APMEX Silver Maple Leaf sale

[Ron Helwig]

How would they be a threat? Since the LD used FRNs as an exchange medium.

Because they have the ability to replace the use of FRNs. Once you have exchanged into LDs, you no longer need the FRNs (for most purposes).

Shire-hours or the AJ certificates would be a much larger threat. Since both could avoid the use of FRN and US coin, and have serious financial circumnavigation on the 'skimming' done by the IRS barter regulations.

These are not a threat because trust based systems don't scale. Therefore they will never grow to a size where they would be able to replace a significant amount of FRNs.

[John Edward Mercier]

The FRNs aren't replaced. They existed in the accounts of the LD officers and company.
The same way they exist in the Chinese banks before they are reinvested into the global economy.

The only serious threat to the USD is either foreign counterfeiting (North Korea?), which is billions but still not large enough to cause collapse. Or a system that draws from the revenue stream created by the discount rate, and various taxes/tariffs on commerce.

That would be one that is intrastate, would base all hours at minimum wage regardless, and develop amongst small scale sole proprietors.

[Brandon]

Silver's currently up to 11.83, and gold's at 859.30 an 82.60 jump.

[John Edward Mercier]

People are afraid.
The last time we went through a credit deflation this quickly was the late 70s/early 80s.

[margomaps]

I was trying hard to buy a bit more silver (against JEM's advice, I know  ) before the price started jumping again this week.  In the past couple of days silver has already climbed 25% from its recent lows in the $10.50/oz range.  Prior to that there was a 2-month period where the price decreased by about 40% from around $18/oz.

I haven't been in silver long enough (nor have I done the research) to know whether this type of volatility is merely unusual, or if it's a little closer to unprecedented.  All I know is that demand is apparently quite high at the current prices -- even after the rapid 25% jump.  I'm having difficulty finding much silver available from places like APMEX.  At the moment APMEX finally has Silver Eagles in stock again, but at $4.29/oz above spot, which is about a 33% premium.  That doesn't include shipping and handling charges either.  Usually the premium is closer to $2.99/oz, so that should tell us something about the supply and/or demand right now.

[John Edward Mercier]

My advice has to do with the longer term.
The reason is that asset deflation occurs when people sell assets to get liquidity.
It empowers the buyer, and lessens the valuations.

Short term traders that keep their eyes open and have trading accounts could have made money on the way up and down. But one has to be careful as the market during stress moves quickly as you've noticed and doesn't always make perfect sense. Most of the big players will use a hedge derivative that allows them to make money in either direction... as long as the value moves a specific amount.

The next big step is if several money markets 'breach the dollar'... if they do metals and treasuries will make an incredible run upward as people look for safety.

[Ron Helwig]

I just bought the first silver (and copper) for testing the Shire Silver dies. Spot was just under $11. I'm actually hoping it stays low for a while, because it'll probably be at least a couple months before we have any product.

BTW, I asked if they had plenty in stock, and the agent said they had heard there were shortages, but they have plenty in stock.

[margomaps]

I just bought the first silver (and copper) for testing the Shire Silver dies. Spot was just under $11. I'm actually hoping it stays low for a while, because it'll probably be at least a couple months before we have any product.

BTW, I asked if they had plenty in stock, and the agent said they had heard there were shortages, but they have plenty in stock.

Are you guys still planning on using a modified wood splitter to imprint the die onto the raw material?  I'm really curious to see how that's going to turn out.

[Ron Helwig]

Are you guys still planning on using a modified wood splitter to imprint the die onto the raw material?  I'm really curious to see how that's going to turn out.

I tested it the other day with the die set that 'the Ghost of Edward Gove' made, and it looks like it would work. We now need to get the real die set and test it with that. As soon as the die maker gets back to me and we get the order all straightened out, it'll probably be a month or two before we can do that test.