After silver busted up $20 with ease, it’s getting harder and harder to find anything near that level on eBay. According to a quick scan of popular coins (Phils, Maples, Eagles), I can’t find anything active under $25 for a single coin when factoring in shipping. I did, however, notice that one of the vendors I frequent has held pat at $22.75 per maple with very reasonable shipping costs ($3.19 first coin, $.60 thereafter). That brings it to about $24.64/oz for two, $24.12/oz for three, or just under $24/oz for four. You’d have to buy more than 16 maples from Apmex with their flat $13 shipping to get the cost per ounce to under $25.
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eBay Silver Inching Higher, but Values Still Out There
KCAST for Windows 7? Not yet. Here’s an alternative.
If, like me, you recently upgraded your PC to Windows 7, you probably were disappointed to learn that the Kitco’s KCAST isn’t compatible. Then, you started questioning the upgrade altogether.. wondering how you might survive without real-time prices of metals in your system tray. Forgetting that Kitco has had a year+ to make it work, the app was free and its hard to complain about something we didn’t pay for. According to what I could find on their forums, a moderator did suggest that a version that works for Windows 7 is in development, but after 9 months you could assume they’ve either scrapped the project or decided to build it in Fortran. Don’t worry, though, as I found a decent enough alternative that do the trick until Kitco decides to get out of the dark ages.
Update: KCAST was finally released for Windows 7 here: KCast Downloads
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Days after Dollars: A Prologue
Days after Dollars is a series (of unknown quantity) of short stories about what life might be like after the collapse of the US Dollar.
How did it all start? Eh, I can’t give you an exact moment. I don’t think any of us really remember precisely where things went wrong. A news report here or there. Some trouble in the mortgage markets. Some trouble overseas. Volatility in exchange rates. It all kind of seemed like noise. I really just cared about getting to work, getting back home, and spending money on the weekends. After fifty weeks, I got two to myself. That was my reward. Everything along the way was just a stopgap to get to Cancun or take the family to Disney.
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Panda Invasion!!
With the cost of most small silver bullion pieces going up, it’s surprising to see one item that has been steadily dropping in price. The 2010 Chinese Panda, long acquired in the mid-to-high $30s (justified or not), is being unloaded at under $30 with free shipping right now on eBay. Demand appears high, with the particular eBay seller in the linked listing having sold 73 of them individually in his current batch, a handful of 5-coin lots, and a surprisingly larger set of 10-coin lots. This is actually welcome news for the silver enthusiast, as it has been extremely expensive to pick up more than a piece or two of these pandas each year. Read on for the possible ramifications of this panda invasion.
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Enthusiasts