BiggerPockets

Pawn shops. You can get great deals on gold silver semi precious and precious stones in pawn shops at the moment. The market is flooded with them, because a lot of people are pawning, and you have a lot of bargaining power as a buyer.

Originally posted by William G.

Pawn shops. You can get great deals on gold silver semi precious and precious stones in pawn shops at the moment. The market is flooded with them, because a lot of people are pawning, and you have a lot of bargaining power as a buyer.

Great idea, guess my concern there is fakes or lower quality alloys, not getting a good value, and then not being able to convince a buyer later that the stuff is good when I need to liquidate quick. I don't mind paying a handling fee for the guarantee of quality and the genuine deal. Just want to minimize the fee.

Whoops - I should have caught the fact that you wanted physical gold.

Can you point to where the law says that it is illegal to hold gold in a safe deposit box? I wonder what the rationale is?

What law? Hmm...I heard this the other day on the radio and assumed maybe it was an unenforced blue law. I'll continue to research, but it may have erroneously been referring to this:

[i]"There was a time, for forty one years that it was illegal to own gold. In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt made it illegal for any person in the United States to own hoards of gold. The ban was not lifted until legislation was signed in 1974 by President Gerald Ford. Although the new bill did not do away with the Gold Clause Resolution of 1933, people could now buy and trade gold as a commodity.

This all happened after the great depression. Foreign banks, who were afraid of the failing economy, were turning in their paper money in exchange for gold. This was depleting the gold supply in the U.S. Reserve. Up until then the United States had been on the gold standard. Many dollar bills, like the fifty, were printed with a yellow back which indicated it could be turned in for the gold rate.

The Executive Order 6102 made it illegal for anyone to own more than $100 worth of gold. Citizens had to turn in their gold in exchange for paper money. The gold coins were melted down into bars by the U.S. Treasury department. This was done to keep the U.S. dollar afloat and avoid panic in the overseas market. The tactic worked."[/i]

In any case, if I put my emergency funds in a safe deposit, and that bank fails (could never happen, right?) or the IRS decides to investigate me, or....., or....,

I think it'll be hidden somewhere that only I know about. Valuables get hidden where nobody would suspect. Semi-valuables go into my safe - after all, any burglar seeing a safe will just assume that's the good stuff, no?

so bullion shop is also where you pick up your small and 'junk' coins? I like the idea of paying cash in person even better...

http://www.apmex.com

Quality outfit. Fast delivery. Reliable, in my experience. Google 'Apmex Reviews'.

Apmex even buys back at higher prices than most coinshops: So you can use Apmex as a basis to negotiate with coin shops when it comes time to sell (the dollar is worth something again).

As stated, if the SHTF, and the dollar really did collapse, ETFs (GLD)/paper gold is not where you want to be. There is a saying among the gold bugs, If you don't hold it, you don't own it. Most gold bugs believe Comex is going to default and paper (GLD) will be worthless. That would happen today if there was a "run on gold". I am not a gold bug, well I am, but newly, and only for the next couple years.

There are some brand new Canadian silver ETFs hitting the market that are backed by actual bullion, so that may be something to consider.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Rich Weese

Those are the places where I shop for bags of junk silver($1000 face value is considered a "bag") It actually comes in 2 bags totaling about 55 pounds in total. I like the 1/10 and 1/20 oz. silver coins. American eagle or canadien maple. I don't buy the krugrrands from s. africa. Rich in FL.

Found a local place that sells bullion and bags of "junk" coins. A little suprised though that a bag of "junk" is currently over $12,000! I'm starting a bit smaller than that...

Good friend came over this weekend and dropped off a reloading press so I was busy combining some other precious metals this weekend :cool:

Well, depending on what's on the news it is very easy to buy low at the coin shop and sell high that same day on Ebay. No joke.

Any town of any size should have a precious metals broker. Quite often in conjunction with a coin shop.

If you want monetary security, gold bars are fine. If you are thinking like a survivalist, USA silver coins are better. Nobody will have change, and you aren't going to be able to buy many loaves of bread if you have to give a one ounce gold bar to get each one.

If you are in the USA, everyone will recognize the coins, so no questions about whether they are silver or not, and value should be easy to establish.

Originally posted by P NW

By the way, if you are in survivalist mode, don't forget to store away a case of strike anywhere matches.

Those have been banned in MA for some time :roll:

I'm still using my supply that I picked up in a FL piggly wiggly