tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41222199743513100542024-02-07T16:43:31.564-08:00How to invest in copper as bullionCopper Commentary with a Comical Component for the Hobbyist to the Hoarder to the hardcore advocate of metals as real money as opposed to fiatbeauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-87672237946795730162014-08-03T12:29:00.000-07:002014-08-04T19:42:52.364-07:00Dialysis is a RushDialysis is a rush.<br />
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What do I mean by this? Am I alluding to thoughts of... "rush, rush, rush"... that technicians and RN's are likely to experience while working during turn-around? During those intense stress-inducing moments in time when patients are being taken off, machines stripped, disinfected, and primed, chairs placed in trendelenburg and cleaned, nursing assessments conducted, and newly-arrived patients being put on? All in an effort to get the next patient's treatment started at their scheduled on time?<br />
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Isn't it ironic that we call those portions of our daily routine "turn-around"? What if you were to picture the vortex of forces involved in a tornado, a destructive twister which can randomly ravage a countryside, and try to imagine this "whirlwind of activity" applied to a work setting? Wouldn't then the sensations we encounter during turn-around in a dialysis clinic seem fittingly, if oddly, descriptive?<br />
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I'm going to repeat myself; dialysis is a rush.<br />
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At least that's what I feel; let me expand upon my definition of rush to make this point. We've all heard athletes voice, after accomplishing some feat of daring, some variation of "What a rush!". Whether winning an Olympic gold medal with the fastest bobsled run on the luge, plunging down the face of an immense wall of water on a surfboard, bungee jumping, or skydiving out of a plane and free-falling prior to your chute deploying, I'm sure the sense of elation is the same.<br />
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Anyone attempting such achievements would feel a surge of adrenalin during their trials. And my thinking is this: a swift barrage of endorphins would be certain to fire, producing an alteration of brain chemistry which would undoubtedly ignite a rapturous sense of physical and mental stimulation. From http://www.slang-dictionary.org we discover Rush, Australian slang, defined as <i>a <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">strong feeling of exhilaration and pleasure felt after taking a narcotic or stimulant drug.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Maybe I'm just an adrenalin junkie. But I feel I'm safe in generalizing that our exposure to the modest tribulations we endure during turn-around are conducive to stimulating the body's fight or flight syndrome. They result in the end production of endorphins that benefit those who work, as well as those we treat. We all get our juices flowing. A hundred swift tasks, competently conducted, deservedly earn a rewarding glow of satisfaction.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Dialysis is a rush. </span></span><br />
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<br />beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-78662442820474077122014-05-06T08:07:00.000-07:002014-05-06T08:11:20.056-07:00The One Percenter's<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">
Today's piece isn't a diatribe about wealth inequality in today's world, how fewer than one percent of the global elite control 47% of the riches, nor about how the ratio of CEO's salaries continue to race into the stratosphere in comparison to the rest of us poor working stiffs. </div>
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No, today I'd like to address what I see as a misconception in the minds of precious metals wordsmiths, and as soon as I highlight my point I'm sure you'll be able to relate. Doesn't it seem to you, Farnsworth, that we are constantly bombarded by terminology such as "only/fewer than one percent own physical precious metals?"</div>
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And then, the follow up catch phrase; "if you don't hold it, you don't own it." </div>
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A caveat warning against investing in paper gold, i.e Gold ETF's or gold certificates issued by nefarious greedy banking bastards that promise to sell you unallocated gold, but instead merely charge you storage fees for troy ounces that never existed.</div>
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From the occasional reading that I do, I see that most, if not all writers, rely upon suspect methodology in forming their arithmetic conclusions, <span style="font-size: 12pt;">perpetuating an urban myth regarding </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">ownership of gold by the public as barely one percent.</span></div>
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This is a falsehood. </div>
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Ownership of gold by the public is probably at least 90%... if one categorizes class <span style="font-size: 12pt;">rings, marriage </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">bands, bracelets, fine watches, necklaces, and earrings as "gold held by the public." Let's agree to</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">leave out gold dental crowns as they are hardly recyclable without macabre intervention. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">We acknowledge that a </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">large percentage of gold in India (and China, perhaps to a lesser extent) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">is "invested" in gold in the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">form of jewelry. Indian weavers creatively produce fabrics laced with gold or silver </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">thread, and women wear dazzling saris often </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">adorned with </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">countless small bangles of precious metals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So, if we attribute these forms of precious metals as "held" by those foreign parties... then why also </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">would we not credit Americans for holding gold in similar forms?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Where I beg to differ with the commonly referred to data point of one percent ownership </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">is my suspicion that only one percent of Americans truly </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: bold;">understand </i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the actual </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">worth </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">of gold as real money. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Most consider jewelry merely a status symbol, without fathoming the correct reason </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">as </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">to why gold would be something to be esteemed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Certainly, the broad ownership of gold items by the American public might only consist of a few grams of alloyed </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">metal by each, and the number of those owners is suffering constant attrition due to a worsening economy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">to insinuate </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">that only those who buy bullion forms of precious metals </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">truly comprise the complete cadre of citizens </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">who own physical</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> gold (thus leading to the </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">heralded one percent or less) is to do a disservice to readers by disingenuously </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">misleading </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The sad truth is, few of these American's truly understand the inestimable value of their sartorial accessories, and </span>prove their ignorance by continuously loitering in the lobbies of Cash 4 Gold establishments to redeem their priceless "barbaric relics" for worthless fiat.</div>
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Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.</div>
beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-31720022983478511602013-05-04T19:48:00.004-07:002013-05-04T19:50:08.639-07:00End Times<br />
The Antichrist has shown himself. Within the last three months an obscure figure has made his presence known upon Youtube with his proclamations, blasphemous to the ears of the precious metals flock, that silver is <b><i>not </i></b>becoming extinct as many have been led to believe. Brother John, for one, repudiates his claims, rallying to cries along with the faithful that this person must be an imposter.<br />
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While his divisive Youtube views may not have quite the impact upon the silver and gold communities as the assertion propounded by Charles Darwin's revolutionary Theory of Evolution did upon Creationists at that time, his opinions threaten the bedrock of belief that for many supplies a partial foundation for investing in silver. <br />
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If silver supply is NOT in jeopardy, as he avers, stating that only 1.56 million tons have been mined throughout history, while as much as a ten thousand times that much remain within the Earth's crust, then one of the orisons that we have offered to the Heaven's has been upon bent knees before false god's.<br />
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Many have prayed that eventual above ground silver depletion would spell an end to manipulative price suppression schemes, seemingly in perpetuity, by demonic entities such as JPMorgan and HSBC, backed no doubt in large measure by the will if not the deeds of such satanic forces as The Fed and Central Banks worldwide.<br />
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It is here that perception must enter the fray. If precious metals devotees have been laboring under a misconception, it is by many degrees lesser than the delusion of those who still have faith in the dollar. <b><i>If</i></b>, and this has yet to be definitively proven, there is no shortage of silver that the Earth can yield, then what at least <b><i>is </i></b>true is that there is the perception, and proof of such, that shortages do exist and are manifest about us.<br />
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Witness the recent runup in premiums placed upon most forms of silver that accompanied the downdraft in ostensible silver and gold prices, those both having been falsely derived from COMEX machinations. There is a different price for physical metals than there is for paper metals, and shortage or not, this divergence will continue every time demand outstrips supply, disrupting just-in-time inventories, or poorly planned government Mint's ordering of sufficient numbers of planchettes.<br />
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There IS a shortage of silver, and that shortage is evident in that demand IS outstripping supply. The shortage is due to an insufficient pipeline, the fact that a high percentage of silver is mined as a byproduct to base metals zinc, lead, and copper, and the fact that, even should further large deposits of silver someday be discovered, those new mining troves can take as much as a decade to become reliable producing sources.<br />
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Continue to stack silver, shortages or not. Continue to stack gold, price manipulations or not. These price crushing disruptions can kill optimism while fatally wounding conviction, but they offer remarkable opportunities long thought lost to those who are willing to steadfastly dollar cost average into markets that represent lasting value. Real money; silver and gold.<br />
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Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-31122830401530661772013-05-04T19:40:00.001-07:002013-05-04T19:52:49.634-07:00Prepping For The Silver Shortage<br />
Many of my readers are members of various online forums on which are discussed the merits of real money, as well as prepping for TSHTF scenarios. Doubtless, we've all been party to worst case scenarios threads, and how we would prep for those situations. If we haven't already taken steps to build a pantry of non-perishable food items and stores of water, capable of sustaining our families for weeks, if not months, then at least some thoughts of "I really should do something about that" impinge on our collective unconsciousness.<br />
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As well, many have taken steps to defend what they've secured -- lasting stores of real value in metals, that will protect their purchasing power in hyperinflationary scenarios -- through means of their Second Amendment Rights. This includes having a safe storage site to secure the silver and gold you've been prescient enough to amass thus far, and further measures of force to deter theft should anyone decide that you would make a soft target. The internet abounds with tales of home invasions, and thefts from vendors following coin shows are not uncommon.<br />
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If not yet, we are nearing exhaustion the available stores of investible silver in forms that the average stacker can afford. Few have discretionary income that they can cavalierly toss about, allowing them to obtain 1000 oz COMEX silver bars, so for all intents and purposes, that source is academic. What we <b><i>are </i></b>finding to be true, that we have all been recent witness to, is that the <b><i>existing </i></b>supply of small forms of silver is currently inadequate to meet present demand; this while only one percent of the public -- aware of the need to divest from fiat and build their savings in real money forms, ie silver and gold -- is doing something about it.<br />
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The premiums that many complain about are symptomatic of this shortfall, and may lessen or increase from this point onward. No one can provide a definitive answer in that regard. But let's surmise that this is just the beginning, and that this shortage is only going to get much worse. For a moment, forget about gleefully rejoicing as silver and gold prices skyrocket to stratospheric heights (which they will inevitably do, sooner than later would be my guess)... and consider a consequence of investible silver items depletion.<br />
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People <b><i>will </i></b>awaken to their need for a sizable component of silver and gold asset allocation in their portfolios, and just as present stackers hurry to increase the size of their stacks, their ability to do so will be severely compromised. Not for lack of fiat, but due to permanent backwardization of silver and gold. A few years from now no one will be willing to sell their (really) priceless tangible physical metal for mere paper, particularly if valuation of those metals in rapidly depreciating dollars is shifting at an exponential rate.<br />
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Silver that was $55 at the moment of a private message may have increased $4.50 by the time of a response five minutes later, and then tacked on another $8 to its spot price by the time of a confirmation reply. Who would sell under such conditions? Such an event WILL come to pass, it's only a matter of time. During such a steep price rise few but the ignorant, blinded by avarice, would be willing to part with their coins, perhaps thinking that the <b><i>buyers </i></b>are fools, and that they will simply replenish their inventory when calmer heads prevail and the momentum money has all been spent.<br />
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But what if they couldn't find more physical silver or gold coins? Either a lack of affordable items, or a complete vacuum of investible forms. At some point the market will not pull back, or if it falls victim one further time to manipulations, the sellers will have by then wised up, and any paper loss will be more than accounted for with premiums that are intended to maintain price stability, and not prove ruinous for any hapless proprietor attempting to appease the spending fervor of avid throngs.<br />
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How will you prep for this forthcoming silver (and to a lesser degree, gold) shortage? If you could only make one more purchase today at current prices, even though it might take an eight week delivery... given a budget of $5000, what would you buy now... and WHY? Think on this and formulate a buying plan that you can place into action at short notice.<br />
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And if you're from the camp of those who are salivating for even juicier prices than what are currently being served up... wouldn't you feel chagrined if you went hungry in spite of your good intentions? All the money in the world packed into your wallet won't do you a bit of good if you're still studying the menu when the restaurant closes.<br />
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Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-23218249732833588392013-04-28T13:09:00.002-07:002013-04-28T13:12:34.925-07:00Time TravelIn H.G. Well's novel The Time Machine, and others of that genre, authors have repeatedly explored themes of time travelling. Describing with elaborate detail conceptions of yet to be invented machinery, they posit remarkable scientific advances that would permit those gifted designers to operate their ingenious contrivances, affording conveyance with swift dispatch, to points distant in temporal space.<br />
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Oftentimes such adventures involve a journey into the past, depicting fascinating encounters with terrifying saurian beasts, as hapless professional hunter protagonists consider the potential butterfly effect of stalking dinosaurs; could their actions alter the course of evolution and threaten their very existence by eliminating a genetic precursor to mankind's development?<br />
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Stephen King, in 11/22/1963, wondrously considers the appeal of traversing the decades to attempt to change the outcome of the course of history, by preventing events that irrefutably decree the destiny of their aftermath. How different could America's present have been if JFK's life would have been spared, thwarting Oswald's plan and making his failed attempt merely a historical footnote?<br />
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Our time travelling exercise today will not reveal a compelling portraiture of the past, a revealing exhaustive scrutiny of some momentous event frozen in time for which literature and documentation debating causes and effects already exist. Instead, we will turn an inquiring eye to the future. Allow me to take my medication before I continue, you see I sometimes am afflicted by bigworditis.<br />
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Ok, better now. I took my pill and I can keep things simpler. Everyone has been talking this year about how a physical silver shortage is developing. We can see signs of this all around us. Go to a coin shop and the shelves are bare. Check out the online prices and you'll see that premiums have gone crazy. Starting in about December I began to notice that there weren't as many deals to be had on larger lots of junk silver. People had decided not to sell, or were not selling as much.<br />
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Had the well run dry? Those who are secondary sellers of silver rely on constant supply in order to flip their purchases for a small profit. If that supply chain is jeopardized, regardless of the cause... the effect will be that the precious metals products offered for sale will quickly dwindle. That is happening now.<br />
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Whether new buyers are entering the market following the most recently engineered takedown, or whether existing buyers are merely doubling down due to this new to be short-lived discount, makes no difference. The result is that supply is disappearing and the price for physical silver, and to a lesser extent gold, is rising.<br />
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There have been speeches spoke and articles wrote considering Peak Silver. Are we approaching that point, amidst it, or have already bypassed it? Are we experiencing a mere supply and demand imbalance, where sudden demand has overwhelmed the supply capacity of minting facilities to fabricate enough coins to meet public demand?<br />
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Is this the long awaited physical silver depletion that will result in force majeure at COMEX? If you have the answers, and they prove correct, you could position yourself to great advantage in this market and profit handsomely. The point is this. No one knows for certain if this is the real thing or just a precursor, but for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, this recent shortage? The rising premiums and greater and greater delays in shipping times?<br />
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This is <b><i>exactly </i></b>what the Beginning of the End will look like when it does begin for real. Take heed. If you have fiat in your wallet now, what are you waiting for?<br />
