I find it advantageous to purchase silver rounds to build up my "emergency cash stash".

The silver rounds are not legal tender and thus can't be grabbed by the DD's or DW because they want to buy a coke while they run an errand. That's why the number of quarters grow so slowly in my change jar.

I can grab the silver rounds quickly in the event of an evacuation since they are stored in my Armory. My weps always go with me.

When I run short of cash, wherever I happen to be, I can go to a coin dealer and sell them for the current price plus a small handling fee.

In the worst case scenario (TEOTWAWKI/TSHTF), I can haggle for something, and if need be, cut a silver round into quarter ounces to make payment for goods and/or services. Providing that the vendor(?) would accept silver in payment.

Just as I do with emergency food procurement/storage (buy a little extra every trip to the store), I buy 1 or 2 silver rounds every payday. That is the same thing I do with equipment everytime I go to a non-grocery store.

That's my reasoning and my system. I feel that it provides additional options come what may. I like "options"!!

TEOTWAWKI? Don't try to palm off your worthless shinnies on me. Goods only. You want that plow? Gimmie a half a beef. This case of spam? Gimmie your shoes.
Things like silver and gold are only worth the value that the other person places on them.

There hasn't been a time in the last two thousand years that silver or gold have been worthless. Gold money has survived the test of time.

Efficient commerce and "money" systems are a necessity for modern life. I simply can't carry around a half of beef everytime I want to go shopping.

That said, I would trade you my shoes for your case of spam!

I agree for the most part, but when someone evokes TEOTWAWKI then most money systems are worthless. To me, TEOTWAWKI means the collapse of anykind of effective government and all that it stands for including any monetary systems it may have backed. Paper money would be worth less than the paper it was printed on. Gold and silver would have a better chance of surviving as a money, but if I were to accept it as payment I would need to be reasonably certain that I could exchange that with someone else. I would much rather take goods or services as barter - the oldest form of currancy - and not have to worry that the shiney rocks I just took from you would be acceptable anywhere else as payment. That's not something I'm going to bet on unless there was some kind of new community being built or re-emerging. Lets call that Post-TEOTWAWKI.
Otherwise, tote your beef if you're going to shop at my store.

Well, you could, but you might get some pretty funny looks. Seriously though, there's too many varaibles when it comes to barter and exchange to count out gold/silver coins. As long as there's a chance the economy will recover, coins will retain value. Even more so during periods of hyperinflation. If you have enough essentials stored away you can consider a breakdown period as the perfect precious metals buying opportunity. A can of spam for some gold coins? Hell yeah.

A theory about one aspect of the steriotypical "Survivalist" mentality is just starting to solidify in my mind:

The Survivalist has aspirations to "get rich quick" in the event of a collapse. He'll do this by having the forsight to either have critical supplies on hand which he hopes will literally be worth more than their weight in gold or by having the gold itself which everone will be clamoring for.

I was actually joking. However, caprpetbagging and fleecing excluded, what would be theoretically wrong with exchanging your spam for someone else' gold coins? Isn't capitalizing on market opportunities (within reason) an aspect of capitalism, not survivalism?

If it truly is an event of cataclysmic proportion, gold coins won't be worth their weight.

If it's simply a really bad economic crash, then eventually the economy will recover to the point of not needing to trade in such things as precious metals which can't be eaten, burned for fuel or much of anything really when it comes right down to it. I suppose one could smelt down the metal and make some extra conductive electrical fittings with both gold and silver but I don't know that having really nice speaker connections will be at the top of anyone's real needs list...

If you can find someone to take "precious" metals in trade for things like food in a post cataclysmic event, more power to you.They can use the silver to make bullets to kill the werewolves or something...are zombies allergic to silver?

John E

Or to take their food back.

Ask someone that question at the door of a Hannah Montana concert that is selling extra tickets (and being arrested for It.) at a very highly inflated price.

And don’t think selling some Spam for a gold coin is not a very highly inflated price.

People have been charged for inflating the price of plywood in an area that is in the path of a hurricane.


Cops are notoriously serous people and have no sense of humor, (my brother is a sheriff and it’s real work to get him to smile.) and will act on what they see as your profiteering.