Hey gents.  I'm on the hunt for a couple of coins.  A 1900 Morgan Silver Dollar, condition largely irrelevant, and an 1976 Ike (40%) silver dollar in good shape.

Story time:  In the early 80's my dad and I used to stop in and visit an old farmer that my father had bought out and given a living lease to.  On one of those visits he gave me a 1900 silver dollar, explaining that it was from the year he was born.  He never had kids of his own and I guess he wanted to pass it down to someone who would appreciate it.

Fast forward to 2017.  My father offered to sign over the very same farm to me so I could retire there and build a house.  Turns out old Alvin made a good choice in giving me the 1900 silver dollar as I found it with some of my personal items in my parents house.  I thought it was pretty cool to have a connection to the original owner so I brought it back to Hawaii with me.

Which brings us to today.  I'd love to get a hold of a spare 1900 Morgan Silver Dollar to keep on my person as part of my daily carry.  I'd hate to lose the original or put a ton of wear on it, but I'm willing to accept a surrogate to carry to remind me of why I go to work every day.  (Especially the bad days.)

Which brings me to part 2 and the 1976 40% silver Ike hunt.  Turns out life didn't have kids in store for me either and I'd like to turn over the 1900 and a 1976 (the year I was born) to who ever gets the place after me. 

I'm sure you guys coin and bullion collections are like your gun collections.  All lost in a tragic boating accident.

Here's a picture of the old girl (if it posts).

Hey gents.  I'm on the hunt for a couple of coins.  A 1900 Morgan Silver Dollar, condition largely irrelevant, and an 1976 Ike (40%) silver dollar in good shape.

Story time:  In the early 80's my dad and I used to stop in and visit an old farmer that my father had bought out and given a living lease to.  On one of those visits he gave me a 1900 silver dollar, explaining that it was from the year he was born.  He never had kids of his own and I guess he wanted to pass it down to someone who would appreciate it.

Fast forward to 2017.  My father offered to sign over the very same farm to me so I could retire there and build a house.  Turns out old Alvin made a good choice in giving me the 1900 silver dollar as I found it with some of my personal items in my parents house.  I thought it was pretty cool to have a connection to the original owner so I brought it back to Hawaii with me.

Which brings us to today.  I'd love to get a hold of a spare 1900 Morgan Silver Dollar to keep on my person as part of my daily carry.  I'd hate to lose the original or put a ton of wear on it, but I'm willing to accept a surrogate to carry to remind me of why I go to work every day.  (Especially the bad days.)

Which brings me to part 2 and the 1976 40% silver Ike hunt.  Turns out life didn't have kids in store for me either and I'd like to turn over the 1900 and a 1976 (the year I was born) to who ever gets the place after me. 

I'm sure you guys coin and bullion collections are like your gun collections.  All lost in a tragic boating accident.

Here's a picture of the old girl (if it posts).

I have purchased from APMEX before:

https://www.apmex.com/product/9511/1900-morgan-dollar-bu

https://www.apmex.com/product/18376/1976-s-40-silver-eisenhower-dollar-bu-type-1

I have also purchased from Universal Coin.

Oh, and I purchased from these guys as well:

https://www.jmbullion.com/silver/silver-bullets/?gclid=CjwKCAiA8K7uBRBBEiwACOm4dz-EyLERKfc1M2NnqzQRw9XeKCBAVDbKtUaL5WJ_AaoPUarIE5a_lRoCKyEQAvD_BwE#

Thanks sir!  A few well placed hints among  Mrs. Jackalope’s ladies magazines and I’m sure to find both in my Christmas stocking.

I have dealt with only one coin/stamp store here and they were like all other coin/stamp stores I have dealt with before. Nothing wrong with them. But they buy very low and sell at or near catalog prices which are much higher than market value on the Internet. With the advent of coin appraisal companies you can now buy coins over the internet that have been rated at the correct condition without worry that you are getting ripped off. Coin/stamp stores still allow a collector to physically touch and evaluate the coins themselves.