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Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-38468246741360932952013-04-18T18:43:00.002-07:002013-04-18T18:52:19.393-07:00This Time It's DifferentRecently a spate of pundits have appeared in print and on talking head's channels, each solemnly proclaiming that recent price cascades across the boards in all four precious metals officially pronounce that the Gold bull market, or Silver bull markets, are dead. As Mark Twain was once heard to exclaim (and you could include Arnold Schwartzenegger here as well), "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."<br />
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So, too, it should be said, are ominous pronouncements that the bull run in precious metals is over, regardless of whether such proclamations emanate from Mt. Olympus from the deities themselves, or merely from such God wannabes as GoldmanSachs, or those who intentionally release misleading rumors of the imminent sale of Cypriot gold reserves.<br />
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Yes, as we've all borne painful witness, those with virtually unlimited means at their behest can move the markets sharply with immense paper selling of ostensibly tangible physical gold and silver. Look the other way and just accept this as gospel, that the paper price equals true price discovery of physical, as ... well, isn't it perfectly reasonable to suppose that more than an entire year's worth of gold production would be dumped in a number of hours on sequential days? What other motive could there be for such tactics? Surely the sellers intended to optimize their profits in the process, right?<br />
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This piece is not meant to point fingers at putative criminals, when corroborative evidence (according to the courts and CFTC) is lacking or hard to prove. It is merely intended to make you employ critical thinking. The entire motive of the recent horrendous manipulation is to utterly demoralize silver and gold longs who are not fully convicted that there is no path (long term) for precious metals to trod (in the face of global quantitative easing) other than upwards. On a short term basis, however, they will do their worst to convince you otherwise.<br />
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They would have you believe that economies worldwide are upon the verge of recovery; that dollars, yen, pounds, and euros are all healthy and strong, and that those who hold barbarous relics to preserve their purchasing power do so in folly. "This time is different," they will tout... and yet nothing has changed in the dynamics of why silver and gold have been sound, real money investments during the past decade, and will continue to be so in the years to come.<br />
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Baron Rothschild is credited with having stated "buy when there is blood in the streets." http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/08/contrarian-investing.asp Or, to paraphrase Warren Buffett "buy when others are fearful, sell when others become greedy." http://www.cnbc.com/id/44108052 The value, the intrinsic true worth of physical precious metals has not been destroyed, although their paper price surrogates have been decimated. What has been ruinously injured is investor confidence; that accumulating precious metals is a slam dunk.<br />
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Just as they intended.<br />
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Listen to those who counsel you to sell all of your silver and gold at your own peril. There is more afoot than meets the eye. Shy away from using margin to acquire these assets, unless you are prepared to lose those funds. Those in power know where the stops are, and they can easily empower massive naked shorting to trigger them, much to your dismay. Those who stack physical metals, not engaging in transitory paper ploys to accrue ephemeral fiat profits, have nothing to fear... their prescience will pay off handsomely in the future.<br />
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This time is not different.<br />
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Don't let a blip on a long-term chart catalyze you into waves of panic-induced selling. Although at times it can appear a sudden cardiac arrest victim has been lost, you'd be surprised at how fast they can be resuscitated simply if enough joules are applied. Silver and gold, platinum and palladium, are more valuable than precious gemstones. They are jewels that will glitter in perpetuity, long after memories of a once great reserve currency has been laid to rest within its well-deserved grave.<br />
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Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-91157286296060394072013-04-07T15:23:00.001-07:002013-04-07T15:27:05.033-07:00Hanging Onto Franklin For Dear Life<br />
I started stacking precious metals years ago, after a bad run in the stock market. In fact, it was in 2003. Ah, weren't those the good ole days? Silver was at $4.30 an ounce, gold was at $322. As they say... "if only I knew then, what I know now." But actually, having suffered ruinous losses in the stock market meltdown of 2001, I was all too happy to amass physical, and it was gratifying to see those shiny bits of gleaming real wealth accumulate into piles I could covet; wild fantasies of unimaginable riches rife in my imagination.<br />
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But after a few months, I started to grow bored with 90% silver. When I first started stacking, that was my preferred form of silver. I eschewed American Silver Eagles and larger bars, there was just something about holding handfuls of old coins, can considering the history they bespoke, that lent more meaning to owning them... beyond their intrinsic worth and their much ballyhooed ability to retain one's purchasing power in an era of rapidly depreciating dollar value.<br />
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So, after hitting up APMEX for a few $1000 face bags of various denomination coins, I began to grow restless. I mean, how many canvas bags can you pile into the closet before you begin to tire of inspecting their contents and assembling multiple coin album sets? I decided to go where no man has ventured before. Franklin Mint silver sets! I can hear the assembly shudder. "Yeh, Jethro," says Mama "the danged fool has up and gone an spent all the shine money on worthless damned doodads!"<br />
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In their defense, Franklin Mint has produced some spectacularly designed sets of medals (not coins) over the years, both in sterling (.925 silver) and pure (.999 silver). Their sizes range, for the most part, from smaller pieces up to 1000 grains, although most of the .999 were one ounces. I was able to find them on ebay for much less than the going rate for junk silver, sometimes capturing them for half of their melt value, but always for no more than eighty percent.<br />
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The detailed engravings on most of them, the marvelous depictions of historical men, women, and events, are enough to take your breath away if you're lucky enough to own a set or two. Particularly if decapitated presidents have grown passe. There is something for every interest, as these two collaborative collectors have comprehensively compiled on their remarkable website <a href="http://www.franklin-mint-silver.com/">http://www.franklin-mint-silver.com/</a><br />
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I figured back then that if I was purchasing them for a fraction of their melt value (common at that time) then I wouldn't be hurt holding onto them, despite the fact that they are somewhat despised in numie circles as tawdry "make-a-buck-off-the-unwitting-public" schemes. And that they are sterling, which somehow makes them harder to smelt than <b><i>less </i></b>pure junk silver? And thus less valuable? Meh... I'm not buying that.<br />
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My reasoning hasn't changed since when I first purchased them, and recent events have made my foresight seem all the more prescient. Back then, I had decided to buy only those sets produced prior to 1980, and thus before the days when even Grannie's candelabra and heirloom placesettings were being melted <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Melt-Henry-Merton/dp/0025843605/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365372401&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+silver+melt">http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Melt-Henry-Merton/dp/0025843605/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365372401&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+silver+melt</a><br />
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Thus, thanks to the indiscriminate melting down of God only knows how many of these finite number of sets, these limited edition albums and chests of gleaming little gems of artisan craft are even scarcer than one might conclude from their frequency of sales on ebay. Some of these sets might actually be becoming downright [b][i]rare[/i][/b]! Always the redheaded stepchild of stackers, drawing more revulsion than even war nickels, these widely mocked sets may yet have their day in the sun.<br />
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Consider two compelling reasons that this could occur.<br />
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1) Franklin Mint sets were never issued as currency, nor meant to circulate in any sense as pieces worth bartering. Thus they make an ideal form of silver for hoarding by the crafty as a coyote, under the radar silver stacker who fears that confiscation of silver and gold might someday occur. Should that happen, do you really think they're coming after your Franklin Mint sterling silver set of mini-automobiles too? Really?<br />
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2) A wave of counterfeit coins (they've been around for a decade, but only recently seem to be getting acknowledged as they continue gaining more public exposure) is beginning to besiege the silver investment pool. The extent of the production numbers and breadth of coin types being duplicated seems all encompassing, but limited to the extent that they prefer to replicate government issued coinage. Let us indulge in some critical thinking.<br />
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What "coins" would be most likely to be scorned by the Chinese in their drive to profit by fabricating faux products? Their main emphasis will be a push into producing the most popular type coins sought after by investors... Morgan's, ASE's, junk numies, etc. They <b><i>will not</i></b> try to imitate Franklin Mint 200 piece medallion sets of locomotives, sailing ships, scenes from the American Revolution, etc, that few consider worth having, as they can <b><i>much </i></b>more easily make coin by making coins.<br />
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And one more<br />
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3) You can always melt it down for its troy ounce content if there are no other buyers around that appreciate it for its own merits when it comes time for you to sell.<br />
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So... Franklin Mint sets represent a form of silver that is easy to hoard, under-valued, frequently under-priced, and very possibly the least likely form of silver to ever be counterfeited or confiscated.<br />
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I don't think I'll sell mine anytime soon, thank you.<br />
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Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.<br />
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<br />beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-69921668165061073962012-02-24T10:50:00.002-08:002012-02-24T11:30:13.857-08:00Caution, Children At PlayI think I've been remiss in my blogging. I should have been posting caveats in each post, admonishing any readers that I am not a certified investment advisor of any sort. Lest you be enticed into attempting to replicate my own performance, let me repeat the traditional mantra of the stock market. Past performance is not indicative of future performance, your results may vary. I feel you might be best warned by a large rectangular yellow sign with the words "Caution, Children at Play." In my case, it might be better to state "slow children at play."<br /><br />Caution is due when playing with leveraged ETF's. They are not for the faint of heart, nor those who are not well-healed, nor novices who cannot monitor the markets they represent closely. As has been stated by others, never play the markets on margin, and never play with money you can't afford to lose. As well, position limits might be a safe precaution. There are those who recommend no more than two percent of your portfolio being bet on any one speculative trade, so as to limit your losses if the wager goes south.<br /><br />I tend to break all the rules, myself, that I would chasten others to abide by. Maybe Momma did raise a fool. Whatever the reasons, I tend to have a high tolerance for risk. The funds that I play my stock market games are within various 401k accounts, and I <strong><em>can</em></strong> afford to lose them, though that is far from being my goal. There is a risk/reward ratio involved in my trading, and I'm willing to assume tremendous risk as long as I'm very well rewarded. I'm up over seventy percent so far this year, but that could change in a heartbeat.<br /><br />Let's take a look at the wisdom of using leveraged ETF's on a long term basis. The prospectuses of the various LETF's all warn that the basis of the leverage employed is intended to replicate the change in value of <strong><em>one</em></strong> day of trading. Over longer periods of time, that performance can so degrade as to completely distort the returns you might have expected. The link I am posting would make any explanation of mine redundant, so please take a moment to read <a href="http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/stocks/the-unseen-danger-of-leveraged-etfs/">http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/stocks/the-unseen-danger-of-leveraged-etfs/</a><br /><br />Okay, you're back? Did you get that? Over longer periods than say, just intraday at best, or one or two days, you <strong><em>will not</em></strong> achieve the performance you expect. I am confident that the silver market is in a long term bull, one that will rise steadily with more up days than down. So I will continue to employ LETF's myself. But today, when I reviewed some previous trades that were placed on 11/17/2011, I noticed an anomaly. Due to the high volatility silver pricing has undergone since that time, I am underwater on what should have been a profitable position.<br /><br />Specifically, on that date I purchased 196 shares of USLV, using the proceeds from the sale of 164 shares of AGQ. Were I today to sell the USLV to repurchase the AGQ, I would actually lose ground on the trade, reacquiring only 162 shares in the process. This due, undoubtedly, on the vagaries of fate and idiosynchrasies of employing a short term vehicle for a long trip ride. Apparently, there were enough down days in that interim period that it exacerbated the losses, rather than the gains, even though silver has recently experienced a nice uptrend.<br /><br />So how do I extricate myself from this mess? Well, I'll have to let the triples run for much longer, during an uptrending market, before converting back to doubles. I guess I've just discovered what my core position is of USLV, because I am loathe to sell at a putative loss. A fairly lengthy uptrend, say to $40 or $42 silver should be enough to clear the books, and I'll just need to be cognizant of this mischievous aspect of LETF's going forward. When you like to play in the fast lane, you need to keep an eye open for vehicles with undependable steering.<br /><br /><br />But Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-60499181046910912812012-02-23T21:34:00.004-08:002012-02-23T23:47:43.287-08:00Patience is a VirtueA little over a month ago, I detailed my strategy for utilizing double and triple leveraged silver ETF's to take advantage of silver's notable bi-directional volatility. Specifically, in the piece entitled A Good Parking Place, I related my tactics for selling silver mining equities to raise cash in order to purchase Velocity Share's triple-leveraged silver ETF USLV. Kind of similar to switching allegiance from the tortoise to the hare, whenever the race course suddenly dips and enters a steep decline.<br /><br />My reasoning is that the silver miner's are stolid, and lag physical silver's price moves, sometimes by days, and seldom to the same magnitude of gains or losses when compared to triple leveraged physical silver prices. So, on those occasions when the market offers you a buying opportunity, those otherwise disastrous days when you're getting hammered, watching your retirement dreams bleed into cyberspace, if fortune does indeed favor the bold, then gather up your courage and strike.<br /><br />I would suppose you could call such a strategy derivative of Freiherr von Rothschild, Nathan Mayer Rothschild. Prior to The Battle of Waterloo the London financier is accredited with having said, "The time to buy is when blood runs in the streets, even if that blood is your own." <a href="http://www.angelpub.com/pubs/cao">http://www.angelpub.com/pubs/cao</a> Today, Warren Buffet epitomizes the virtues of patience as an investor, his own maxim being to "buy when everyone else is selling, then hold, finally to sell when everyone else is buying."<br /><br />My contention is that silver prices will ultimately rise dramatically from their present levels, as so many others have dutifully noted with their rationale. Eric Sprott, one of the BMOC on the Silver Campus has been one who has heralded silver as "the greatest investment opportunity of the decade, perhaps of a lifetime" and the link provided encapsulates his reasoning. <a href="http://sprott.com/precious-metals/reasons-to-own-silver/">http://sprott.com/precious-metals/reasons-to-own-silver/</a> Thus, in my thinking, there is little danger in aggresively capitalizing on short term dips, other than the necessity, at times, to subsequently employ patience prior to selling.<br /><br />After analyzing silver's volatility and the concomitant performance of USLV, I have settled upon 15% as a goal to aim for as my "fair profit" target. Many times, often intraday, the price will drop and surge 5 and even sometimes 10 percent, but as I do these trades within 401k's that require a three day settlement of trades, I can't take advantage of such lightning moves with foudroyant reflexive responses. I often give away topside profit, but no sense in being greedy. So 15% it is. Thus, were I to purchase USLV shares at $49, my sell limit order would be $56.35.<br /><br />You'd be surprised by how rapidly the hare can cover that ground. Actually, I don't feel penalized by the constraints placed by having to abide by a three day wait period to avoid committing a good faith violation by selling equities that hadn't been "paid for" yet. Let me tell you about the latest episode of selling the tortoise and backing the hare. On Monday, January 30th silver underwent its most recent haircut, and the following day was more of the same. USLV, which had closed at $49.12 the previous Friday, dropped to $47.24 that first day, dipping even more to $46.01 on the 31st.<br /><br />It was time to step into the fray and take advantage of the (presumed) temporary carnage. On both days I sold numerous positions and converted them to USLV. I liquidated positions in First Majestic Silver, Alexco Resources, Endeavour Silver Corp, Fortuna Silver, Great Panther, Market Vectors Junior Gold Mines GDXJ, Hecla, Mag Silver Corp, North American Palladium Ltd, Silvercorp, Silver Wheaton, Tahoe Resources, and the Global X Silver Miners ETF, SIL.<br /><br />It was frustrating at times, but I was forced to wait until today, more than three weeks later, to sell many of the USLV positions I had entered on those previous trade dates. How did I do? Well, in some cases I hit my 15% target, and on others I exceeded it by a bit by adjusting my sell orders as I monitored the day's pricing activity. I converted back into the tortoise positions, in the same proportion as I had sold out of them, with the results as follow.<br /><br />AG sold 1026 shares, was able to repurchase 1180. AXU sold 1039 shares, was able to buy back 1139. EXK sold 1842, was able to reacquire 2140. FSM 308 to 336. GPL 2254 to 2643. GDXJ 255 to 300. HL 1369 to 1511. MVG 866 to 875. PAL 275 to 326. SVM 1799 to 2198. SLW 664 to 697. THOEF 114 to 137, and SIL 723 to 813. Overall, I was pleased by the gain in share numbers as opposed to a buy and hold strategy which would have left me with the starting positions.<br /><br />Of interest was the performance of each stock, during the interim period, before being rebought. Some of them, such as Hecla, had rebounded dramatically. That stock, on improved guidance, was up as much as 13.55% this last Monday, before finishing up the day a bit over 9 percent. Mag Silver ran up quite nicely in the interim period, as did Silver Wheaton. Those stocks that improved in pricing while I was away show commensurately lower percentage share gains. With 15% being the standard, here are the results.<br /><br />SVM share count up 22.18%<br />THOEF share count up 20.18%<br />PAL share count up 18.55%<br />GDXJ share count up 17.65%<br />GPL share count up 17.26%<br />EXK share count up 16.18%<br />AG share count up 15.01%<br />SIL share count up 12.45%<br />HL share count up 10.37%<br />AXU share count up 9.62%<br />FSM share count up 9.09%<br />SLW share count up 4.97%<br />MVG share count up 1.04%<br /><br />Having sold into the rally on this ascent, I am now configured to "wash, rinse, and repeat." Bring on another dip, JPMorgan, I have the chips to play. I am not worried about "missing profits" by not remaining in USLV, as I am still playing a healthy percentage of my portfolio with double-leveraged AGQ. But I also am now the proud papa of significantly more little tortoises which, as slow as they might be, in the long run may turn out to win the race after all. You just have to be patient.