anybody know where you can buy a u.s. mint vial of silver?

[chad]

i remember reading that when the silver window was running out, people were trading in paper dollars for silver dollars. they couldn't mint them fast enough, so they switched over and just gave you a vial of 24 grams of silver with a little certificate from the mint instead.

anybody know where you can one of these? i saw some on ebay years ago buy missed out.

anybody know what i am talking about?

[horseshoe3]

They used to have it on APMEX and it was pretty cheap. I couldn't find it just now. I remember seeing it and thinking that is a pretty useless way to get silver unless you wanted it for a curiosity.

[chad]

yeah, i want one just for the novelty of it. i remember the apex ones, but as i recall, i think they were reproductions.

[beefsteak]

Yes, I know what you are talking about Chad.

The ones I've handled over the years didn't come in vials. They were pre-weighed and sealed up pure 999 silver crystals like some of us know how to grow. The ones I've handled were packaged in the old, rather dingy looking US Mint Return Address Pre-Printed envelopes; 3" x 6" in size. There was no paperwork in the envelopes I've handled. Just lumps in the bottom of the sealed envelop, which when open spills out silver needle crystals.

The envelopes look alot like the 1950s and earlier proof set envelopes if you've ever seen one of them.

Hope this helps.

So, are you after the pure crystals, or the ephemeral documentation or what?


And how's that gut healing up for you?



beefsteak

[chad]

i want the real deal in the old, crusty envelope for the documentation end of it. always wanted one, but could never find the genuine article. if you ever run across one, shoot me a pm, i'd love to pick one up.

gut is way behind where i think it should be. can just barely walk a 1/2 mile now after 25 days. pain most of the time. but, that's probably my fault, as i refuse to take pain medication. cocktail at 7 pm is all i allow myself for pain meds. piles of tylenol, etc. weird me out. time will tell i guess ;P

[Buddha]

They used to have it on APMEX and it was pretty cheap. I couldn't find it just now. I remember seeing it and thinking that is a pretty useless way to get silver unless you wanted it for a curiosity.

Of course there are better ways to purchase silver. But silver is silver.

Also chad, be careful with the Tylenol. It's really hard on the liver.

[chad]

yeah, i've taken maybe 8 of them since the surgery. i'm completely paranoid of it. i figure my liver can clean out 2.5 ounces of wild turkey way better.

[Ponce]

Remember that in the old days they used to deal with dust gold and dust silver.......in the old wes a drink would cost you a "pinch" of gold so that the bar owners would hired only big guys because of their big "pinch" fingers.

Just for the hell of it I got hold of a ten oz bar and a new file and turned the ten oz into dust, still have it in my leather pouch from "Knotts Berry Farm" that you could buy with some funny gold nuggets, that was back in 1969.

[ximmy]

I have one of those around here somewhere... It is a little glass vial

[chad]

hey ximmy, can you post a picture of it?

[ximmy]

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s222/chrisneros/pinhead.jpg

[chad]

cool thx!

[beefsteak]

Ximmy,
That's a real nice picture you posted, but those are not the originals from the US Mint. I'd stake my first born on that.. That is someone's marketing concept product based upon US Mint history.

The way those particular silver pellets visible in the bottom of that vial in your photo are made is by pouring molten silver through the pre-drilled bottom of a crucible into a tub of cold water waiting below the crucible.

These are what the US Mint crystals look like, that were in all the unopened until they were placed in my hands by old timers and heirs both.



http://0.tqn.com/d/chemistry/1/0/l/8/1/Silver_crystal.jpg


You see, only way one can grow these crystals are from .999 pure silver.
The fun thing about the link above, is that you can click and then click again. The total image file is something like 4428 × 3472, and gives delightful close up of the crystal flat faces and all the intricacies of the various branches sporting those flat faces.

Silver pellet shot, such as are visible in the bottom of that vial, can be in many forms, and many purities, even nowadays, coming with anti-tarnish properties.

However for a mint to man-make a pure silver product, this is what they grew out of silver-nitrate electrolytic solution. The mint is very comfortable making electrolytically recoverable PMs. For pure gold gold, it is in hydrochloric electrolyte filled cell. For Silver, it is in a saturated Nitric solution.

Here's an example of the variety of silver shot that can be made these days, and that's definitely man-made silver shot in the AMPEX "concept" vials.
Scroll down about 3/4 the way on this site, and you'll see 3 kinds of silver shot by this refinery.

http://www.aaametals.com/

Hope this helps everyone out.

Chad,
you BET I'll PM you the next US Mint sealed Silver Certificate redemption batch that crosses my desk. You have my word.

Thanks for the update on your gut. Admire you for your hands off pain meds stance. Frankly, pain is to human movement what a governor is on a commercial 18 wheeler's throttle.

I'm willing to bet you'll heal more completely because you haven't dumbed down nature's "governor." Glad to hear you are on the mend! Keep on keeping on.


beefsteak

[ximmy]

You can only burst a bubble where there is a bubble to burst... In your mind's eye doesn't count... ::);D