Oh the pain!!

[fusscharles]

First, I buy silver because I am bored. Because I love the hunt, because I am sitting in front of the TV, because I have $500 in checking and the lot is $480, because, because because because.......

Since I have been regularly buying silver, my small collection is up 50 plus percent. With it should be joy, but all I find is disappointment. I am disappointed because every day I realize the GREAT deals are harder and harder to find. Even last fall, I was able to find 90% coin for 75% of spot, eagles for $2-$4 dollars less than spot, and random rounds for a song.

Now, I have to pay.... pay out the nose. My specialty was Craigslist, and I was one of 3 buyers constantly on the beat. Now I am one of 10 plus, and the game has changed. No more calls from people willing to take $80 for their roll of merc's or $16 for a Peace dollar. Nope, now, not only are they looking for spot, they are trying to get above it. ASE? I found some from $35 this week, but only a few. One for $33.50 from a post here. But I am hungry. With spot all over the board, I watch it with amazement and at the same time worry that I will have to soon change my favorite hobby.

I cannot afford to go higher than $36. I have decided that this is the line in the sand. I will cap all future buying if I have to pay a melt value above it. It will be painful, like quitting smoking or surfing (when I became land locked).

Tonite, across my Craigslist App, came a deal. One I would have never taken before. A lot of 40 Walkers in good - fine condition for $500. That is more than I want to pay. I called him, and got him to come down to $480. The deal is done. $12 bucks a piece and I have buyers remorse. <sigh>

I have found myself more and more interested in pennies. A buddy and I have a Ryedale. It is fun, but doesn’t give the thrill silver buying gives me. I guess, I'll just have to reflect on the good old days. The days that is probably long since past.

[Corsair]

Good write-up there, Charles. I feel the same way. I used to make a pretty penny (pun semi-intended) on flipping silver between here and eBay. Then prices started to rise, and rise, and then skyrocket and it just wasn't worth the competition anymore. Now I've turned my attention to seeing what I can learn about the silver market and if I can flip my own silver at the right times for a profit.

I used to feel like you did about copper pennies. You just trudge along, sorting because they'll "be worth something someday," but it's not really that exciting. Well, I'm now sorting with a different mindset. Imagine the day (and you know it'll happen) when copper cents are worth five cents each. It's not that far off. They're already at three. By that time, maybe the melt ban will be lifted, and you can get close to spot for your coins either from someone local or on Realcent. Five cents each...that's $5000 if you have $1000 invested. Or if you have a few tons, it's $50,000 instead of your $10,000 investment.

Then, imagine the day when they are at ten cents. Sure, you have to account for inflation, but if you have a reasonable hoard of a ton and a half, or around $5,000 face, you now are sitting on fifty grand.

I know there are some people here that think silver is going to shoot into the triple digits and beyond. I'm not one of those people. If you aren't buying anything above $36, then you aren't either. That means you don't think silver will double, or triple, or quadruple. Pennies are already triple. As Jack Napier once said, "Hey Eckhart - Think about the future!"

[Thogey]

Absolutely,

I don't like this run-up one bit! There's no excitement here, just glad to have got in the market at 7-10 per oz.

Copper and nickels (I'm picking up 5 boxes of nickels tomorrow. I'm hoarding Nickels now)! I'm not going to participate in the silver frenzy. I just replace silver I've sold at a higher price.

[fusscharles]

I keep thinking that when "the ratio" gets to 35 to 1 I'll make a game out of trading silver for gold. Maybe that will be fun. Retrade at 60:1 ...
.<sigh>
I need a better hobby.....

[silverflake]

I feel everyones pain. I have been collecting (stacking) since 1993. I have kept all my receipts of purchases through the years. Was straightening out some paperwork the other day and found some receipts from the mid 90's. At one point I bought 5 (FIVE) rolls of mercury dimes from Brooklyn Coin and Stamp gallery for ...drum roll...$89. That's $89 TOTAL (plus shipping and handling). Even in the ealy 2000's you could get a roll of eagles for under $150. I can't bear to buy eagles and maple leafs for $40 now. It's strange how most of us on these boards always knew this would happen (that's part of why we 'hoarded') but now that the rise is on, it's paradoxically painful. Keep the faith, fellow silver patriots.

Oh and found a receipt from a west coast compny called MJPM from 2000. Bought a quarter ounce gold eagle AND a tenth ounce gold eagle - for $109 - total!!!

[97guns]

the smart ebay buyer can still buy junk at spot/melt it just takes more work now. 999 fine is another story.

[Treetop]

the smart ebay buyer can still buy junk at spot/melt it just takes more work now. 999 fine is another story.

probably so but personally, I used to get steep discounts from spot on ebay............

[traderchowder]

Here's 30 pre-64 dimes that just sold on eBay in the last 15 minutes for $73.30 including shipping.

That's 4.61 below spot by my calculations (with the help of coinflation.com), not including Mr. Rebates/eBay bucks.

Apparently there are some deals out there. It seems to help if you're looking for 'odd' numbered lots. A roll of dimes might go for above spot, but no one searches for "30 dimes" and it may not get as much traffic (?). I don't know, maybe it's just Friday and people are checked out and not checking eBay.

30 Roosevelt Dimes 1946-1964 90% silver
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... MEWAX%3AIT