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-17770232638971257932012-02-12T12:28:00.000-08:002012-02-12T18:38:04.019-08:00Weird DreamsI just awoke from an afternoon nap after making a startling discernment. I was having one of my usual action dreams, where I get to be an Indiana Jones in one of his Adventures. I'm the good guy, sometimes with super powers, often the ability to fly, and always the hero. I generally find treasures and wind up with the beautiful gal hanging onto my arm, gazing adoringly into my eyes, caressing my cheek with her fingertip. Then I awaken and realize my head had been buried in my pillow, and it was just the fabric of the pillowcase that had stimulated those senses.<br /><br />This time was different. I'm writing hastily to capture the essence of the dream before it fades into oblivion. I remember sitting in a cubicle, about to receive an injection in my left thigh from a large stern female of Germanic heritage dressed in camo fatigues as I resisted this apparently mandatory shot. "Sit still," she commanded in response to my attempt to squirm away from the approaching needle. "What is it, I retorted, "Rohypnol?" "That's a sexist attitude," was her gruff response.<br /><br />A thousand questions were swirling in my brain as I persisted, "but why do I need this?" Her answer was chilling. "Because we want you to be strong and truthful." As if, without some sort of sodium pentothal truth serum my initial response would be one of corrupt integrity or morals, a natural deceptive riposte feigned in self-defensive nature? Who was being duplicitous here, me or this government entity forcing mass inocculations upon an unwilling quarantined populace when there was no threat of any form of contagion?<br /><br />You've heard of the concept garbage in, garbage out. I guess this dream is the result of the word candy I've been feeding my brain recently, through avenues of print media, broadcasting, and the world of cinema. Namely, in the last week I watched the recent films Contagion and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I had just finished listening, on King World News, to a Gerald Celente interview regarding military exercises in Los Angeles in urban population control and subjugation of rioters in anticipation of widespread civil disobedience. I have watched the youtube videos of the FEMA encampments. For what purpose will they be employed?<br /><br />And I have been reading, on Zero Hedge as well as other sites, about the loss of liberties endangered by such recent codices enacted by the follies of the Capitol Hill Fools such as FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which may threaten your ability to safeguard your money by offshore investments. The implementation costs upon mid-sized foreign banks is prohibitively costly and could easily result in the unforeseen consequence of those same banks shunning deposits of American citizens. <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/financial-regulatory-forum/2012/01/26/foreign-account-tax-compliance-act-threatens-investment-in-the-u-s/">http://blogs.reuters.com/financial-regulatory-forum/2012/01/26/foreign-account-tax-compliance-act-threatens-investment-in-the-u-s/</a><br /><br />I have also become aware of the far-reaching, although unintentional, potentially calamitous repercussions of the two internet restrictive mandates SOPA and PIPA, as well as the draconian strictures passed into law on 12/31/2012. Seems like we won't have to wait for 12/21/2012, the termination date of the Mayan calendar, to usher in the prophesied end of the world. Obama beat Quetzacoatl to the punch by signing the NDAA. It is now written in stone, and its circumlocution mimics the shape of that archaic Doomsday petroglyph.<br /><br />Prior to its inception, supporter Sen. Lindsey Gramm (Rep-S.C.) spoke out stating that under the 'worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial' provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, the legislation will "basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield." <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/confused-about-ndaa-and-detention-provision">http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/confused-about-ndaa-and-detention-provision</a> Despite claims to the contrary, such legalese is open to misinterpretation, and thus subject to abuse. Should you have the misfortune to be deemed a "belligerent of the state" heaven help you, because the law won't.<br /><br />Since it's signing, Ron Paul has been vociferous in his advocacy that the Act, and any subsequent declaration of martial law, directly imperil our civil liberties. Alas, the media blackout shrowded upon Paul serves to suffocate his message or twist his words, taking them out of context, in an effort to demonize his oratory. Thus, what attention he does draw from the Left is, accordingly, often knee-jerk backlash to disingenuous liberal media coverage, fomented by inaccurate interpretations of his own campaign statements, lumping him scornfully with maliciously characterized Tea Party "extremists."<br /><br />Does your near future hold the portent of Department of Homeland Security officials pulling up to your curb, spilling their own version of jackbooted thugs from three black Chevy Suburbans, and manhandling you or your loved ones into the dark interior to whisk you away to indefinite detention? Merely because your browsing of websites or search fields contained catch phrases or watch words classified as being seditionist in nature, and being monitored by the elite Cyber Command Force?<br /><br />Not everything you see in Hollywood movies is fictional. Most scripts are, at least partially, based upon facts. Whether or not Enemy of the State, or Eagle Eye, are unequivocally accurate in their depiction of the extent to which all of our communications are subject to scrutiny, programs similar to those portrayed currently record and monitor all communications inside the United States; their purported intent being to stop terrorist events in an incipient stage. Will <strong><em>they</em></strong> soon be interrogating high school students researching a paper on taboo subjects?<br /><br />How long will you even be able to browse online? The Internet remains the last bastion of the autodidact, those self taught individuals who rebel at the thought of dining upon the pablum served up by the so-called news entities in this country. How long will we be able to visit domains deemed dubious by TPTB who wish to restrict free-thinking? Those sites that might be subject to blackouts for containing content that would promote civil disobedience in protest of increasingly draconian measures? SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, contains provisions that are far-reaching in their potential for abuse.<br /><br />Laurence Tribe, a high-profile Harvard law professor and author of a treatise titled American Constitutional Law, has argued that SOPA is unconstitutional because, if enacted, "an entire Web site containing tens of thousands of pages could be targeted if only a single page were accused of infringement." <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/">http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/</a> Youtube, Google, Facebook and countless other online sites could be ultimately affected.<br /><br />How long will it be before Amazon.com is forbidden to advertise reference works on certain Muslim subcultures? Or banned for failure to comply? As detractors of The Patriot Act would all too willingly emphasize, "it all starts innocently enough, for ostensibly noble purposes" but, all too often, sinister consequences swiftly ensue. Certainly, I am using hyperbole for effect, but these leaps of the imagination aren't really that hard to envision, are they? They are the logical steps in the calculus now being employed, and the answers they are capable of deriving are not to my liking, nor should they be to yours.<br /><br />The reality is I woke up from my siesta and realized that my afternoon dream was a nightmare. In a world where the regulations are already in place that could manifest such loss of liberties, it is only a matter of time until they are enforced. My fear is that too many Americans will continue their endless daydreams, their senses dulled into semi-narcotized comatose state, and they will only awaken from their en masse somnambulism too late to recognize that 1984's author George Orwell was right about Big Brother, he was just two decades too early.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-20444400104797965362012-01-31T13:44:00.001-08:002012-04-02T23:30:53.332-07:00Capitalizing On Silver's Mood Swings, Part 2Let's face it folks. Silver is manic-depressive. Or at least her admirers are. Most of the time, it you are one of her followers, you're likely to be either as euphoric as Steven Tyler high on blow, after an all-nighter with a bevy or curvaceous groupies, or as depressed as the hapless nitwit that realizes he called in sick the day the office pool won the Powerball Jackpot of $325,000,000. Not much time is spent by silver in a calm sideways-trending consolidative state.<br /><br />Silver is well noted, even feared, for her extrememe volatility. Last September 12, 2011, Jeffrey Nichols of BullionBullsCanada.com wrote a piece regarding how some of the bullion banks are making the situation even worse. The piece was entitled The New Bankster Weapon Against Gold and Silver. Here's the mysterious part. I can't seem to find it any longer, in order to link it, both to accredit the author and allow his lengthier piece to do greater justice than my summation.<br /><br />If I recall correctly, it's Jeff's contention that "da boyz," namely bullion bank JPMorgan, but also HSBC, long accused of market manipulation resulting in price suppression, are finding that they can no longer effectively control the price of silver. So what they are doing instead is exacerbating the volatility of silver to an even greater extent than is normally extant. They hope, thusly, to stifle further interest in this asset class, by unsettling that segment of investors that crave stability.<br /><br />This will, naturally, scare a lot of "weak hands" away from trading silver futures. When they can't rely on technical analysis to make informed decisions (because the chart patterns featuring all the data are manipulated to destroy any dependence on that tool) then is it any surprise those speculators will abandon the field for a more stable trade? When you're playing the markets, you want to be able to sleep at night, and not develop ulcers. Silver makes it hard to avoid doing just that.<br /><br />But what if there were a way to make that very volatility work to your advantage? I've already delineated the strategy in other articles, specifically Triple Dip, Double Run. But I do want to revisit the concept and illustrate a few examples. My system employs using leveraged ETF's to accentuate any big moves made by silver, in either direction. At first I was selling double-leveraged AGQ on days when silver was significantly down, and picking up triple-leveraged ESLV.<br /><br />Then I decided to try selling mining equities to buy ESLV, selling a few days later (this is inside a self-directed 401k that requires three days for settlement of trades) into a subsequent rally and repurchasing considerably more shares of each miner than with which I had begun. The point I want to make is this. You don't have to wait for silver to plummet to benefit from this scheme. You only need to establish a downward trend. For this I use a minute-by-minute silver price feed downstreamed from Netdania.<br /><br />Once identified it's time to determine the percentage losses of mining equities versus ESLV, with the goal of arbitraging the difference. What do I mean by this? Today silver was down about fifty cents after a good performance the previous day. I felt had there been a strong pullback, it would have been an opportune time for me to place a few new trades. Silver did not retrace as deeply as I was hoping for, but I did notice a disparity between percentages lost and decided to place some trades anyway.<br /><br />Specifically I noticed that, at the same time USLV was down nearly four percent, Alexco Resources was down less than one percent. The same pattern repeated with Silver Wheaton and Hecla, as well as Silvercorp. USLV had fallen sharply by comparison, dropping some three percentage points greater than the aforementioned stocks. So I bought more shares of USLV with the proceeds of sales of some my shares of those miners. That disparity ought to provide a head start.<br /><br />My thinking is that silver's notorious volatility will now work to my favor, as USLV, purchased at a putative low, will likely outperform the comparatively staid miners <a href="http://zealllc.com/2011/sslag.htm">http://zealllc.com/2011/sslag.htm</a> to the upside as it ascends, courtesy of a triple-boosted jet pack. Like Elton John, singing Bernie Taupin lyrics in his classic, I'm counting on this strategy to lift my portfolio to the moon, as some like to say about silver's prospects. "Rocket man, burning up his fuse up here alone."<br /><br />Selling USLV, in a few days, after what I anticipate will be another of it's notable "dollar up" days, should enable me to enjoy roughly a fifteen percent gain and, hopefully, repurchase shares in the miners that I sold. If they happen to sport only modest gains in the interim, as has often been true of their past performance then, within that scenario, I emerge the winner with more shares than which I started. The equities frequently lag the price, in moves in either direction.<br /><br />I seem to be doing okay so far, up 52% this first month. Maybe it's a fluke, but I think I could be onto something. Feel free to chime in with your comments. The only downside I see is that, at times, I may need to remain parked in USLV, which is better-suited to short term use. I am not a chartist, and I don't know diddly, Joe, about interpreting formations. Cup and handle? Flags? The terminology is nothing but jargon to me, but then is my understanding them an absolute requisite to making profitable trades?<br /><br />What I can tell you is this. I am convicted that we are swiftly depleting our above ground silver. Manipulaton will cease to work when this happens. Price can only move upwards when that occurs. So I shouldn't need to watch Bollinger Bands. Do I really need to forecast a trend, based on a Head and Shoulders formation? The only thing that brings to my mind is shampoo. And that encapsulates the beauty of this trade. To prove successful, simply keep doing it. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Wash, rinse, and repeat.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-74441733498070746562012-01-30T11:20:00.000-08:002012-01-31T15:16:45.957-08:00Capitalizing on Silver's Mood Swings, Part 1"You're an idiot!"<br />"Well, you're a moron!"<br />"Who you calling moron, you imbecile?"<br /><br />Is this dialogue from a Three Stooges episode? Or could it be a heated exchange you might overhear on almost any playground in America, during recess due to a game gone awry? Precisely because of the popularization and public adoption of such terms, they, as well as cretin, ignoramus, and retard, have mostly been curtailed as descriptors. Family caretakers of mentally-disabled members tend to find them denigrating.<br /><br />In film epics, though, Hollywood has been known to take license with these finer details. 1975's Academy Award winner One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest, is a case in point. Starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, this poignant drama provides some insight as to the stress involved in an "insane asylum." I can understand, in that environment, how frustrating the work could be. With compassion exhausted, one might lash out, making a comment they'd later regret.<br /><br />So perhaps the screenwriters weren't too far off the mark in perpetuating the use of epithets like retard and mental defectives, hurled by a harried and overworked staff. Although most people nowadays don't hesitate to use synonyms such as crazy, mad, insane, or lunatic in conversation, it might be deemed more politic, within the mental health care field to exercise a bit more restraint to avert their usage.<br /><br />The DSM-IV is a must-have resource that diagnosticians, from therapists, to counselors, psychologists and pyschiatrists, rely on for making a prognosis of patients troubled by mental issues. It is no longer politically correct to use early Twentieth Century terminology to label patients. Now deemed derogatory, professionals no longer assign labels such as idiot, imbecile, or moron, even though these were once all perfectly acceptable IQ category designations. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moron_(psychology">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moron_(psychology</a>)<br /><br />While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, does rely on designations to classify disorders, the terms seem benign in comparison. I doubt any school yard bullies are going to be taunting smaller kids with such tirades as "Oh, shut yer face, you borderline personality little freak. Stop with the histrionics already." Or, to the friend staring into a mirror attempting to perfect her make-up, "Geez, Ginger... stop already. Someone might think you have Narcissistic Personality Disorder!"<br /><br />Now let's peek into the office of Dr. Gold. Maude, the receptionist, has been busy, answering the insistent ring of the phone, scheduling appointments, and greeting patients. She just signed in a young lady who appeared quite anxious. Maude gives her a clipboard and asks her to take a seat as she fills out some billing forms. Hearing her name over the intercom, Maude picks up the phone and listens a moment.<br /><br />"Miss Silver, Doctor will see you now." Silver enters the door held open by Maude, and is guided down a hallway and shown into a spacious, sumptuously-furnished office. "Make yourself comfortable, Doctor will be right with you." As she waits, she glances nervously about the room. The mahogany panelled walls are adorned with numerous awards, certificates, and diplomas.<br /><br />There are pictures as well, presumably of Dr. Gold. There's one of him, lining up a putt on the green, playing with a foursome of athletes in a celebrity golf tournament. There's another of him sitting on a couch, talking with Oprah Winfrey. A third shows him shaking the hand of President Obama. Some prankster has attached a yellow post it note to the frame, on which is printed in block letters, Sociopathic Omniscience Syndrome, incurable.<br /><br />"Miss Silver," intones the doctor with sepulchral gravitas, "we're going to ask that you take a simple test, the MMPI, that will measure your responses to some questions. "Why? she asks, "I feel fine." The doctor, maintaining eye contact, responds, "Well, Miss Silver, it's been reported to me by colleagues that you have trouble sleeping, at times you're severely depressed, yet at other times given to emotional outbursts. Frankly, you're confounding your family."<br /><br />"By completing this Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, it might help us make a preliminary finding of your condition. I can venture a guess at the results, but I want to confirm my diagnosis." Ninety minutes pass, and then finally Miss Silver is finished. She hands the completed test to the doctor. He glances at it briefly, opens a folder and compares it to an answer sheet, and enters the results into his laptop.<br /><br />After a moment he looks up. He jots some final notes in a manila binder and responds "Well, Miss Silver, it's as I feared. It appears you have a severe case of Bipolar Disorder, with complications." Miss Silver appears stricken, with a deer-in-the-headlights look of panic. "What does that mean?" she wails. Leaning back in his plush leather chair, the doctor replies, "You're a manic-depressive, young lady. Simply put, you're given to extreme mood swings, and that can have grave consequences.<br /><br />"I hate to put it so bluntly," he continues, "but it seems that you need to hear the truth." Continuing, he leans forward, as if confiding a secret, and explains "I can prescribe some Lithium, which should have a steadying effect. That way your mood won't oscillate as much between highs and lows. Frankly, though, I think you should warn your family so that they know what to expect and can try to be supportive." Part two follows.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-24326931421684140442012-01-29T04:56:00.000-08:002012-01-30T22:03:59.529-08:00Sino Silver SabotageChina has long been accorded the status of a combatant in ongoing conflicts. At least so states Jim Rickards, who recently penned the excellently received tome Currency Wars. His book details the global back-room machinations of various Central Banks, as they exert their cumulative insidious influence upon their respective currencies in what has been deemed a worldwide race to depreciate all fiat currency. Whether or not that is part of a hidden agenda by TPTB, leading us towards a NWO, and steered by a shadowy cabal of uber rich who meet at the Bilderburg, is not the intent of this piece.<br /><br />What I wish to consider is this. Our government, and our Defense Department, constantly confer within the Pentagon and other think tank locations, to game scenarios that might foresee ramifications of moves and countermoves placed into play in response to various gambits launched by "the other side." In a milieu, where the designation of the origin of nefarious acts that might imperil our United States borders constantly changes, the play remains the same, but the cast is constantly auditioning for new roles. When one antagonist falls ill, another swiftly takes his place. Witness North Korea. Pun intended.