been some interesting days lately for both.

how low will oil go??

Silver has been bouncing around this present mark for the last few years now, Haven't seen much change.

52 week low for silver was 13's today it is 17+.

i was watching the silver numbers and about got dizzy today.

I can see the sense of owning silver but owning gold just doesn't make sense to me. I'd bet there's been times a person would trade a pickup load of gold for a pickup load of firewood.

High gold prices are good for here-means lots of work.

Looks to me like gold mining destroys a lot of nice country. How's the Pebble Mine fight going?

I bet not.

Gold and silver are on an uptrend right now but nothing like Bitcoin since the first of the year

Bitcoin isn't real.
A whole bunch of suckers who thought they had some found out it was not real.

Bitcoin is just as real as fiat currency. The key is getting people to trust that a currency will hold value and the ability to use the currency to purchase goods. Just think, Bitcoin is not controlled by any one entity and there a finite number of coins. Meanwhile the Fed is a privately owned corporation whose sole purpose is to make money. They can print whatever they want and control interest rates to suite their needs. The Fed gained total control in 1973.

I've always been into silver at some levels. If you're in no rush you can see some pretty good return on silver. Unfortunately it usually seems to have an inverse relationship with a falling stock market. My grandfather has collected silver all his life in various forms. I remember I believe it was 2011 when he sold a couple kilo bar's he'd bought off a guy from the trunk of his car around 1986. He told me they had cornered the silver market and drove the prices up which eventually resulted in a crash. He'd paid around $360 for them at the time and he sold them for just over $3000 in 2011. Patience is the key with the silver I've found but you can make some nice returns if you time it right. I prefer bullion myself I have owned some paper stocks in silver in the past, but something about having something physically in your hand does it for me.

Well in silver it looks to me like they are liquidating the(sep) SIU19 and adding to the (dec) SIZ19. So they are wanting out of the nearby to avoid delivery if long. So what does this mean for price direction, if anything?

As a hedge or as some like to call it an investment, gold makes more sense than silver imo.
Gold is for the most part mined from mines who's primary purpose is to mine gold. If the gold can't be mined at a profit the deposit doesn't get exploited. On the other hand only about 15% of the silver mined comes from silver mines, the vast majority of silver comes as a by product of copper or lead/zinc, and gold mines. In other words they get the silver with no real economic consequences. The silver enters the market even if the market doesn't really want it.

However, imo I don't think gold should be bought as an investment; that is, to "buy low, sell high". Gold should be used as a hedge against currency devaluation.

Yep. I'd rather take my chances with solid companies and decent dividends than gold.

Copper and lead is where I invest.

How would you spend the gold if all paper money fell through?

I like the real silver, Bought some a few years ago, The real thing, and not the paper promise of some, If one needs to trade some for a loaf of bread, Etc. Its easier to give a silver coin, then to chop off some gold off of a bar or coin. The only advantage of gold, as I see it, is if your dealing with high dollar trading. If the economy was to fail barter will be used a lot as it was in the old days

What would a guy do about an assay? Or would a guy just trust everyone. That's why I always thought in a total break down one would be better off with smaller silver coins.

I totally agree that silver would be best for the average person, I just mentioned gold as an example that precious metals of any type maintains value. I have a ring that I I inherited from my father, but won't sell it, although I tried, Everyone expects me to sell it for the gold, and just throw the 21 diamonds in for free. That ain't happening. Buy a diamond ring and It costs big money, sell it and dealers value it as next to nothing, except for the gold.

I bought silver in the 80s for $4 an ounce. It went to around $40 and I held it. At today’s prices, my compounded rate of return is not so hot, but it is tax free. Still holding on. Will leave it to the kids.