The Greatest Danger to the Gold & Silver Owner
Dear GoldBugs,
You’ve come to Dan’s Depot because you are interested in survival. And beginning now, you can find my blog right here covering money, wealth, the economy and financial survival.
I write about gold and silver. And that covers a lot of ground. I believe that owning some amount of physical gold and silver, kept outside the banking system and away from Wall Street, is important to you right now, and is going to be even more important to you down the road. If you own gold and silver, or if you are thinking of converting some of your paper money to gold or silver, there are many things you should know that were not taught in your schools, that are not commonly discussed between you and most of your friends, and that are not truthfully portrayed by the main media or by your government. My work is dedicated to helping you make decisions that are right for you.
Learning effective financial survival in a rapidly changing economic climate is going to mean, in part, learning new ways of thinking about wealth, global economic forces and even the simple meaning of money. It’s going to mean knowing how to effectively compare government propaganda and Wall Street Speak to your own God-given common sense. It’s going to mean some understanding of where our nation has been, where it’s going and why. I hope you’ll join in those discussions in the weeks and months ahead.
But most importantly, financial survival in a world going mad will require of you something you may not have considered. It’s going to mean taking a new look at yourself, your own habits, your own nature, your own values, and then recognizing your strengths and your weaknesses while deciding for yourself just what is important and just which way to go.
There may be some surprises. For instance, if you own gold and silver, and if you have it in your possession, then you’ll be interested to learn that the number one danger to that aspect of your financial survival is YOU. That’s because you are a potential target, and the best defense you’ll ever have is to keep your mouth shut about what you have.
February 18, 2012. Around 10 p.m, a man knocks on the door of a home in Gonzales, Louisiana. The homeowner recognizes the visitor and lets him in. Five others rush in behind the visitor, overpowering the man and his wife. A son-in-law also at the home rushes to the aid of the elderly couple. When it’s all over, the man and his son-in-law are dead with their throats cut, and a metal safe reportedly containing more than a hundred thousand dollars in gold, silver and rare coins is missing. The wife dies several days later in a hospital. During the investigation, police keep hearing the same story from many who knew the well-liked, well-respected family. The homeowner who let that visitor into his home that night loved to talk about his safe filled with gold to just about anyone.
December 1, 2011. Richmond, Texas. About 7 p.m. a man, wife and daughter return home from dinner at a nearby restaurant. Two men wait outside, watching. As the family enters their home, the two men break in waving pistols. They are looking for gold and cash. The criminals don’t just hit and run. They ransack the home for 2 1/2 hours, finally getting what they want from the father after sticking a pistol in his daughter’s mouth. The homeowner is a precious metals dealer. Everybody in town knows that. That alone makes him an easy target at work. But somehow, someone also knows he keeps a half million dollars in gold and cash at home. The armed criminals get away with the gold and cash, driving away in the homeowner’s SUV.
In the Louisiana case, six suspects were arrested within a few weeks and charged with triple murder. Police found the safe in the woods, with a single silver coin left inside. In the Texas case, there have been no arrests, no suspects and the trail is cold. There are dozens and dozens of such stories.
Professional coin dealers, bullion buyers, diamond merchants and pawn shop owners have been living with threats of robbery and murder for as long as they’ve been in business. I’ve met several who have been robbed. But stories of savage home invasions by criminals looking for large collections of gold and silver, as in the Louisiana and Texas cases, used to come along only occasionally. Now, those crimes are piling up in number and frequency since the interest in gold and silver pushed values up in recent years, right alongside the ever increasing number of stories you hear of copper wire thieves. There has been one common element in all of these many crimes targeting homes: what should have been private information about fortunes kept at home was out there on the streets. Someone knew about the house with the gold who had no business knowing.
