I recently went with my mom to empty her safe deposit box at the bank. She is having some serious memory problems and she wanted to make sure all the stuff in there was in safe hands. The typical stuff was in the box. But, she also had put away this little silk bag of silver coins. I’ve sketched the bag because I thought it was interesting that she put the silver coins in this special little silk bag. All the other coins, non-silver, were in a plastic sandwich baggie. Those by the way, comprised $82.50 in 1976 bicentennial quarters. (Actually worth LESS today than in 1976 in terms of what they can buy.)
Mom’s silver coins set me to thinking what they might be worth. So I did a Google search on silver coins and ran across this coin dealer. Turns out mom’s coins aren’t worth much to collectors because of the rather poor condition they are in. And since she only has a few of them they really don’t add up to much silver from an investment standpoint either. But in the process of visiting Monex, I found out a lot about the silver market and how one should actually go about buying silver for investment. As an investment product, silver is available in coin or ingot form. Ingots are generally silver ingots of pure bullion cast in a convenient size and shape. Coins have a currency value or they are actually defined as ingots. Mom’s coins fall under the category of “junk silver”.
The thing is, like just about all other investments, the more you have, the more money you’ll make on it when it comes time to sell. So, you need a bunch of silver to get any benefit from owning it. And it needs to be investment quality.
On the other hand, if you’re like my dear mom, and your chosen level of expertise in coin investments is along the lines of “no tellin’ what that’ll be worth someday”, then just put some silver coins in a little silk purse and place them securely in your safe deposit box for fifty years or so. And oh lordy, don’t forget the bicentennial quarters. (Investment tip: Today’s equivalent would be the “50 states” quarters.)
When it’s all said and done, nobody will make much money on any of it. But the experience your loved ones will have when they open the “treasure chest” will be priceless.
