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Remember what I said about buying a few gold wedding bands to use as “change” or for emergencies during the crisis, so as to no bring to much attention towards you by revealing a nice gold coin in the wrong place.
Look who happened to have a bit of gold for trade, plus a couple rings as well…:p
WWII Gold Barter Kit
Don’t want to say “ I told you so” (well yes, maybe I do:^) )
http://www.donrearic.com/ww2kits.htm
The website has lots of information too. Just click on survival kits for many good ideas you can use if you are just now putting together a survival emergency kit or Bug out bag.
http://www.donrearic.com/survival.html
Look here, another downed pilot kit.
Instead of loosing a gold coin just to buy a meal, some food water and maybe a ride for a few miles, can anyone imagine the pilot, opening up the pictured gold chain link with his pocket knife, and handing over a couple links as payment instead?
http://www.coloradoprospector.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=391&pid=3313&st=0&#entry3313
FerFAL
17 comments:
This is good stuff, thanks! Keep up the good work.
Hey. And what kind of rings or chains should one buy? Any more specific info would be appreciated. Thanks again.
Hi, What you should do is hit pawnshops and such. Don’t go around buying this stuff as “jewelry” because you’ll loose money compared to buying bullion 99,9 gold.
What you want to do is buy it as “junk gold” from someone that is about to have it melt for it’s gold content.
You’ll have to look around and check prices. I’ve been told that in pawnshops used wedding rings are very cheap.
How much “extra” is the benefit of having the gold broken down into chains or rings that in some situations might be more useful or safer than selling your gold coins ?
Again depends a lot on your personal situation and your location.
Around here, “change” is worth up to 3% or so.
If you want 100 bucks in 1 buck coins, the street market in my region says that I’ll have to pay 103 bucks for those 100 coins.
Makes sense? I suppose you have to pay a little plus for the convenience, even if it’s supposed to be an illegal activity around here, people just don’t have an option.
I’d take a similar approach here.
Say you want some simple used wedding bands and a piece of broken gold bracelet because you like the idea of braking some of the links out to buy stuff for which a gold coin or even a silver oz would be too much, or you just don’t want people to knowd you have precious metal coins and bars, how much is it worth for you?
I’d offer the price of the true gold content (after all that’s what he’s gonna get form the melted stuff, plus pay to have it melted and turned to bars).
Maybe if the jewelry looks interesting (more marketable, shall we say) I’d offer a 3% plus.
If the dealer wants more he’s either not getting it or trying to rip you off.
Guess these things vary a lot depending on location and how far into the crisis you are.
The worst it gets, the more people are willing to be “reasonable”, regarding these things.
FerFAL
Ferfal, thank you very much for providing this information.
Question: If people have small gardens with limited space, what are the most useful items to grow? And are there things that no one attempts to grow?
Thanks, brother.
Hi Ferfal, I have read most of your writings and I am a bit surprised. I knew that Argentina had economic problems but did not know that crime was so rampant.
You may now laugh, but would you recommend visiting Argentina as a german tourist or university student, or is this purely suicidal?
I have become interested in the country.
Also, my mother (german) has a female friend living near Buenos Aires and thought about going there. Is that suicidal, too?
LOL! No, not suicidal at all.:)
It's not safe either, but as long as you stay in down town Bs As and visit the known tourist destinations you should be just fine ( pick pocketers and random theft aside, and other world wide plagues common in every big city of the world)
What I really would advice you not to do is to go solo visiting on your own places other than those meant for tourist because then yes, you'd be increasing your risks much more, unnecessarily, or end up in some places like fuerte Apache, villa Traquila, or one of the several villas around Bs As where your chances of getting in and out of there unharmed are about zero.
But if you’re smart and don’t take these unnecessary risks some adventurous tourists just feel they have to, you’ll find that Bs As is a wonderful city ( in spite of the many bad things it has) and that most educated middle class will treat you well, very friendly. ( just don’t mention Football ;) )
FerFAL
Ferfal -- not so much a comment on this post, as a compliment on your blogging in general. Basically, good onya, mate!
I first came across your writing when someone posted a link on an economics blog I read. It was a longer piece from another blog, which seemed to be a compilation of a lot of things you wrote.
I don't like survivalists in general, because so many seem to be misfits who are eager for civilisation to collapse because they think it would be fun to shoot people. You talked about the lunacy of that way of thinking in the piece I read. I'm a peace-minded left-winger, so your distaste for violence -- even though you have had to get violent since Argentina's collapse -- impressed me.
My wife and I already did many of the things you speak of, long before we ever heard of you. We're middle-aged Americans who were disgusted with paying taxes for President Cheney's wars, and we could see the economic collapse coming. So we sold our house (at the peak of the market, grace a Dios), cashed out our retirement accounts, moved the money to Switzerland and emigrated our arses to Australia several years ago. (I'm a hospital nurse, so immigrating is not so hard.)
