Hello all,
I thought I would take a little time to describe just what I like to stack when it comes to precious metals. I am mainly a silver guy. Gold and more exotic metals like Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium are just to expensive for this regular Joe. I do have a small amount of gold and one gram of Palladium, but I find that silver is a beautiful metal and fits right into my price range most of the time!
I like to stack a little bit of everything across the silver market. Lately, I have been focusing on higher premium items, but this year I will split my budget between bulk wight and delicate beauty with a smattering of gold in there from time to time.
The core of my stack is made up of silver bars. Most of them are poured loaf bars from Atlantis Mint, but I do have some pressed bars to add the initial weight of my collection. They are just as beautiful, but carry a lower premium and there for they simply add ounces to the stack's total.
To me they look like something you would find in a treasure chest, or on the sea floor in the hold of an ancient flagship. I sometimes imagine Fort Knox (a silver version) when I see those chunky blocks of pure bullion!
Initially, this is how invisioned the stack, like a government vault with rows of neatly stacked bars. However, enter the artwork and beauty of rounds and coins.
Being new to the stacking world, I had no idea that there were so many different types of coins and rounds. A new door had opened and a plethora of designs, group sets and limited series pieces suddenly bombarded me and I wanted them all!! But, my pockets were just not deep enough and I had to be selective.
I was careful to purchase only what appealed to me and within my limited budget. To date, I have put together a nice representation of coins and rounds ranging from generic buffalo rounds to coins from several other countries. If pressed, I would say my favorite designs are the Succubus rounds from Pheli Mint and the Queen's Beast Red Dragon. I love ANYTHING with a dragon on it! LOL! I even splurged and picked up a 1/4 ounce gold QB Dragon coin because of my love for its design.
Then I discovered another delectable temptation from the silver community. Hand Poured Silver!
I was blown away by the art of hand poured silver and the beautiful pieces available. The picture above only shows just a taste of the items available. These beauties do come at a premium, but well worth the money. Such art and unique pieces can be hard to find and not every pourer has a storefront website. I had to research several sites just to find out how to contact the people making these special items.
I had to email frends, review video after video just for the links to find out how to buy these pieces, but then I stumbled on Metals Mafia, a site built by Pit Bullion for pourers to come together and sell their products. It was one stop shopping. So many pourers were there and I could browse through many of the works that had peaked my interest. Others, I still had to search for. But, the sight was a MAJOR help in finding what I wanted.
In the picture above, I show pieces from Rix Metal Works, The Bear, Stacking Ag47, Silver Saver, Skully's Corner and Atlantis MInt. I do have many more, but I can only fit so many in a single photograph. Almost every item came from someone in the Metal Mafia and I am now a proud member of the family.
I was inspired to create my own bar, poured by the Don himself. He will be featuring the Slacker Bar on his site and the Mafia page soon.
There is one more corner of stacking I have not covered yet. Junk Silver, a term I hate to use, but well known with the community. I prefer to call it constitutional silver. This is old currency coins that were made with some percentage of silver.
Who can leave out coins minted long ago that contain 90%, 40% and other ranges of content of the precious metal? They are silver as well and are valuable. Everyone knows established currency and easily recognize them on sight.
It would not be wise to discount them as worthless change. Constitutional silver may not carry the premium of pure .999, or .9999, but they do have worth!
Currently, these coins carry a worth between twelve to fourteen times one US dollar in face value. You can still find them in your pocket change even today!
The most common are the 1964 and earlier quarters, dimes and Halves at 90% silver content. The Half Dollars become 40% silver between the dates of 1965 and 1970. War nickles contain silver as well and will have a large mint mark over the Monticello on the reverse.
So, before dumping the change jar into some coin star machine, or turning them in at the bank, take a closer look at what my be silently lurking inside.
Yes, constitutional silver does cross into the realm of collecting rather than stacking, but silver is silver. You may be surprised at what you find!!
So, there you have it my friends! A peek into my stack and my motivations. A peek into why I joined Metals Mafia and how I will stack in this new year.
I hope this post was helpful and I wish all of you the best in your stacking and collecting adventures! Peace and stack on my friends!
