The US government is now irrevocably on the path to deflation followed by inflation and eventually hyperinflation. In all cases in the last few hundred years, countries facing hyperinflation have fallen back on gold and silver coins as islands of stability in a chaotic sea of worthless paper fiat money. However, with a confusing variety of silver coins and rounds available and limited funds with which to purchase them, we need to look at the core determining factor in the American people. The Idiot Factor.
The average American is just not the brightest bulb in the world's lamps. Their limited intellects can grasp new knowledge only very slowly. Ask any marketing guy why commercials aren't more sophisticated and he'll tell you the same thing P.T. Barnum famously uttered, "No one ever lost money in the US by underestimating American intelligence".
With all this in mind, let's envision the aftermath of a US Dollar collapse. History tells us that Argentina, Yugoslavia, Weimar Germany, Iceland and many other countries quickly began to use old silver and gold coins very quickly. Immediately below please find my version of an effective sign advertising a merchants acceptance of US 90% silver coins:
US Silver Coins Accepted at this Store!
All US dimes, quarters, halves, and silver dollars dated 1964 & prior
and
US Mint Silver Eagles all years gladly accepted
Pretty easy to understand sign, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunately, other silver and gold being collected right now will only serve to confuse trading partners and possibly lead to violent misunderstandings. Let's check out my somewhat tongue-in-cheek sign below as a comparison:
Silver Coins Accepted at this store!
All US dimes, quarters, halves, silver dollars dated 1964 & prior
and
US Mint Silver Eagles all years gladly accepted
and and
Kennedy halves dated1965-1970 (but nothing after) unless your talking about some proof coins issued that do have some silver - but not all do.
and and and
War Nickels dated 1942-1945. But the 1942 ones have to have a large mint mark on the reverse above Monticello or forget it!
and and and and
Some older Canadian coins have silver, but we don't have a clue which ones - so who knows?
and and and and and
There are these things called silver rounds. They're minted by a large number of private companies and there are hundreds of versions with a wide variety of images on the obverse/reverse. I even saw ones once with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny on them! The guys from Pawn Stars have one for sale with the Old Man's picture on it. They all usually claim to have one pure ounce of silver, but what if they're lying? So your guess is as good as ours as to what they're worth...if anything!
and and and and and and
There are Chinese Panda silver coins too! They are minted by China and are very pretty. Unfortunately, numerous Chinese counterfeiters have made excellent copies that only an expert can readily identify...so don't bring them here! Oh, and don't get me started on Mexican coinage! How are my employees supposed to read Spanish writing when they have a hard enough time understanding English! Please, it makes my poor gringo head spin!
Now tell me honestly. Which sign do you believe will be more effective? Your answer should dictate your silver buying choices.
Rick
