schloss, I am getting the feeling you may be my doppleganger LOL.
My experiences in the '70's with gold and silver are identical to yours. I, too, had a friend with a small gold shop (which, by the way, is now one of the largest in the country) who introduced me to PMs, which I bought and sold and made a killing on. I well remember those bags of "junk" silver coins that were going to keep me in food in the coming economic debacle.
I, too, eventually discovered other people continued to eat without owning gold/silver in the years afterwards, so I dug it all up and sold it (except the numismatics, including an indian-head $2.5).
I still buy bullion coins, but mostly just play the miners. Despite their penchant for marching to their own drumbeat, I seem to do better with them than any other sector of stocks.
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