Hi Mule Skinner,

I have had a good experience with SilverGoldBull online; good customer service and fast (and discrete) shipping.

I don't think there is a special strategy between gold and silver. It's obviously much easier to get started by investing silver due to its lesser cost. $400 will get you about 20x1Oz silver coins or a tiny 1/4Oz gold coin. I do have a mix of both though in a mix of roughly 2:1 silver:gold.

As a consideration, there is a better potential to use silver coins as currency in a true TEOTWAWKI situation (like a day's worth of work = 1 Oz of silver and go from there for bartering) whereas gold is too much of a denomination, kind of like walking into a convenience store with $100 bills in your wallet to buy a pack of gum. Finally, there is a matter of storage. You're less likely to loose a tube of 20 coins in the house, yet you can stash them - a few thousand $ worth - around the house for theft deterrence. A few thousand dollars translate into 1 (or a few very small) gold coins that can get very expensively misplaced.

Many purchase the easily recognizable Silver Maple Leafs from the Canadian Mint, but Sunshine State Mint makes nice rounds that are usually the best deal to get started. While an amateur numismatic hobbyist may not give you much for a Sunshine "coin", any gold/silver exchange stores will recognize it as 1 Oz of fine silver and would give you cash based on their trading cost off spot price; you just don't pay extra upfront for extra coinage. A mix of both may work well too.

Good luck!

Its early in the morning but here is my 2 cents.
In an AWOL setting silver and gold will be worth something but not as much a food.
That being said silver is very heavy , ( 100 ounces of silver) for example a guard at a check point might not want it, but a gold coin might make him look the other way.
For investment, today silver is way under valued.

silver and gold have historically kept there value for at least thousands of years. my input:
purchase 1 troy ounce coins stamped by the canadian mint. you can google local coin shops and drop by to see what they have. I purchase silver and to a lesser extent gold. I also purchase 1 gram bars of silver and gold for smaller denominations.

http://www.colonialacres.com/category/395/silver-gold-and-copper-bullion

Shop around as prices can vary. I can tell you that most likely the bank is the most expensive place to buy them. this isnt the only place in my area, but ive used colonial coins with good success. usually the least expensive....but not always.

just a note, for preparedness purpose the silver of gold coins that have been circulated I dont pay the extra for commemorative or such coins. just interested in the. 9999 purity, the weight of 1 troy oz. and that it has been stamped by a government mint.

if your looking for actual investment coins today. check out the royal canadian mint and local coin stores but these coins will have been double stamped, encased in plastic so that human hands have never touched them, etc. that market is...... interesting. lol guaranteed profit....but it can be quick or long term depending on the coin, the run, etc.

I would just get the cheapest 1oz coins you can from a local supplier. Shipping insurance is expensive.
Bullion coins or even junk silver. Eagles, Maple Leafs, Australian or whatever.
Banks and the Mint are expensive. Try to find a bullion dealer of some sort, coin shop maybe?

Hwy 2 in Bowmanville has a new shop called precious metals. They deal in, obviously, precious metals. They are located just west of Liberty on the south side of the road.

I was speaking with them about 3 weeks ago and I would buy from them before the bank again in a heart beat. No charges for "brinks" delivery like the banks charge, which is 25$ on top of the banking fee of 5$ and then the conversion into U.S. funds in order to purchase the metal.

They sell coins as well.

im sure there are other shops around ontario.

Watch your change. Canadian dimes before 1968 are silver. I have a few saved that I found while going through my change.

Our Canadian Mint has some of the best silver coins in the world, 99.99% pure fine silver. They have coins for straight trade value $20.00 paper money for $20.00 silver coins, they also have $50.00 for $50.00 & some other amounts. If you buy thru Canada Post shipping is free & sometimes free shipping thru the mint itself. I've been collecting them for a little while 🙂 go to their website and have a look.

for TSHTF I recommend saving some cash to purchase 2-4 1 oz gold coins over a period of time....however they should be recognizable USA coins or the maple leaf coins.

likewise for silver I buy 1/2 dollar usa coins from a pawn shop , standing liberty, liberty bell or kennedy will do.
they are 90% silver good for barter

I don't keep too many on myself but I do keep there at various locations ....so your eggs are not all in one place.

I'm not convinced that coin or pawn shops are the best place to buy precious metals as they a are usually specialized in collector metals which come with a higher premium.

