Collecting worthless crap? 16 reasons for collecting silver instead!

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2 years ago

Lead image: old cameras as a collectible items, photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash

People all around collecting something but is it a good thing?

Short story first

A few years ago a family friend passed away at the age of 92. His name was Vladimir K. After some time of mourning his wife and family contacted me asking for help and ideas what to do with Vlado’s collections. I knew about those collections from before because he told me about it a long time ago while in good health.

Basically, those people moved to Toronto about 55 years ago. He worked a whole his life as a construction engineer for Ontario Hydro. He had a good position and was well paid. Madam was a chemical engineer and worked at a Toronto university. Also well paid.

They weren’t rich but money was never an issue. So quite early they decided to invest money into the stock market. They did and over decades it served them well. But Vlado was passionate about some other things and he split his investments funds into almost 3 equal amounts. We are talking about tens of thousands of then dollars spent. To put things into some perspective, at that time their 4 bedroom house cost was about $12k (I know!?).

So what was he buying for next 15–20 years? I rather not say but I have to blurt it out: postage stamps and coins! Thousands of postage stamps neatly aligned up in albums and paper baggies. And also coins of all kinds, not really silver or gold ones but regular editions that people carried in their pockets at the time. That was his thing.

Him coming from Eastern Europe it was not a total surprise to me. Those kind of collections were kind of common for the era and place he came from. People collected badges, books, beer coasters and what not.

While alive and well we were discussing stocks many times and he told me:

“I wish I was buying stocks instead of postage stamps and coins. Simple, no brainer things, like Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson or General Electric”.

He said if he did, they would have been millionaires at the age of retirement. But he didn’t. He told me that he thought that postage stamps and coins will worth increasingly more as time passes by. He was subscribed to magazines and showed me rare stamps that

sold for millions. I was nodding and admitting that I don’t really get it.

I admitted not getting many things, like art, jewelry expensive paintings, but again that’s me. He was just grinning at me probably thinking “A poor fool”.

So what happened, in the end?

His grandchildren tried to sell his collections. Very quickly postage stamps ended up in a dumpster. Nobody wanted them at any rate.

Then they took a plastic box full of coins to the biggest coin shop in Toronto. A guy there cherry-picked a handful of coins there were silver and paid the few hundred dollars for those. Again trip to the dumpster and box with rest was gone. Tens of thousands of dollars spent and almost life long effort could be condensed into short advice:

Please don’t collect a worthless crap!

Those were collections meant to be investments as well. Only kids collect game cards or postcards as a pure hobby for the heck of it. Everybody else collects things to build some kind of future value. Maybe not to get rich but pull solid profit one day out of it.

Plastic cars as a collectible items (?), photo by Alev Takil on Unsplash

People collect all kind of things: beanie babies, baseball hats, baseball balls, glass shots, beer caps, beer coasters, wine bottles, postcards, keychains, and bottles, rocks, cuckoo clocks, cell phones, running shoes, jerseys, sports cards, snow globes, small metal soldiers, crystal clusters, watches, books, cigars, seashells, bars of soap, paperweights, comic books, drinking glasses, sunglasses, coffee mugs, Matchbox cars, Star Trek figures, GI Joe, Barbie dolls … and many, many other things.

Again, in my mind, at danger of somebody grabbing me by the throat, I’ll go out on the limb and say that 98% of that is simply a worthless crap! It should not be mixed with large items like classic cars or paintings from a known artist. Collectors buying those have a lot of money to blow and it is more like a business for them rather than a hobby.

I wouldn’t have been if there are no expectations to sell it one day for a lot of money. If it is just a hobby then it’s fine. If you are collecting coasters from all beer bars you have ever been. It costs nothing to do it, no big aggravation to do it and worst it can happen is when you are moving your collection will end up in recycling bin. No harm is done.

I would be very reluctant to collect even objects that are collectible by design. Like baseball player’s cards.

Valuable collectibles or nicely painted junk? Photo by Vanessa Bucceri on Unsplash

Collecting wrong things creates big financial, space and psychological burden. In the beginning, it’s nothing, just a few pieces of whatever. As collector starts adding pieces amount of money spent goes up creating the illusion of the future value being build up. Space becomes a problem. Cards are easy to store but anything else, even like model cars (Matchbox) start taking space rapidly. Then it goes into boxes, basement, attic, garage … wherever.

Another example of people collecting wrong things

On “Pawn Stars” TV show I saw a guy from Las Vegas who was purchasing running shoes for years! Every model that Nike made, in a single size (11" I think).

