Gold and silver for Barter?

[ForgeCorvus]

Because its hard to stockpile chickens ?

Maybe, but breeding them and incubating the eggs might be a useful lesson to learn

I was talking about acquiring breeding stock after the fact

[john10001]

There was a great point by Bladerunner in this thread on Silver.

In a SHTF situation I wouldn't fancy turning up at the locally organised grey/black market in some warehouse with a bunch of Britannias or Sovereigns.

Smaller value bits of metal or other items to barter with would be more useful.

Chances are in such scenario the people you are dealing with will not know the true value of your pure gold coin or bar and everything will just be measured in terms of the junk gold value e.g. 9ct etc items of gold jewellery, nuggets and other bits and pieces.

So besides small silver coins, it may be better to have a bunch of small gold 9ct rings etc to use as barter items for this kind of situation.

The pure gold coins, bars etc would be best to get into before and out of after such a scenario to get a jump start when things get back to normal. You can put a relatively big amount into small commodity of gold due to its price and value. Not so much with silver (which is also vat-able).

You definitely wont want your life savings in the bank in a SHTF scenario, just look at Cyprus today.... Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium all up a creek. So items of smaller value are good.

Agreed with other posters as well on items that will be in short supply in that kind of situation would be of high value and good to barter with too. E.g. batteries, torches, Gillette razor blades, cigarettes, alcohol etc.

[Plymtom]

I haven't quite got to grips with the precious metals thing, I too see more sense in having stuff of practical use to barter with, also it would have to be of use to me, so cigerettes and alcahol in the recreational sense.. nope, I'm asking myself what can you never really have too much of that other folk will have too little of? The plan for some would be to start a crisis with a room full of provisions, and finnish up with a pot of gold when it's all over surely?

[pseudonym]

I haven't quite got to grips with the precious metals thing, I too see more sense in having stuff of practical use to barter with, also it would have to be of use to me, so cigerettes and alcahol in the recreational sense.. nope, I'm asking myself what can you never really have too much of that other folk will have too little of? The plan for some would be to start a crisis with a room full of provisions, and finnish up with a pot of gold when it's all over surely?

Imagine a run on the banks where chqs,debit/credit cards don't work, a few coins on your person for when your wallet is empty will allow you to get home/to your BOL.

Lighter than cayying a 10 man ration pack to swap for some fuel.

[Plymtom]

Imagine a run on the banks where chqs,debit/credit cards don't work, a few coins on your person for when your wallet is empty will allow you to get home/to your BOL.

Lighter than cayying a 10 man ration pack to swap for some fuel.

Fair enough LOL, I was applying it to our situation if I'd no maney there would be no cause to go out, I keep the tank within £20 worth of full in fact that's our fortnightly fuel bill, 2 trips to the big Tesco and Asda together, 2 trips to the much closer Aldi and Lidl together, 1 trip to the shooting range about 25 miles away which would fall by the wayside if times got that bad, and a little running around add to that Aldi, Lidl, and the enitre city centre are easy walking range with a granny trolley I just get a bit fitter

Again I had visions of the "Doomsday Prepper" buying bits of pipe full of coins all around thier property, when it was a big property with space to hold more of what they could run out of a little like you say probably wouldn't hurt.

[pseudonym]

I think our cousins over the pond can get "junk silver" in pre 1971 coinage, the date their Government changed the metal content.

IIRC the silver content makes the face value of the coin a lot less than the melt value.

Silver coin roll hunting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IcDIzhvHc

[Schrek76]

Trade and barter have been around as long as we have, the only trouble is it also means some would rather take what you have than deal fairly with you and that is true before a SHTF scenario otherwise we wouldn't have muggings and burglary in the news all the time. I would expect in a serious SHTF situation that small luxury items like tobacco and alcohol would be in demand, alcohol would be useful beyond drinking for sterilising and anasthetic qualities. Medical supplies would be handy along with tools for those who are unable to improvise, but the best thing to have will be knowledge which is the most useful of all.

[Colt Magnum]

I'm a total newb to precious metals, but how would you know it's real, couldn't the solid gold bar you are being offered just be tungsten with a gold coating?

[Moony]

Yes there are cons out there (as you might imagine with the high prices of gold + silver). If you want to start off go with a large reputable dealer, not some random seller off eBay. American Silver coinage is widely faked already, fortunately over this side of the pond the fakes are not quite as frequent, but you still need to be careful. If you don't know what you are doing don't touch gold or silver bars as they are easily faked, especially if you don't get the chance to weigh and measure the bars beforehand. A good place to start is pre-1920 (92.5% purity) british silver coinage as it is relatively cheap and unlikely to be faked as it will be heavily worn (unless you pay a premium for good examples)

[ForgeCorvus]

I'm a total newb to precious metals, but how would you know it's real, couldn't the solid gold bar you are being offered just be tungsten with a gold coating?

This is why I don't think PMs are good for barter.... 90% of people probably haven't a clue

Investment in gold as an Anti-Inflation measure maybe