Happy New Year to all! Hopefully 2021 will be a good year for everyone. This last year brought us its share of drama, including a pandemic, lockdowns, civil unrest, economic hardships and consumer product shortages to name a few. Many aspects of normal life simply got “cancelled”. Zoom meetings have replaced traditional gatherings, academics are conducted remotely, stores have more traffic signage than our highways, and now we only get to see people’s eyes out in public. Remember the mad run on toilet paper, or unscrupulous folks price-gouging on hand sanitizer? Still waiting for a second round of stimulus checks, only 8 months after the first payments? And most of us still can’t find ammunition today… It has to get better, right? We don’t know about you, but we’re ready to say goodbye to 2020 and a hopeful hello to 2021!

Read the rest of entry »

The pattern is quite predictable. Uncertainty and instability, whether economic, social or political, drive up the price of precious metals. This is a historic fact. Much like an archeologist can look at ancient sedimentary strata and infer that certain things happened relative to the composition of these layers; we can look at a precious metal chart alone and verify that peaks in the graph indeed correspond to various geopolitical commotions that occurred at those points in time.

Read the rest of entry »

The negative economic impact resulting from events that have transpired within the last six months has been tremendous. An unprecedented closure of the economy has caused irreparable harm to small businesses across the country, forcing many to shutter their doors for good. Unemployment rose higher in three months of COVID-19 than it did in two years of the Great Recession. Yet despite the pandemic, Amazon doubled its net profit year over year to $5.2 billion, compared to $2.6 billion at this time in 2019. So what’s wrong with this picture?

Read the rest of entry »

Metro Pawn & Gun deals with a wide variety of collectible coins and other rare currencies. Coins may be made of precious metals or more common materials. Their values are based on their scarcity, composition and condition.

Read the rest of entry »

Uncertainty has truly become the new normal. When the COVID crisis took hold in the US, the first order of business was to stop the spread. Various mitigation efforts ensued, and terms such as ‘social distancing’ became household words. The shutdown of non-essential businesses and public venues followed, and altered policies for those that remained running in some capacity were implemented.

Read the rest of entry »

The COVID crisis we are experiencing is unprecedented in modern times. Aside from the human toll in fatalities, it has affected nearly every aspect of life as we know it. From government mandated lock-downs to economic disruption on a global scale, it has exposed the true frailty of the engines that power our world. The prosperity of a functioning society is not simply defined by a monetary equation. Fluctuations and elasticity are an inherent part of such a system and typically weathered in stride. But when the life fabric of life is stretched beyond the breaking point, it’s wise to prepare for a potentially unfavorable outcome.

Read the rest of entry »

Prepping is a concept that has grown popular in recent years, even making it to mainstream television with shows like “Doomsday Preppers”, “Survivorman” and others. These illustrate the various preparations people undertake for a myriad of potentially cataclysmic scenarios, ranging from economic collapse to natural disasters to pandemics or terrorist events. While some of these narratives might seem unduly apocalyptic, such as alien invasions or asteroid impacts, recent world events have placed a far more sobering light on such endeavors.

Read the rest of entry »

Looking at the past year, we continue to see appreciation of precious metals across the board. Within the past 12 months, gold went from a low of $1270 per ounce to $1574 per ounce currently. Silver experienced its lowest price of the past year at $14.34 per ounce to its highest of $19.57 per ounce. Platinum soared from around $785 per ounce in January of 2019 to around $1015 per ounce in January of 2020.

Read the rest of entry »

The gift-giving traditions of the Christmas season can be trying at times. If you have many people to shop for, each with multiple ideas of their holiday wish lists, it can quickly become a full blown shopping adventure. Are you up to the challenge of braving black Friday crowds at the mall or other retail venues? Do you want to endure the long lines, parking hassles, or coming up empty because the item you wanted just sold out? Even with online retail being a part of how we shop these days, it still comes with its own set of issues. Will the gift you ordered arrive in time? Will it make it through the delivery process without damage?

Read the rest of entry »

At Metro Pawn & Gun are big fans of collectible coins, coins made of precious metals, and other rare coins and currencies. Coins from around the world and throughout the ages are not only valuable, but each one carries along its own chapter of history from the era during which it was created. Can you imagine where a penny minted during World War II may have been? Or a Morgan silver dollar from 1921, steeped in history and witness to events that shaped our world. We stock silver quarters and dimes, WWII nickels and pennies, and innumerable other numismatic treasures. We are always on the lookout for rare coins you may want to sell or pawn.

Read the rest of entry »