<br /><br />We have enough problems with the likes of South America's capos Hugo Chavez, and Evo Morales, nationalizing oil and threatening mining interests within the borders of Venezuela and Bolivia. Any Arab state, as Libya and Iraq can attest to, that threatens to trade oil for gold, or in fiat currencies that would bypass the dollar, will swiftly find itself under attack and it's leaders replaced. All under the guise of offering stability and an opportunity for democracy.<br /><br />There remain larger adversaries. Iran comes to mind. Ahmanidinejad appears, at times, a megalomaniac who is equally intent upon advancing Iran's purported nuclear enrichment program, wiping out the Jewish state, or threatening the oil supply by blocking the Straits of Hormuz. Since a large frontal assault might eventuate in the onset of WWIII, perhaps their leadership and command structure lend themselves as targets for covert forces and surgical strikes, like excising a particularly nasty tumor. Anyone know how to reach Mossad and Sayaret 13 to contract some wet work?<br /><br />Another thorn in our side is Russia's Valeri Putin and his constant recommendations to replace the dollar with a basket of alternative currencies <a href="http://azizonomics.com/2012/01/27/the-shape-of-eurasia/">http://azizonomics.com/2012/01/27/the-shape-of-eurasia/</a> and the threat that poses for replacement of our fiat issue as the reserve currency of the world. Hyperinflationary repercussions would be felt at home as all of the suddenly useless American currency was repatriated. Our standard of living would plummet faster than the libido of a Viagra proponent who waited too long to take advantage of his uplifted spirit.<br /><br />We are already at war, and have been for years. The opening salvos were launched stealthily, not at our borders, but at our hoarders. Someday this might be referred to as The War of the Precious Metals. China, unbeknownst to most, long ago launched Weapons of Math Destruction at our financial realm, aiming to sabotage our financial world. Coursing towards American borders are not nuclear submarines armed with cruise missiles, but massive subterfuge, whose deck flaunts weaponry intended to hurl deadly projectiles. Counterfeit silver, to be specific.<br /><br />Who really knows how long China has been exporting fake silver bullion to the world? Did it begin as long ago as the Hunt Brothers induced silver spike of the late Seventy's/early Eighty's?<br />In any event, such an answer would be academic, but what is not moot is the acknowledgement that such fake bullion has flooded our shores. This cresting wave threatens to undermine the efforts of Americans who strive to take protective measures against dollar depreciation and the subsequent loss of purchasing power by amassing small caches of safe haven metals, silver and gold.<br /><br />Although it has been discovered that fakes have been produced, again most likely originating in China, of Canadian Silver Maple Leafs, as well as American Silver Eagles, I wish today to address another niche of the silver bullion spectrum. No, not the fraction of cirulating Sunshine Mint rounds that have proven to be counterfeits, but the existence of faux Engelhard Silver Prospector one troy ounce rounds. The extent of this problem may be far more widespread than anyone realizes.<br /><br />What could a foreign power such as China hope to gain by such a ploy? Well, for one, cheaper silver as these counterfeit bullion rounds and bars directly channel investment demand away from the fast diminishing supply of above ground silver stores, lowering the price as they do so by blunting demand. Meanwhile, they can nationalize the silver mined within the borders of their own country, prohibiting exportation while simultaneously increasing the tonnage of silver imports. The accuracy of the numbers reported by Chinese trade officials is debatable.<br /><br />To funnel investment monies to such a desired effect would require pervasive, widespread fakery to an almost unimaginable extent. But who can reliably refute that condition doesn't already exist? Videos making a viral impact via youtube explain what to look for in order to verify suspect rounds. If they are correct, the visual clues useful for tentative preliminary identification of fakes may be present on as many as 76% of the listings available for purchase on auction site ebay. I've already discussed Type 2 Engelhard silver rounds in Ebay Prospects Poor For Silver.<br /><br />If those alleging that the features of the Type 2 round are consistent <strong><em>only</em></strong> with fakes, then it is already too late to address the problem. The challenge then would become identifying which few Engelhard rounds <strong><em>were</em></strong> genuine. And see, that's a point that kind of sticks in my craw. Of all the reading that I've been doing since this issue was brought to my attention, every source quoted that Prospectors are prized as collectibles due to their scarcity. Do they seem scarce to you? My guess is that some Chinese criminal enterprize recognized an opportunity and took advantage of it. And, unfortunately, of us.<br /><br />If what I've documented is true, the problem of Engelhard fakes is widespread and burgeoning. It is not a disaster which remains fixed in scope, but instead represents a pernicious danger to the financial well-being of anyone attempting to amass silver bullion as a hedge to economic Armageddon. The problem, despite acknowledgement of its existence, is not one that can be vanquished like the bite of a lethal viper with simple application of an anti-venom, but rather more akin to falling prey to a many-headed hydra with the power to petrify.<br /><br />How many silver savers would continue to do so, should they discover that a significant portion of their accumulation turned out to be worthless? I imagine I could be exaggerating the extent of the problem, for how many Prospector collectors can there be, anyway? But more will develop in time, if the problem persists. Dilution of the pool of authentic Prospectors will only accelerate as more and more fakes inundate the market. <a href="http://www.ecrater.com/p/13740578/englehard-american-prospector-silver-clad">http://www.ecrater.com/p/13740578/englehard-american-prospector-silver-clad</a> Guys like this perpetuate the problem!<br /><br />So what might be a pervasive problem today, if accurately assessed at 76%, will only become exacerbated as more and more fakes cascade into the markets to the point of ubiquity. You can rest assured that such toxic residue is poisoning the purity of our precious metals streams in a torrent, not a trickle.<br /><br />Even the rounds available on the secondary market, from ostensibly secure online precious metals sites such as APMEX, are subject to the same hazards faced by others. The fakes are getting so good, they're fooling the experts! If I am not deceived by my failing vision, the picture below and the text that follows, from the APMEX site, pictures the "fake" Type 2 Prospector.<br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.apmex.com/Resources/Catalog%20Images/Products/9712_slab.jpg" border="0" />"Guaranteed .999-fine, these 1 oz rounds will be Engelhard only. Due to the extreme popularity of these rounds, when we come across an offering, we will set them aside so you can buy exactly this brand. <strong><em>With these rounds no longer being minted, they are difficult to locate in quantity</em></strong>. When we do have them, they typically sell out quickly. Don't wait too long as they may not be here next time you return!" <a href="http://www.apmex.com/Product/9712/1_oz_Engelhard_Prospector_Silver_Round_999_Fine.aspx">http://www.apmex.com/Product/9712/1_oz_Engelhard_Prospector_Silver_Round_999_Fine.aspx</a><br /><br /><br /><p>Provident Metals offers an image of the Type One Prospector, and upon close inspection the diffences are easy to see. <img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.providentmetals.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/300x/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/b/b/bbps-00174-obv_1.jpg" border="0" /><a href="http://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-999-fine-silver-round-engelhard-prospector.html">http://www.providentmetals.com/1-oz-999-fine-silver-round-engelhard-prospector.html</a> Note greater detail in water left of miner's pan. </p><br /><br /><p>When industry giants, whose expert status is nonpareil, can be gulled into listing Type 2 Prospectors that may prove to be counterfeits, can any source be trusted? Must the Engelhard Silver Prospector be relegated to the status of "yeah, it's a nice looking round, but I wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot pole, it's probably fake." I hope not, but the more that I delve into this cesspool, it seems the cistern has already been fatally contaminated. There's a turd in the silver pool, and it appears to be Chinese.<br /><br /><br />Buy Real Silver. Buy Real Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.</p>beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-4464449080339128042012-01-28T20:48:00.000-08:002012-01-28T22:29:14.188-08:00Ebay Prospects Poor For SilverAre you relying upon ebay as a source of small lots of silver, that you hope to win at a small premium to melt, or perhaps even below? I suspect that's the intent of several posters at two different precious metals forums I am a member of, realcent.org and bullionstacker.com. Not so much the members of the latter group, as they tend to buy, sell, and trade amongst each other, or participate in "group buys" so as to qualify for the minimum purchase requirements from online precious metals dealers, or private mints, that would otherwise present a formidable barrier to the small budget collector.<br /><br />But members at realcent frequently brag of their "finds" on ebay, recounting how they were able to place a winning bid at such and such a percentage below melt, or combine any number of discounting mechanisms to realize a substantially reduced final cost. This rodomontage, more often than not, is boasting regarding silver rounds, in small lots. The American Silver Eagle is one of the most widely produced one troy ounce silver rounds, more ubiquitous than even its darling sister to the North, the Canadian Maple Leaf, and more often than not the threads are about one of these two coins.<br /><br />But occasionally someone will post about a seemingly great deal they just scored on a silver round that is a bit more arcane in nature, the Engelhard Silver Prospector. Popular following the previous Hunt Brothers induced silver run-up, these rounds, produced by Engelhard from 1982 until 1987, are sought after collectibles, due to their scarcity and thus difficulty of acquisition. Did I say scarcity? Aren't there 219 individual listings on ebay right now, if you search for Engelhard Silver Prospector by each individual year of issue? And even more if you search with less stringent fields?<br /><br />Did I previously mention a <strong><em>seemingly</em></strong> great deal? What you are buying on ebay might be a great deal, but for the seller, and not so the buyer. I'm not too sure about this Albert, and correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't silver-plated brass be a lot cheaper than silver, per troy ounce? Chances are good, no... make that very very bad, that the great deal on the Prospector you just won is only a piece of brass or copper with a 100 mill coating of silver, that looks alot like an authentic round. So much so, that it has fooled most of the people buying and selling on ebay.<br /><br />If I'm right, and here I'm depending on the corroborative evidence describing these fake Prospectors, then the counterfeits appear to have less detail on them, suggesting that they were made from a mold. <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/Beware_of_fake_silver_bullion">http://www.infobarrel.com/Beware_of_fake_silver_bullion</a> The ripples in the water are less defined, there are fewer wrinkles in the upper right arm of the prospector, and fewer creases in the leg of his upright leather boot. One detail, which is telling in its absence, is the presence of four or five tiny horizontal ripples that descend in vertical fashion, and measure less than one millimeter, to the left of the miner's pan. According to the links posted, this detail is missing on the fakes.<br /><br />So, bearing these parameters in mind, I set about to determine how many listings on ebay might be vending counterfeit Prospectors. It would be unfair to characterize these sellers as con men, as they very well might not realize they are selling suspect coins. Some of the biggest power sellers on ebay, some with positive feedback in excess of 15,000, are among the "guilty" parties. Rather than alleging that they are selling fakes, let us proceed to christen the "authentic" Prospector as Type 1, and the round with less details, described as fake by others, as Type 2.<br /><br />After examination of all the images that were clear enough to differentiate Type 1 from Type 2, I was able to establish an incredibly high percentage of potential fakes being sold online. If this is true, than the Chinese criminal enterprises that are alleged to be fabricating these counterfeits have flooded the markets with them. Of the 219 listings I scrutinized, 167 are Type 2. If this is true, and this means of identification is valid to detect faux silver, then it means that greater than 76% of the Prospectors listed on ebay are fakes! You have less than a one in four chance of finding silver, if you're panning the Engelhard River on ebay!<br /><br />I originally began to look into this after being alerted that fake 1984 Prospectors have been found. Videos on youtube depict individuals grinding down the silvery exterior layer on some of these suspect coins, only to find a core of brass-colored metal. But if what this reviewer found to be key to identifying the fakes (Type 2) is true <a href="http://reviews.ebay.com/Beware-of-Fake-Engelhard-Silver-Rounds-1?ugid=10000000100176930">http://reviews.ebay.com/Beware-of-Fake-Engelhard-Silver-Rounds-1?ugid=10000000100176930</a> then one can no longer trust the secondary market as a source for investment grade silver, if they be Prospectors.<br /><br />Are the 1984 issues the only ones whose provenance is controversial? No. I looked at 105 listings for 1982, only four of them were authentic (Type 1). Of the 1983 listings, there was only one, and it was Type 2, even though it is wrapped in factory sealed plastic. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-Sealed-Eng%20...%203a6fb26a8b">http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-Sealed-Eng ... 3a6fb26a8b</a> Of the 1984 listings, there were only three Type 1 out of 37 listings. The 1985 listings revealed 35 Type 1, and 22 Type 2. 1986 showed twelve listings with the findings evenly divided, six each.<br /><br />1987, the last year the silver Prospector was released by Engelhard, there were three Type 1, and four "fakes" Type 2. One of the Type 2's is in this cardboard-enclosed set disseminated by Whitman Coin Products.. Was their company duped as well, by fakes that were present even then, back in 1987? <a class="postlink" href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-RED-BOOK-M%20...%205ae10270cb">http://www.ebay.com/itm/1987-RED-BOOK-M ... 5ae10270cb</a> Or, is there more to this story? Is it possible that there <strong><em>are</em></strong> two types of coin, both authentic?<br /><br />I suspect this speculation might be true, that both types <strong><em>can be</em></strong> authentic, and that the cause of the blurred features on the Type 2 could possibly be due to tired dies late in production. I decided to conduct some experiments. I attempted to test the specific gravity of both types, following instructions on a youtube video, and my results were inconclusive. On the two coins I tested the result for both was 10.4667, pure silver should be 10.5. But this test was conducted on one of each type. Of the 21 coins that I personally had at hand all were nearly identical in wt at 31.1, or 31.2 grams. One weighed 31.3.<br /><br />I conducted a ring test on these coins. Some of them, when balanced upon a fingertip and struck with another coin, produced a rich resonant timbre that endured more than a few seconds. Others produced only a short plink. Again, both types produced contradictory evidence. I don't wish to conduct destructive tests to reveal the interior of the rounds, nor do I wish to drip nitric acid upon them to see if a color change would indicate their purity. But tomorrow, I think I'll go pick up a rare earths magnet and conduct that test.<br /><br />There's much more to this story than first meets the eye, and if indeed the Chinese counterfeits pervade our supply to the degree suggested by the physical description of the Type 2 round, then we are all in deep feces. How many dollars have been lost to the supply and demand equation, that would otherwise have lifted silver prices higher if demand wasn't being funneled away and being satisfied by fakes? How many small scale buyers, once discovering they were duped, will remain in the silver pits of ebay mining for more ore?<br /><br />For now, until substantive examination can provide more concrete evidence, one would do well to exercise caution. Buy a different round for now, until these charges are proven invalid. Purchase directly from known, trusted online precious metals dealers. There are many reputable ones, just a few of which are APMEX, Tulving, Provident Metals, and Gainesville Coins. Make sure they offer a money-back guarantee. Follow these simple guidelines and you should be safe. For if you don't, sooner or later a true piece of junk silver will wind up in your hoard, and you will be hard pressed to get your money back. I guarantee it.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-9233815707437248512012-01-28T09:51:00.000-08:002012-01-28T11:39:01.253-08:00The Bearer of Bad NewsRecently, on BullionStacker.com, where I frequently buy, sell, and trade silver and gold with other members, it was brought to my attention that an item that I had sold might have been a counterfeit. <a href="http://reviews.ebay.com/Beware-of-Fake-Engelhard-Silver-Rounds-1?ugid=10000000100176930">http://reviews.ebay.com/Beware-of-Fake-Engelhard-Silver-Rounds-1?ugid=10000000100176930</a> I don't remember where I obtained these coins, but I deal through what I view as reputable sources. I have bought similar coins from several other members, as well as for years upon ebay, so in essence, establishing provenance is impossible. I offered a refund or an exchange, and the issue is still in discussion.<br /><br />Several points arise from this. It is contingent upon you as the seller, to demonstrate integrity and offer compensation to the buyer <strong><em>if</em></strong> your reputation is important to you. I know, in my instance, I plan to continue as a member for years on the various internet venues I haunt, and I am not willing to tarnish my image and be known as a scam artist, merely for a few hundred dollars. Send back those twelve 1984 Engelhard Prospectors, I'd rather eat their cost then reap my just dessert if I didn't.<br /><br />One issue that raises it's ugly head from this fiasco is this. Do I trust my buyer? How do I know he didn't get duped by someone else he has no recourse for recovery from, and is now telling me that the rounds were provided by me and me alone? On ebay, I could definitely see that being an issue, as a buyer might purchase a roll unsuspecting of their authenticity, and upon receipt merely open the lid and admire the top round without further disturbance, to avoid leaving fingerprints.<br /><br />Months, or even years later, one's suspicion might become aroused when a flurry of news items regarding Chinese counterfeits hit the bullion stacking universe. You go to examine your hoard, thinking smugly "well, I know mine are all good." You weigh them, expecting the industry standard of 31.1 grams, or at worst a variance of no more than plus 0.1 gram in excess. To your horror, you realize that most if not all of your Prospectors weigh 30.9 grams or less, which could well be a tip-off they're fakes. <a href="http://www.infobarrel.com/Beware_of_fake_silver_bullion">http://www.infobarrel.com/Beware_of_fake_silver_bullion</a><br /><br />How could this happen? Well, the counterfeits are getting that good! They're fooling dealers who don't test their silver content, or check their weight, because visually, they're nearly indistinguishable from the Real McCoy. Sure, you feel a sense of chagrin that you were duped, but even the so-called experts fall victim to the same scam, so find solace in that, if you can. But then, what does a defrauded buyer do? If he can't pinpoint who he bought them from, then will any scapegoat do? How could someone prove that you were the one who sold them the rounds?<br /><br />I can foresee this becoming a problem on bidding venues like ebay. There are unscrupulous people in the world, and should someone find themselves holding the short end of the stick, how hard would it be for them to purchase a like article on ebay, then upon receipt return the counterfeits and demand a refund? As fakes become more ubiquitous, you can be sure this will occur. The seller, to maintain their feedback intact, will accept the return of the fakes and refund the money involved, never knowing, with certainty, if he is himself a subsequent victim of duplicity.<br /><br />Thankfully, in this case, I have no doubt that the rounds were once mine, although I am unable myself to determine where in turn I got them from. In this instance, the buyer and I have conducted numerous transactions in good faith, and I had not the slightest inclination to doubt him when he expressed his doubts to me. Sure, I was dismayed, but there is no way a seller, wishing to maintain their integrity, can in any way challenge an honorable buyer in this situation. A resolution is in the works, one that we both consider satisfactory.<br /><br />This situation raises ethical and philosophical issues. Two more points, then I will let the matter rest. You know what's ironic? These fake silver rounds are no different than Federal Reserve Notes. Backed, as they are, by no more than "the full faith and credit" of the United States Government, they circulate freely and have value. As long as you think they have worth, they do! It's only when you become disillusioned, that the individual (or the public) will scramble to abandon them.