I voted SAE
SAEs and pre 65 coinage with the least amount of premium possible. Personally, I stick w/ “name-brand” coinage - or to a lesser extent, bars. I try to stay away from foreign stuff that is not to recognizable and is subject to ambiguity if I need to barter. Rolls of Morgans, Franklins, and quarters come in handy. (A MS Morgan has .77 oz silver, heavily worn about .71)
I also like the popular 1oz and fractional gold bullion coins, pre ’34 gold, and Credit or Pamp Suisse. (Premium rule applies also)
For SHTF purposes, silver and gold fractionals are good for small items, daily living. Gold, especially the larger pieces, are good for extreme barter: ARs, cars, land, life. However, it would be very hard dragging around 20 lbs of silver vs. 5 oz of gold in a hostile environment – esp if you must bug-out.
Also, the modern bullion coins, starting with the Krug, were designed to be traded as bullion, and it is not necessary to hold bars to have bullion. The Krug, GAE, Maples, Phils are all recognizable and should be readily accepted. I would rather have 100 GAEs than a 100oz bar. Although, it is obvious that the big bar would be considerably less expensive due to the mass and the premiums involved.
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I was also hitting up the small local jewelry shoppes looking for their scrap gold. They would take customer's old jewelry to trade for new, and when they have a set weight of old and bench scraps, they will trade their suppliers for fresh gold shot. Figure out the weight of the gold and take into consideration their smelting, shipping, insurance fees, etc.
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Did you know or do you care.....
Jewelers like Maples due to their gold content. .999 and 4-nines fine vs 22K for the GAE and the Krug. This is why the Maples are smaller in size, but all have 1oz of pure gold in them, the difference is how they're cut.
Bottom line, gold is gold, they just differ on how it's packaged. Same w/ silver; the more common (recognizable) packages are easier to sell, trade, etc w/out the need for expensive assaying fees.