Retired coin/bullion dealer on board--Hello

[Bullionaire]

Short and hopefully not too boring Bio....found this site and hope to be a help.....I owned and operated a retail coin/bullion store for 18 years and retired at end of 1998....

I started collecting coins in 1959 when my cousin gave me a couple of Whitman penny albums....it was an exciting time with the new memorial back pennies....on my way home from grade school I stopped at Hoch's
Deli and Mr Hoch, a kindly German let me sift thru his pennies for my collection.(Bought as many as my ten cent weekly allowance would buy)Skip ahead to 1967...high school, part time job at Hamburger
chain called Burger Chef making .90 an hour....on weekly visit to local coin shop saw Dealer was paying more than face value for silver certificates which were circulating freely....using my job as a source I was buying them up at face value and selling them to the coin dealer for 1.50-1.75.
This was like shooting ducks in a barrel.....soon I was buying them from bank tellers and barber shops for 1.25....I think they thought I was crazy...keep in mind news did not travel that quickly in the sixties.

Well all good things must end, and it did in 1968...government quit redemption....reverted back to being one dollar....at this point it was hard not to notice that the silver coins were disappearing....I started getting rolls at the bank at saving the silver coins....if memory serves me you found about 25% silver in the rolls at this time....
CONTINUED

[Uncle]

Welcome to GIM, Bullionaire

Glad we found you :D

:coolbeer:

Goldn Regards
Uncle

[Bullionaire]

Skip ahead after Navy enlistment (Submarine Service,1969 Vietnam River Patrols 1970-71) early- mid 70's set up and wheeled and dealed at coin shows
when my full time job did not interfere....gold was getting a lot of attention as Nixon took us off gold standard....this paved the way for private ownership of bullion....jump ahead late 1970's Carter.."stag-flation" 20% interest rates, Hunt brothers trying to buy up all the silver.....I expanded from coin shows to doing hotel buys of gold and silver scrap as well as coins....those were the days....gold $800.00 silver $25.00....there were lines of people selling their family heirlooms and grandpa's old gold teeth....that was fun times....................................

In 1981 I decided to go full time retail...I quit my job,(sold all my silver I had picked out in 1968, at twenty times face I might add) openned up a coin and bullion store and figured I would retire in 5 years....actually good things came to an abrupt end and I retired at the end of 1998.

At the time I openned my store gold was six hundred and change and silver was twelveish....that turned out to be the highest I saw in my retail time. CONTINUED

[Bullionaire]

I hope I can contribute a little bit here, I could write a book about coins, coin dealers, gold, silver, platinum, paladium and the many experiences both good and bad....it was quite a ride, hope to see those days again....just am concerned that" Uncle Sugar " (Government) may never let it happen....best to all.......and......GO METALS GO !!!!!!!

[hoarder]

Bullionaire,

Welcome to GIM.

"....I think they thought I was crazy...keep in mind news did not travel that quickly in the sixties."

Information about monetary matters didn't travel much at all....before the internet. The fog is now beginning to lift.

[IrishGold]

Hey Bullionaire, Welcome to GIM!
Brown Water Navy huh? Hooboy, could those boys stitch up the jungles edge!

We are fortunate to have you come aboard now. Our Founding Member, Silver Streak was a bullion dealer in the 80's also. He has just gone through heart surgery and is hopefully recuperating.

You will find a lot of questions to field here, so you will probably be pretty busy!
Once again, welcome to GIM!

[Goldhedge]

Bullionaire,

Welcome to GIM.

"....I think they thought I was crazy...keep in mind news did not travel that quickly in the sixties."

Information about monetary matters didn't travel much at all....before the internet. The fog is now beginning to lift.

How true, the fog is beginning to lift for the fraud that has been perpitrated upon our tradtional values. Income taxes, monetary manipulation, lies and deceit from government all starting to unravel. Unfortunately, I think they saw this coming and made sure there was a darn good reason to pass that anti-Patriot Act which guts any freedoms we may attempt to enforce.

Welcome Bullionaire, I think you'll find this to be the best site on the net. Many veiwpoints from self educated individuals. You couldn't buy this kind of education these days. :wavey:

[gpond]

Bullionaire,

Welcome, indeed! In 1980 I, as a wee lad of 20, worked for a fly-by-night company as a junk gold/silver buyer.

The scene was just as you described. Folks were lined up with their old class rings, silverware, etc. The newspapers had multiple ads for companies buying gold/silver. It was a cool job because we were selling cash at I time when many folks needed some.

I thank my lucky stars that I had that job. Otherwise it is very unlikely that I would have found my way here some 23 years later. I just wouldn't have "gotten" it.