<br /><br />Fakes are, beyond doubt, circulating widely without the knowledge of the public, and thus for all intents and purposes have the same value as real silver, until one is tested and determined to be counterfeit. And the same holds true with the value of our currency. It is being tested now, and found lacking in purity. Were it a coin, such debasement would be apparent to all, as since the founding of The Federal Reserve in 1913, our dollars have lost nearly 98% of their purchasing power.<br /><br />If you want to enjoy a teaching opportunity with your children, search images for advertising circulars from the Twentie's and Thirtie's. You'll find hundreds of pictures of early century posters and placards, newsprint and magazine spreads that will tout the products of the day. Aside from laughing at the artwork, you can point out how inexpensive items once were. The kids will giggle and scoff, although I seriously doubt, after due consideration, that you'll feel the same. What The Fed has wrought is really no laughing matter, rather one more suited to induce nausea.<br /><br />Finally, does the emergence of widespread counterfeiting offer an opportunity to some enterprising individual? Each of us is susceptible to being deceived by an authentic looking imposter. Why doesn't someone come up with a wallet-sized Identikit that could hold a gram scale and known fakes of such items as Kooks and Pandas, Koalas and Maple Leafs, Prospector's and American Silver Eagles? It would not even need to contain the actual fakes, but merely high quality images of them, side by side with real rounds, pointing out tell-tale signs of fraudulence.<br /><br />I, for one, would endorse adoption of the use of such a tool, and would consider myself fortunate were I able to obtain one. The Fisch tool set <a href="http://www.fisch.co.za/home.htm">http://www.fisch.co.za/home.htm</a> renders detecting counterfeit gold coins more simple, we need someone with industry to step forward with an idea such as mine, or its derivative, so that the plethora of fakes that are circulating as silver bullion can be detected and destroyed, their fabricators identified and prosecuted for criminal acts. Too bad we couldn't as easily find someone more qualified to pilot our national helicopter, Ben.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-49945604021509109232012-01-26T08:08:00.000-08:002012-01-26T20:02:21.175-08:00Ten Silver Coins Priceless in the Eyes of AficionadosThis morning I was reading a thread on BullionStacker entitled "Interesting Article." There, forum member mtforpar had posted a link to what I presumed was a submission by Adam Doolittle, published in Silver Monthly. That piece, entitled The Ten Worst Silver Coins For Investment, apparently raised the hackles of the BS pack, as mtforpar stated "I stumbled across this article tonight. I love it because I am making money by doing the exact opposite of the articles advice." I replied, taking the stance of devil's advocate, and some interesting points were raised.<br /><br />Doolittle's offering, upon investigation, represents more than an author submitting an article to a online website that publishes it within an e-zine. It turns out Adam Doolittle himself is the host of Silver Monthly, which bills itself as a venue that attempts to promote intelligent investing in precious metals by connecting reader's with great writers. Their mission statement in part, states "intelligently analyzing the silver market, investments, and policies influencing these topics."<br /><br />A bit of history: <a href="http://www.silvermonthly.com/about-us/">http://www.silvermonthly.com/about-us/</a> a paraphrased excerpt of which follows. In 2005, Adam Doolittle founded Silver Monthly. He felt that there were too many conspiracy theories being touted in the precious metals arena that were masquerading as professional journalism. So Silver Monthly was begun as an attempt to publish credible content regarding a variety of issues facing silver investors, such as market forces, overall economic conditions, and politics.<br /><br />Doolittle's piece The 10 Worst Silver Coins for Investment<br /><a href="http://www.silvermonthly.com/the-10-worst-silver-coins-for-investment/">http://www.silvermonthly.com/the-10-worst-silver-coins-for-investment/</a> specifies ten different silver rounds, which most are familiar with. If you are an investor new to precious metals, he suggests that purchasing high-premium bullion rounds is a strategy ill-suited to increasing your net worth as rapidly as possible. He lauds the simple tactics of paying the least amount possible for your silver. Don't pay a premium, he recommends, because you'll wind up paying a high price.<br /><br />The coins he nominates as candidates - primarily Perth Mint choices - are, ironically, among the favorites of collectors at Bullion Stacker. Historical price performance is available for high-grade Morgan Dollars. Similar comprehensive documentation for recently produced Government Mint issued bullion rounds is lacking. Anecdotal evidence as presented by purchase prices and completed sales on ebay could well prove inconclusive of trends due to the nature of the short time frame encompassed.<br /><br />Therefore, I shall intentionally limit the focus of my rebuttal to his selection of the Morgan Dollar as one of the worst coins that investors could select by which to increase their net worth with its appreciation. The Morgan Dollar is second only to the Lincoln Cent amongst American collectors in popularity. Mr. Doolittle might as well disparage the Greek Gods. He would do well to be wary of lightning bolts in his area. They may well emanate from atop Mt. Olympus, hurled by an angry Zeus.<br /><br />The Morgan dollar was designed by George T. Morgan, Assistant Chief Engraver under William Barber at that time. <a href="http://www.goldnewsletters.org/george-t-morgan/">http://www.goldnewsletters.org/george-t-morgan/</a><br />It was produced by the United States Mint from 1878 until 1904 then, following a respite, again for one final year in 1921. The coin, with its large size and intricate designs, is considered by many numismatists as one of the finest ever placed into circulation.<br /><br />Despite hundreds of millions being melted, many still exist in pristine condition, perhaps accounting for their popularity. Superior grade specimens, covering a range of years and an array of mint marks, may still be obtained at reasonable cost. Slabbed Morgan's performed reasonably well during the Hunt Brothers induced silver spike of 1979 to 1980. I've read that select key-dated coins in gem condition appreciated as much as 800%. <a href="http://www.us-coin-values-advisor.com/">http://www.us-coin-values-advisor.com/</a><br /><br />This, however, was during a period when that increase was surpassed more than three-fold by the simple increase in the value of silver bullion itself. Thus, one might consider Morgan Dollars as a means of diversification within a precious metals portfolio, as opposed to their being the centerpiece and sole component of a bullion acquisition investment strategy. As silver rises in price, there will be profits to be captured at either end of the spectrum. And, in any event, those with the means to procure high dollar high dollars are by no means destitute.<br /><br />Doolittle mentions expensive third party graded and slabbed Morgan dollars, contending that if a hefty premium is paid to purchase the coin, it may not do as well as simple bullion in a scenario of hyperinflation. He asserts "The problem with these coins as investments is that their numismatic premiums are unlikely to keep up with the rise in the price of silver. For example, if silver goes up 177% from $18 to $50, then a one-ounce numismatic collectible coin valued at $100 is likely to go up by only 32% to $132. The collectible coin will go up based on the silver it contains, but there’s no reason to think the numismatic premium will increase too."<br /><br />Though Doolittle's reasoning appears plausible, it may in fact be specious. As long as a collector base exists, there will be an increasing demand for rare, key-date coins, in superior grade condition. This will cause their prices to increase. It's inevitable. When the hammer falls during the auction of a rare date high-grade Morgan there is often a stunned silence, before the charged atmosphere erupts spontaneously into appreciative cheers. <a href="http://www.swissamerica.com/article.php?=SID&art=04-2004/200404190935mn.txt#anchor8">http://www.swissamerica.com/article.php?=SID&art=04-2004/200404190935mn.txt#anchor8</a> Of course, should "the shit hit the fan," then all bets are off.<br /><br />Mr. Doolittle, with his attack, has launched a weapon threatenening the very existence of a premium market for Morgan Dollars should too many newcomers with funds in hand, freshly induced into purchasing precious metals, take his tirade as gospel (Yahweh has spoken) and widespread adoption of His Commandment ensue. While collecting Morgan Dollars may not be the most lucrative journey one could embark upon, it represents a goal that is indeed a worthy challenge. The completion of a registry of third-party graded slabbed coins in MS65 or better condition, remains a dream few but the wealthy will realize.<br /><br />The Morgan cartwheel is held sacrosanct by its many worshippers, and in choosing to target this King of the Coins, Adam, in the eyes of the congregation, has done little more than to compare unfavorably to a hungry Neanderthal, wrapped loosely in animal furs, tracking a gigantic lumbering Wooly Mammoth across snowy wastelands, poking at it with a sharpened pole, hoping to hasten its demise. CaveDude? Bro, unless you get very lucky, you're gonna starve.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-69120499705762864642012-01-26T05:37:00.000-08:002012-01-26T06:51:12.751-08:00Opportunity Lost?This Wednesday morning, January 25th, 2012, the same day that Helicopter Ben announced that The Fed will continue their accomodative ZIRP until 2014, I was watching intently on Netdania as the silver price streamed live. I like to watch a one minute refresh, as it gives me a quick indication of market direction, alerting me to the possibility of an entry point for stock trades that I've referred to, utilizing leveraged ETF's. Silver had finished Monday at $32.20, and then fifteen cents higher the following day.<br /><br />I was hoping that, if a silver sell-off were to continue, as one might have inferred from overnight weakness, that spot would have drifted down to, say, $31.00. That would have provided enough incentive for me to book a trade, having retraced from a print above $32.50 in previous days. Failing that, I was watching the "witching hour" 10:00am EST, during which the New York trading desks frequently unleash the hounds of short selling, leading to a temporary rout in the silver market precipitating a swift plunge.<br /><br />Had that occurred, even to the tune of just a near-vertical drop of sixty or seventy cents to $31.30, I would have been convinced that the time was ripe to implement a new position, and would have liquidated shares to pick up more of the Velocity Shares triple-leveraged silver ETF, USLV, thus to initiate another trade as detailed in Triple Dip, Double Run. I watched with mixed emotions as the unfolding tape unveiled a story that defied my expectations.<br /><br />Instead of a downturn, silver took off. This was shortly after the FOMC made their announcement, and apparently traders found this further admission of accomodative policy implementation to be supportive of a weak dollar policy, and thus a favorable environment for precious metals investment. It turns out silver never hit my target, dropping only to an intraday low of $31.89 before it headed North with a vengeance. At today's bottom USLV could have been purchased at $39.68, had one's timing been perfect. More likely, one would have been fortunate to pick up shares at $39.80.<br /><br />In anticipation, I had readied one portfolio for liquidation of a few positions. I had been prepared to sell some shares of a few various silver miners. These included my holdings of Pan American Silver (250 shares), a portion of my AGQ (327 shares), as well as my stakes in Fortuna Silver Mines (308 shares), Impact Silver (914 shares), another bloc of Silver Wheaton (319 shares), and my entire position in Tahoe Resources (114 shares). Liquidating these shares would have generated $38,236. Subtracting $56 in trading expenses I could have purchased 959 new shares of USLV at the aforementioned price.<br /><br />I missed this opportunity because I asked too much of the market, and you don't always get what you want. Had I acknowledged that spot had retraced a respectable amount, and made those sales enabling that purchase, I would have shown a gain, by the end of trading that day, of almost $6,396. Silver went on to rise $1.20, and USLV demonstrated a commensurately healthy triple-leveraged return of 12.44%. But it's simplistic to just say I lost the chance to earn $6,396. We need to examine the performance of the equities I kept more closely.<br /><br />These surged nicely as well, albeit not with the strength of USLV. At 10:00am EST, had I triggered the trades, AGQ shares were $53.43. They finished the day at $59.39, a gain of 8.23%. Liquidating those shares would have obtained $17471.61 for me. Holding them instead, their value increased to $19,420.53. FSM was $6.10 per share and increased to $6.54, a gain of 6.34%. Selling those would have realized $1878.80. Holding them resulted in a gain to $2,014.32<br /><br />ISVLF shares would have netted $1.55. Instead, they rose to $1.68, a 5.12% gain. Their sale initially would have raised $1416.70. Their retention resulted in $1,535.32. PAAS shares were worth $21.18 in the morning, but by mid-afternoon they had climbed to $22.37, a gain of 2.38%. They grew in value from $5295.00 to $5592.50. SLW rose from $31.45 to $34.88, a 7.99% gain. Their value increased from $10032.55 to $11126.72. THOEF was the strongest of this handfull, rising from $18.79 per share to $21.01, a hardy gain of 11.57%. Their value rose from $2142.06 to $2395.14.<br /><br />So what is the point of all this number crunching? Isn't it all just a waste of time? "No," I contend, because sometimes a review of the numbers will elucidate previously unconsidered attributes of the trade not exercised, which can help one to evaluate the potential of possible trade executions in the future. Let's look at what the numbers have to reveal. In a previous article, A Good Parking Place, I promoted the thesis that selecting cash as a place to wait for value buys can be a poor choice.<br /><br />Some stock market gurus advise never to chase price, to let the stock come back to you, thus never to "buy at market." I would have sold those positions and had a balance of $38,236 with which to buy new shares. But had I followed the premise of never buy at market, and placed a limit buy order, say at $38.60 for 964 shares, the order never would have triggered as, for the remainder of the day, the entry point into USLV became increasingly more costly. Sitting in cash would have cost $6375.96 in opportunity lost.<br /><br />But what actually did transpire? By retaining the original shares considered for sale, their value increased to $41,991.53, a gain of $3754.81, representative of a 9.61% increase. So the opportunity lost expense was reduced to $2621.15. Reviewing these numbers and analyzing their meaning imparts a message. Triple-leveraged returns on a nice silver up day, can be very robust. I'm talking huge, Jorge!<br /><br />It's hard to argue with success. Triple Dip, Double Run has very real potential, particularly if you are alert to market movements and can employ the strategy at opportune moments. Today was not even ideal to play the strategy, and yet look at what unfolded. Imagine how much greater the returns can be on days when immense pressure is exerted upon the market to suppress prices, and serendipity allows you the good fortune to make timely trades. Why (pause for effect) you could make a good fortune!<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-27966321919473907122012-01-26T03:36:00.000-08:002012-01-26T05:14:56.311-08:00Retarding Resource DepletionRecently, in another piece entitled Ten Silver Coins Priceless in the Eyes of Aficionados, I took the side of detractors of an article published in Silver Monthly, submitted by Adam Doolittle. That submission, entitled The Ten Worst Silver Coins For Investment <a href="http://www.silvermonthly.com/the-10-worst-silver-coins-for-investment/">http://www.silvermonthly.com/the-10-worst-silver-coins-for-investment/</a> seemed to raise the defensive nature of some forum members at an internet site I am proud to claim membership to as well, BullionStacker.com.<br /><br />BullionStacker is comprised mostly of folks who are long-established in the cyberworld as advocates of investments in safe-haven metals, silver and gold, platinum and palladium, as a means of preserving their purchasing power. It is vital that one protect themselves in this fashion, as on a worldwide basis governments, each with their own rationale, race each other in depreciating their currencies, inflating the money supply with global simultaneity, firing the first shots in what Jim Rickards likes to term The Currency Wars.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the victims are often their own citizenry, particularly the middle class. This socioeconomic group suffers constant attrition, it's numbers shorn as constituents are lost to unemployment and underemployment, savings are exhausted, or pensioners discover their fixed incomes insufficient to cover ever-expanding expenses. Too often, the best formulated plans of those who have just retired, or planned to soon do so, are disrupted by poor investment choices or dismal returns within their 401K's.<br /><br />These individuals are then faced with alternatives, none of them pleasant. They can remain in the workforce, health permitting, should they enjoy the luxury of doing so at their place of employment. They can delay, sometimes interminably, their target deadline for full retirement. Or, they can attempt to return to the workplace in order to supplement their meager subsistence, perhaps as one of those cheerful blue-haired elderly greeters at Walmart who, were you able to look past their friendly mien, one might be painfully dismayed to discover their financial straits.<br /><br />But, I digress. The point I want to make today is that there is a unforeseen consequence to individuals purchasing specialty silver coins from private and government mints, such as the Royal Canadian Mint, or the Perth Mint of Australia. What qualifies a coin, in my estimation, as specialty in nature? One that is produced in limited number to increase its allure due to novelty, one that is often classified as exotic, picturing an animal indigenous only to the region of the Mint fabricating it, and one, which for marketing reasons, carries a hefty premium above the melt value of the silver content of the coin.<br /><br />I need not detail individual attributes of the coins of which Mr. Doolittle relates, as most are familiar with the perquisities of Kooks and Pandas, Koalas, Grizzlies, Wolves, and Cougars. The list could extend beyond, to encompass New Zealand Taku Turtles, Bolivian Andean Cats or Blue Macaws, as well as any number of limited item geographically related national park themed items produced by our own United States Mint. Any time there is a piece produced by a public or private mint, that carries an onerous premium to melt, there will be ramifications.<br /><br />What might those ramifications be? Why only that one could spend their money more strategically, if their intent was to benefit from an ultimate rise in the price of silver increasing the value of their previously acquired physical hoard. You see, Gomer, there is only a limited amount of money chasing a diminishing above-ground supply of silver, whether fabricated in the form of small bars or coin to stimulate investor demand, or as one thousand ounce bars of .9999 purity to service the needs of industrial users.<br /><br />What happens to the eventual resource depletion of silver, when people pay bloated premiums on one troy ounce silver rounds produced by mints? It retards the attenuation of supply. The off-take of silver from the market is slowed. This is counter-productive if one's hope is that a steady acquisition of small amounts of silver, by a burgeoning cadre of citizens that circumnavigate the globe, all coveting the lustruous noble element, will eventually deplete stocks and thereby cause a resultant price rise.<br /><br />Spending extra money on premiums slows the eventual extinction of silver, and will prove deleterious to the individual attempting to get the most for their money. Silver has been estimated, by the GFMS, to have less than a decade's supply of metal retained in the Earth's crust at present rates of extraction. Why would you not want to pay as little premium as possible to obtain the wealth-safeguarding status that silver confers upon its holders?<br /><br />It's really no different than the claims made by detractors of the various silver ETF's, such as the iShares Silver Trust SLV, or the ETFS Silver Fund SIVR. They claim that money funneled into those exchange-traded funds, which are intended to track the price performance of silver, with such emulation affording one the opportunity to realize paper profits in various venues, does nothing to promote the acceleration of price rise.<br /><br />Instead, this inflow of funds is, in reality, siphoned away, diminishing demand rather than enhancing it. There are many, Jason Hommel and Ted Butler among them, who assert that the various ETF's do not even hold the silver they purport to stockpile as backing to the shares. This money would be better spent, as Max Keiser suggests, by people withdrawing their contributions to such entities and purchasing tangible physical silver that they then take possession of.