But collectors like that are dinosaurs that are dying off fast and demand is dying as well. We have already seen a depression in the stamp collecting hobby when all of the stamps that had been collected for over 100 years were dumped on the market because collectors died and with them went the interest in old stamps. When I was dealing in US stamps on eBay I used 100+ year old stamps as postage because it saved me a lot of money. I was paying a quarter to an eighth of face value and then using the postage at face value. Most of these stamps I referred to have catalog values 5 or 10 times face value or more but there are so many available a dealer could never get catalog price except from a collector looking for an exceptional example.

I think we will someday see silver collector coins being sold at bullion values instead of collector values due to the supply becoming much higher than demand. It may even be happening already.

My wife got me the Morgan and the bicentennial Eisenhower. I’ve had a lot of fun looking online and learning about coins. I think you’re right that coins will follow stamps. There’s a lot of similarities between the gun and coin collectors getting most excited about the latest new hotness in minted coins and bullion designs. 

There’s something to be said about money that’ll hold its value in all but the most dire situations though, and the pleasure I get from looking at all the details on the 120 year old Morgan feels an awful lot like the feeling I get working my great grandfather’s 1894 Winchester (production year 1896!).

Anyway, thanks for the tips. The coins are fantastic!

A lot of my friends bought into the silver and gold bullion to supplement their investment/retirement portfolio. And they need some precious metals for when the SHTF. One used half of his wife’s inheritance to buy precious metals. The problem is if the SHTF no one is going to want to trade gold or silver for necessities. In other words when TP becomes scarce the guy that has the market on TP is going to want food or other supplies, not metals. The only value precious metals will have is if our currency becomes so devalued that it has little to no value. Also, generally speaking when the economy is strong the value of precious metals drops or trades in a narrow range, never going up or down much. These metals usually enjoy a run-up when the economy is not doing well and/or the dollar is being devalued. Also, confidence (actually lack of) in the economy will cause a run-up in the value of precious metals. It is a hedge against inflation as well if we are experiencing high inflation, which we’re not at this time.

I buy collector coins (Silver/Gold/Platinum) instead of buying bullion. I pay more but generally they go up in price due to their limited numbers. No matter how the economy is doing. They are not the best investment in terms of return over a period of time, but it tends to balance out your portfolio if you are invested heavily into one classification of stock or bonds. Plus they can be easily and quickly bought and sold. I sold my entire collection and funded my move to Hawaii back in 2008.

I’m glad you got the coins you wanted. Enjoy them.

I buy collector coins (Silver/Gold/Platinum) instead of buying bullion. I pay more but generally they go up in price due to their limited numbers. No matter how the economy is doing. They are not the best investment in terms of return over a period of time, but it tends to balance out your portfolio if you are invested heavily into one classification of stock or bonds. Plus they can be easily and quickly bought and sold. I sold my entire collection and funded my move to Hawaii back in 2008.

I’m glad you got the coins you wanted. Enjoy them.

I just thought I would share this.
I try and attend the once a year coin show at the Convention Center (missed last years) and buy one U.S. mint gold coin before 1933. My budget allows me to select a common date coin purely on something "pretty" but a higher professionally graded coin MS 64 or higher. A couple of years ago at the show I noticed the lower graded gold coins dropped in price. I talked with a couple of vendors and was told that in the 1920's or 30's a large debt was paid to England(?) by the U.S. in gold coins, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Well England or some European nation has been selling the coins back to the U.S. Market which lowered or removed the collector value of these coins. I don't know if I have the facts correct but I find it interesting how events from the past can eventually affect current collectable values. 

Over the last couple months I’ve been having an enjoyable time following the history of precious metals. Like you guys are saying, there’s not really money to be made for Joe Average but it does afford a classier version of littering your bed with dollars and rolling in it. . I’ll stick to the silver dollars for now but it’s still fun to window shop.

