Ready, set, jump back into silver – or not?

What’s a bargain price for silver that would make you jump into the market and buy a significant quantity?

When I checked the Kitco website this morning, the price per ounce was $16.39.

This is down from the $17.06 figure registered as we ended 2017.

What would it take to interest you?

$14?

$12?

$10?

I think this is a very pertinent question this year.

Clearly bullion buyers are more interested in cashing in their gains since 2001 than in looking forward to more profits.

The stories about $100 silver apparently are not enticing.

Getting out of silver holdings is as much a function of age as anything.

Potentially making a fortune in the next 20 years does not appeal as much as enjoying a comfortable retirement today.

Is this why the Mint has sold only 165,000 silver American Eagles so far in March?

If that number seems low, it is.

Results for 2018 so far are incredibly low.

The 4,342,500 coins sold so far compare to 7,957,500 sold in the first three months of 2017.

I know March 2018 isn’t over yet, but do you really believe that buyers are going to take another 3,615,000 coins to tie last year’s three-month total?

I don’t.

Even if there is a tie in results, last year overall was a lousy sales year of 18,065,500 silver Eagles.

Just two years before, in 2015, the Mint set its record of 47 million silver Eagles.

During 2015, the total sales in the first three months were 12,071,000 coins.

So what’s your trigger price point to jump in and buy silver?

If you don’t have one, that might be another dark cloud for the market.

It is possible we are going through a bottoming out sequence that could take us back to $5.

There is no way to know for sure, but the bird in the hand philosophy takes hold sooner or later in life.

Better to sell now, enjoy years of retirement and buy back in for less than a third of the present silver price. Right?

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."

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.