Foolish or not foolish, that is the bullion question

Gold and silver are sagging this morning.

When I checked the Kitco website, gold was at a six-month low of $1,256.30 an ounce, while silver was $16.16 an ounce.

Both metals are down for the year.

This is only June.

What do you think will happen in the next six months?

Whatever you say, know that you risk looking foolish.

Last November, I wrote about Bitcoin and the likelihood its price would eventually decline.

It had just breached $8,000 on its way to $20,000.

This morning, it is $6,237.

At the moment, I can say I was right.

But anyone thinking of buying Bitcoin at the time I wrote that blog would have thought I was an idiot for many weeks.

Them’s the breaks.

What do you think will happen to gold and silver in the next six months?

I know I repeat myself, but that is the question every investor or speculator asks.

I had an email from one on June 19.

Here it is:

“I just checked the current price of silver. At 16.30/16.40 per ounce, to me, it’s a buy. Last week, I saw it broke through the $17 range. This was a status quo area. At current levels, a ‘buy’ is for sure in order.”

I am not trying to make the sender look foolish.

Every time you make an investment of any kind, you have to pick your point of entry.

Last week, $16.40 looked good.

Next week, it might look good again.

Today, not so much.

However, the sender is not alone in thinking we have reached a good entry point in the month of June.

We have until Friday before the month ends, but silver American Eagle bullion coin sales numbers for June are already higher than those for the month of May.

This is the first time since January that the current month has been higher than the prior one.

Are we at a turning point?

June silver Eagle sales are 435,000.

May was 380,000.

The sequence from January to June is 3,235,000, 942,500, 915,000, 915,000, 380,000 and 435,000, respectively.

The June number is not rip-roaring, but it has broken the downtrend.

Gold Eagle bullion coins broke their sales downtrend last month.

We will have to wait yet to see if the June total will beat May’s.

At 19,500 ounces, the June total has not exceeded the May total of 24,000 ounces.

The January-June sales sequence is 58,500 ounces, 5,500, 3,500, 4,500, 24,000 and 19,500, respectively.

This might be a great entry point for both gold and silver purchases.

But to take advantage of it, you have to be willing to look foolish.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."