Experiment in storing junk silver

About ten years ago I saw a video by some survivalist about how to store junk silver safely. It involved getting a two foot long piece of 4"-6" PVC piping, capping one end and attaching a screw top to the other. It was then filled with whatever silver you want to keep and bury it somewhere.

Well, I placed junk silver in ziplock bags, $100 face to the bag, and placed it into the pipe: mercuries, roosevelts and washingtons. I then buried it two feet deep into one of my garden beds and left it, making sure that it was sloping slightly down at the screw end to avoid any chance of water seeping in.

I dug it up this week. I am sure some of you are thinking "PVC, tarnish". But no. The coins were in exactly the same condition as that day, ten years ago, when I last saw them. It worked! So for those of you looking to long term storage of your junk silver or silver rounds here is the way to go. No one will have a clue where they are unless you tell them. Only my wife and son knew, just in case something happened to me.

 

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Something pernicious DID happen to you. You felt that doing this was somehow useful or necessary. That's as whacked as it gets.

 

Oh let the guy have some fun, Kurt. ;-)

 

Could have been a huge score for a metal detectorist in the future.

 

Bet some worms and groundhogs thought they were rich for about 10 years.
LOL

What kind of plastic were the ziploc bags made of ?

 

In a way, it is a good idea. If the whole family are in a fatal car crash, there is some buried treasure for a future finder to really enjoy, and by then the coins will no longer be junk but rare survivals.

 

Unlikely. My son lives 1000 miles away and is rarely here.

Just the regular ziplocks, whatever it is .

 

Will they pick up things two feet down?

 

No, the pernicious thing was missing out on the opportunity to sell it for a 3X profit four or five years later, then restock more recently.

Seriously, though, maybe we can stay focused on the exposure/stability aspect in this thread...?

 

Food storage bags have been made of inert material for decades.

Chris

 

I don't buy junk silver with the idea of ever selling it. That is what bullion is for. Selling and restocking later risks needing it at the time I don't have it.

 

LOL! As if... "Woo Woos R Us".

 

I found this thread interesting. I see a lot of ' Edited See language rules ' blogs out there, giving advice on prepping, creating a stash of arms, ammo, etc., and this seems to fall within that category. I try not to disregard any potentially useful advice and I don't mock the person providing it.
You just never know what might happen, and what you might have to do to protect yourself, your family, and whatever assets you might want to protect.
So many events have occurred in recent years that we never would have imagined possible ten or more years ago.
Famous last words: "It can't happen here".....
.... well, yes it can.
So, Thank You, 'sakata'.... I'll file your advice away... just in case.

 

You can safely file all those other blogs under "Raving Lunatics" too, while you're at it.

 

Where would ancient coin collectors be if it wasn't for folks like this?

 

10 years sounds like a fitting amount of time to take a peek, have a reflect on things. Me personally, I'd fret over it and have to check it every few months, and then it wouldn't be very secret. Kudos to you, sakata, for being able to stick with it. I think it's worth having multiple locations, if you're going to be doing this. It's a good plan for silver. Portability is part of why I think gold is so valuable, and the only real reason I really like it other than having great aesthetics. Otherwise I'm a silver bug, but gold can just go in your pocket, no need to have an elaborate plan unless you're super rich, in which case burying silver all over the place isn't an issue.

 

I am stocking up on bottled water, duct tape, toilet paper, and batteries. Just in case.

 

Well, I've got more of all of that that I will ever need except for the bottled water. I don't waste my money on that. But I do have an RO filter, a Berkey filter and the ability to distill my own water if I need it. And, of course, a stream on the property to provide the water which may need filtering.

 

I also belong to a metal detector forum, here is a post from another member. Dated 2013.

"I actually found a rifle out in the Arizona desert once. We were gold prospecting, and I was swinging a Minelab GPX 4000, with a 20" coil. It was in a four-foot long, 6" diameter piece of plastic PVC pipe that had been capped and sealed at each end. It was only down about 29"-32" in depth, and was lying horizontal. It turned out to be an M14 and four- boxes of Winchester ammo. Like an idiot, I turned it over to the Yavapai County Sheriff."

 

This guy, who has me on ignore and can't read anything I post, is responsible for more "spit takes" than any other poster on CT. A 'true believer" prepper loon.