Wizzard of OZ & Silver

Did you know that “Oz” is the abbreviation for the measurement of gold (i.e. “ounces” or oz.), and the Wizard behind the curtain represents the politicians pulling the strings to decrease the money supply by using only gold as a monetary standard and not silver, harming all the weary travelers.

“In 1939, the “The Wizard of Oz” depicted Dorothy being swept away from her family farm in Kansas to the magical Land of Oz by a tornado. During her journey, she makes a few new friends to help find a wizard that can supposedly return her home and provide her friends with what they desire the most.

Few are aware that in the original book from 1900, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by Frank Baum, Dorothy’s slippers are made of silver, not red rubies. The entire book served as a political allegory for gold and silver’s battle to become the primary American currency in the early 1900s. During the late 1800s, the U.S. was on a bi-metallic standard and the ratio between the two stood at 15. The gold-to-silver ratio (GSR) was such a big discussion point at the time that it became one of the underlying themes in Frank Baum’s book. The GSR represents the number of silver ounces it takes to buy an ounce of gold. If the gold price is $1,500 per ounce and the silver price is $15, then the ratio between the two would be 100.

Dorothy initially followed the yellow brick road (the gold standard) to find her way back home but eventually discovered it was a path to nowhere and the silver slippers (silver standard) would get her back home. The political symbolism was abandoned in the movie and the silver slippers were switched to ruby red shoes. The red color juxtaposed against a yellow road emphasized the advance in filmmaking from black-and-white to Technicolor through the Land of Oz.

The most significant difference between the movie and the original book is that in one, Dorothy is only dreaming, and in the other, she really travels to the Land of Oz. The movie portrays the story as a dream with family and friends in her life showing up as characters in the storyline. The book, on the other hand, leads the reader to believe that Dorothy’s journey is real and everything actually happened. Instead of a dream, the Land of Oz is a magical place that really exists somewhere over the rainbow.”  
Logo Tiggre, founder and CEO of Louis James LLC opines on the GSR – KitcoNews, Mar. 2019

4 Reasons to buy Silver

https://www.kboi.com/news/4-reasons-to-buy-silver-today

There are probably only a small percentage of investors today who could answer this question correctly: “Which precious metal gained nearly 50% in value in 2020?” Most investors would go with what seems to be the obvious choice, gold. But they would be wrong, because gold gained “only” 25%. The correct answer is silver.

Silver doesn’t get the attention that gold does, which in some ways is understandable. Gold is flashy, it’s valuable, and it has unique characteristics that have made it a phenomenal monetary metal for centuries. But all that glitters is not gold. And when it comes to investing your money, investing in silver could provide superior results.

Investing in silver isn’t the same as investing in gold, as the two metals, despite both being favored as safe havens and hedges by investors, have some pretty significant differences when it comes to supply, demand, and price growth. And when it comes to price growth during bull markets, silver can often outperform gold.

Those who know that can take advantage of the opportunity to buy silver when it is undervalued, allowing them not only to diversify their portfolios but also to enhance their gains. If you aren’t already familiar with silver and want to learn more about investing in silver, here are four reasons you might want to think about buying silver today.

1. Increasing Demand

Silver demand has surged in recent months for a number of reasons. For one thing, more investors are realizing that the economy remains weak, that stock markets remain overvalued, and that a major market correction is coming. And they know that silver is likely to rise in price once that correction occurs.

That has led to a surge in demand for silver that is pushing silver markets to their breaking point. The price of silver has risen tremendously over the past year, with silver’s price gains in 2020 nearly doubling those of gold. And with silver still well under its all-time highs, the price growth potential for silver remains greater than that of gold.

The recent kerfuffle as a result of the Gamestop short squeeze, and the attention that placed on the silver market, has led even more investors to take an interest in silver. Prices increased, premiums on silver coins continued to rise, and silver got more attention than it has in years. And all of this could just be the beginning, as the next few years could see silver enter a phenomenal bull market.

2. Physical Shortages

Silver has always been a metal rumored to be on the verge of a shortage. Now, the rumors could be coming true.

Silver is both an industrial metal and an investment asset, and the sources of above-ground silver can’t always satisfy both uses. A box of 1000 one-ounce silver coins isn’t going to be the ideal silver for an industrial user, and a massive raw silver ingot isn’t going to do a retail investor any good. So, the form of silver available on the market matters, particularly to investors.

