[@Mod: plz move to Economics sub-forum thx, Keith ] So silver tanked today--went from 17 down to 12. I called my favorite silver dealer, and he's totally sold out of silver and gold eagles; he won't have any for a month and a half. What gives?? Based on the laws of supply and demand, if there's massive demand for metals, the price should go up, right? I think that Adam Smith just rolled over in his grave.
You are talking retail coins vs. industrial usage for silver. Business is collapsing which results in less demand for silver.
Ooh ok... prices between investment-grade silver (coins, bars, etc.) is diverging from the London spot price.
%% Ive been selling some silver coins , past 52 months. Silver coins are fun, especially dated 1929-33,1934,2009-1999...…...I sold most of mine mainly 'cause I may make more with ETFs. One dealer bought some metal knives from me+ told me some time ago- '' cant give you much, price dropped 2or 3%.'' I told him thanks anyway; its still in a long term uptrend =so no sale on that silver. Still have a few with face value cost; liberty dime for example says ''one dime [10 cents]''LOL/true Unless you have colorful paper charts on stocks/ETFs; silver coins are fun + more real. And it was real fun to tell that dealer , polite ,no thanks on your too low silver price=its still in a long term uptrend .
%% Silver dealers prices vary much more- than a bid /ask price of SDOW/TZA or QQQ/UPRO . I've seen the silver/gold dealers do ads, paying more than any spot silver price than I ever saw...………………………………………………………………………………………………………….[NOT saying where that is] One pays a premium for quarters; another silver dealer pays less for sliver quarters. I bought some silver coins once + paid the dealer in uncirculated bank dollar coins- I could tell he enjoyed that!!!!!! I also paid up X5,LOL for some 1900+ US nickels-may never sell them-still enjoying them-not silver@all
Here is the problem with doing Silver Eagles. When the spot price was $14.69 I called Silver Eagle Pawn near me for a quote on an ordinary Silver Eagle. They wanted $3 over spot. Perhaps I could have bargained but ... I am not sure what the price would have been had I bought and then tried to sell back but suspect it would be less than spot. Spread is way too wide. I know everyone has to eat but I don't feed pigs.
...also, the metal dealers are finicky about buying and selling. There's no NBBO for coin shops; they don't HAVE to buy or sell. Example: I checked with several coin dealers re: silver eagles, and the message is the same: sold out, nothing for a month and half. They might have stacks of them in the safe, but they don't want to take a big loss on the price swing, so they'll just hold and wait it out. -_-
At the heart of the problem is the US Mint. They have all this exotic stuff - proof and uncirculated and ... I could not find a price for a plain Silver Dollar. It is hard to give a price when the price of spot is constantly changing but hire someone with a college degree and come up with a better way to price an ordinary US Silver Dollar where an ordinary citizen does not get screwed. The US Mint should not be a for profit institution.
Looks like silver eagles are selling on ebay for $22-$26 per oz. https://www.ebay.com/sch/Bullion/39...0&_fosrp=1&_nkw=1+oz+silver+eagle+coin&_sop=1 Massive spread between London silver spot and street metal prices. To my point, this creates a supply-side limitation. Even with demand unchanged, prices _should_ go up; with the demand increase from CV, they should spike up... NOT DOWN!
%% I still have my silver charts. Some old trend silver quarters sell for $500,000; GA gold private issue $5.00about the same/gainsville GA. That's the fun with that market; Chicago doesnt control that much. Its not in my budget now ,but just to show what supply + demand can do...………………………………………………………………………….