I just thought I would share this.
I try and attend the once a year coin show at the Convention Center (missed last years) and buy one U.S. mint gold coin before 1933. My budget allows me to select a common date coin purely on something "pretty" but a higher professionally graded coin MS 64 or higher. A couple of years ago at the show I noticed the lower graded gold coins dropped in price. I talked with a couple of vendors and was told that in the 1920's or 30's a large debt was paid to England(?) by the U.S. in gold coins, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Well England or some European nation has been selling the coins back to the U.S. Market which lowered or removed the collector value of these coins. I don't know if I have the facts correct but I find it interesting how events from the past can eventually affect current collectable values.

I have been searching and searching for this and I cannot find anything close. Except that we went off the gold standard in 1933. When that happened a lot of people in Europe hoarded American gold coins in hopes of the value rising. We were no longer backing our dollar with gold. I believe the reason we did this is that we no longer had the gold to back up the value of paper money and debt in the US and around the world. If our debtors demanded gold in lieu of dollars it could have caused a run on the dollar and if the dollar collapses our country and possibly the world will be in a big hurt. Since then these gold coins have been trickling back into the country which basically means the collector value of the coins has dropped considerably due to supply being higher than demand. So eventually the coins are sold at basically spot price plus a fee, same as bullion. I prefer US proof coins and commemoratives because they are effected more in the collector market than bullion. But it is a risk I take for a higher return when I sell them. Generally speaking US collector coins don’t lose value but may not gain much either. It really depends on the coins issued and demand.

There are a lot more details to this and I generalized a lot so if you research us going off the gold standard you will find a lot more detail. I did this mostly from memory so excuse me if I might have gotten a detail or two wrong. Do you think this is the story you heard?

Over the last couple months I’ve been having an enjoyable time following the history of precious metals. Like you guys are saying, there’s not really money to be made for Joe Average but it does afford a classier version of littering your bed with dollars and rolling in it. . I’ll stick to the silver dollars for now but it’s still fun to window shop.

I am a fan of mostly silver coins. Though I do enjoy collecting certain different countries silver and gold coin releases. My wife is very fond of pandas so I collected the Chinese Pandas for many years. I had a necklace made for her out of one of the gold coins. The 24 carat coins contrast nicely with the 14 carat bezel and chain and I think is quite attractive.

I also like collecting different solid silver items. One of the online stores like JM Bullion sells a 45 cartridge and a 308 cartridge in solid silver.

https://www.jmbullion.com/silver/silver-bullets/?gclid=CjwKCAiAjMHwBRAVEiwAzdLWGC9LmGzb62xTGnV9wWVV6P37a1NOAUkegMoxXb_JAramut4rqwfmoxoCSU4QAvD_BwE

Also, there are lots of Star Trek stuff for sale. Being a Star Trek fan I have collected a few items over the years.

There are also a lot of satire coins to jokingly commemorate a historical event. Here is one I own I think you’ll get a kick out of:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/He-Made-Uncle-Sam-Cranky-Saddam-Hussein-Satire-1-Troy-Oz-999-Fine-Silver-Coin-/252694206988

And a silver bar I own:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS590US590&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACYBGNTJs7YYvEvlXOeBRvfIDHFNHnBNSw%3A1578202281107&ei=qXQRXqmQBvO40PEP3c2t0Ak&q=squd+missile+launcher+satire+coin&oq=squd+missile+launcher+satire+coin&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3..33i160.3637.18916..19256...2.0..0.212.5508.0j30j3......0....1.......8..35i362i39j35i39j0i273j46i131j0j0i273i70i249j0i67j46i67j46i10j0i10j46i10i275j0i10i70i249j0i13j0i13i30j0i22i30j33i299j33i22i29i30j30i10.OGvVBT1oRsQ#imgrc=lBgc64NByk7A_M:

These don’t go up much in value because so many were made and most people these days were not around or old enough to understand the humor in these.

I remember the missile launcher cartoon when it was passed around by xerox copy in the 90’s. That’s a great piece.

I did splurge and picked up a 1 oz silver bar and sent it to my buddy going through a divorce so he would “have a foundation to rebuild his fortunes, and money that his soon to be ex can’t get her hooks in.”

I doubt most people have ever seen a silver bar before so it adds a cool factor and as any revolver lover can tell you with complete confidence that style does matter.