Everybody knows that running shoes are not exactly cheap so it strained his regular life and spending. Obviously soon enough collection became a size burden and he ended up renting warehouse space and buying a whole bunch of steel mesh shelves. He didn’t just stash individual shoe boxes on top of each other but rather spread them around with one shoe in front of the box as a display.

“Pawn Stars” guy walked through, heard a price which was if I remember correctly about $30000 — $40000 and laughed it off. He said like: “What a hell I will do with all those shoes? Who will buy them? What are the chances that somebody wants that specific size? It will take me 20 years to sell them all piecemeal.”

So he left on a double. His jobs are collectibles but that was ridiculous even in his opinion. He left a collector confused and with recurring billing for warehousing that junk.

He never said if collecting running shoes was his bright idea or somebody suggested it but he sure as hell jumped in head first. The fact that he likes a game of basketball and knows all players by name didn’t help him at all. It actually confirmed an old saying:

“Soon fool and his money are parted!”.

Collections are hard to collect and even harder to sell

If you are collecting silk ties you would have probably hundreds of ties in all colors and color patterns. Nobody will buy a complete collection.

The money would be in the fact that individual ties could be sold for more money than as a whole collection with a low average price per unit. But who the hell has that kind of time and patience to advertise and sell everything piece by piece? I don’t and 99.99% of people sure do not as well.

Breaking up a collection and selling it in pieces certainly kills the general idea of the collection. After selling some of the best pieces the owner will likely end up with the rest as a dead weight. Nobody will buy those pieces and they will inevitably end up in the garbage.

Enough ranting, I think you completely understand what I am talking about.

So what is the solution?

I wouldn’t be starting this article just to bash collecting crap if I didn’t have a solution in mind.

Here is a suggestion: if you want to collect something really good, collect silver coins!

Collection of assorted 1 ounce silver coins. From top left to bottom right: US Eagle, Barbados Trident, Australian Kangoroo, UK Britannia, Canada Maple Leaf, Cayman Marlin, South Africa Krugerrand

Before we start

First of all, let’s explain one simple difference between coins and rounds. The same rule applies to gold and silver ones.

Besides pure weight and purity coin will have embossed value in currency and round will not. So for example, 1-ounce silver coin face will say something like $10 or 10 Peso while round will not say that. For the collector that fact means really nothing much. Weight and pureness are really all that matters. That will be explained more below. Coins are the common name for those pieces so we’ll call everything coins but again same applies to rounds.

How is collecting silver coins great in 16 points or less?

  1. Why silver and not gold coins?

By all means, go for gold however be aware that concentration of value is about 80 times higher. Expect to pay about $1300 for a single gold coin while silver coin may cost around $16 only.

Oooops! That was in time of initial writing. Today same coin costs more than $1830 (official spot price of 1 oz. of gold) and in reality you can't find it for less than $1900!

Beautiful 1 oz. US Gold Eagle

2. Silver coins are beautiful!

Beautiful is an understatement. It is a work of true art. A special artists work on the creation of silver coins. Just look at a design. It is a small picture of animal, or symbol, or person or state coat of arms embedded forever in a silver coin. 2 sides of it. 2 pieces of art to admire too.

Nice Australian 1 oz. Silver Kangoroo

3. Silver coin feels good

Buy one 1 ounce coin. Hold it in your palm. Does that feel good or what? It feels great! It feels substantial. It feels valuable. Nobody needs to explain to you that. Silver IS valuable. How plastic toy feels in hand or collectible card? Right, like nothing or next to nothing it actually is.

4. Silver coins have numismatic value

While there is nothing wrong in collecting silver bars collector generally opt for coins. Bars are pretty much flat, smooth chunks of metal with some insignia. Coins have an intricate art embossed in. 2 sides of the coin are physically small but art minted there may be astonishing.

Beautiful Cayman Islands 1 oz. Silver Marlin

At the moment of this writing spot price of 1 ounce of silver is $14.60. Yeah ritht! It is actually about $28.00.

Thanks for that numismatic value added to the base intrinsic (weight) value coins fetch more. A quick glance at offerings produced pricing ranging from $32 to $100 for single 1 oz. silver coin.

5. Coins have intrinsic value

Take a look at sports player cards or plastic action figure or something in that line. Every man and his dog will realize that those things do not have any value.

