Pocket Change Peculiarities: Fine Silver Ounces
I don't have massive stacks of silver. I do have a few ounces though. I just bought these two silver coins at a local shop the other day and thought I would share them with you.
On the left is an Austrian Philharmonic, and on the right is an American Silver Eagle. Each are .999 fine silver bullion coins weighing one Troy ounce. I had hoped to also buy a Canadian Maple Leaf, but the shop was out of those. Eventually my budget and coin shop inventory will coincide.
Tangent time! Metal weight units get weird fast. Let's be honest, the metric system does have some advantages...
A Troy ounce (≈31.10 grams) is 1/12 of a 5,760 grain Troy pound, while the Avoirdupois ounce (≈28.35 grams) people usually use in US/UK weight measurements are 1/16 of a 7,000 (formerly 6992) grain pound. At least they share the same base unit. A grain is an ancient apothecary unit equal to about 0.065 grams, and is named for the weight of a grain of barley. Of course, barley grains were unlikely to be consistently uniform, but were apparently deemed "good enough."
And now you know!
With that peculiar diversion aside, back to the coins! The backs of the coins, in fact. The reverse of these coins each show a monetary designation. Let's take a look-see...
The Philharmonic is marked as 1.5 Euros, and the Eagle is one dollar! In my previous Pocket Change Peculiarities post about the US Dollar, I left out this latter coin because obviously it doesn't actually circulate for a dollar. As I type this, silver is in the USD $15-16 range. It's almost like our paper money is devalued by inflation, and silver is undervalued compared to where it might be if it were in demand as money... strange...
Government mints are not the only producers of silver coins, although they are usually referred to as rounds or medallions when minted by any other business or organization. Governments claim the word coin for their monopolized legal tender, so private mints and silver dealers use other terms to avoid legal trouble. I have a couple such rounds, one of which calls itself a "silver trade unit." Both weigh one Troy ounce, and these have an interesting tarnish patina. @edthecanadian posted about a lost and found silver round with such a patina, and that inspired this entire post. BLAME HIM, NOT ME!!!
Of course, neither these rounds nor the government-issued coins above are going to turn up in actual pocket change any time soon, but there are communities that use silver for barter, and there is a small possibility that silver rounds and junk silver coins could build an economy in the event of a currency collapse. Nonetheless, future posts in this #PCP series will return to actual oddities of circulated coinage.
Happy stacking, no matter how small your silver stacks!
Sweet silver ramble! I really dig the two trade units you have.
Keep on stackin'.
When I went to Italy, I heard there is a business of some sort were they look for old byzantine, roman, or even greek coins. Funny thing I found some of these coins can give someone enough money to retire for life. But I'm from South Korea I don't live there what do I know
Antique coins can fetch a high price from collectors. In Korea, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that old coins have a market as well.
@jacobtothe I know of people that buy 3 to 400 dollars worth of quarters or half dollars from a bank, they then go through all of them and get the silver ones out then cash the change back in. they get silver and lose no money.
It’s funny that you mentioned that... I used to buy rolls of Morgan and Peace Dollars at the Bank, looking for Carson City Mint Marks... I never found any and kept turning the Silver Dollars back in... These days, I’ve been buying rolls of Clad Dollars, for reasons, only those who know me best, can testify to my reasoning...
@pocketchange my Dad taught me to save silver coins, I don't come across many anymore but once in a while one will show up but it has been a long time. He use to have lots of them but sold when he hit hard times.
That's what Silver and Gold are all about... They are Stores of "Spending Power"... People sell them for "Spending Power" in the Current Monetary Tool... Money is the Tool used to Measure Value...
Why turn in the Morgans and Peace dollars???
Nobody wanted them... People thought they were too heavy...
Bah. 90% silver is always good to have on hand.
We know that now, but Silver Dollars are no longer in Circulation... We don't even use the Billions and Billions of U.S. Clad Dollars... I've been telling everyone to Prepare for a Monetary Reset...
One of my library patrons has a penny squishing machine. He sorts out the new zinc core pennies and keeps the old copper ones for his machine.
@jacobtothe, that is interesting, I have always saved the wheat back pennies.
In the middle of the 1982 penny minting, they switched from 100% copper alloy to a copper clad zinc core. The zinc pennies are easier to squish but tend to show the core as they are crushed
@jacobtothe, why do you want to crush them?
He has his own dies for penny presses like you see at tourist traps, and he collects the souvenir squished pennies from around the country.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elongated_coin
Very nice bullion coins and silver trade units @jacobtothe! All four are beautiful! I love collecting silver trade units too! Congratulations! Stack on, my friend.
I dont have any silver, need to get my hands on some!
I like the U.S. Silver Eagle the best, for reasons obvious to some of my followers...
I like the obverse design on the Silver Eagle, but I am not a fan of the nationalist insignia on the reverse. That just seems schizophrenic. Liberty, except backed by government, which fundamentally operates through trespass against liberty. I feel similarly about the "Mercury" dime with the fasces on the reverse, and would actually prefer something more like the reverse of the current FDR dime. I dislike the deification of dead presidents on coinage.
I think the Philharmonic is a much more beautiful coin in concept and execution overall with the choice to celebrate culture and art.
To be honest, I didn’t start out liking the Reverse Side of the Silver Eagle... That slowed me down from Collecting them... I do have the first year in the Series, because it was a Gift from my Mother... I have many now, because I was a Stacking Fool for many years...
@jacobtothe You have received a 100% upvote from @botreporter because this post did not use any bidbots and you have not used bidbots in the last 30 days!
Upvoting this comment will help keep this service running.
After briefly dabbling in bidbots early on, I decided they weren't any good. Votes without views aren't the point.
Of course, I am typing this in reply to a bot that upvoted me, so make of that what you will, I suppose...