Same thing with mint based coins vs rounds or bars. They offer the advantage of being easily recognizable but also come at a higher premium.

I came across a good (and free) brochure on investing in precious metals at JMBullion's website, if you are interested in finding out more.

The big question is where to put money ??????
I don't want to leave it in the bank !!!!!
As a bachelor I have all the preps I could ever hope to protect or move by my self.
I have a good store of trade able caches ( ammo medical food survival gear )
It is no good investing in land at Canadian prices right now I believe the real estate market is set to collapse just like the fuel price and take a lot of home owners with it
So I am trying to figure where to put money so it is safe in hand and keep a zero bank balance cause if the land prices fall the banks won't be far behind. IHMO

The big question is where to put money ??????
I don't want to leave it in the bank !!!!!
As a bachelor I have all the preps I could ever hope to protect or move by my self.
I have a good store of trade able caches ( ammo medical food survival gear )
It is no good investing in land at Canadian prices right now I believe the real estate market is set to collapse just like the fuel price and take a lot of home owners with it
So I am trying to figure where to put money so it is safe in hand and keep a zero bank balance cause if the land prices fall the banks won't be far behind. IHMO

Though I dont share your belief in the housing market or the banks, I do ask that very same question you do "Where do I put my money." My humble opinion...diversify. And the OP on purchasing gold/silver is a great idea as part of the bigger plan. Again, I wouldnt put all my eggs in one basket, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with stocking up on precious metals. Historically...for thousands of years...they've held value. So if your a gambling man...precious metals is a great place to build your "portfolio." Heck even in economic recessions everyone retreats back to gold, precious metals and commodoties as the "safe haven" to weather out the tough times. 🙂

The only reason I recommend purchasing 1troy oz. coins is that people can see them. See they are stamped by a mint. (Canadian, or otherwise) see the purity on them. So if you consider a collapse of an economic system...these coins...whether worth more or less than they are now...will "probably" have a value to them. Trading in something like bars, ingets (lol), etc. may be to big to barter or trade with and whether they can be verified is another concern. But a recognized denomination of gold or silver (or frankly there are other metals out there too.) "may" carry some weight.

Helicopter makes a good point though. We pay a premium for these 1 oz. coins. Simply because they are stamped and provided by the government mint. But without that stamp on those coins...someone bartering with you may not accept them as readily. I understand that older coins like nickels, quarters, pennies may originally have contained copper, nickle, silver, etc. But in a barter situation...is someone going to trust your word on that a 1960 something coin has that metal in it...or if they see a solid 1 oz. silver coin stamped by a recognized mint they are going to be more apt to trade for something like that.

My personal opinion...and thats all it is...is to keep it simple. I purchase 1 oz coins in silver, and gold. circulated ones, not the fancy double stamped ones to keep for future use. You buy a couple silver coins a week heck you dont even notice the cost. I think Jack Spirko (from survivalpodcast) actually accepts 1 oz. silver coins for annual membership if your into that kinda thing. 🙂

Shop around though. Different stores in different towns can be cheaper or more expensive and the costs of the coins themselves fluctuate as the market does depending on whether silver or gold is up or down. Right now is a great time to buy them as there is a bit of a lull in precious metals. The banks are always more to purchase from though and at least in my area rarely have them in stock. Thats why I always check out coin shops.

This is a great topic.

The big question is where to put money ??????
I don't want to leave it in the bank !!!!!
So I am trying to figure where to put money so it is safe in hand and keep a zero bank balance cause if the land prices fall the banks won't be far behind. IHMO

Mule Skinner,

I think TCO provided a good answer and beat me to saying "diversify". Having some money in the bank is somewhat of a necessary evil in our society. If you apply for credit (mortgage or car loan for example), they won't really care about how much you have stashed under your mattress, how much .22 ammo you have for barter or how much precious metal you have on hand. Conversely, at this time, unless you have a solid network of folks that accept barter, having money in the bank really helps buying a new fridge when yours die or to pay for car repairs. Keeping cash at home is a good idea (a must IMHO) but one can only keep so much before it becomes a considerable risk to losing too much to thieves or to a fire.

I suppose another option is to leave a small fireproof safe at a friend/relative of yours so that you don't have all your stuff in that proverbial same basket.

Buy bonds, mutual funds, etc etc etc so there is diversity. I'm not thrilled with having money in the "cyber space" by buying those, but if the whole system crashes, I think the world will have bigger issues than my losing my savings.