The cheapest way to buy silver is to find it

Discussion in 'Coin Roll Hunting' started by myownprivy, Nov 17, 2019.

  1. myownprivy

    myownprivy Well-Known Member

    But does anyone have experience in finding silver in modern circulating US currency to FULLY replace buying silver around spot?

    I would like to know if there are any coin roll hunters on here who have built a "stack" of silver in the hundreds of ounces primarily through searching through boxes of halves, quarters, dimes, and nickels. And by "stack" I mean an amount you can fall back on as a safety net. I.e. 100, 200, 300+ ounces of silver.

    Is it possible to find this much volume of silver?
     
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  3. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    It's possible if you search a lot.
     
  4. CoinBlazer

    CoinBlazer Numismatic Enthusiast

    I bet metal detecting yields a significant amount of silver. @paddyman98
     
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  5. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Metal-detecting old coins in the ground or picking them up from a CoinStar reject slot ($0) will be cheaper than finding them in rolls (face value).

    If you consider 100-300 ounces of silver a "safety net", yes, there are people here who have accumulated that much from roll searching. They spend a lot of time and effort at it. Of course, if it's fun for them, that's not really a "cost".

    What exactly are you looking for "safety" from?
     
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  6. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    I guess I've accumulated silver to be "safe" from not having rolls of silver coins accumulated. :) I expect that I'll sell them at a profit in the future, but intellectually I realize that I'd come out ahead by putting money into income-generating investments.
     
  8. myownprivy

    myownprivy Well-Known Member

    100-300 oz of silver=$1700-$5100, which for most Americans would cover anywhere from 1 to several months of months of mortgage payments.

    This tiny amount of silver bullion is an additional safety net to purchased gold, 6 months of expenses saved in cash, and investments.
     
  9. myownprivy

    myownprivy Well-Known Member

    Right. But if you can find silver for 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents, and 5 cents face value, that is a BETTER investment than placing that same amount of money in the market.

    $6.14, $3.07, $1.22, 95cents of silver that cost you 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents, 5 cents.

    Imagine if you put that 90 cents face value into the market at a current return of 10%. Now your 90 cents is worth about $1.
    However if you found that same 90 cents face value, it is worth $11.38 cents of silver. That's a return of 126%!

    Of course, I doubt that's realistic. But I know there are people who coin roll hunt, and I am curious how many of them have accumulated silver in the hundreds of ounces by doing this.
     
  10. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Hmm.

    6 months expenses in cash -- that's supposed to include mortgage payments, isn't it?

    The problem with any PM as an emergency stash is that you don't get to time your emergency to the markets. If I'd needed to cash in my silver at the beginning of 2019, I would've been selling at a bottom. If you haven't been accumulating silver at a sharp discount (FV or free), that means you take a bath. And if the path to the bottom has been steep enough, you'll have a hard time finding buyers at a reasonable price.

    I took some 90% to sell at the local show this weekend. With melt currently at 12.28x FV, the best offer I got was 11.5x FV; most dealers didn't really want to buy, and would offer only 10x FV. But if I'd needed to convert a lot of silver to cash in a hurry, I would've had no choice. At a storefront, I would've gotten even less.
     
  11. myownprivy

    myownprivy Well-Known Member

    I'm talking above and beyond.
    6 months expenses available in cash
    Investments
    gold
    silver

    All as emergency funds. But only one of those can be gained for free. And you are correct that this works if you have been accumulating it at face value. That's what I'm exploring here if that's feasible to find hundreds of ounces coin roll hunting.

     
  12. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Well, it's sort of realistic. I still find silver in circulation or in CoinStar reject slots, just not frequently.

    "Free" is questionable. If you enjoy hunting, it's even cheaper than that -- you get the monetary returns, plus hours of entertainment at no cost (other than gas and bank goodwill).

    But I'm guessing that even the most prolific roll-hunters and metal-detectorists on this forum average hours for each dollar FV of silver they find. If you look at time value of money, that's paying far under minimum wage. If your goal is just to accumulate a buffer, you'd get there much faster renting yourself out as an Uber driver or picking up an evening job stocking shelves.
     
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  13. Mr. Flute

    Mr. Flute Well-Known Member

    Also, remove war nickels from any calculations of junk silver value. They are not equivalent with 90% silver coins in terms of percentage of 'value' you'll be paid for them.

    I routinely see them being bought by reliable dealers at 60-70 cents each. Far less than their 'spot' value. This is likely due to the low percentage of silver (35%) and they are a three metal compound (as opposed to a two metal compound like a dime)

    As to the overall question, I would bet there is equal amount of hours per roll spent metal detecting as CRH-ing with likely less quality results. All dug coins I've seen as culls, but most CRH coins I seen are not.

    jeffB - really hits the nail the best, I'd get a easy part-time job to raise the funds for bullion reserve purposes and buy bullion/junk at the best prices I could find. This is likely the most rational and logical method.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2019
  14. myownprivy

    myownprivy Well-Known Member

    I just completely disagree with this. Why would you ever want to spend your time doing something you don't enjoy? Furthermore, why take a job and pay taxes on it when your hobby of coin roll hunting is both enjoyable and tax free?
     
  15. Mr. Flute

    Mr. Flute Well-Known Member

    You're presuming the part time job is enjoyable. I never said so. If you look at the time one spends detecting or CRH, it almost always results in an hourly pay of very little in the end. If you enjoy that time, then awesome.

    Some people may enjoy a part time job in a pizza parlor to make extra money for a bullion stash and might get free pizza as bonus.

    And the taxes one would pay on the part time job's wages would still put one way ahead of the hourly rate of hobby detecting or CRH.

    But, yes, finding it for 'free' or at face value is purely the cheapest from one perspective. But to find appreciable amounts, both detecting and CRH would have to rise to the level of part time or full time jobs in require 100s to 10,000s of dollars of capital being tied up.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2019
  16. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Gains on silver coins are taxable just like anything else. If you don't care about obeying the law, why not just go straight to smuggling or drug dealing?
     
  17. myownprivy

    myownprivy Well-Known Member

    I don't declare money I find on the street, silver I find in change, or $5 I win on scratch tickets. How about you?
     
  18. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    What would you do if you needed to cash in those 300 ounces you were talking about?
     
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