Barter Metals
Barter metals are gold and silver products that generally come in weights of less than one ounce. Their smaller size makes them ideal for in-person transactions.
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Valcambi CombiBar
Often referred to as a pure gold “chocolate bar,” this revolutionary product from the prestigious Valcambi Suisse refinery has changed the way people think about using gold. The 99.99% pure gold CombiBar can be broken into small pieces of fractional gold, each stamped with its own weight and purity. The CombiBar comes in two sizes: the 50-gram bar popular with European investors that breaks into 1-gram pieces, and a 1-ounce bar manufactured for Americans that breaks into 1/10-ounce pieces.
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Canadian Maplegram
The first 1-gram coin produced by a national mint. Produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, each 1-gram Maplegram bears the iconic Maple Leaf design. The Maplegram comes in sheets of 25 coins. Each coin can be separated from the sheet while remaining in its individual package with unique serial number.
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Fractional Gold Coins
Our most popular 1 oz gold coins are also produced in fractional sizes, including 1/10-ounce, 1/4-ounce, and 1/2-ounce. The American Eagle, the Canadian Maple Leaf, and the Australian Kangaroo all come in these fractional sizes. Since they are produced by well-respected national mints, these coins are easy to sell and will be readily accepted in a barter transaction.
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Junk Silver
Junk silver is the original barter metal. These pre-1964 US dimes, quarters, and half-dollars all contain 90% pure silver. SchiffGold sells Junk Silver in face-value bags of either $1000 or $500. Bought during a low demand period, junk silver can be the most economical way to get small and highly barterable silver coins.
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Who Needs Barter Metals?
There are many scenarios, both in and out of your control, that could make you wish you had access to barter gold and silver.
Banking Crisis
Mismanaged economies can trigger bank runs, which could mean strict limits on the amount of money you’re allowed to withdraw from your bank account. You might want some gold and silver on hand to buy necessities until the crisis is resolved. See the recent crisis in Cyprus as an example.
Currency Crisis
Imagine your paper currency suffering a huge loss in value practically overnight. Hyperinflation of consumer goods, from groceries to gasoline, would make day-to-day living very difficult if you don’t have some gold and silver safely stored. This is not a thing of the past. Venezuela’s inflation rate in 2014 was over 60% and is heading higher!
Healthy Local Economy
You don’t need to experience a major economic calamity to enjoy the benefits of trading with real money. Local farmers, businesses, and tradespeople barter goods and services for gold and silver all the time, cutting the government’s inflationary paper dollars out of their economic life.
How to Barter with Gold and Silver
You don’t want to wait for a financial disaster to establish barter relationships within your local community. Are you friendly with local businesses or tradespeople already? If so, ask them if they would consider doing business with real money. Some prime candidates for barter relationships include:
- Farmers and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs
- Dairies, butchers, hunters, and fishmongers
- Auto mechanics
- Plumbers
- Handymen
- Babysitters and daycare centers
- Independent, locally-owned retail shops
- Gas stations
When you do start a barter relationship with a local business, you’re now on more equal footing. When you paid for your goods and services with US dollars, you were just giving them paper money that only represented an empty promise from the government. If they want to retain the value of that transaction, they’ll have to reinvest it or buy gold and silver themselves.
However, when you exchange gold or silver for a local product or service, you’re trading real money with real value. Normally, the business you’re working with would have to go through the trouble of buying their precious metals through a dealer, and they would pay a premium like anyone else. In a barter transaction, you’re delivering real money directly to the vendor and therefore your metals should be worth more than when you bought them from SchiffGold or another major dealer.
Here are three prices you will see and what they represent:
- Spot Price – This is the price quoted by financial media and which the other prices are based. Spot represents the price that banks and major institutions agree upon when trading title to large volumes of gold and silver in their vaults. Oftentimes, no metal ever changes hands – only the title to it. Because of this, spot price is lower than even major mints or dealers can get their metals.
- Dealer Price – This is the price that major dealers offer the public to buy refined gold and silver coins and bars. The Dealer Price includes the costs of minting, storage, and oftentimes delivery. It also includes the small margin of profit that keeps honest dealers in business.
- Trade Price - This is the price that silver and gold coins and bars are worth in trade, i.e. barter, transactions. This accounts for the customer’s cost of acquiring precious metals and often a small discount as a ‘Thank You!’ for spending real money with the vendor. Learn more about the trade price.
Current suggested trade price for silver and gold
SchiffGold has designed these handy, live trade price widgets for public use. Feel free to copy the embed codes below and install them on your own website. Learn more about the trade price.
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