The things you say about keeping other currencies around, food storage, working on the ability to go to other countries (I've attained a Canadian nursing licence as a fallback position) and just generally being alert to what might happen -- we've done all that. However, reading your blog has sharpened our awareness. Thanks!
And remember, this is coming from someone who's a bit of a hippie. My political philosophy is quite different to yours, but I'm not one of these unrealistic "mystic crystal energy" morons that give a bad name to 60s types. I'm not going to get into guns -- they're hard to obtain legally in Australia, and one of the reasons I chose this land to immigrate to is that I think the citizenry will not turn so criminal in a collapse as Argentina did and the U.S. will. But I will continue reading you for a wise perspective in the future.
Hi Ferfal, thanks for the response.
Still, I am wondering, when you say that you have your gun in hand leaving and entering your home and when I read that people get kidnapped, tortured and shot in the head AFTER being robbed - wouldn't an unarmed tourist be a very prime target for every criminal? A really prime target, helpless, with money usually?
What would happen to a tourist, if he has a gun for self protection? Is he put in jail or executed by the government?
A further question: is there biotechnological research in Argentina? How good or bad is the university in your view?
Are there moral "advantages" to the crisis?
While in Europe and USA divorce is running rampant, is it the same in Argentina? Did the divorce rate go up or down after 2001?
In short: is it good to marry argentinian women?
Do you know a good publicly listed company in Argentina, that one could buy stocks of? Just curious, sometimes there are gems out there.
Hi, I would be very grateful, if you could answer my questions, it is so nice to read from someone in southamerica.
I have an advice, you may reject: you should teach your son (I read you try not to show him too much crimes) how to shoot, to disassemble and reassemble a weapon, how to load.
It does not matter how young he is, it could once save your life.
Boys usually love to shoot guns.
Thank you for your work Ferfal, you are doing a great service.
I would like to recommend a video I just came across that will give everyone a greater understanding of the economic collapse that Argentina experienced in 2001.
Could you please post it for everyone?
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/445.html
Great stuff. Thanks a ton
Ferfal, you mention that gold and gold coins were good investments but you never did mention silver.
How did silver and silver coins do, as these are easier to trade and sell?
What other investments did well or poorly? land? fine art? collectibles? stocks? bonds?
Thank you for your input.
"- wouldn't an unarmed tourist be a very prime target for every criminal? A really prime target, helpless, with money usually?
What would happen to a tourist, if he has a gun for self protection? Is he put in jail or executed by the government?"
That's why I say that you should stick to known tourist locations, where police presence is HEAVY ( as in 3 or 4 cops per block, for example)
As a tourist you can't carry a gun around here. I'd adivce you to get OC spray or some other legal weapon instead. Bu staying in safe areas you are rather safe.
You dont want to end up in a south american jail,trust me. :)
"A further question: is there biotechnological research in Argentina? How good or bad is the university in your view?"
There is, try looking into "ITBA"
Education is still good, but it did go down in quality a lot. It depends on which university you go to, and how much personal effort you put into it. But yes, Bs As still has the best education in South America, in my opinion.
"Are there moral "advantages" to the crisis?
While in Europe and USA divorce is running rampant, is it the same in Argentina? Did the divorce rate go up or down after 2001?
In short: is it good to marry argentinian women?"
There's lots of bad things going on morally speaking, but in middle classes people have turned a lot more to fmaily for support, so I suppose family is important here, more than in other safer places I guess.
Women here' Sure they are good looking, smart, many people come here and end up married:)
"Do you know a good publicly listed company in Argentina, that one could buy stocks of? Just curious, sometimes there are gems out there."
No idea, but I wouldn't buy any if I were you. :)
FerFAL
The http://www.donrearic.com site does not seem to exist. or is at least not found.
Shut down or blocked?
Some advise scrap gold, I disagree.
You cannot know what you are buying.
Most states have local refiners, and they must assure the purity of the metal they sell.
I get "casting grain" which is .999 pure, with a certificate, and smaller than "bb's" so easy to trade.
I also pay spot, no markup for "intrinsic value"
Hi Ferfal,
Great blog! I was browsing another forum and someone posted one of your old post, a very good one. So now here I am...
Gold is for big transactions as far as I can tell... Silver would be for everyday transactions. What do you think about that? How silver did?
Thanks.
L
Amazing! I was in Argentina back in 1973-74 and it was bad. Lots of kidnapping, sirens blaring all day and night (police) was in DeVoto and Belgrano. Went to Luna Stadium to a soccer match and some people who rooted for the wrong side were killed. Freddy was the driver for my wife/wives Aunt. He was very Macho and the war of cars and drivers facinated me. The American dollar (black market) was king. Nice memories beyond all this madness. Jeff D.
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