Prepper Money – Silver Is Gold

I’m not just talking dollar bills here, as for some people, those will have no value. But you do need to figure out what you can use to trade with others in exchange for tangible goods. For some people, it is precious metals, like gold and silver. We all have some gold lying around, mostly in jewelry, but you likely have some silver lying around or silver that you can obtain relatively inexpensively.

Did you know that many U.S. coins prior to 1964 were silver and you can still get some of it in pocket change? In the collector world, it is called junk silver, but in the prepper world, it is just called silver.

• Nickels prior to 1942 are silver (35%) and I pick up on average one a year in pocket change and 4-5 a year when I go to the bank and buy rolls of coins to go through (I collect coins as a hobby).
• Dimes prior to 1964 are 90% silver. I generally pick up 2 a year in pocket change and 6-7 a year in bank rolls.
• Quarters prior to 1964 (90% silver), Half Dollars prior to 1964 (90% silver, 1970-1964 are 40% silver); dollar coins prior to 1935 are 90% silver.
• Copper is also usable during an SHTF situation, and pennies prior to 1982 were copper mixed with some ratio of another metal (usually zinc), except in 1943, which were steel.

Fuel (gasoline, kerosene, and some other fuel types) could be used for trade. Food supplies like coffee and alcohol are also popular items that preppers horde to use as tradable items.

Basically, anything that you can trade that others will want is great for this purpose. If you are a welder and you have a working welding rig, then your services have the potential to be like gold in a grid-down situation.

In my case, I’m an IT (Information Technology) nerd, so my skills won’t be very useful, but I have many other skills that I’m talented at that will be used to trade in kind.

BTW, if you are curious how to get coins from your bank, the best thing that I have found is to go to the teller and explain to them that you are collecting coins and that you want to get say $50 in quarters. Depending on the bank they will either have rolls of coins from other members of the bank (these are usually the best to get) or rolls directly from the reserve (which are hit or miss). I go to the bank when they are slow and I have to see a few rolls to see if I want to get them. Most usually understand what you are doing, but it depends on what you collect. If they hand you a few rolls of brand-new quarters from the mint, then you are likely not to find anything worth keeping.