1 Grain, 10 grain, half gram, gram, 5 gram, etc.

However, the premiums on them are very high. Too high to even consider purchasing them.

The cheapest I could find one gram of silver was $2 a gram. This was in a 10 gram purchase.

A gram of silver right now is only worth around a dollar.

I would like to see smaller denominational weights of silver become cheaper, that way we have some kind of "change" if SHTF.

 

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Smaller denominational weighs of silver will become more popular and available as the price of silver rises. As of now, there is little demand for fractional silver because the price isn't very high. With gold, people can't always afford to purchase one ounce at a time. If your scenario arises, silver will be produced in gram increments. As of now, there is no need.

 

I already mentioned this:
http://mulliganmint.com/production/silver/

"In May of 2013, M2 will add tenth ounce .999 fine “ParaDIMES” to our production schedule, using our hi-speed knuckle joint presses to mint fractional silver rounds at an unprecedented volume and unbelievably low price. ParaDIMES will be packaged fifty to a paper roll and made available to only our most distinguished Authorized Dealers."

 

Who is m2?

 

Do you honestly think there will be a time when currency collapses and people are paying at the stores with obsolete silver currency? If somehow, someday the currency collapsed, you'd be using your silver for black market purchases from people you met on Craigslist, or holding it until the economy recovered. You wouldn't be going to Walmart with silver quarters. The average retail chain isn't going to start taking bullion, and they'd probably all go out of business if everything was so bad.

 

I think there will be enough small silver coins out there for change.

The issue of wear was a small issue back when silver coins were the norm, and they'd be a small issue if they ever get used as currency again. If people try to hand you a coin that is too worn by your standards, you ask for a different one. Easy peasy...

As for there being enough, how much does there have to be? How many pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves, dollar coins, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 dollar bills do people carry around for fear of not being able to get change for $100's? If you wanted to store $10,000 in wealth, would you store 10,000 $1 dollar bills? I wouldn't. I would store $9000 in $100's, $500 in $50's, and $500 in $20's. My PM stacks are similiar, but even more oriented towards small denominations. I have a few ounces in gold, a few ten ounce bars of silver, one five ounce bar, and the rest is split about evenly between one ounce coins and smaller denomination coins.

Let's take your example of a bottle of water. If I went out to buy a bottle of water and only had a 1 ounce coin and the person selling the water could not offer any sort of change, I would either buy +/- $28 worth of water and other items I need, or I would keep walking.

 

I suspect Mulligan Mint.

 

"M2" is indeed the Mulligan Mint, discussed many times before.

http://www.cointalk.com/t224668/#post1668723
http://www.cointalk.com/t220355-3/
etc.

 

Detecto, if the real SHTF PM is valueless. People want food, ammo, etc. The advantage of PM is in a hyperinflationary period. In such a scenario, an ounce of silver will buy about what it does today, its the currency that is moving.

If you wish to have smaller units for a hyperinflationary period. buy junk dimes. Then, instead of one bottle of water, you buy 6 or 12 with your silver dime. Goods retain their innate worth, only currency changes during hyperinflation.

Any kind of gram silver is going to be outrageously expensive. Its wasted money IMO. Buy what is available for reasonable premiums. What is available is junk silver dimes.

 

if your doomsday scenario happened and I grew a bunch of carrots. do you think I would trade you my carrots for your worthless silver. i would not. Is this some coin collectors fantasy, that the civilization crumbles, currency is worthless, and the people who collect coins rule the world.

 

i do wish fractional silver bullion rounds were more affordable. i'd like to stock pile a bit of 1/10 and 1/4 oz rounds.

 

Precisely. Stash away a store of goods while you can. And don't come asking me for mine with your worthless PMs.

 

i think the PMs would come into play after a significant time has passed after SHTF...in like mad max/waterworld type scenario where people are settled and restarting. immediately after SHTF i agree, people are going to want water, food, ammo, gas/oil/batteries...etc

 

It's not a fantasy, and I don't know anyone personally who is hoping for an economic meltdown, or an SHTF scenario. It's more about being prepared. Doing what you can to help ensure you'll have whatever it is you need in whatever situation you might find yourself in five, ten, twenty years from now.

