Reddit's silver "apes" now targeting silver, opportunity or fool's gold?

[myrdale]

Ordinary nickels contains 75% copper, 25% nickel. Today's melt value of 1 nickel is $0.0574983 is the melt value for the 1946-2014 nickel on September 01, 2023.

Keep in mind, if you are considering melting coins down, there is some serious cost associated with the initial setup and operation.

Below are a couple snap shots of my wax melting operation. $80 for the fish fryer, $50 for various pots and pans, $40 for a fancy mold. And then ever how much propane is consumed each cook. I suspect even a homemade furnace is going to run you $300 or more once its all assembled, and melt times are on the order of hours.

*edit I give up trying to upload photos ><

[QuarterMillionMan]

When uploading photos I've noticed that I can only upload from my laptop. For some reason I cannot upload from my iPhone. It's weird.

[disneysteve]

Ordinary nickels contains 75% copper, 25% nickel. Today's melt value

As we discussed earlier, melting the coins to realize the value of the metal is illegal. Do you think these places actually melt them or is "melt value" just a commonly accepted unit of value used in the industry?

[QuarterMillionMan]

I doubt the dealers are melting it. I guess they are just using the term melt value for the silver or copper content. Although on Youtube some guys are literally melting the coins for the silver or copper. It is very toxic and the colors of the fumes and the metals looks scary when they apply the heat, not to mention it can explode or burn their houses down, lol.

[QuarterMillionMan]

This guy melted war nickels and got the silver from it, interesting but I would not want to be anywhere near it.

How Much Silver Can You Really Get Refining $1 Face Of War Nickels With Nitric Acid??? - YouTube

[disneysteve]

on Youtube some guys are literally melting the coins for the silver or copper. It is very toxic and the colors of the fumes and the metals looks scary when they apply the heat, not to mention it can explode or burn their houses down, lol.

It’s also not terribly bright to post videos of yourself committing federal offenses.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm debating buying 60 pieces of this various designs of 1 oz silver rounds which is only $1 over spot. In California purchases over $1500 are not taxed, under $1500 taxes are applied at 9%. This is such a good deal $1 over spot.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Gold buffalos always had more of a premium over Gold American eagles (GAE) today looks like $10 more. I remembered it used to be more like $50 more. I guess premiums overall are coming down. But for both gold buffalos and GAE the premiums over spot are both $100 over spot. Today spot price of gold is $1953.

[disneysteve]

If you’re buying strictly for the gold value rather than as a coin collector, why not just buy the cheapest option? Why would anyone pay extra for a different design? Just get a plain gold or silver ingot if that’s the cheapest.

[QuarterMillionMan]

QMM - wow a kilo of silver sounds quite nice.

Did you get one of the better brands? My understanding is brands like Englehard sometimes have a bit of a premium in the market if you want to sell your silver. People think they're less likely to be fake or adulterated.

Disneysteve to answer your question, I have to first quote James' question where he asked "Did you get one of the better brands?" Disneysteve's question, "why would anyone pay extra for a different design." I side with disneysteve and to just get a plain piece that's the cheapest. But I guess people have their preferences and will be willing to pay extra. Just last night I was watching a video where a guy showed $2000 in cash and drove to his local coin shop in Oregon. His dealer notified him that an Engelhard 1 oz bullion had arrived so the guy drove over and bought it. James mentioned Engelhards on page 4 of this thread where at the time I didn't think much about it but looking back now Engelhards must be high in demand because I rarely see it available. I usualy buy the cheapest such a Pamp Suisse, Royal Canadian Mint, Heraseus, Sunshine Mint, etc. I guess people stick with brands they like such as Levi's jeans over Wrangler, etc. Pasta sauce comes to mind as well, Ragu, Prego, Paul Newman, etc. I buy the cheapest but others are willing to pay extra for their favorite brand. As to the title of this video it wasn't about Engelhards although the creator of the video bought the Engelhard, the title referred to pre-1933 gold where the guy's finger is pointed. The coin shop owner discussed owning it because if the government ever goes back to the gold standard pre-1933 gold cannot be confiscated, I think he said because it is considered a collectible or something along those lines. The premiums on pre-1933 gold are even higher than buffalos and GAE.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Someone's personal stash of 90% silver (no 40% silver, nor no 35% silver war nickels either). My rough guess is maybe $1/2 million worth of junk silver on that table, not sure he never said how much it is worth but quite impressive inspiring me to up my game.

[disneysteve]

I guess people stick with brands they like such as Levi's jeans over Wrangler, etc. Pasta sauce comes to mind as well, Ragu, Prego, Paul Newman, etc. I buy the cheapest but others are willing to pay extra for their favorite brand.]

Not really a good analogy. Different brands of pasta sauce taste different and contain different ingredients. Different brands of jeans fit differently. But gold is gold, isn't it? One ounce of pure gold is the same whether it's in a rectangle or a circle with an eagle or a maple leaf or a koala stamped on it. But I guess gold (or silver) is different because it's primarily a collectible. If you're buying collectibles, you want to buy ones you like. You don't want a shelf full of identical ingots. You want a variety, collect everything in a set, maybe get ones from all different countries, whatever. And some will be made in much larger quantities while others will be scarce and command a premium among collectors. I can totally understand it from that point of view. If, however, you are strictly buying it for the gold content, you probably don't care, except to the extent that you're concerned about future resale value, so you can't ignore the collectible angle even if you don't care about it personally.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Good points. I've always bought the cheapest 1 oz gold bullions which have a $50 premium over spot price vs 1 oz gold buffalos or GAE which have a $100 premium over spot price (which I don't own any round gold pieces). For my 2024 Roth IRA precious metals $7500 max contribution, I'm intending to get 1 buffalo and 2 GAE, among other smaller pieces to make up the difference totaling $7500 (if the price remains the same).

[QuarterMillionMan]

Ordered 60 rounds of various designs at $1 over spot, no taxes since I satisfied California's requirements purchasing over $1500, the tax would have been $150 at that amount. This was a good deal that I could not pass up. I'll post a pic when it arrives but it'll take close to 1 month. Have to mail the check yet, then wait 10 business days for the check to clear, plus processing and shipping times. With this order my silver stacks are getting quite large and I'll be researching purchasing a Sigma Metalytics tester for $1200 to test for purity of silver, gold, and platinum.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Defending the Goldbacks (well sort of, lol). A while back I bought some goldbacks at $3.80 each (1/1000 of an ounce), where it would equal $3800 an ounce, which would be about a 100% premium from spot price which today is $1956. Let's now take a look at fractional gold ingots where a 1 gram ingot is $100 each. A Troy ounce has 31.1034768 grams, so that would make it about $3110 an ounce buying thirty-one 1 gram ingots, which is not too far off from the goldbacks of $3800 an ounce. Both carry some heavy duty premiums but I just wanted to point out that when buying fractional quantities of gold one can expect to pay some hefty premiums.