Hi Ed,

Question #1a Play or Pass on 6 oz $200 ..... PLAY
Question #1b Play or Pass on 6 oz $300 ..... PASS

Question #2 Where are you personally going with your collection, buy more, sell or hold?

I am not selling, my collection is a silver strike collection not a bullion trade. I have other silver and gold in play as bullion trades. So I am still looking to buy more strikes. As I mentioned in earlier post, I am not looking too hard at commons unless they are below melt, that becomes a bullion play as they would be duplicates in my collection. I am looking at some less common 10's and have been bidding a lot on eBay and winning a little. That's okay. I am trying to decide which $200's I want to add to the collection, I am going to add more of the old ones before I worry to much about the new ones, whatever they may be.

As the price of the one pound strikes keeps going up (both the cost of winning them in the machines and the cost of buying on eBay) I have to consider how much money I want in silver one pounders rather than some other investment. When I could pick up a $200 for $270-280, it was an easy call. I wanted them for my collection. But when that number jumps up to $400-500, I tend to prefer to put that into gold coins for my coin collection instead of my silver strike collection.

The risk we all run as collectors is that if the casinos drop the strike program, we all lose on our collections' value as far as collectibles go. But, we win as far as bullion on the common stuff. The only reason I play for more than two clads, is the thought of getting a redcap or a $200 (or $300 or $400) with some silver in it. So, I will support whatever the casinos need to do to keep the programs alive provided it involves some silver. I'd be fine with a $200 with a brass rim and a 6 oz center. Just lets try to get the brass gold plated so it doesn't tarnish as quickly. It's not worth worrying about the $10's, but if we have to dump $200-300 into a brass rimmed strike, the few extra dollars to gold plate would be well worth it. And, technically, a brass core+copper+nickel+gold will give the best finish. but that's another post....