How much does it cost to print a small piece of thin cardboard? It is mere cents! Well, an oiled printing press in China can make probably a million cards a day and they will sell to tens of thousands of kids or adult kids for real money.

Gorgeous Barbados 1 oz. Silver Trident

It is self-evident that the value of those objects is very, very subjective and it is inflated beyond any reasonable proportions.

Opposite to that the silver coin has a weight of precious metal as a base value. That value can never diminish. It is always there. True value can easily be checked by looking at precious metals spot price that is usually expressed as a currency value per 1 ounce. It represents the minimum price your pieces can fetch if sold.

6. Collecting silver coins makes a collection and investment

Collecting anything else may be like throwing shit at the barn door and see if it will stick. While collecting silver coins is a guaranteed investment. Never forget that silver was an everyday method of payment representing perfect money.

Beautiful South African 1 oz. Silver Krugerrand

7. Bits and pieces still have the same value as a full piece

This comes from intrinsic value. If you crush or cut your other collectible piece you will immediately render it worthless. Trip to garbage can is the only recourse of action you can do. For example, cutting collectible baseball bat into 2–3 pieces makes it good for firewood only.

Nobody in the right mind would go and cut silver coin in half or little chunks. Still, if you did it you would ruin the appearance of the coin, but the value of little chunks would still be fully preserved! Silver is a basic earth element. It is a precious metal and value of silver is in every, even the smallest bit.

Even silver dust is valuable. It is not uncommon to melt silver and shape it into something else. Jewelers do that every day. They buy scrap gold and silver, melt it and make rings, bracelets or whatever will sell.

Austrian 1 oz. Silver Philharmonic coin looking great

8. I have a piece of "news" for you: coins are indestructible!

Not only paper cards could worth today $5 and tomorrow nothing they can also be burned into the crisp. Matchbox car can be crushed. China tea cup shuttered.

Almost all collectibles must be cared for, stored in a special way. A worn edge, a barely visible crease ruins the value of a collectible item. Just watch “Pawn Stars” and you will learn quickly how collectibles are appraised.

A scratch can easily disqualify it and get your expensive item totally rejected. Many collectibles simply can’t survive the test of time.

The silver coin is literally indestructible! Gold the same thing! You think I am full of it?

Hundreds of kilos of the silver bars recovered from the bottom of the sea — Key West

Remember Spanish ships found around Key West with many silver and gold pieces spread over the sea floor? I am happy to report that all that value was sitting on the sea bed for 3–4 hundred years. It was recovered and didn’t lose any of the initial luster! Gold and silver don’t rust! They are not called precious metals for nothing.

Absolutely beautiful pot made of 999 pure gold after 400 years sitting in the sea mud — Key West

A whole Titanic weighing 52310 tonnes will completely disintegrate. Half of it is already gone in 100 years, but gold and silver in its vaults will stay intact.

Actually all those coins and bars worth more because of historic value. I dare you to show me any other collectible that could worth anything after 300 years under the sea.

This fine officer protecting treasures above. Look closely at a front wheel bender on his Harley, says “Protecting Paradise”, how appropriate! — Key West

9. You probably didn’t know about this one: silver coins have antibacterial properties

Yes, you heard it right. Silver has verified medicinal properties. It kills bacteria on contact. Heard of colloidal silver? Check it out, may surprise you.

Remember scare when parents learned that children were sucking on toy cars and what not made in China. Not a big deal ... until they found out that the paint used was a lead-based! Collecting and handling little toys painted with harmful chemicals is the last thing you want to do.

On the other hand, sucking on your collection of silver teaspoons is not only totally harmless but may solve your bad throat ache.

I bet you didn't know this. During medieval times, mid last Millennium European countries were decimated by plague. Least amount of deaths where between nobility and doctors were scratching their heads for long time to explain why. Finally key reason was found in silver. Rich people where eating and drinking using silverware. Silver is the only metal that kills bacteria. There you have it. Use silver spoons.

10. Silver coins are perfect for meaningful education

Even a very young collector will get interested to learn more about that particular coin. What will kid learn from glass snowball, or hockey pack or Star Trek plastic space ship? Absolutely nothing. Waste of money, time and effort.

On the other hand with silver coin child can learn about the value of silver. Origins of payments and how it was used as money throughout thousands of years. Who created that particular coin? Which country? What does it represent? What is the value of it? Are there more coins from the same mint? How does silver get to be? Why there are whole countries that hoard precious metals?

