Really? I didn’t know that. I checked on Kitco and it’s gone now. They used to sell them.
The smallest coins I’ve seen are 0.5 ounce silver rounds on APMEX.
You also could use “junk silver” (pre-1964 State-issued silver dimes, quarters, and half dollars).
I haven’t seen any 1 ounce copper rounds anywhere. For small valued coins, the cost of minting the coin becomes a greater % of the total value.
You could always use State-issued money for transactions smaller than an ounce of silver.
I understood you perfectly. You said “single piece” of green paper. Maybe calling it a dollar was presumptuous on my part, it still can’t be divided. Unless they have scissors, but you saying the single piece wasn’t enough to facilitate trade is an artificial restriction on divisibility. Why can’t they cut it up? If they can’t, why are they using it and not something else? I mean if it can’t be exchanged how does it get exchange value of any kind no matter its value? A lump of gold the size of a Hummer is pretty valuable. It has zero exchange value unless I break it up with a hammer or feel like buying Minnesota and have a flat bed truck to haul it there and make the deal.
True, but then there is no particular need for anyone to use it for exchange beyond those purposes for which it will adequately serve. So when its limit for divisibility is found it will simply not be used any longer or only in those circumstances in which it benefits people to do so. For other transactions they will use other monetary media. That’s why people can still use cows in African villages but ten miles away in the city they use dollars to buy a stereo. There need not be only one monetary medium, multiple standards have existed and still do. Gold, silver, and copper for example. All existed in parallel. Also for example, the whole petro dollar set up makes it favorable for people to use dollars to buy oil, so they do. It’s not a divisbility issue, but it shows people are perfectly competent and able to make one purchase using one money and another purchase using another for whatever reason.
The only reason people would use an unfavorable monetary medium is if that was all there was available for them to use, like prisoners using cigs, or if someone is forcing them to, like the government. Otherwise, why are they continuing to use it after its short comings are obvious to everyone? You can draw up infinite scenarios in which people hit limits of divisibility, portability, etc., in this or that chosen money. So what? Those scenarios say nothing about a reality in which people are, or at least should be, free to trade whatever they want for whatever they want, directly or indirectly, using whatever money they want so long as the other person willingly accepts it. I mean, you’re basically asking what happens if money fails to develop, because there’s no other reason for people to sit around with their thumbs up their butts passing around one piece of green paper with their free hands because it’s the only medium of exchange for some God unknown reason.
good post xahrx
George Donnelly was talking about these a while back. What sort of premium is APMEX asking for?
I didn’t realize there was a full page with correct answers before posting mine =P
Junk silver seems to be a premium of a couple percent compared to generic rounds.
When buying junk silver, remember that the coins are worn from circulation. The actual silver content is less than it was when the coin was newly minted.
Personally, I’d just deal with rounds and bars to avoid confusing. The only hard part is that I haven’t seen any generic rounds smaller than a half ounce of silver. That’s only a problem for small transactions.
I did an estimate once based on the coinflation website. Approximately $0.35 of junk silver is equivalent to 0.25 ounces of silver.
My apologies, I thought you were advocating advocating arbitrary control over the money supply.
They can, and I’ve already recognized the possibility in one of my previous posts. Here is the line:
“The green paper could be divided into pieces, but as you know, there is a limit to the number of smaller pieces that could be made out of the single green paper. The same applies to gold.”
I’ve talked about the same in one of my previous posts. Here is the line:
“Always keep in mind that gold was made money by the market, not by any government decree. So, if gold becomes unfit to be money, the market will find new substances to be used as money.”
No problem. All of us are busy in our lives. And it’s obvious that we sometimes miss reading all posts.