In your example, what if you grew more carrots than you could eat? What then? If I was hungry and wanted some of your carrots, I could try and find something I have that you need, or I could offer you some silver which you could take to someone else who does have something you need. You know, the same thing money is good for today. But since our money is worthless without a trusted government standing behind it, if the government is somehow no longer functioning, then something else that has portable value would have a place. I suppose carrots could become the new currency, but they don't have the same shelf life that silver does, and how many carrots would you need to buy a horse?

Of course this isn't going to be true for every SHTF scenario out there. If we somehow found ourselves inside the Walking Dead storyline, how valuable would PM be when the population is at 5-10% of what it is now. There's more than enough jewelry, gems, coins, etc to loot, so guns, ammo, food, vehicles, gas, medicine, etc are valuable.

Another thing that would be somewhat necessary for PM to be accepted as currency would be a general expectation that things would eventually return to normal. Then those people who stockpiled a bunch of silver by working their butts off helping and feeding other people could then cash in their PM for whatever fiat currency becomes the new standard.

 

In your scenario. I would preserve and can the carrots. Which you bring up a good point. Instead of collecting worthless pm's, a person would be far better suited to learn how to sew, can food, hunt, trap animals, build a shelter, grow crops, fish, give first aid, fight zombies, etc. If someone really wanted to be prepared for doomsday they would be more better off with the above skills, then silver. You being in Montana, may posess more of those skills then the average city guy. God help the the 40% of the population that cant tie their shoes with out the government helping them.

 

I think it's very unlikely that we will see such a scenario. I know people love to bring up past instances of such a thing happening, like it did in Hungary etc but the fact is that those economies were tiny and isolated compared to what we have now. They will figure out a way to fix this eventually. We will see a lot of inflation in the process, but I don't think it will come to the point where everyone is using precious metals to buy goods and services. Still, I think smaller denomination will be easier to liquidate and will probably sell for a higher premium, so it might be smart to buy the 1 oz stuff vs a 100 oz bar. But buying 1 or 2 gram pieces of silver is just making those dealers a lot of money because of the ridiculous premiums. Stick with the 1 oz rounds.

 

...and that's another thing I've pointed out more times than I can remember: Having a PM stash isn't the only step in being prepared. IMO - It isn't even anywhere near to being the most imporant. Neither is any sort of stockpiling in general. It's about being prepared with all the right tools, skills, and knowledge.

 

It may never come to a point where we have some sort of civilized society that sprouts up after the collapse of a government and people walk into a store and buy a bottle of water with silver. But the simple fact of the matter is, in all but the worst of circumstances, PM will still hold some value.

If someone came to me and wanted to buy one of my guns, of which I have plenty, and he offered me one ounce of gold, I might not be inclined to sell it. But if he upped his offer to two ounces, well maybe... Three ounces, you have my attention. Four ounces, now we're talking. Five ounces - Sold!

Of course this all depends on my confidence that I'll be able to get something for that gold somewhere down the line. If it's straight up TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it), then he probably wouldn't have made it up to my doorstep. :devil:

Same thing with carrots. If there's a reasonable expectation that the SHTF wouldn't be going on forever, and a starving family offered you an ounce of gold for a pound of carrots, would you take it? Two ounces? Three? Five?

 

Agreed! :thumb:

If you really want fractional silver, buy silver dimes. If you really need to pay for something that is worth $1 with $2 worth of silver, then cut one of your dimes in half.

Me, personally, if the proverbial stuff is hitting the fan, I'm not going to be concerned about $1 worth of silver. Just gimme two bottles of water instead of one. Or, better yet, why am I drinking bottled water when I can go to the creek and fill up a jug of water?

 

because the streams are contaminated and we're all living underground...