Much of the recent interest in precious metals like gold and silver stems from the effects of price inflation.
Many people who buy coins like pre-’65 dimes, quarters and half dollars do so to protect themselves from the effects of this inflation – and to have a highly valuable medium of exchange in the event price inflation spirals out of control.
One sign pointing to this phenomenon was recently spotted at a Shell gas station off Interstate 5 in Ashland, Oregon.
There, motorists are greeted with a sign behind the front counter (shown above).
Wow, 20 cent gas!!
Those were the days…most of us alive have never seen anything like that. The lowest I remember is around $0.80 per gallon (regular cash, or Federal Reserve Notes). Today, gas prices are once again broaching records with many motorists now paying over $4.00 per gallon.
One of the factors driving record gas prices is a weak dollar and price inflation. But a burning question remains.
Is it wise to use my stash of pre-’65 dimes, quarters and half dollars to buy gas and groceries?
It may at some point but according to Michael Rozeff, not right now.
Take Roosevelt dimes for example, which contain 0.14468 troy ounces of silver. At $4 a gallon, that would correspond to a silver price of around $27.65 per ounce. As of this writing, silver is hovering around $34 per ounce. Using the gas station’s current $0.20 gas offer means the implicit gas price is more around $5.06 per gallon in Federal Reserve Notes.
Therefore, he says he will continue using paper money to buy gas until it reaches over $5 per gallon.
How’s a consumer supposed to know the right quantity of silver to pay for gas?
Conversion tools will need to be developed of course…there are a few already in the experimentation phase.
I’ve often wondered how one would go about determining the proper amount of silver to offer for payment. If the monetary system completely dissolves, how would a person know the proper value for something?
Conversion calculators like those featured here and here can offer some guidance.
This is the latest in a slew of signs that Americans are starting to embrace instruments of real money, specifically gold and silver coins.
To learn more about the background and content of 90% junk silver coins, visit our silver investors’ knowledge center.
And to start accumulating pre-’65 dimes, quarters and half dollars, check out Provident Metals’ collection of 90% junk silver coins today.
It’s certainly better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them.
