Can silver coins be boring?

Silver is a magic word online. When I mention it, online readership jumps.

On the other hand, when I ask weekly poll questions regarding silver bullion and silver coins, the lack of response is deafening.

Every week our online poll question is emailed Friday to recipients of our online newsletter. In it I ask readers to contact me with their thoughts on a variety of topics.

They do on all sorts of questions. They offer many insights.

However, there is a noticeable slacking off when it comes to silver market based questions.

Why is that?

Recipients of the online newsletter are a self-selected group of people who identify as coin collectors. Online blogs and news posts are open to the entire public.

When investors were all het up about silver bullion in early 2011 possibly setting a new record high by taking out the $50 figure from 1980, respondents to a weekly online poll were singularly nonplussed.

Their lack of interest might mean that people who consider themselves coin collectors have a greater sophistication when it comes to the silver market and investment than people who call themselves investors do.

This might be attributable to a better sense of where the silver market is going because they have followed it for years. I am sure I am not the only collector who can say I have been following silver closely since the 1960s.

In any event, the market peaked at just under $50 and no new record was set.

Collectors were right.

This week I have another poll question that is noticeably flopping as measured by the number of emails I have received about it.

It asks whether at current prices if it is time to buy the 5-ounce America the Beautiful silver coins.

I have recently pointed out how much more affordable the coins have become with silver trading at just over $20 an ounce.

Is this lack of response another harbinger of worse to come for silver bullion?

It could be.

But it also could be some form of: “Duh, why are you asking such a silly question?”
After all, collectors collect. They are always looking to obtain coins at the lowest possible prices. Who can add anything to that simple formula?

Either way, the result is the same. I should take my lashes for coming up with a poll question that does not inspire many collectors to sound off on the topic asked.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2013 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."