the silver joke

That's because at this point ebay prices have not adjusted for the down turn yet. Also from what I have seen when it comes to silver. I can usually get a better deal locally than on ebay.

Thrift stores and yard sales have been my best places to find silver, I have picked up silver jewelry, flatware, bowls and trays, all sterling for pennies on the dollar. I also got one .800 silver platter that weighed 670 grams for $8. That one platter contains just over 17 troy oz of pure silver.

Spring is here i'll see but what do I look for ? how do I tell ? often I find copper with a silver plating probably the German silver[/QUOTE]

The silver that I buy at thrift stores and yard sales is stamped either 925, .925, 925/1000, sterling, ster, coin, (coin silver is .900) .800, 800/1000, almost all Mexican silver pieces that have the Taxco mark on them some of them are better than 925.
Be ware of anything that is marked 925 and china, in my experience a magnet will stick to these pieces.
Things that are not silver are German silver, Mexican items marked Alpaca.
If you see an item marked sterling weighted, that means that there is a big chunk of cement, plaster or epoxy inside that is making up most of the weight.
Invest in a loupe so you can check out marks, the platter that I got the mark which 3 lines of maker mark and purity stamp, was smaller than a pencil eraser, not easy to see with the naked eye.

Math for finding out silver content is: Weight in grams / 31.1 X purity mark of item. 670 / 31.1 X .800 = 17.2347

If you need any other info let me know.

Silver is still not cooperating , To clarify see when silver was $35 spot I could walk into the local gold silver shops (jewelery) & pick up an once for $2 Above The store owner is smiling , every one is happy . even i am thinking some day $50 and up an OZ. Smile smile smile .

Price goes down , I say cool lets buy , Now all of a sudden the store owners say I have no silver to sell ?? Ok how about if I have $20,000 then there smile shows a like a poker player . Well I don't have $20,000 to dabble , so as I can I'll still get it some how.

Like a silent storm what I do get regularly is Copper and Brass week after week . I get it the nasty way ( dumpsters ) & only a confirmed scrapper is getting it my way . I Am thinking these days what copper I can get for my time and fuel is real & may end up being the best pay back some day.

Originally Posted by etack

Buy Silver Online | Buy Silver Bars and Silver Coins | APMEX.com

This company will sell it to you all day.

I have bought from them and if you buy enough it is best to pay with a cheque.

no small time store wants to take a loss on their silver.

Eric

I will call during the day to see what amounts they sell

Buy Silver Online | Buy Silver Bars and Silver Coins | APMEX.com

This company will sell it to you all day.

I have bought from them and if you buy enough it is best to pay with a cheque.

no small time store wants to take a loss on their silver.

Eric

i have been buying silver 10's at $26

I put a deposit on a 5 OZ coin @ $24 per oz.It's set aside, I have time to pay off BUT i pay off what ever the current rate is (so could go up), it is fixed at $24 per once (no lower) This allows me to make my investment weekly and end up with some larger pieces .If it turns out ok they have some nice 14.5 oz .
I do want silver at the lowest I can get but since i get it with a portion of scrap money it seems to always feel the same as to purchasing power. After all some months back $100 was easy to make at the yard with no copper in load now i need a touch of copper

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Here is a interesting read the future is slowly coming
http://www.opencurrency.com/directory/currencies/

Real is real I would be happy to be paid with any metal at the current given rate on any day of the week
I trust the inflation of metal compared to non backed paper . Of course like all people I pursue USA currency cause thats out lot in life
still lots of coins are being produced , silver and as we all know copper. IN the USA we have the right to bare arms , Do we have the right to bare our own real curency ??

A load of $100 scrap - yes heck hand me 4 onces of silver thats gonna put a big smile on my face

silver is down big again today down 70 cents in the last 24hrs, we may be seeing $20 silver again soon, if we see $20 silver id say its a strong buy as it hasnt been that low since 3 years ago

silver has been as high as $48 within the last 5 years so the potential for big returns is there, especially with inflation and a market pullback on the horizon

nope oil is going up, so the mines cut production accordingly because of increased production costs, so another factor to push prices up, higher fuel prices push the prices of commodities up

id love to buy a couple tons of copper at $2.50 thats another nice short term play

Originally Posted by jghilino

nope oil is going up, so the mines cut production accordingly because of increased production costs, so another factor to push prices up, higher fuel prices push the prices of commodities up

id love to buy a couple tons of copper at $2.50 thats another nice short term play

Thanks I always wanted to know one of the oil price connections to cost of these metals
If I am going to take advantage of my copper I need a new job or my old career to come back stronger & since I find consistent amounts of Brass and Copper ( & AL SS SHORT MIX ) I am already holding some commodities compared to 4 years ago. I have learned how to negotiate a dumpster like a kid on a jungle gym .
so the flow of product is there.

My scrap money should only be used for my retirement via creating a commodities wealth base, I see now thats possible as metal can buy metal, sale value = purchase value regardless of market swings. . As of now it hurts with a tinge of sadness when my scrap keeps being used for bills as I see my future commodities wealth not growing fast enough when it really should.

MAYBE I need to join as a true member to have access to info to take me to the next level
I need $1200 to $1400 per week as a metal only business Heck I know metal well enough I can weigh by feel ,figure prices and weight fast .If SMF has real info only to be learned as a paying member it must be my time .