[IrishGold]

Will gpond, at farty-tree yer stile jist a wee laddie

[gpond]

IrishGold,

I just had a birthday, so really 44 now and staring down 45 next year. Yeah, I'm a young-un. That's what I keep telling myself. Over and over. Yep.

[IrishGold]

IrishGold,

I just had a birthday, so really 44 now and staring down 45 next year. Yeah, I'm a young-un. That's what I keep telling myself. Over and over. Yep.Dang it, did we miss yer birthday gpond? I don't remember it, so we must have forgot!
Therefore:
Belated Happy Birthday!:cake:

[gpond]

Dang it, did we miss yer birthday gpond? I don't remember it, so we must have forgot!
Therefore:
Belated Happy Birthday!:cake:Thanks IrishGold.
Tis true that it was upon the 4th of December and everyone but Tachyon Flare did miss it. So I ate worms and then went on with my wife. I mean life.

[G-khan]

Thanks IrishGold.
Tis true that it was upon the 4th of December and everyone but Tachyon Flare did miss it. So I ate worms and then went on with my wife. I mean life.
I thought I sent you a well wishing - or my old age is getting to my memory.... Never know what I remember anymore!

:party: :birthday: :getdown:

[gpond]

It matters not. And I appreciate it. But I did not receive it. Worms aren't really that bad anyway. And I have a full wife. I mean life.

PS. Anyway I only put it in my profile on that very day, and removed it the next. :stickyman

[G-khan]

It matters not. And I appreciate it. But I did not receive it. Worms aren't really that bad anyway. And I have a full wife. I mean life.
Sorry gpond - happy birthday.... :coolbeer:

[IrishGold]

Okay..... from this, we have learned something!
"What?" You ask.
We have learned we need to have our little b-day reminder at the bottom of more pages than just the home page. I NEVER go there! I shouldn't say "never", cause I think I did accidently once, and it just happened to be on helpful_monkey's birthday.
G-khan can we do this? gpond, can we do this? who else can I ask? Or better yet, who else could I order to do this?

[90%RealMoney]

Okay..... from this, we have learned something!
"What?" You ask.
We have learned we need to have our little b-day reminder at the bottom of more pages than just the home page. I NEVER go there! I shouldn't say "never", cause I think I did accidently once, and it just happened to be on helpful_monkey's birthday.
G-khan can we do this? gpond, can we do this? who else can I ask? Or better yet, who else could I order to do this?
Irish, better send the Black Ops guy in to take care of it. You know, that pink guy!

[G-khan]

Okay..... from this, we have learned something!
"What?" You ask.
We have learned we need to have our little b-day reminder at the bottom of more pages than just the home page. I NEVER go there! I shouldn't say "never", cause I think I did accidently once, and it just happened to be on helpful_monkey's birthday.
G-khan can we do this? gpond, can we do this? who else can I ask? Or better yet, who else could I order to do this?
Our calendar will be very cool and have this and I will see if I can hack something for birthdays to appear on top...

Just for you Irish - see how nice I am to you...:banana:

[G-khan]

Irish, better send the Black Ops guy in to take care of it. You know, that pink guy!
Stay out of this.............. :boxing:

[IrishGold]

Uh Oh, Tedd don't like to be called a guy...She's a girl, errr a gal, errrr a broad. Oh dang it she's a she!

[IrishGold]

Stay out of this.............. :boxing: ............................................G-khan..90%

[Uncle]

It matters not. And I appreciate it. But I did not receive it. Worms aren't really that bad anyway. And I have a full wife. I mean life.

PS. Anyway I only put it in my profile on that very day, and removed it the next. :stickyman

Sneaky bugger :argh:

Hope you had a good one :party:

I'll leave you now to get on with your life....I mean wife :D

Golden Regards
Uncle

[Silverity]

Hi Bullionaire,

What I would like to know from an investment point of view is how much below spot was silverware going for and how did bullion items do when brought to the dealers?

Thanks,

Silverity.

[Bullionaire]

Hello Silvercity.....I am sure as to what time frame you are referring to...I assume you are referring to the high flying days of the late 1970's. Let me preface this.....silver ingots were actually a rare thing,most silver bullion 1oz 10oz 100oz was actually a demand product created by the boom and bust cycle of 1979 and 1980....few companies made silver bars prior to that and they were "art bars" sold in coin publications. Silver
bars were being produced in investment sizes in bulk 1981-1982.

Most of what I purchased at my hotel buys (I did not open retail store till 1981) was Franklin Mint silver....these were .925 sterling. We purchased a lot of silver coinage both .900 and .400. There was a lot of sterling flatware and related.

