This is ridiculous. Silver is now over $40/oz this morning. My last silver thread, started in February, was when Silver went above $30. I purchased some for flute rings at $30.11 and now the cost is 33% higher in just 2 months. 14 months ago I bought silver at $14.78/oz. This represents a 271% increase in price for the last 14 months. Silver used to trade around $4/oz until about a decade ago.
Everything else is going up. A bag of modest groceries, gasoline, Blackwood and other woods. The sandpaper I use is now over $1 a sheet.
Silver is going up in part due to increased demand for it industrially, its use as an inflation hedge, as well as perhaps some mania. However, its price was also suppressed by J. P. Morgan and now that that cat is out of the bag, its price is adjusting. Add to this Quantitative Easing 3, the economic impact of the megathrust earthquake in Japan, and the looming US government shutdown over the budget, and no wonder it and everything else is going up and the purchasing power of fiat currencies are headed downward. Gold is trading at a record as well. Many are predicting Silver to go above $50 by summer.
Eventually I will have to raise prices on my flutes. Have just started doing so, by no longer “discounting” Mopane. My Mopane flutes are now the same cost as Blackwood and Boxwood. When Silver hits $50 I’ll probably raise my rings and slide prices. I raised my key prices years ago to prepare for this, so these will remain unchanged. But as the dollar erodes, I might have to raise the prices of everything.
I was thinking of investing my life savings in silver, which will cause the price to plummet within days after the investment and stay down there until a day or two after I sell it all again. That strategy has worked reliably for me on a wide variety of investments over the years.
As far as flute pricing goes, I don’t see any alternative to raising prices soon to cover increasing silver cost. I’ve been using up existing stocks and delaying the re-stocking as long as possible, but that can’t go on much longer. I still don’t see any good substitute for silver keys, though I may have to offer an alternative if prices keep going up.
I’ve noticed similar price fluctuations - usually silver plunges in price the day after I mail all of my silver scrap in for rendering. But this last time and in February 2010, I bought some at the bottom. Just no where near enough. Had I maxed out a few credit cards a purchased some for investment, I could have paid off the credit cards, and tripled my investment - and paid off my daughter’s student loans perhaps. But then, few were predicting it would go parabolic.
I am loath to change my prices as the current ones have worked well. Raising them would seem to discourage some from purchasing. However, what is odd is that when I have raised prices in the past, I usually get a flurry of new orders. At a certain point, however, the cost of living will require that I raise them and that day is about now.
Its 9:30 AM PDT and Silver keeps going up - its at $40.53 already. If this continues, we could see $50 silver in May. Yikes!
This must be really annoying to the modern flute makers who work entirely in precious metals.
($50 might even be sooner - Silver closed at $40.95 for the weekend. Am hoping it corrects next week but it won’t if there is no budget deal. Will probably just keep going up, along with everything else.)
Buy Silver now gentleman: There may be a minor correction here and there, but Silver could very well be $100 and ounce by this time next year, or sooner.
I invested $400 into physical silver bullion at the start of the new year and as of today it is worth $600. I’m really wishing I had bought way more back then, or even better bought all that much last year when it was $15/oz!
I’ve noticed a few makers of precious metal Böhm flutes raising prices slightly so far. In general high end headjoints were about $1200-$1400, now I’m seeing the same ones as $1300+.
This increase in prices is one of the reasons why I made a big push to get my intermediate flute then instead of waiting until I absolutely needed to, if I were to wait too long I wouldn’t be able to afford it when I need it!
Local coin dealers sell silver dollar coins “culls” , “slicks”, “junk” which have no collectable value. I’ve known a few jewlers that buy them and melt them down.
Maybe a slightly cheaper route.
Or not.
Is there a point when gold-plated brass becomes a more economical option than sterling - at least for the showy bits? And is plain old brass a reasonable option?
We’re thinking about shutting down the Chiffboard at midnight tonight unless our demands are met. We’re not exactly sure what our demands are, but we’re not going to let that stop us.
[ Yes, folks, that’s humor, not an invitation to discussion. ]
Yes, the question arises–are there functional less expensive alternatives? I believe brass has sometimes been used.
Also if silver becomes still more expensive, functional equally expensive alternatives?
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