If you’re going to invest in physical silver, that’s going to come either in the form of silver coins or silver bars. And with rising demand for those silver coins and bars, supply has to keep up.

Mints, assayers, and refiners that produce silver coins and bars have to have access to silver in order to produce their coins. And the US Mint is already indicating that it may not be able to meet the surge in demand that has occurred, as it just can’t source enough silver. As a result, the Mint is cutting back on allocations of coins, and there’s no telling when that might ease up.

It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that mints around the world are facing the same predicament, as surging silver demand and low stocks of silver in warehouses will combine to cause shortages of physical silver coins this year. If you were hoping to buy silver coins this year, you had better hope that there are coins available for you to buy.

As it is, premiums on silver coins have been surging, with many investors so desperate to buy silver that they’re prepared to pay well over the spot price to get their hands-on silver coins. The last time this happened, it was shortly before silver went on a tear and reached nearly $50 an ounce. Does that mean we’re on the verge of a silver breakout to a new all-time high? It could very well be. Certainly, if people are willing to pay double the spot price of silver, it would indicate that spot prices should eventually catch up to those levels.

3. Commodities Supercycle

Silver, while an important investment asset and industrial metal, is still just one of many commodities. And as commodities analysts are beginning to notice, the massive amounts of money being created by central banks around the world are beginning to fuel a rally in commodities prices that they believe could be indicative of a coming commodities supercycle, with metals, oil, and agricultural commodities all rising in price in unison.

The commodities supercycle, combined with the other factors driving the silver price, could help push silver to new highs in the coming years. And with continued loose monetary policy from central banks likely to continue for years to come, the commodities supercycle could last a lot longer than many people anticipate, helping keep the silver price elevated for some time.

4. Tangible Asset

If you look at the average investor’s portfolio, how much of their investments are in actual tangible investments? Likely not very much. From the money in your bank account to the stocks and bonds in your mutual funds or retirement accounts, just about every asset most investors own is held electronically.

Investing in silver, such as through a silver IRA, means actually owning silver coins or bars that you can touch and hold. Your ownership of silver isn’t a mere electronic certificate, it’s actual ownership of physical silver. And if you take a distribution from a silver IRA, you can choose whether you want that distribution paid in cash or in physical metal.

The ephemeral nature of many financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, worries many investors. They can lose all of their value in an instant if the company that issues them goes out of business. But silver doesn’t go out of business, it doesn’t go bankrupt, and at the end of the day an ounce of silver remains an ounce of silver, just as it has for centuries. That’s why so many investors have trusted silver to help protect their wealth.

How You Can Invest in Silver

One of the common reasons’ investors look to protect their wealth is to ensure that they have sufficient assets and income in retirement. Many may want to protect their retirement savings with silver, but they don’t know how. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that difficult.

With a silver IRA from Goldco, you can enjoy the benefits of investing in physical silver while still maintaining the tax advantages of a normal IRA account. You can even roll over or transfer existing assets from a 401(k), IRA, TSP, or similar retirement account, without tax consequences. That allows you to protect the investment gains you’ve already made and put yourself in a position to benefit from future silver price gains.

If you’re looking to invest part of your retirement savings in silver but don’t know how, or if you want to learn more about investing in silver, contact the experts at Goldco today. Goldco’s experienced representatives have helped thousands of investors just like you get started in investing in silver. Don’t let another day go by without protecting your retirement savings. Call Goldco today.

Trevor Gerszt is America’s Gold IRA Expert, CEO of Goldco Precious Metals, and holds a position on the Los Angeles board of the Better Business Bureau.© 2021 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.

Indian Head Buffalo Nickels

I am old enough to remember holding an Indian Head Buffalo nickel in my hand as a child. They were very common back then, but still, it just seemed different from any other coin I had seen. 

The photo below shows Wolf Robe (1838-1841 to 1910), the Southern Cheyenne chief; sometimes believed to be the man whose profile was used on the Indian-head nickel. Here he is wearing a round silver Benjamin Harrison peace medal, which he received from the federal government in 1890 for assisting the Cherokee Commission in negotiations for disposal of land. The Gerhard Sisters photographed him during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mo., in 1904.

Chief Wolf Robe
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Gerhard Sisters, photographer. Chief Wolf Robe. , ca. 1904.