What is up with the crash in silver prices

-13.82% is a crash. I'd love to see it go on down to $4.50 an oz. (that would stretch my coin budget)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

me 2 I'd be picking up alot of coins for my silver dollar set n that 1948 canadian silver dollar might come into reach

 

Silver has dropped 40%+ within the last 6 months or whenever this slide started. From $20+ to $10.5+ and now it's at $11 even. U figure it out, let us know. According to all reports, they are using more silver now than ever. Hopefully things will continue to increase and not drop. :vanish:

 

Probably has more to do with the relative strentgh of the dollar , as there's enough silver burried in Asia to supply the world for years , and I'm not talking of ore but of refined silver for dowries and savings .
rzage

 

Lots of "silver on paper" to be had. We'll most likely bail out a bunch of big business which makes Wall Street all happy.

Try finding real silver that is READY TO SHIP. When you do find it look at the premiums vs. "spot price".

Here's a good example of a large seller that actually delivers.

http://www.tulving.com/goldbull.html

I have purchased from Tulving in the past without disappointment. A few months ago one could get 500 2008 silver eagles at $1.79 over spot. NOW it's $4.99 over spot.

That's a good deal right now. At work we sell them at $22 each. Like $10 voer spot and that's insane.

If silver bars or rounds come in for sale we buy at full spot in most cases. NOT something a shop normally does. We then sell at $5 over spot. People are buying. Buying to the point that we are getting low.

We're looking for silver actually. Junk we buy at 8x (as I type this) and sell at 12x.

Silver is artificially low IMHO.

My boss has been at this since the 1960s. He was buying and selling when silver shot to $50 an ounce. Today he told me he's NEVER seen anything like this.

The bubble will burst then watch it go up.

I did start a thread of this vein a while back and my advice remains the same. If you're going to buy silver get the real thing. Don't expect it to be anywhere near spot in most cases though and if it is - jump on it.

 

Again, high prices just means more ore can be economically mined, thus increasing the overall production level. 20 dollars/oz is bloody unrealistic for industrial use but fantastic for mining companies.

 

so ur saying if i know a place to get a pile of silver dollars (canadian) for 10-12bucks a pop at .800 silver content i should grab em all?

 

I'd say that a 13% drop in a day is a much bigger deal than a 40% over 6 months. Also I think that most collectors are cheering the drop in price. This will probably translate into lower prices on the coins we want.

 

How much silver is in a Canada dollar ? I'm sure less than the .7734 of an oz. of a 90% American dollar .
rzage

 

depends our content has changed through the years I just know the guy as a pile of the older ones at 10-12 bucks au condition mostly and a few of the newer ones at .925 silver content

mind u the newest are like 99.99 or sumthin?

 

I dunno whats up with it.. But I just bought for then first time ever! I cant wait for it to get here. 40 ounces, Im pumped. lol

 

A good point GX but we need to get the "paper" factor out before it ever becomes realistic again.

What does it cost to mine and refine an ounce of silver? I'm sure it's less than $20/ounce.
Of course "industrial" use can pass the increase on to consumers of goods. Much tougher when dealing with bullion.

Silver should probably be in the $15-16 range right now. Dealers can't get it - is it all going to industry? I doubt that as well.

We have had some pretty serious economic "failures" recently. I wouldn't mind seeing a few "paper" bullion dealers follow that path honestly. I just don't want to bail them out.

 

I'm not surprised prices are coming down along with oil, but with the stockmarket meltdown I expect prices to rise again as people try to invest in tangable assets.

 

How much does it cost to "mine" an ounce of paper?
It's caused by market manipulation by a couple/few of the largest banks.

 

BINGO!

This is why people can't find the physical product without paying large premiums.

 

I'm just waiting for about $5.00 and I'm going to be buying a stock-pile.

Speaking of metal declines.. Platinum is at $953 and gold is at $832.. so for about $100 extra you could get you some platinum coins/bullion bars.

*prices from kitco as of 8/15am 10/3/08

 

The trick is finding it. Your best chance is gold right now. It can be found at 5% or so over spot if you're lucky.

Dealers aren't willing to take the huge hits on silver and platinum.

 

Howdy folks,

I think a couple of forces are at work.

First of all the hedge funds are having to raise enormous amounts of cash to meet redemptions and to attempt to deleverage their musty hides from the derivative quagmire they find themselves. This means they're having to sell the family jewels, the kitchen sink, their first born and one of their kidneys. This includes gold and silver but particularly in security form.

The paper or security price of gold and silver has been hammered while supply for physical bullion has shrunk if not disappeared completely. Note that the security price includes mining stocks, bullion ETF's, futures contracts, etc. - all the paper representations of bullion.

However, while the 'paper price' has dropped like a rock, all of a sudden there are real supply shortages all over for the individul retail customer (folks like you and I). The mint has halted sales of various products over the past couple of months, many of the major dealers have little or no stock of some items, people are scrambling to buy real hands-on physical bullion products - and having a tough time.

We can probably assume that some of the smaller dealers are hesitant to 'buy high/sell low' and really don't want to sell stuff they paid a lot more for. However, the major dealers have such enormous turnover that this doesn't really apply to them.

Is the paper price artificially low? I don't know. However, I very clearly remember from Econ 101 and looking at various supply/demand curves, that the closest example to this present situation is when they impose price controls to keep the price artificially low. Whenver the prices are lower than people feel are correct - for any reason - they simply refuse to sell and the supply dries up. This is what we saw back in the 70's with the oil crisis. Once they imposed price controls, supply disappeared. This same thing happens when they impose rent controls - no supply.

Right now the paper price is so low, there is no supply.

go figure,

rono

 

Ooh 4 dollar an ounce silver sounds nice.

 

This is great for silver buyers, but for collectors who have already done the buying and are now watching their investments increase in value, to have the drop from $20 to $11 is devastating. I cannot sell and because of the drop, I can't buy because I don't know where or how the next increase or drop will affect me. A steady gradual up is what I expected. All investments like this are suppose to gradually increase in value. Like owning a home. You don't ever expect to purchase at $500K and 2 years later find it's only worth $350K and dropping.