Cashing In.

A few weeks ago, as silver was fluttering somewhere between $38 and $39 an ounce, I made a tough decision to sell off some of my silver.  Normally, selling something for $38 that you bought for $12 should not be a tough decision, but, in this case, it forced me to make a decision on why I had bought the silver.  Was I a collector/investor or was I prepping?

Adding to the internal confusion is the fact that my silver stash does not resemble that of a ‘prepper’.  I don’t have rolls of 90% silver dimes, quarters and American Eagles…I have pretty coins from around the world.  At one point my goal was to have  the complete collection of 1oz Kookabura’s, and 2oz Silver Lunar’s.  I went this way early in my silver collection because I felt it would be easier to get SWMBO to go along with it if I bought pretty things.  And it was…of course, if my wife had the attitude back then that she does now, we would have bags of whatever had the lowest premium stashed around the house instead of paying a markup for Chinese Panda’s or British Britannia’s.  They are pretty though.

I rationalized liquidating some things by saying I was ‘cleaning’ up my collection…getting rid of some duplicate coins, and a few 5 ounce bars.  With the soft, paper money I got from the sale of that silver, I have done good things, getting a good start on some nice 72-hour back-packs, laying in some food grade buckets with gamma lids from Win-Co, and setting some of the cash aside for a PMR-30(alas, I am STILL number 17). 

Now, with silver fluctuating between $43 and $44 an ounce, I am weighing another sell off…this one is an easier decision though.  A few year ago, while trying to decide on purchasing some more silver, I couldn’t decide between a few rolls of Eagles or 10oz bars.  With a mental coin flip, I ordered some 10oz bars, knowing that this would represent more of an investment-type purchase than a ‘prepper’.  From a prepping standpoint, I’ve never planned on putting 4 or 5 pounds of silver bars into a back-pack and running around the country side with them.  Although, if I was, then these cool Barter Bars by Stage Couch Mint look mighty neat.

I’m not sure what exactly is on the list to be purchased with this money, when I decide to sell…I know we need new sleeping bags, and I have heard REALLY good things about the Military Modular Sleep System…which isn’t cheap, but it might be worth splurging for two of them…then, getting normal bags for the girls, so we can just play mix and match should the need arise.