I do not remember specific prices at this point ( 25 years later ) but I can tell you this....sterling was melted indiscrimanently at those prices
$25.00 and up, it did not matter if it was Tiffany, Grand Baroque,Francis 1st or junk no name, it ended up in the melting pot....what did happen, is this, the prices became erratic and the refineries were backed-up.
At this point even though silver was going up, the refineries(end users)
started paying less.....I think there was so much in the pipeline they were afraid of getting stuck holding the bag if prices collapsed. CONTINUED

[Bullionaire]

Later when I openned my doors.the silver price was around $12.00 an ounce, I believe....at this point the public, after seeing silver up to 48.00 on the news, became net BUYERS and the industry was born.My personal feelings on silver are this....it could be a good investment vehicle. Lots of people buy it for "survival money" I think this is a good thing also....I am no longer in the prediction business; however I think silver is really cheap now....my fear is that if silver goes up to say $12.00-$15.00 an ounce, there is a whole generation of people 60 years old plus that have been buying silver as low as 3.50 an ounce (early 1990's) that will divest their holdings and unless the demand is there,curtail any huge price increase. When it was that cheap it was not uncommon to sell thousands of ounces at a time..there is a lot of 3.50-4.00 silver out there, believe me....


When silver dropped from 25.00+ silverware patterns mattered and Tiffany Grand Baroque, Francis 1st, became premium items again;and we bullion dealers educated ourselves to this fact..

Hope this helped and I did not ramble too much....

[AgAuGal]

Later when I openned my doors.the silver price was around $12.00 an ounce, I believe....at this point the public, after seeing silver up to 48.00 on the news, became net BUYERS and the industry was born.My personal feelings on silver are this....it could be a good investment vehicle. Lots of people buy it for "survival money" I think this is a good thing also....I am no longer in the prediction business; however I think silver is really cheap now....my fear is that if silver goes up to say $12.00-$15.00 an ounce, there is a whole generation of people 60 years old plus that have been buying silver as low as 3.50 an ounce (early 1990's) that will divest their holdings and unless the demand is there,curtail any huge price increase. When it was that cheap it was not uncommon to sell thousands of ounces at a time..there is a lot of 3.50-4.00 silver out there, believe me....


When silver dropped from 25.00+ silverware patterns mattered and Tiffany Grand Baroque, Francis 1st, became premium items again;and we bullion dealers educated ourselves to this fact..

Hope this helped and I did not ramble too much....

Wanted to get my formal (such that it is) howdy and welcome to you Bullionaire. I wondered about what would happen if a glut of silver came to the market like the times you described. There are people that are predicting $50 - $200 silver prices this bull market. But if there is a bunch of it around when (notice I said when) we hit $20, those folks that have been suffering, I mean holding $3-$5 silver for 20 years are going to rush to sell I think. That I would expect would cap these lofty high rise epectations plus I don't think there are as many refiners around anymore to take the stuff. I don't even know where the closest refiner is to me. Would not know how to look one up in the yellow pages if my life depended on it. Looking forward to your input.

[Bullionaire]

Howdy back to you....nice to see the fairer sex interested in the metals...very good question....I think once the Chinese people come on board...they are gaining affluence fast....I was in Bejing, Shanghai, and Xian last year on vacation, you have both extremes abject poverty (saw people living in caves near Xian, with bare lite bulb) to the bright lites of Shanghai with a town square that reminded me of downtown New York..with all its fine high end stores...Looking at everything for sale in this country, it is made in China, been to Walmart lately???

I see the Chinese people, given the chance to purchase, which has to happen sooner or later, becoming purchasers of precious metals...

The biggest threat to precious metals is governments and dis-information.
they can produce paper money out of thin air....a hundred dollar bill uses as much paper and ink as a one dollar note...

So much non-taxable money was made in the late 1970's and early 1980's (cash transactions) I do not see them letting it happen as un-controlled again........as a matter of fact cashless society is probably less than 20 years away...the computer age is both good and bad.......

[Bobcat]

Howdy Bullionaire, Its good to have someone of your experience join the other veterans (i'm not one of them) at this fine, one of a kind forum.

What is your preference in silver...90% bags or 99.9 rounds/bars or other?

[90%RealMoney]

I know there could be a lot of people eager to sell in a run up, but with the internet now, people are more savvy than ever. Given what happened in the equities markets in '99- 2000, can you imagine all of those same people rushing to buy PM's? I think there are way more potential investors out there, than there are sellers. I could be wrong, but I don't think we've seen anything yet, as to what will happen when J6P figures things out. There's alot more sheep out there, than there are wise old owls! Comments?

[Silverity]

Bullionaire,

Yes, I was thinking of the late 70s. Thanks for your insights, memories and wisdom on that period.

Silverity.