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.
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.
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.
The world is far from a peaceful, stable place. Geopolitical tensions seem to increase, and then subside, but most every storm has been weathered to some extent or another. Those that believe this to be as cyclical as the weather will allude to the fact that every generation has faced its own set of crises, many of which may have been worse than current events, only to have prevailed and come out stronger as a result. And although this is true, if one examines the broader story arc of where things are going, the big picture does raise some concern.
The modern pawn shop is a unique institution in today’s business world. It is a place where you can get a quick loan for items of value, or quick cash for items you wish to sell. You can also shop a robust and varied inventory of merchandise at remarkable prices.
Let’s look at opportunity cost. This is a basic economic principle defined as the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. You walk into a prestigious jewelry salon and find that wedding ring of your dreams, for $5000. While most people might not second-guess putting a ‘price’ on something as special as a wedding, the reality of the matter is that if you spend $3000 on one instead, you’ll have $2000 of potential resources to allocate to something else – like the catering, or the reception hall, or the honeymoon!
Precious metals are always on the radar at Metro Pawn & Gun. We buy, sell, pawn and provide loans for all manner of precious metals, ranging from jewelry to coins to bullion. Investors buy physical gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals as an alternative asset and to protect against inflation and financial turmoil. Owning precious metals is a great way to diversify an investment portfolio because of its historical value and viability as compared to other less tangible assets.
For those of you who follow the gold market, remember back to January of 2000? The price of gold was a mere $288 per ounce! If you happened to be investing in gold at that point in time, looking at your portfolio in October of this year will be a delightful experience. Currently at $1280 per ounce, the value of your investment has over quadrupled in 17 years! There aren’t many other investments that can compare.
Some things in the ‘general market of everything’ hold greater value and appeal than others. Technologies change, fads come and go, and styles evolve to reflect the consumers they target. There are also certain ‘fixed points’ in these markets – goods that are equally desirable, if not more so, at any given time.
While many people may not think of a trip to the local Pawn Shop as exciting, these shops are a goldmine for the treasure hunter in all of us. Pawn shops have been around for thousands of years, the first shops originating in China. Their original purpose was, and remains, a way for people to turn their possessions into cash either by selling them outright, or " Pawning" them. This means getting a loan based on the value of the item.
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