But I'm not gonna share all of it. Just gonna touch on a couple of the more important issues, that affect each and every one of us as collectors of coins, and buyers/sellers of bullion...

Greetings Collectors,

First of all, I want to thank all of you that wrote me notes of condolences. I appreciate them more than you know. This whole estate thing when someone passes away is for the birds. I wanted to also clarify that it was my "step-dad" I lost, and not my real father. I lost him in 1986 at age 66. But quickly what I'm having to deal with is that Val, my step-dad had two biological children he had no use for and they none for him. He also hadn't seen either for over 25 years. But guess who comes outta the woodwork now that he's gone and they know he had a few bucks. Actually way more than a few. But anyway that's where I've been and it's not nearly over yet. He left me everything because I was the only one who ever looked out for him and was the one who took care of his investments, house, health, vehicles, shopping etc etc. But it's a great time to remind all of you to make sure you have all your affairs in order and that your parents do as well. Believe me, it'll save you a lot of grief.

I have tuned in here on several occasions and tried to keep up with all the journals but boy oh boy, you guys are burning up those keyboards. Very interesting reading. A few things I want to touch on is that 1st, if you're thinking about selling or trading your silver or gold, make sure you obtain the money you deserve. A collector friend here recently told of a trade where he got $1100 for $75 face in silver and I almost cried. I had to write him immediately. Of course it ended up he sold a little earlier than his post and got a little more money for a little less in face value that his post said. This made me feel so much better. These metals prices are soaring and as I've said before, it hadn't really even started good yet. So all of you that may be considering selling, make sure you receive what your silver (or gold) is worth. Today you can sell silver for 25 X face and if you're buying it's 28 X face.

Another thing I want to touch on is PCGS vs NGC. There have been some spirited comments on both sides of that coin. I personally like NGC on anything with "full bell lines". Full split bands goes to PCGS. Full torch or full head, I haven't a clue because I don't collect these coins. I will say this, just as I always have said, "ALWAYS" buy the coin and not the slab. I would need more than 4 hands to count all the PCI & Anacs coins I've bought, then cracked out and re submitted to NGC. And of all of those I only lost ground once, by a single point, stayed the same grade once, and the rest were up grades. Most were two notches. A couple were a single move up. One 1910 gold Indian I bought in a PCI AU-55 holder was way nicer than 55, and when I sent it to NGC, they thought so too. It came back MS-62. Where I've had the problem is cracking out NGC coins and one lone OGH PCGS gold piece and all 4 came back in purple slabs. That last experience ended my "crack out" shenanigans. No more. I will say in closing on this subject, that I absolutely love the consensus held by many, that NGC is inferior to PCGS. Many times I have gotten a coin in an NGC slab that was 30% cheaper and 30% nicer than an exact same grade coin in a PCGS slab. But I've sold PCGS coins for way more money than I though they would bring. I have seen coins by all grading services that were one, two and sometimes three grades off what I thought they should have been. Another reason to always buy the coin.

My purchases have been few with the exception of some bullion. Like what else is new? I have successfully traded 999 silver bars on several occasions, that I had purchased back in single digit silver price times. Most bought for between $4 & $7 an ounce. The old pour bars sell at a price that's always at least 20%, and sometimes 30%, or more above the current spot price, and I have used that to my advantage in trades for other silver. What is pictured below is my latest trade for two small bars of 999 fine silver. One was a 9.97 ounce bar and the other was an even 10 ounces. Both were the "old pour" type bars. For that, I received the 100 1972-S blue Ikes pictured below. These 40% silver coins from just a sampling I looked at, would not surprise me, if I were to submit them, to all come back at MS-68. Bare minimum MS-67. They are that nice. All of the ones I looked at, and mind you, I've only inspected maybe 10 or 12, are all absolutely spot free and pristine. I am "TOO" happy with this trade. The guy was extremely happy because he had paid $3 for each 2-3 years ago. I didn't share that I had less than $150 total in those two bars totaling 19.97 ounces. Those kinds of deals where each party thinks they are the ones that got the killer deal, is the way all trades should go down.

Anyway I'm glad to see that all of you still have a great passion for this hobby. It shows in the posts of not only the regulars, but I see many new faces as well, since it's been exactly a month since my last post. I've been busy with family issues and also have landed quite a few jobs so far this year and I'm actually booked up for two months out. Also been doing real well on eBay too. It's been a couple years since I could say I was hitting on all cylinders. Hopefully it will have some "staying power". Silver is just a couple cents shy of $38 an ounce and we'll see $50 before this time next year. For those of you from "Rio Linda" that's another 30+% from current levels and actually I wouldn't be surprised to see more than that 32% rise from here, by April fool's day in 2012. Since I have 50 on the brain, I will go out on a limb and say, 50% upside from here, which would put silver at $57, or more, one year from today. That is not an unreasonable expectation for those of you that are focused & tuned in, to world markets and the current, steady, rising demand that really can't go anywhere but onward & upward. Anyway my next big event is the annual 75-80 table coin show coming to my town at the last weekend in May. I'm saving all my shekels for that 3-day period so I can maybe find a nice FBL Franklin in 66 that I don't have already. Or possibly some more silver...

Take care & Happy Collecting!

WKF

P.S. Silver to gold ratio was 62 to 1 in Sept 2010. Just a few minutes ago, it was 37.699 Has this figure come a long way or what? But just remember, it still has a very long way to go. Good luck to all of you with whatever acquisitions you're after.