If you now own gold and silver and keep it safely tucked away nearby, or if you plan to become a goldbug, then now is the time to take a hard look at your own human nature. Ask yourself some tough questions: Do you like to brag? Can you keep a secret? Do you see any way that showing off a few ounces of silver can easily become a rumor of a very valuable stash? Who already knows about your personal business – close, trusted friends and relatives, or many of your neighbors and everyone they talk to? Or the people your young children might innocently talk to? Have you taken any practical measures to safeguard your home and yourself, or do you generally believe bad things won’t happen to you? How readily do you accept personal responsibility? A hard look at your own honest answers to these questions I pose, and other questions you can come up with on your own, will go a long way in preventing the kinds of criminal horrors that victims in Louisiana, Texas and all across the nation have faced. The right answers could save your life.
There’s lots more about financial survival to talk about. Until next time.
Good article, isn’t it interesting how we are told by so called business leaders that gold and silver is a bad investment but that is what thieves are targeting. Who do you think knows more? The crooks or the banks?
I’m interested in buying maybe some silver but I don’t know where to buy or who to trust.
My dad bought some silver coins for my boys. They look like a buffalo nickle. Any idea what they are?
Great words of wisdom Chris,if your in my area lets meet and discuss the FUTURE.
Chuck
bradleycob@aol.com
The silver coins which look like Buffalo nickels are most likely one ounce or 1/2 ounce silver rounds from the Highland Mint in Florida. There are many private mints in operation, and they are allowed to produce bullion coins, but not legal tender coins. However, the private mints around the US are the suppliers of the blank rounds in gold, silver and other metals for the US Mint. The US Mint uses these blanks to strike the so-called legal tender coins. These particular Buffalo silver rounds your boys have are modeled after the US Buffalo 5 cent piece, also known as the Indian nickel struck from 1913-1938.
We’ll discuss buying gold and silver in some future blogs, but in general, you are better off buying from individual coin shops or coin dealers at coin shows. I have a personal rule that I never, never, never deal with any coin or bullion dealer which advertises in any way on national radio or television. Never! Their prices are generally much higher than you’ll find from an individual dealer because they have to recoup their huge ad costs and they recoup those costs by charging you more. It would be wise to never buy from telemarketers or from the cable shopping channels for the same reason. There is a great deal of outright dishonesty in gold and silver advertising. And, as much as I love eBay, I would caution you to be very careful if buying coins from eBay. eBay has only recently banned the sale of outright, obvious counterfeits, after years and years of complaints from consumers. I’d like to see a stronger, longer lasting commitment from eBay on that subject before I shop there. There are a number of online coin companies that are trustworthy and first class, and a number of online auction sites that deal with nothing but coins and currency auctions which are also trustworthy. One good way to judge an online coin company is to see if they publish their “buy” prices as well as their “sell” prices The good companies make a habit of spelling out their buy-back policies in writing right up front on their websites.
I would also stay away from ‘rare’ coins until I had spent many months studying that subject. A good idea would be to ask someone you trust who has bought gold and silver for a recommendation. Ask them to describe their experiences. Another option is to buy gold and silver directly from the US Mint, which you can do online. But you’ll pay a hefty premium buying from the US Mint, because you are buying ‘collector coins.’ Don’t confuse ‘collector’ coins with ‘rare’ coins, tho. They are not the same.
On the flip side, I would never sell to the ‘cash-for-gold’ operations which have sprung up around the country, and I would stay very far away from the traveling coin buyers who stick an ad in the local paper and then set up in a motel room for the weekend. Again, you will do much better selling to a longtime local coin dealer or finding individual coin dealers at a coin convention. Most regions of the USA have 3 or 4 weekend coin conventions per year within driving distance. The dealers at those conventions are generally knowledgeable and have reputations to protect, so by and large you are treated more fairly than anywhere else. The dealers at those conventions are competing with each other, which gives everyone better prices, buying and selling.
I heard on the news the other day about these guys who hit a bunch of houses in this neighborhood and the only thing missing in any of the houses was gold and silver. They didn’t take anything else. Now that tells me that this gold and silver thing must be the real deal. I’d like to know more about investing in the metals.
Thanks for the great advise Chris. Can’t wait to see what else you will be posting on here!