Congo’s 1 oz. Silverback gorilla coin

And many more useful things. A child will learn to recognize and appreciate true value.

11. It is easy to start collecting silver coins

It sure is. Price is still very low right now. In a range of $30 dollars for the 1-ounce coin. Sure there are more expensive pieces, like limited editions that cost more. It is up to you to decide what to take.

Start with a single coin. I guarantee you will like it! You will want more. From different countries, various mints.

And buying multiples of the same thing is another advantage of collecting silver coins. With every other collection every piece must be different, but from the same kind. Here, not so much. In essence, value is always the same and overall value of the individual pieces just adds value to the collection.

12. There is no tax!

When you buy any collectibles, regardless if it is a printed cardboard or baseball ball there is always tax to pay. On $1000 dollars spent on something like that, a collector in Canada would pay another $130.00 (13%) in tax. In Florida, it would be like 7% but nevertheless, there is always a tax.

Tax means money wasted! Increases a cost bottom line. You will be happy to know that in the USA and Canada there is no tax on investment-grade silver or gold bullion! Investment grade is 999 or 9999 fine silver or gold. More money left in the pocket to buy real McCoy, right?

13. Your collection of silver coins will live forever!

Not only regular collectibles are just a matter of trend that lasts for a limited time but they will also wear out and become worthless during the time. It is like a short-lived fashion.

Did you ever inherit let’s say a collection of coffee mugs or GI Joe figures? No? I thought so.

On the other hand, silver coins are forever! Figuratively and literally. If not sold they can be inherited over many generations. Actually, there is no time limit for that. In 300 or 800 years it will still be the absolutely the same thing. Same appearance, same weight. Likely will worth an astronomical amount. It will easily outlive everything else one may collect. It is truly forever collectible that will never run out of fashion.

Beautiful UK’s 1 oz. Silver Britannia

14. Silver coins are the perfect present

Next time when giving a present instead of giving something of dubious practical value try silver coins. A person who gets it will be intrigued and compelled to find out more. Adults will likely immediately understand the value and store present with other valuables.

A few words about it will go a long way. 9 out of 10 recipients will appreciate such present and want more.

15. Silver coins represent universal value

You will agree that baseball hat or comic book here and in the foreign country are perceived like night and day. Even two persons sitting side by side will have an interest or no interest at all in value that collectible may represent. It is very, very subjective.

In simple words, the same object is seen appreciated differently in America, Brazil, Congo, Japan, China, Island, Indonesia, Hungary … well, you got the point, right?

If you believe that your collection of hockey packs is great value person in Indonesia would consider it as a utter crap.

You can see where I am going with this. Silver coin will be appreciated and accepted as value ANYWHERE. How would you explain to somebody in India about the value of Barbie and Ken?

With silver, you don’t need to explain anything to anybody. The chances are they will know more about it than you do.

16. When SHTF

In SHTF situations silver coin collection may save your bacon. Not only yours but a whole family existence.

There are articles that say more about that unpleasant situation but rest assured when inflation hits and hyperinflation follows your paper dollars will turn into worthless shit. Merchants will keep boosting prices for everyday goods until they stop.

Trust in paper money will disappear like water in the desert. Only value left standing will be the very same as for last 4–5 thousand years, gold and silver. Coin paid $19 dollars year ago will worth a large amount. You will be able to buy food, gas, shoes or maybe whole properties with it.

Things of past — read in-scripts on top and bottom

And forget about buying silver and gold at that time. There won’t be any to buy. Precious metals dealers will have their shelves cleaned out. Everybody will want silver or gold but it will be late.

Conclusion

If after reading this 16 points why to collect silver didn’t convince you just continue with whatever you are doing. Maybe beanie babies or shot glasses you have on the shelf will look even more appealing.

OR

You could open Internet browser and order your very first silver coin. Something beautiful like this:

Beautiful Congo 1oz Silverback gorilla coin, back side

I hope you enjoyed the article. If you decided to collect silver you will thank me later.

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Comments

I think everybody should buy at least one single silver 1 ounce coin. It doesn't matter which one. They are all very beautiful, see pictures in article. When holding it in the palm of your hand you will FEEL the value and feel empowered. Try it, order on-line, you will not be sorry. Soon it will worth much more than you paid for it today.

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2 years ago

Coin collecting is fascinating, it has to be noted though that trading physical silver and gold is not so easy in all places. Maybe shops that buy - and sell- silver and gold are commonplace in the US but here in Europe such places are more scarce.

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2 years ago