<br /><br />Some like to opine "if you don't hold it, you don't own it." If you were constrained, due to financial limitations, to purchasing only a few hundred dollars worth of silver each month, wouldn't you far prefer to obtain more ounces for your money? By amassing a store of wealth that increased considerably faster in size, measured by number of ounces, rather than an ostensible shadow worth variable denoted by collector's avarice, wherein liquidity might limit demand?<br /><br />Due to the reasons listed, I think it's indisputable. It just makes more sense to get the most for your money, particularly for those new to accumulating silver ounces. Why don't we reverse and modify that maxim? Wouldn't it be more conducive to all of our goals if everyone were to realize that "if you don't own it (high-premium silver rounds), you hold more of it?" To borrow from Ultimate Cage Fighting, I know I'd much prefer to survive the melee for three rounds, rather than get beaten by a devastating first silver round knock-out.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-9759353919368917312012-01-25T04:34:00.000-08:002012-01-26T16:22:47.192-08:00You Always Hurt The Ones You LoveCounty Limerick, in Ireland, draws no small bit of fame due to the consensus that a poetic form of jesting, the limerick, derives from there. Widely heralded as an example of bawdy rhymes, in which the first, second, and fifth line rhyme with one another, as well as the third and fourth, they are often dismissed as mere doggerel. But those who do so risk writing off a form that has its devotees, moreso in praise of the laughter evoked, rather than their sober intent and lofty musings.<br /><br />Here then, in honor of that tradition, are some that were crafted recently to bring notice upon realcent.org forum members, who, in all likelihood, would have preferred to remain outside this particular circle of limelight. With the intent of providing a laugh for those who know them best, and recording for posterity these five-line jokes, then let us now expose to pillory some of these fine folks. If perusing these mockeries stimulates mirth, why not visit realcent.org and lurk or join for more fun yet?<br /><br />Doc Chris Rodebaugh<br /><br />There once was a Doc named Rodebaugh<br />Who prized Morgans more than cole slaw<br />But the long arm of the law<br />Reached forth with its claw<br />When Chris peddled a counterfeit flaw<br /><br />There once was a Doc named Rodebaugh<br />Who preferred slabbed St. Gauden's over raw<br />But then he learned he'd been reamed<br />By a fake gold-colored coin scheme<br />Now third party grading sticks in his craw<br /><br />There once was a Doc named Rodebaugh<br />Who wielded his craft with dental saw<br />They thought they were getting a filling<br />As their gold fillings he was stealing<br />Which left quite a hole in each patient's jaw<br /><br />Once Doc found his woman with a Jamaican<br />In six feet of water covering Caribbean sand<br />It's a good thing that clown<br />Was already half-drowned<br />Or Rodie might have Aruba'd that man<br /><br /><br />Beauanderos<br /><br />There once was an old geezer named Ray<br />Who was practically giving his silver away<br />It was really feedback he was after<br />Which accounts for all the laughter<br />As members wondered what's on sale today?<br /><br /><br />Txbullion<br /><br />Txbullion's real name is Jack<br />And it's pennies that he loves to stack<br />In fact he's got so much copper<br />He may be richer than Cyndi Lauper<br />Is it any surprize he's lost track?<br /><br /><br />Corsair<br /><br />Corsair's a student some say<br />Who in Calculus just got an A<br />An accomplishment to be proud of<br />Till you learn extra credit was allowed<br />I hope he didn't do <strong><em>that</em></strong> for the grade?<br /><br /><br />Market Harmony<br /><br />Market Harmony is a fellow named Mike<br />Who enjoys it when precious metals spike<br />Women melt in his arms, too<br />Or at least their gold charms do<br />As he re-molds them into something he likes<br /><br /><br />Kidman232<br /><br />Adam Rice is a fairly nice guy<br />I'm surprized you would have to ask why<br />With a name like the kidman<br />Even Jamaicans urge "Bid, Mon!"<br />So most auctions he loses, but he tries<br /><br /><br />Thogey<br /><br />Eric (Thogey) has a business doing lawns<br />But it's not always foreign silver he pawns<br />Once he went in for some money<br />With a red package that was runny<br />The broker yelled "that's a toe! Sew it back on!"<br /><br /><br />68camaro<br /><br />68camaro is a great guy named Rich<br />Rates the markets, better than Fitch<br />On the rise of metals I'm told<br />He favors silver over gold<br />If he's wrong, well "ain't life a bitch?"<br /><br /><br />Sheikh_yer_Bu'_Tay<br /><br />Sheikh yer Bu Tay repairs roofs in the rain<br />Covering holes so that they will drain<br />It's actually quite frightening<br />He works faster than lightning<br />But when he doesn't, "Oh Lord, the pain!"<br /><br /><br />Jonflyfish<br /><br />Jonflyfish loves to explain<br />With PM's up or down how he gains<br />Silver and gold will now either<br />Hold, advance, or retreat here<br />Ain't it nice to have them kinda brains?<br /><br /><br />twentybux<br /><br />Scott was a consistent silver buyer<br />And each time it would seem to rise higher<br />Till the day that it dove as he wept<br />Taking his treasure trove to new depths<br />Proving dollar cost averaging is a lie here<br /><br /><br />ZOO<br /><br />On realcent there's a guy with a handle of Z00<br />Often reader's would question his comments with "Who?"<br />"too much time on their hands," he chided the Boards<br />But with Markets closed we can't add to our hoards<br />So let's ease up, folks, remember... he's a Noob<br /><br /><br />Country<br /><br />A Gentleman resides here named Country<br />Who Excels at accounting your hunts, free<br />For spare time he is lacking<br />After all of that tracking<br />"But for me," he explains "it is fun, see?"<br /><br /><br />Nickeless<br /><br />Chad likes to prep for the day<br />When TSHTF as they say<br />"Could you can this, Mr. Nickelless?"<br />"I'm not sure, might be ticklish"<br />"But my herring are pickled fish, Oy Vey!"<br /><br /><br />Deal<br /><br />Gun Nuts gotta love this Deal<br />No Eastern bloc rip-offs, they're real<br />If you're looking for a gun<br />His forum is the one<br />As thieves would say "it's a steal!"<br /><br /><br />rexmerdinus<br /><br />There's a guy with a name of Rexmerdinus<br />Seems it rhymes, almost, with sex murderuh's<br />Whom the cattle on the trail<br />With a question will assail<br />"Is that Tex," moo moo, "a herdin' us?"<br /><br /><br />rastatodd<br /><br />There's another fella named Rastatodd<br />Who, if he fished, could be called Castarod<br />But owning an Italian Deli would be best<br />As patrons, rubbing bellies, could then jest<br />"This is delicious, who made this pasta, God?"<br /><br /><br />uthminsta<br /><br />Aaron is uthminsta in disguise<br />Heck, you want to rhyme that, you try<br />During auctions, instead of bidding<br />He asks questions, I'm not kidding<br />Instead of bid increments he'll post "Why?"<br /><br /><br />natsb88<br /><br />Natsb88 is the one with the store<br />That sells copper bars, silver and more<br />An engineering student in school<br />He now follows the Golden Rule's<br />That should ensure business success, fer shore<br /><br /><br />slickeast<br /><br />There once was a man named Peter<br />Took a taxi to his girlfriend's to meet her<br />In her bedroom Slickeast<br />Found her infected, with yeast<br />So he proceeded to bake, rather than eat her<br /><br /><br />Newton7<br /><br />There once was a guy Newton7<br />Roamed the Forum as late as eleven<br />Posting "There is money, I think,<br />Mostly sorting Copper from Zinc,<br />It's like catching pennies from Heaven"<br /><br /><br />barrytrot<br /><br />There's an ethical member, Barrytrot<br />Who promotes Biblical precepts and thought<br />Like morals, of wrong and right<br />Beliefs, the importance of polite<br />It would be cool if Eternity was not very hot<br /><br /><br />justj2k78<br /><br />justj2k78 is jumbled up code for just Jay<br />A psych nurse who can't wait to get paid<br />This guy loves his work<br />For Kooks are his quirk<br />And for Silver Eagles he'll happily trade<br /><br /><br />NHsorter<br /><br />Jason the New Hampshire sorter<br />Dwells not far from Poverty's border<br />Constantly increasing his hoard<br />Despite what he can afford<br />"I'll pay, somehow, for silver I order"<br /><br /><br />Surething<br /><br />Joe knows a Surething when he sees one<br />The Fed's printing is nothing but treason<br />"By the time we hyperinflate<br />Fiat currency will deflate"<br />So he's buying silver now with good reason<br /><br /><br />tractorman<br /><br />Trent is a man out standing in his field<br />Producing amazing crop yields<br />He's called Tractorman<br />It's a bigger factor than<br />The horse-driven plows Amish wield<br /><br /><br />theshoenlebens<br /><br />Theshoenlebens is really named Chris<br />From frequent dealings I am positive of this<br />But it seems there's a crisis<br />He can't pay for his license<br />Though most Weekend Sale Silver he claims as his<br /><br /><br />CardsnCoins<br /><br />There's an avid roll hunter named CardsnCoins<br />Searching for silver from New York to Des Moines<br />To boxes of dimes he's addicted<br />Seems he's OCD afflicted<br />Precious Metals Anonymous he'll soon need to join.<br /><br /><br />ScottyTX<br /><br />ScottyTx is, you guessed it, named Scotty<br />Who likes to sell coins to us that he got free<br />Says he works on a rig<br />But that's not his main gig<br />"The big money is made on Craigslist below spot, see?"<br /><br /><br />JadeDragon<br /><br />JadeDragon is too hard to rhyme<br />So I'll use Cameron, instead, this one time<br />If a problem is designed<br />A solution he will find<br />And publish an E-how for inquiring minds<br /><br /><br />Silver Addict<br /><br />There's a Big Dog on this site sniffing our butts<br />Seems some show dogs prefer mixing with mutts<br />Silver Addict, you see,<br />Yearns, at times to run free<br />From BS duties, but don't worry David, you'll adjust<br /><br /><br />Highroller12345<br /><br />Highroller is Adam, he's The Man<br />To store copper till he's rich, that's the plan<br />As the prices climb higher<br />A bigger warehouse he'll acquire<br />So his supply can then satisfy the demand<br /><br /><br />oakair<br /><br />Andres goes by the name of Oakair<br />Moved because of all the old folk there<br />From Florida's sunny shores pretty<br />To Denver's Mile High City<br />Beats LA, with it's smog he'd have choked there<br /><br /><br />neilgin1<br /><br />I wonder where Neilgin is?<br />Hope he's not wasted on too many gin fizz<br />I've enjoyed in the past<br />His posts, as long as they last,<br />Could be he's fishin and reeling in his<br /><br /><br />RichardPenny43<br /><br />I don't even know this dude Richard Penny<br />But he's limericking along with the best of many<br />But anyone who likes NASCAR<br />Earns himself a gold star<br />As long I don't have to pay for that award, if any<br /><br /><br />blackrabbit<br /><br />There's a guy in CA named blackrabbit<br />Who swaps MJ to support his crack habit<br />His parents failed, you see<br />To raise him religiously<br />But they blame all of that on a slack Abbot<br /><br /><br />NDFarmer<br /><br />In the Dakota's there lives NDFarmer<br />And Ron, it seems is quite the charmer<br />Told the wife, "That copper ain't wert much<br />Just a few thousand boxes or such"<br />Because he didn't want to alarm her<br /><br /><br />Dumpster Diver<br /><br />There's a salvage man here, Dumpster Diver<br />Who's as ingenious at scrounging as McGyver<br />But with "the touch" that he's got<br />He avoids much copper that is hot<br />It's just at parties that he's the live wire, sir<br /><br /><br />Copper Catcher<br /><br />Copper Catcher holds this famed record thus far<br />For KSA Mystery Box's contents he's the star<br />Who could ever believe<br />That they would receive<br />A one hundred ounce Engelhard bar?!!!<br /><br /><br />Delaware Jack<br /><br />"If you can read this then you are in range here"<br />And it's evident to me that sign spells danger<br />So with Delaware Jack<br />You just better keep track<br />Of the difference tween live friends and dead strangers<br /><br /><br />Aristobolus<br /><br />An unorthodox cross-dressing priest; Aristobolus<br />Offered turkey dinners at Thanksgiving that cried "Gobble us"<br />He continued in this service<br />Till He actually grew nervous<br />That the spike heels he wore "might just hobble us"<br /><br /><br />Chief<br /><br />Austin wasn't really a grump, thanks<br />It's just that an undeserved bump ranks<br />So when they told Chief "no more"<br />"I'll get even," he swore<br />"I'll turn them into one of my dump banks"<br /><br /><br />CUBaker<br /><br />There was a stacker once named CU Baker<br />A fan, can you believe, of the Lakers?<br />When LA slid into the ocean<br />Due to seismic commotion<br />They then renamed the team The Quakers<br /><br /><br />PeacePeople<br /><br />Mike's from Utah, he's known as Peace People<br />And he'd rather not support their fees steep, he'll<br />Avoid sites like ebay<br />And to paypal he'll say<br />"Keep your gifts, I ain't helpin' you fleece sheeple"<br /><br /><br />OneBiteAtATime<br /><br />He's got a cartoon avatar, Woody Woodpecker<br />You'd imagine, too, that there'd be a Shrek here<br />Is this rhyme, or a crime?<br />For OneBiteAtATime<br />To me sounds just like Hannibal Lecter<br /><br /><br />agmoose<br /><br />How far can the gold bull climb?<br />To unimaginable heights given time<br />But if you think it's too late<br />Board the agmoose that waits<br />Bet with Keith on silver troy ounces .999<br /><br /><br />dakota1955<br /><br />Dakota1955<br />Was the number of Sioux braves in the tribe<br />Little Bighorn, General Custer<br />Battle's blood remains dust there<br />Guess they wanted them all dead, not alive<br /><br /><br />treetop<br /><br />Treetop's a nice guy named Zac<br />Who moved, anticipating an urban attack<br />This once NM high plains drifter<br />Couldn't have uprooted much swifter<br />If he were pulling weeds in his garden out back<br /><br /><br />TheJonasCollegeFund<br /><br />Notre Dame, Indiana, or Purdue<br />Rob Stapleton has big goals, that's no news<br />So he's investing now for his son<br />With TheJonasCollegeFund<br />Hoping one day all these school dreams come true<br /><br /><br />henrysmedford<br /><br />Up North, in Oregon's forested Beaver State<br />There resides a family of cent sorters of late<br />Henrysmedford is their name<br />Theodore shares Franklin's tv fame<br />For saving two hundred thousand coppers to date<br /><br /><br />Roadrunner<br /><br />The Roadrunner's a fleet-footed bird<br />At least that's what I've always heard<br />To outpace inflation<br />He invests in safe havens<br />Till they reach levels that today seem absurd<br /><br /><br />saabman<br /><br />We've a member on the realcent forum named the saabman<br />Who, were he a baseball fan, could quote stats of Ty Cobb, and<br />His avatar "don't tread on me"<br />Promoted Colonial Liberty<br />And that snake? It's scarier than McQueen screaming "it's the Blob, man!"<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-74600164446196706882012-01-20T10:54:00.000-08:002012-01-20T21:04:12.932-08:00A Good Parking PlaceSingle women have a joke they like to share about men. "They're like parking spaces," they laugh, "the good ones are all taken, and the ones that are left over are all handicapped." While I'm not here today to bash on men, perhaps the distaff side has a point worth considering. What is a good parking space within one's portfolio? I'd like to explore the thesis that you might consider forgetting cash. There are better ways to park your assets that will put you closer to your destination.<br /><br />What might that destination be? Why, what else than increasing the worth of your portfolio? And how might you go about that? By successfully obeying and performing the mantra of buy low, sell high. But when you sell, where do you go? Do you leave it in cash, waiting for the next opportunity in equities that catches your eye as a value buy? I'd like to suggest an alternative, that might have the potential for steadier, incremental growth, rather than waiting for a chance at larger gains that may not appear.<br /><br />One problem with selling in an upward-trending market is that the equities you dispose of, taking profits in cash, may continue their uptrend, robbing you of further potential gains. As well, anything that you might hope to invest those profits in could, as well, become commensurately more expensive. That said, there is sage wisdom in the saying trader's like to bandy about, "pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered." Another one is "no one ever went broke taking a profit."<br /><br />So is there a happy medium? Should you be satisfied with "settling" for a fairly hefty percentage gain, and not hoping to capture every point of the move? One of the greatest trader's in history, Jesse Livermore, did exactly that. He didn't try to time every market bottom, or top, with exactitude, but stated "I'm happy if I can capture eighty percent of the move. If I miss the bottom or the top by ten percent, that's okay."<br /><br />This tells me it's prudent to take some profits off the table occasionally, and indeed, those times when I got gluttonous for more gains, and started "counting the paper profits" were those same instances when the market reverted to means and stole those gains back. So, I have learned it's better to hit for multiple singles, repeatedly, rather than hope for a home run. Today I put that tactic in to practice, and let me describe the results.<br /><br />In another column, Triple Dip, Double Run, I explained my rationale for attempting to optimize my portfolio's performance using leveraged ETF's. As my many columns suggest, I am a confirmed hard money, silver and gold, advocate, and I am convicted that we are presently witnessing what will become one of the biggest all-time bull markets in history. When the precious metals run is done, values will be at many multiples of their present levels. And this race is a marathon, barely begun. We have not yet reached midpoint, and the sprint to the finish will be something incredible to view.<br /><br />Alright, let's get to the point. Last week, five trading days ago to be precise, I purchased more of the triple-leveraged Velocity Shares Silver ETF USLV. But I decided to try something different this time. In the past month or so, I had successfully liquidated shares of ProShares double-leveraged Silver ETF AGQ, to provide cash for further shares of USLV, each time that there appeared to be a manipulated sell-off in silver that resulted in a quick, dramatic plunge in price.<br /><br />My thinking was that, in this upward-trending market, the price would quickly revert to it's prior levels, and that from it's purchase price, USLV would outperform AGQ. This theory, so far in practice, has proven valid. In the past, when I would sell AGQ to purchase USLV, and then subsequently sell USLV to repurchase AGQ, each time I would have more AGQ shares than I had started with. This would "reload the gun" so to speak, for further iterations of the strategy.<br /><br />This time, rather than sell more AGQ, I decided to sell some of my mining equities instead. My thinking was that the miner's, as a rule, are not so volatile as silver bullion, sometimes lagging by days any sizable gains or losses, and that very stability might represent an unexamined potential for further gains. I decided to explore that option. Within two accounts, on January 13, 2012, I sold shares of First Majestic, Alexco Resources, Hecla Mining, Silvercorp, Mag Silver Corp, Silver Wheaton, Endeavor Silver Corp, Great Panther Silver Limited, and Global X Silver Miners ETF.<br /><br />I was able to utilize those funds, as well as those obtained by selling a further small block of AGQ, to purchase 2946 shares of USLV at an average cost of $33.09. So how did that little experiment perform? These trades are performed within two self-directed 401K accounts, and require three days to settle, or else you can be in danger of committing a "good faith" violation by selling equities that have not yet settled. Those trades all cleared on January 19, 2012.<br /><br />I honestly expected the markets to plunge today, the 20th, as it is the option's expiry date for silver and gold futures, and usually da boyz will come in with a heavy hand and kill any attempt at a rally. I watched perhaps thirty minutes of them attempting to cap any rally beyond a spot price of $31.00, before they finally threw in the towel. And then the spot price was off to the races. USLV quickly climbed past $39.50, triggering my sell order before I could rescind it. As I write this, the high print for the day so far has been $41.63.<br /><br />So, in hindsight, I could have captured a larger gain, but I am disinclined to get slaughtered for being a hog. Had I reset my sell orders to $40.50 as was my intention, then the price might have reached $40.49 and then sank back well below $39.50. In my book, a $6.41 per share gain in one week is good enough. I took those gains and repurchased the mining equities I had sold a week earlier. I bought in the same proportion as I had sold. And what were the results?<br /><br />When I started, I had 890 shares of AG, I ended up with 1077. I sold 123 shares of AGQ and repurchased 130. I had 1628 shares of EXK, and wound up with 1924. I started with 1188 shares of HL and ended with 1369. I began with 688 shares of MVG and finished with 866. Originally I held 643 shares of SLW, I now hold 752. I had 1601 shares of SVM, I now have 1857. I started with 866 shares of AXU, I now have 1039. Began GPL with 2014, now have 2254. And finally, SIL. Began with 338, now 386.<br /><br />I gave away some topside potential by selling early, still a profit in excess of $18,000 isn't bad for one week. I now have considerably more shares of each of the miners than when I began, and I believe they hold greater potential to show further gains than I could have realized by sitting in cash and hoping for a pullback. In any event, I believe an investment in currently undervalued mining share equities affords a much better parking space than does cash. I'm now positioned to repeat the maneuver, given that, sooner or later, da boyz will provide another opportunity.