We’ll discuss buying gold and silver in some future blogs, but in
general, you are better off buying from individual coin shops or coin
dealers at coin shows. I have a personal rule that I never, never,
never deal with any coin or bullion dealer which advertises in any way
on national radio or television. Never! Their prices are generally much
higher than you’ll find from an individual dealer because they have to
recoup their huge ad costs and they recoup those costs by charging you
more. It would be wise to never buy from telemarketers or from the
cable shopping channels for the same reason. There is a great deal of
outright dishonesty in gold and silver advertising. There are a number of online coin
companies that are trustworthy and first class, and a number of online
auction sites that deal with nothing but coins and currency auctions
which are also trustworthy. One good way to judge an online coin company
is to see if they publish their “buy” prices as well as their “sell”
prices The good companies make a habit of spelling out their buy-back
policies in writing right up front on their websites.
Another option is to buy gold and silver
directly from the US Mint, which you can do online. But you’ll pay a
hefty premium buying from the US Mint, because you are buying ‘collector
coins.’ Don’t confuse ‘collector’ coins with ‘rare’ coins, tho. They
are not the same.
On the flip side, I would never sell to the ‘cash-for-gold’
operations which have sprung up around the country, and I would stay
very far away from the traveling coin buyers who stick an ad in the
local paper and then set up in a motel room for the weekend. Again, you
will do much better selling to a longtime local coin dealer or finding
individual coin dealers at a coin convention.
Your boys probably have one ounce or one-half ounce Buffalo silver rounds, which are produced by the Highland Mint, a private mint in Florida. Many private mints issue bullion coins, but not legal currency coins. The private mints,, by the way, are the folks who manufacture the metal blanks (gold, silver and others) for the US Mint and the national mints around the world. So the silver you get with a private mint issue is the same silver that would otherwise go into a US Mint issue, like the US Silver One Ounce Eagle. The Highland Mint’s Buffalos are in fact modeled after the US five cent Buffalo or Indian Nickel minted from 1913-1938.
Willie Sutton, a bank robber around the turn of the century, was asked why he robs banks. His answer: Because that’s where the money is. Thieves and armed robbers find it much easier to hit your home than a bank. Oh, and the banks know that silver and gold are the best money — they just want to keep it secret.
I shy away from the term, when I can, of ‘investing’ in metals. Begin to see gold and silver as SAVINGS, not as an investment, and you’ll understand the gold and silver story a lot better than 99% of the “pros” on Wall Street. We’ll be talking more about this in future posts.
Thank you sir! I saw a phot on the internet and see them everywhere. Good information
In “survivor” lingo this is whats called OPSEC. What that translates to is Operational Security. Also known as flying under the radar!
People nowadays are thinking in investing precious metal..but they don’t bother to think their on safety!…
Upon reading this article I realized that silver and gold are useless if your family is in danger.
Hi, Rochellebrown1508. I’d like to hear more from you about just which danger(s)
you’re referring to. There are many dangers at this moment all around you and all of them are deadly to your liberty and your life. The Constitution has been put through a shredder; your wealth is being stolen from you minute by minute by corrupt government-planned-inflation; you have been lied to about most things by your politicians, your teachers, your news media and your Hollywood favorites since the day you were born; there are bad guys out there who want to take your belongings by brutal force simply because they are bad guys who look for weak victims; one half of your countrymen believe you should be paying their bills and they may very well get their way; and my article says plainly that folks who believe in a meaningful monetary system of honest money are their own worst enemies because they fail to recognize all their other enemies, including themselves and their own human natures. So, I’d have to know which danger(s) we’re talking about. I hope to hear from you.
Great post!!! I have now an idea on how to properly invest what I have — which will all be for protection and safety of my whole family. Thanks a lot!
I have run into many individual dealers, at stores and coin shows, that will try to take advantage of any uninformed buyer or seller. You should research the product you are buying or selling, and know what the current price is.
Be polite, be pleasant and courteous to everyone. Trust no one.