Do I Hear 100? Feb. 3, 2011

Disclaimer

I know I said I'd have a big post today about the nuclear threat, but I just don't have the time.  I'll get it out for sure on Saturday.


Auctioning as a Prep Activity

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we had gathered a bunch of stuff and were sending it to auction to raise money toward debt reduction and clear out space for more prep storage.

The evaluator from the auction house came out last week.  We have some things that I thought would be worth quite a bit, but weren't even accepted for auction. We had a few other things that I thought were barely yard sale worthy, but the guy got excited over.

Today I took the day off work to take the things down to the auction house.  I also packed up a bunch of the things that weren't accepted to take them to the Salvation Army.  We have no use for the things, they aren't worth putting on EBay, but they are still good, usable items that someone can use.

The nice thing is how much more room we have in our home. 


Hi Ho Silver

Every good survivalist has silver.  Pre-65 "junk" U.S. coins, American Eagles, mining company ingots...  But how does sterling fit into it?  You'll hear different theories on this, but I think that sterling silver has value now, but using it as a barter item in a TEOTWAWKI situation is unrealistic.  "Fine" silver is .999 silver (Eagles & ingots), and is easy to compute for weight value.  "Junk" silver is .7234 ounces of silver per dollar of face value, and has its value as U.S. coinage, no matter the value of silver.  If you want to know the value based on current spot price, I suggest Coinflation's coin calculator.  If you're going out to buy or sell some junk silver, use this to make sure you don't get ripped off.  Keep in mind that most buyers will pay a bit less than the spot melt value and most sellers will offer it for a bit more.

In our stuff we went through for auction, there was a bit of assorted sterling flatware, candlesticks and salt & pepper shakers.  It's worth more as scrap for melt than as antique eating utensils.  Sterling silver is .925 (usually - some makers have used slightly higher or lower percentages in the 19th and 18th centuries.  All sterling is (or should be) marked as such.  If not, it is probably silver plate.  Someone who knows what he is doing can test for sterling, but I have no idea how.

To find the current melt value of your sterling, I suggest the Silver Recyclers' melt value calculator.  Simply weigh your silver (be sure to remove the weight from the base of candlesticks, knife handles and shakers) and enter it in the calculator.  The next goal is to find a place that will buy it and give you a fair price.  The same buy low and sell high issues apply as the junk silver.  From what I can see so far, it's a lot easier to find a place to buy your junk than your sterling.


Be a Guest Blogger

If It Hits The Fan is a place where I hope to learn from you as much as you might learn from me.  If you have a skill or knowledge, I'd love to have you write a guest post.  Maybe you have a small business that is related to prepping or self-reliant living, and you want to plug it on here with an informative posting.  Send your posts to me here and I'll try to work them in when I can.  It's great to have a couple guest posts on standby in case something keeps me from getting one out.