<br /><br />I believe that "churning" one's account, in this fashion, provides the potential, with close monitoring, to optimize one's profits, certainly to a greater extent than merely employing a buy and hold philosophy, or by taking a more active role and selling high, becoming sidelined in cash, then praying for a pullback to re-enter your positions. Once silver gathers a head of steam this time, there's no telling how far the train could surge up the tracks, leaving those parked in cash stranded at the station. If you've already got physical, Elmo, it's time to buy the miners. Forget cash, unless you prefer parking in a handicapped spot.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-79445892436709298872012-01-11T04:06:00.000-08:002012-01-11T17:11:32.426-08:00Triple Dip, Double RunDid you ever see The Sting? This 1973 drama, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw is one of my all-time favorites. The script gives life to revenge-seeking con men who plot to redress a wrong by swindling a small fortune from a crooked bankster. The score, written by Marvin Hamlisch, helped popularize The Entertainer. The film won several Academy Awards, among them best picture, and it seemed as if nearly everyone was whistling Scott Joplin's classic 1902 piano ragtime tune.<br /><br />In case you're not familiar with its plot elements, the two con men, Newman and Redford, devise a means to rig a poker game. After a series of hands, they entice Shaw to basically go "all in," as they say in the parlance, stealing a huge pot from him. I won't ruin the movie for you by revealing all the twists and turns, as it is well worth viewing this old classic if you've yet to have the pleasure. It was one of the movies, along with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, that helped bolster the young Robert Redford's incredible screen popularity at the time.<br /><br />I'm opening with these movie memories to familiarize the unitiated to an idea. We're all attempting to win at a losing game. The game seems to be hosted by the players with the biggest bankrolls, who swiftly proceed to fleece the naive. When hands are dealt by the same players who hold all the cards, how can they lose? It doesn't take long to be driven out of the betting parlor when your stack of chips dwindles in size to the point where you can no longer be competitive.<br /><br />When you attempt to play the silver futures market, the profits can be immense, but they're unlikely to be yours. As Ted Butler has long demonstrated, the COMEX appears to be rigged so that the fix favors bullion bank JPMorgan et al. Time after time silver, amount favorable public sentiment, gathers momentum and begins to run strongly in a seemingly unstoppable forward charge. Then the unthinkable happens and the advance is thwarted, often in dramatic fashion. Witness the carnage of the 30% waterfall plunge induced by four sequential CME margin hikes, after silver touched a nominal high in May, 2011.<br /><br />So, if investing in silver futures appears to be a losing proposition, is there a bet you can place that has a higher likelihood of success? I think I've devised just such a wager. So far, implementing this strategy has resulted in three separate occasions duing which I've been able to scrape some of the winner's pot in my own direction. If the player's are going to cheat, you might as well look over their shoulder to glimpse their cards, helping you determine when to raise the stakes of your own bets.<br /><br />How is it that I'm convinced that the silver, and gold, markets are fixed? I've long felt that there was market manipulation occuring in silver pricing, but lacked the definitive proof to corroborate that suspicion. It's not always easy to identify patterns utilizing only the three day spot pricing charts provided by Kitco. But thanks to an article published by Dimitri Speck, the link of which follows:<br /><a href="http://www.safehaven.com/article/23240/price-irregularities-in-the-silver-market">http://www.safehaven.com/article/23240/price-irregularities-in-the-silver-market</a> I can elucidate the points I am about to present.<br /><br />Study the following chart, which shows on a minute-to-minute basis, over an eleven-year period, the trading patterns that result in pricing changes of spot silver.<br /><br /><a href="http://static.safehaven.com/authors/speck/23240_a.png"><img style="WIDTH: 480px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 380px" alt="" src="http://static.safehaven.com/authors/speck/23240_a.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As you can see, there is a pattern that occurs on a repetitive basis. This observation is not to imply with certainty of accuracy that these movements will occur daily with the exact same magnitude, but that enough similarities have occurred repeatedly, in a consistent manner within these small windows of time, that it allows for a predictive capability. And that prediction is this; if the silver market is showing a strong rise from the open, at 10:00 am the New York trading desks will implement strategies that result in capping the price rise and suffocating the rally, frequently driving spot down dramatically.<br /><br />This same pattern repeats, to a smaller degree, two hours later, which I won't delve into as Speck covers the phenomena in depth in his article. So how do we benefit from this advance knowledge? If one could wager with fair certainty that an event were about to occur, knowing that outcome in advance could prove profitable if one understood various means of implementing trades to capitalize on such movements. I'm certain that more advanced techniques exist, but here is a simple one which I've devised.<br /><br />I have yet to develope the expertise to play options, so what I've done instead is to utilize leveraged ETF's. I use ProShares AGQ, which is structured to emulate double the performance of silver, and USLV, which is Velocity Shares entry into the field with triple exposure to silver pricing movements. There also exist double and triple inverse ETF's, but I get enough of an adrenalin rush by watching the horses race around the track, without feeling the need to jockey my own mount and reverse field at times, risking getting trampled in the process. I won't bet against silver by using inverse leverage.<br /><br />What I will do is this. I call my strategy Triple Dip, Double Run, and no, that's not a flavor at Baskin Robbins. I am convicted that the long term trend of silver is upwards, given time that no one, if honest, can accurately predict the duration of, to levels many multiples of its present value. And so, I am confident that any drop in the price of silver will be temporary in nature, and presents an opportunity to further my gains. Were these not plays designed for paper profits within a self-directed 401k, in a physical sense they would be considered "buying the dip."<br /><br />So what I do is this. At any given time, I am substantially invested in AGQ, poised to outperform silver on a two to one basis as the price climbs (runs). If, at one of the times that the charts illuminate as subject to manipulation, the price is forced down in dramatic fashion, then I liquidate shares of AGQ to purchase USLV. I do this as rapidly as possible, not hoping to further my gains by trying to outguess the direction of furthur pricing movements after my sale. If a significant movement has already occurred, that's sufficient for me.<br /><br />So how does this work? If AGQ is trading at a certain value and the price plunges, then it's value drops as well, twice the distance of silver's loss. But USLV will drop three times the loss. So by acquiring USLV on troughs, I hope to regain the lost ground in faster fashion then merely remaining parked in AGQ the entire time. Yes, this strategy risks further downside losses if the market continues to bleed, that is why you use a tranche system of trading, only commiting a fraction of your capital at each trade.<br /><br />When the market bottoms and starts once more to ascend, you can calculate how much USLV will need to regain in value in order to sell those shares and to repurchase your starting position of AGQ. But there would be no gain if you merely replaced the shares. What you do is wait until there is a strong upward movement, which can occur on short-covering days, and then sell your USLV to repurchase AGQ.<br /><br />I have now done this three times, and each time has resulted in the acquisition of ten to twenty-five more shares of AGQ then the number with which I began. Since such movements, the drops and recoveries producing opportunities affording profitability, can occur within a period as short as three days or less, one can understand that simply repeating this process will lead to gradual accrual of many more shares of AGQ then one would have held through a long term buy and hold philosophy.<br /><br />One could, if confident enough of silver's ultimate rise, just buy USLV and hold it for the long term, hoping to capitalize on the triple leverage in an upward-trending market. But for all that I feel assured of silver's destination, I know that the road will be long and uneven, filled with potholes. For that reason, I myself do not utilize USLV on a permanent basis to bet on optimism, I use it instead to bet against pessimism. Selling your USLV and repurchasing AGQ allows you the option of repeating the process, each time garnishing greater share count.<br /><br />There is a danger to these tactics, and that is that silver will drop, and continue dropping, long enough that your triple exposure with inverse leverage could severely cripple the value of your accounts. As yet, this has not happened to me, although November 2011 was a rough ride requiring indomitable stoicism. I am offering this idea for consideration only, should you adopt it the risk is yours alone. It can be extremely harrowing betting on an ETF that will triple your losses in a down market. It is not for the faint of heart.<br /><br />But I am confident that silver, if suppressed in price, can not remain so for long. The markets we are enduring are managed by the bullion banks to their advantage, but Eric Sprott for one feels there is just too much physical demand for silver for the banksters to do so in perpetuity. In time, physical depletion of silver will cause the pricing of silver to revert to basic supply and demand fundamentals, rather than the artificial prices resulting from the criminal banking cartel's artifice.<br /><br />Playing at the table with the Big Boys can be fun if you've marked the cards. If JPMorgan and HSBC are going to cheat and continue to suppress pricing, with the apparent blessing of regulatory agencies such as the CFTC, then you might as well attempt to profit from their oft-times predictable raids. It could be years before they are booted as the dealers, so you might as well benefit from foreknowledge of their rules to play the silver game, but to your advantage.<br /><br />The whole venture is akin to a rollercoaster ride, one that can thrill with its breath-taking course. Successfully employing Triple Dip, Double Run enables you to feel safely buckled in, secure that any market offers opportunities for profit. You'll enjoy the ride a lot more, knowing that the next plunge could well bring an "Oh Boy" grin to your face, rather than a "not again" grimace.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-35588798064823693712012-01-08T17:25:00.000-08:002012-01-08T20:56:02.801-08:00China SyndromeIn 1979, during a previous cycle when silver was coincidentally undergoing similar dramatic pricing changes, The China Syndrome - starring Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, and Jane Fonda - hit the cinemas portraying a chain reaction of events that occur when a nuclear facility approaches meltdown. The movie was an absorbing dramatic suspense thriller made more so when, with chilling prescience, Three Mile Island underwent a similar episode only twelve days following the film's release.<br /><br />What would happen today if, unrecognized by most, we were again a mere fortnight away from a similar holocaust? Not an imagined event, as this movie envisioned in such timely fashion. Nor a real nuclear catastrophe like the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami-induced Fukushima or Russia's Chernobyl. But, instead, an epic economic disaster of such immense proportion that it could permanently mar the financial landscapes on which it's effects were unleashed? How might the world of global fiat currencies appear if the dollar lost it's role as reserve currency?<br /><br />Ahhh, you think. Another lecture on the dreaded consequences of the dollar no longer being the preeminent global fiat currency. What repercussions might be felt if people lost confidence in the power of the almighty buck? In hindsight, almost overnight it would seem, the purchasing power of individuals living in nations whose economies were based on the dollar would dwindle with ever-increasing rapidity. Such consequences have been debated ad nauseum, yet one might wonder, are there further ramifications that we might foresee, so as to avert the outcome?<br /><br />What happens when populations lose faith in their currencies? For this topic extends far beyond the fate of the dollar to encompass the destiny of all global fiat currencies, none of which are currently backed by anything beyond an ironic pledge of "the full faith and credit" of their respective governments as to their worth. Maybe a more apt adjective would be a moronic pledge, if in our cumulative ignorance, amidst a global "race to the bottom" to depreciate, we continue to worship such fallen ideals.<br /><br />Let's get to the point, for it is encumbent upon the individual who desires to preserve their purchasing power in this tableau of dollar attenuation to act with urgency. Again, I repeat the question. What happens when people lose faith in their currency? They spend it as fast as they can, securing items of real value, that they come suddenly to recognize will only continue to rise exponentially in cost, when denominated in the increasingly worthless paper notes carried in their wallets. At least those bills will be handy for ready use, as our money is flushed down the toilet.<br /><br />So, aside from empty shelves in stores, endless lines at gas stations, and any other number of unforeseen scenarios, what might we expect? Well, Iggy, we've already seen what happens in other countries that undergo hyperinflation. What makes anyone think the sequence of events would be any different here? Upon discernment, the silent advance of the price of precious metals, the ultimate safe haven investment, over the past decade, heralds the truth. The smart money is buying silver and gold.<br /><br />Since 2002 silver and gold have both shown a steady, if at times volatile and erratic, increase in value. As they ascend in price, what is really occuring is a concomitant decline in the worth of the currencies in which they are denominated. It is not a mirrored-image correlation, as other factors are involved, but for the most part when the dollar declines, metals advance, and vice versa. This reason alone incentivizes governments to manage the rise of precious metals, for doing so understates inflation and subliminally buttresses the status quo.<br /><br />This last decade buyers have been stealthfully amassing silver and gold. History demonstrates that such measures often assist in preserving the holder's purchasing power, safeguarding their wealth. In a mileau where bank failures can deprive you of your savings, overnight devaluation of a currency can decimate its value, and even rehypothecation of funds, here citing MF Global, can criminally steal funds from their investors, what other avenue to protection does one have? The only asset class without counterparty risk is precious metals. And as they say, "if you don't hold it, you don't own it."<br /><br />What began as a trickle of people prudently buying precious metals became hundreds, then thousands, then hundreds of thousands, and now millions on a worldwide basis flooding into this allocation. You might even pat yourself on the back as you watch your portfolio increase, and think smugly, "I'm set!" But what happens when, after the best of intentions of steadfastly converting your fiat currency, either with dollar-cost-averaging or just "buying the dips," you awaken one day, in a Rip Van Winklesque moment of self-revelation, to the fear that you might have been duped?<br /><br />Thus, in convoluted fashion, we return to our start, the China Syndrome. Thanks for taking the short journey with me as it is salient to my message. This is going to sound farfetched, another conspiracy theory by a tinfoil hat wearer, as Jon Nadler likes to portray precious metals devotees. But what if there were a plan fomented by an economic nemesis, to unilaterally sabotage and subvert the wealth-preserving intent of a significant portion of these new converts by supplying them with counterfeit products?<br /><br />China is the source of countless knock-off products, utilizing cheap labor and inferior materials to create a pirate industry of faux goods afflicting several industries. Is it too much of a leap to contend their own government must covertly support such actions, as otherwise, would it really be that hard to police and quash such enterprise? So how does this China-based criminal enterprise affect precious metals? There is a considerable and growing fraction of auctions on ebay that now vend these actual fakes. You may own some already.<br /><br />One can do their own due diligence and perform a search that will provide irrefutable evidence; counterfeiting, of Morgan and Peace silver dollars, of American Silver Eagles, of gold and silver bullion bars is a real problem, one that continues to grow in magnitude. It used to be that such knock-offs, in the precious metals arena, were mandated to be marked as "copies," but that stricture has long since been circumvented. Sellers blatantly proclaim in listings some iteration of "imagine how much you could make selling this item as authentic."<br /><br />Counterfeiting of scarce and highly-prized numismatic rarities has always been a problem, but the situation is escalating to the point that now even everyman "Joe Sixpack" is affected. You need to visit youtube.com or google counterfeit coins, and become educated regarding this situation. Learn to recognize fakes and their sellers, and report them. The quality of these items is now so deceptive that even reputable sellers are being hoodwinked into placing them into inventory.<br /><br />So it might be wisest to purchase only factory direct from the largest online dealers or private mints. Stay away from ebay sellers who are based overseas. They might be legitimate, but you have little recourse if they aren't. Certainly, only consider entering bids on ebay listings from sellers with impeccable feedback ratings that offer a money back guarantee if your coins or bars prove fraudulent and need to be returned. Otherwise, a criminal twist on Gresham's Law could prove a portent that good money will flow East, bad money West.<br /><br />The market is being flooded with counterfeits as the criminal sharks circle, sensing the savory scent of quick profits to be made in the blood of the recent influx of precious metals bathers dipping their toes in the water. Be wary, display caution when considering large purchases, and get a quick education, fast, lest you get eaten alive. Be very careful, friend... because you don't want to become chum, Chum.<br /><br /><br />Buy real silver, buy real gold, save copper, start today.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-60844184034242376282011-08-02T19:33:00.000-07:002011-08-03T12:16:05.766-07:00Don't Lose Your Grip NowThe title of this piece refers to maintaining a long term stance regarding the life-changing potential, and immense eventual profitabitability, of precious metals. Eventual, you ask? Heck, I can make some good bucks now. I bought silver eagles at $30, and now they're selling for $45! I'll take a quick fifty percent profit anytime. I can just buy more on the next dip and repeat the process, over and over again. What... do I look stupid, or something?<br /><br />Well Bucko, if that's your game plan... then my answer is "Yes." Does that stigmata on your forehead spell idiot? I know, I know... it looks like toidi when you gaze in the mirror, but believe me, if you sell your silver at this point, you'll be calling yourself much worse than idiot in a few months, as silver scales unimaginable heights as it's true scarcity is revealed by a massed market of desperate participants scrambling to convert increasingly worthless slips of colorized paper fiat for real money.<br /><br />Name calling? How about imbecile, moron, or even ignoramus? I'm sorry if I'm offending any Nadlerphiles, but when you miss the boat, you don't just get soaked... eventually you drown. Alright, let me come down off my platform, put away the bullhorn. I've said my piece. But I am here today to admonish you. If, for all the right reasons, you initially began to protect against accelerating dollar depreciation, preserving your purchasing power, literally saving your money in the form of real money - silver and gold - then don't change your position now, merely because temptation is enticing you.<br /><br />If you are a hardcore, hard money, metals advocates, you might be interested in browsing the following site. Realcent.org is an internet forum of individuals with like interests in promoting the preservation of valuable numismatic coins, salvage of still-present pre-1971 silver coinage from circulation, sorting of pre-1983 copper cents in the same fashion, and even reclaiming base metal - to hold for their intrinsic worth, greater than their face value in the form of coins - until melt laws are modified.<br /><br />Long-time readers and posters on that site are pretty much of like mind. What they share in common is a spirit of rugged individualism, perhaps characterized by a Libertarian bent in some instances, of self-reliance in preparation for the day when the dollar, once the almighty reserve currency of the world, is no more than a memory, a once-proud standard-bearer of fiscal invincibility become no more than another failed Third World fiat currency.<br /><br />Readers of this piece, and members of that site, ought to have in common the shared knowledge that holding silver and gold, historically, have acted as "safe havens" to usher them through trying times of economic instability. Those of us who have had the foresight and means to begin accumulation of a small cache of life preserving real money over the years, whether we began at a precious metals "bottom" or more recently, have - by now - had the opportunity to amass a small hoard.<br /><br />Whether you have been investing in pre-1965 junk silver, or buying gold in any form - in the shape of pre-1933 American coinage - or as bullion rounds produced by the United States Mint or other global entities, silver and gold have acted as an insurance policy to protect you from the storm of dollar depreciation that is ongoing and intensifying. Such an umbrella, however, has not merely kept you dry, I am confident a warm glow has exuded from your heart as you consider that these precious metals have far exceeded inflation in this past decade.<br /><br />So, if I could pose a question, why would you consider jettisoning your life raft, merely because the illusion of an alluring tropical atoll is in sight? That, my friend, is merely a mirage. Just because you can score a quick profit in dollars from the metals you were wise enough to acquire in the past weeks, months, even years... does not mean you should do so. What if, rather than a subsequent dip providing you an opportunity to replace the coins you had sold, the market instead never looks back?<br /><br />Selling even a portion of your real money savings fund could expose you to the dread eventuality of being unable to restore it to its previous size, due to the inability to source reasonably priced alternatives. You could be sidelined in dollars that are being rapidly eviscerated. "Oh, the humanity." You have heard, over the years, pundits describing silver nuts and gold bugs as "strong hands" in chronicaling the movement of commodities from timid parties to those who are bold. The years have proven the bold to be sage.<br /><br />Many is the time I've read threads on realcent that lamented "Darn, I should have bought more at $_____" (fill in the blank) as the price of silver, or gold, at times lunges upward in surprizing surges. Don't let this remorse metamorph into "Oh, I wish I hadn't sold silver at $50, or gold at $1700." The price of these oh so precious metals, denominated in increasingly worthless dollars, has no limit. Ultimately, prices - years from now- will be many multiples of their present troy ounce cost.<br /><br />And so, I urge you, now is not the time to gamble with your hard-won worth. Despite the resolution of the debt ceiling, hyperinflation is baked into the cake. We're each going to have to choke on a huge serving of that distasteful concoction, so even though you might feel queasy, fight off that nausea and maintain your rationale for holding safe haven metals in the first place. Remember, the fiat currency of ANY nation-state is not really a viable alternative.<br /><br />In closing, an apt description of someone displaying a confident manner might be one who offers a winning smile and a firm handshake upon introduction. I could go further and describe said handshake as powerful, though not bone-crushing, leaving a lasting impression of strength. In other words... strong hands. Remember the advice of test-takers, "don't change your answer, you're first impulse was likely correct." Please eschew attempting to trade for quick profits. Hang on tightly to your silver and gold. Don't let weakness of character make you lose your grip now.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-68056987396934312332010-03-07T06:37:00.000-08:002010-03-08T21:17:19.608-08:00Penny-Wise, But Pound-FoolishOft in use by our forefathers, but seldom heard anymore, what a nifty sound this old-fashioned phrase has. It's meaning, in broad strokes, paints someone who misses the big picture, because they are focusing on small details. An example might be someone who is penurious to the nth degree, saving every cent they can by clipping coupons, minimizing usage of their utilities by bearing with colder ambient temperatures during the winter and refusing to air condition their abodes during summertime, all to save money.<br /><br />And yet these same individuals will turn around and gamble heedlessly, or fail to dicker on large ticket items, like cars, travel, and home purchases. A twist on this portrayal might produce the individual who certainly appears wealthy, as they model the latest in designer labels, watches, flashy shoes and purses, jewelry and cars. And yet, one suspects, this same individual is buried in debt supporting this false facade. Do the truly wealthy flaunt their riches? Or do they turn them to more productive usage, by investing, so that earnings evoke returns, hard-won paychecks beget what with time develops into considerable worth?<br /><br />I still use the phrase at work occasionally, and though I get seeming nods of understanding in ostensible agreement, I wonder if the listener really gets the point? James Rogers, in The Dictionary of Cliches, explains it like this: “Overcareful about trivial things and undercareful about important ones. The literal image is of the person who fusses over small amounts of money to such an extent that he misses opportunities to save or make large amounts." The provenance of the saying is credited to Robert Burton, 1577-1640.<br /><br />Burton, whose primary fame is due to his authorship of a tome entitled The Anatomy of Melancholy, was an English scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford University. In light of the era and environs during which he penned his work, it accounts for the usage of the terms penny and pound, familiar descriptors of the money of that time, but less so today. Maybe that's why I get the sometimes quizzical glances when I use the phrase. Perhaps the listener is merely attempting to portray accord, yet is inwardly puzzling "what the heck is he talking about?"<br /><br />It would be simple to use this title as a springboard into why saving pennies, those pre-1982 95% copper ones, worth more than twice face value according to Coinflation.com, is a crafty means for those of little income to gradually accumulate a small fortune, in terms relative to their own budgets. But I would prefer to bend the heading a bit, and use it instead to raise a related issue. Let's talk about silver. How would being penny-wise but pound-foolish have any context in regard to that precious metal?<br /><br />I belong to a forum that discusses issues like this, and many others regarding coin collecting, precious and base metals, economic policies and financial investment strategies. Realcent is one stop shopping if you're looking for answers to related questions. I'm seeing more and more threads relating to the issue I'd like to raise, and since our individualized actions and intent are merely a microcosm of the actions of the greater masses, I feel their expression can be used as a gauge as to what we might be able to expect in the markets when the time comes.<br /><br />Specifically, there's currently a thread that contains a poll which asks the question of "what will silver do in the near term?" The choices could have been more comprehensive, and the respondent is limited to selections of: over $20, sideways, or back below $16. There is no time frame mentioned, which would have been useful, but as the contributor of the poll later posts, the piece was submitted in order to generate thoughtful discussion of the topic amongst members.<br /><br />What concerns me is the responses of members who are replying to the post. I am seeing more and more posts to the effect that "next time silver hits $19, or $20, I think I'll sell a little." "That'll be the time to take some profit." "I think it would be wise to take some off the table." Comments of that ilk. Why would I be bothered by such innocent sentiments, posted by members who would seemingly be among the better educated regarding the value of holding real money in place of worthless Federal Reserve Note currency?<br /><br />Because this rationale, trying to time the markets for quick profits - selling their precious bullion reserves for a relatively higher price then for which they purchased it - and then waiting for a dip to buy back in and thereby accruing a bit more in terms of total ounces, might just be a prime example of being penny-wise, but pound-foolish. What if you exit the silver market with your timely profit, and then silver explodes to the upside? And you're left sidelined, holding a fistful of increasingly worthless FRN's, as precious metals embark on their long-awaited race to unheard of heights?<br /><br />I feel that we are in the process of being programmed by the entities that manipulate the silver futures market via COMEX, to behave precisely in this fashion. We're all aware that precious metals prices fluctuate. Scott Wright and Adam Hamilton, at Zealllc.com, have long described the seasonality of silver, demonstrating on a year over year basis how such factors as the harvest and marriage season in India, and New Year's in China, can exert an influence on the volatility of gold and silver prices. As well, Chinese government authorities are now encouraging their populace to stock up on small ingots of gold and larger bars of silver.<br /><br />We have witnessed, over the past decade, countless occurrences of price manipulation within the silver and gold markets, as documented by Ted Butler, David Morgan, John Embry, GATA, and others. It is well evident, to any student of technical analysis, that every time silver rises rapidly, and overshoots its channels to the topside by a wide degree, that a swift price-capping effort, and often subsequent plunge in value, is near-certain to swiftly ensue. Whether if be nefarious manipulation by JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and cohorts, or ordinary profit-taking by hedge funds that induce the decline, the effect is the same. Silver plummets and takes considerable time to recover.<br /><br />So then, what would be the harm in anticipating these market moves and "riding the coattails of the big boys?" It seems evident that a profit stands to be made by getting out a bit ahead of the downside motion, and recovering your ounces at lower cost, then repeating the process ad infinitum. Doesn't it? But what if, as in musical chairs, the music ends, and you have nowhere left to position yourself? You'd like to park your butt back into a silver position, but there are none left?<br /><br />According to anecdotal data from various sources, there is only a nine year supply of silver left in the Earth's crust if it continues to be consumed at present rates. You've heard of Peak Oil? Well, Peak Silver isn't far behind. The easy-to-locate sources of silver had their veins worked and depleted long ago. Newer discoveries can take years to develop, and the costs can be prohibitive. The silver that remains in existing productive mines is sometimes located in third world countries whose governing regimes could easily decide to nationalize those mines, or punish their operators with exorbitant windfall profits taxes.<br /><br />How much silver is left above ground anyway? Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, a medical practitioner who also edits Silver-Coin-Investor.com and Hard-Money-Newsletter-Review.Com, believes - along with others like Jason Hommel - that the remaining trove of above-ground silver is swiftly depleting after years of deficits, and may be less than sufficient to replenish the needs of industry for more than a few more years. There could be less than 300 million ounces remaining of above-ground silver available; certainly there is less ready silver than there is gold.<br /><br />So, my premise is this. If manipulation is taken for granted, why not go one step further and concede that we might just be in the process of being brainwashed as well? Propaganda served the Politburo will in the days of Soviet supremacy, it may just as likely be well-suited to the aims of the entities that manipulate the silver market. For consider this. Where will the continued supply of silver be obtained from in the near future, if mine supply is tailing off? It will only be available from the holders of silver reserves. And China is now banning the export of silver.<br /><br />Who do you think has the best insight into the inner workings of the silver market in all its aspects? Joe Investor? With his ten ounce silver bars, or $100 face bags of 90% silver coins? Or omniscient, omnipotent powers like the bullion banks, who risk hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars of capital routinely with their shorting strategies? What happens to you, if you take your profits - in comparitive pennies - only to get pounded as the Commercials reverse field and cover not only their shorts, but decide to go long because the time is finally right?<br /><br />That day <em>will</em> come. And when it does, Jasper, the silver price will erupt, not merely by dollars, but by multiples of its current price. The disparity of pricing between gold and silver will revert to it's historical norms, and likely overshoot them. A commodity five times scarcer than another should not be priced sixty-five times cheaper. Warren Buffett appeared prescient when he had Berkshire Hathaway purchase 129.7 million ounces of silver in 1998, but even he admits he sold to soon. Don't let the same thing happen to you. Don't be penny-wise, but pound-foolish.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4122219974351310054.post-1265828707598475442010-03-02T14:35:00.001-08:002010-03-08T21:14:00.967-08:00Preserving The PastAlthough I have in the past chided coin statisticians, half-mockingly because I feel their time could be more productively spent, the data they provide can occasionally prove useful to conjecture. In order to speculate on the scarcity of the oldest Lincoln cents, which will be today's topic, it's necessary to refer to the meticulous record-keeping of individuals who take the time to painstakingly assemble such numbers. So today I doff my hat, and offer my thanks. I couldn't fashion the following guesstimates without your assistance.<br /><br />On Realcent, the coin collecting/gathering/hoarding forum on which I participate, member Uthminsta has established a thread in which members post their most recent findings in their search for pre-1940's cents from their penny sorting. They often provide the percentages of copper cents - those pre-1982 pennies that were 95% copper - encountered amidst the mix of copper and zinc cents, as well as further specifying how many "wheaties" they discovered. The wheaties designation refers to the Lincoln cents that were produced up until 1958. In 1959 the reverse of the coin was changed to feature the Lincoln Memorial.<br /><br />If you've ever dropped by my blogsite, you'll notice I haven't been writing as much lately as I once did. Why? Because I've been sorting more cents myself. While enjoyable, it can prove a very time-consuming activity. I decided, after writing a number of columns touting the value of sorting and saving the copper Lincoln cents - for their more than double face value metal content of the copper from which they are comprised - to jump on the bandwagon and practice what I was preaching. I don't want to get up from my keyboard someday only to discover they're all gone.<br /><br />So I've been doing a lot of sorting myself. I utilize a Ryedale coin sorting machine, which allows me to at least triple the speed at which I could hand sort. The machine processes the pennies for you, separating the zincs from the copper cents. What it cannot do, is to keep all the copper cents from falling into the wrong pile. Prior to 1945, there was a very small percentage of tin in the Lincoln cents, and the Ryedale does not differentiate these from zinc cents. Consequently, the 1944 and earlier cents wind up in the zinc pile. If you don't search your zincs, these older cents will inadvertently get returned to the bank.<br /><br />From some earlier calculations, I deemed that - for simplification - only about one percent of the pennies you find will be wheaties. And of those, I calculated, four out of five will be from the Forties and Fifties. It turns out that I was too generous in assuming a that twenty percent likelihood would represent the percentage of pre-1940's wheaties that you would discover. After examining a number of wheaties that I had accumulated in my handsorting days, prior to my purchase of a Ryedale, I determined I had made an error.<br /><br />The likelihood of one finding a pre-1940 wheatie differs from the result you would expect if you merely analyze the original mintage figures. Those numbers would suggest that since about twenty three percent all wheaties had been minted prior to 1940, one could surmise that roughly the same percentage would be encountered in searches. But I forgot to factor in extinction. A simple definition of extinction would be that, regardless of original mintage, cents do not survive, for one reason or another.<br /><br />Given any particular starting point, the following year only 99% or those cents might remain. The next year only 99% of that remainder would survive. And so on. I can't provide a reliable extinction rate for any given year, only strongly postulate that the principle undoubtedly holds true. Spend enough time with a calculator and you might be able to hypothesize what the extinction rate would need to be in order to arrive at these numbers. My sample size was not huge, yet I feel it was large enough to form the basis for this premise.<br /><br />When I counted the wheaties I had sorted, I found that of 505 total, only 34 were pre-1940's. So my likelihood of finding one had not matched my expectations, but had fallen far short. The reality was that only 6.7%, not 23%, were of older dates which preceded 1940. An extinction theory could account for the attrition that would minimize their presence in circulation. A Realcent member whom is a great statistician, cwgii, posted that in the past year of searching he had found nearly 30 (29.95) wheaties per 10,000 cents searched.<br /><br />If you combined his findings with mine, it forms the basis of an equation whose solution would imply that your chances of finding a pre-1940 wheatie is only one in 5,000. For every $50 face value you search, you could expect to find only one. Learning this, as I've been sorting, lately I've been wondering,"what are the odds that I'll find any pre-1920's cents in the zinc pile?" If the extinction premise holds true here as well, then one cannot assume, again, that merely reviewing mintage figures would provide an accurate clue.<br /><br />In order to determine the likelihood of encountering a cent from the teens (including the issues of 1909) you would need to know both the original mintages and an extinction rate. During the Teen's there were 2,125,713,683 cents minted. The Twenties produced 1,664,218,000. And the Thirties added the count of 2,214,324,143 to their number. So 6,004,255,826 pennies were produced in total. If we proceeded simply on that basis, then you might expect to find that 35.4% were Teen's, 27.7% Twenties, and 36.9% Thirties. But this doesn't account for extinction.<br /><br />Extinction will cause the oldest decades to produce fewer cents remaining in circulation due to their greater exposure to years of whatever factors contributed to their attrition. Thus there would be a commensurate distribution of cents found to mintages produced that was skewed towards the most recent years. You will, therefore, find fewer of the earliest decade Lincoln cents, despite their original mintages, simply because they've had a greater opportunity to disappear from our change.<br /><br />It's impossible with sure accuracy to predict what the odds would be of encountering - in boxes of rolled pennies obtained from banks - any particular cent minted during the first decade of their production. Only a guess can be derived from analysis of data, but an idea of what odds you have is better than none at all. So here's my <em>guess</em>. From my own purposeless and demented scrutiny of these numbers, I would venture to say that of the pre-1940 cents that you'll discover, only about ten to fifteen percent will be 1919 and older.<br /><br />Perhaps only fifteen to twenty-five percent will be from the Twenties. And the remainder, the bulk of them, will be common date Thirties pennies. When my initial musings led me to believe I might find one pre-1940 per 5000, I wasn't factoring in extinction. My expectations were that about 76-77% of the wheaties would be of more recent vintage. But it turns out, based on my own experience, that greater than 90% of the wheaties will be Forties and Fifties. If you do find a wheatie reverse laying in your zinc pile, chances are it will be from the Thirties, or one of those tin-bearing early Forties coins.<br /><br />The chance of finding a first decade cent is much less than what is suggested by simple scrutiny of mintages, when extinction is factored in. You might have to search 100,000 or even 150,000 cents to find a single pre-1920 cent. I'm writing this to offer consolation, and to prepare you for what to expect, after I learned myself by sorting nearly a million cents. Finding a scarce key date coin, particularly one in good condition, is next to impossible. Certainly you could buy one, but if you're in the search for the thrill of the hunt be aware that, in most cases, the fox will vanish, outrunning the hounds. Remember, though, it's not always the capture as much as the quest, that provides the adventure of the chase. So as Realcent member PreservingThePast would remind: enjoy your coin searches, everyone.<br /><br /><br />Buy Silver. Buy Gold. Save Copper. Start Now.beauanderoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08880261375359318784noreply@blogger.com2