Silver eh? I bought a Garand with my family silver hoard. Before you think that is cool, get the full (fool) story:
My mom did bookkeeping at a local high school for several years, and among other things worked at the register for the cafeteria. She'd exchange any silver coins taken for face value while she was adding up the daily receipts. After she died I found a 30-06 ammo can about 1/3 full of silver quarters and dimes (plus a few half-dollars and wartime nickels). I converted this silver to cash just as the market peaked at around $30/oz -- 1/3 of a 30-06 ammo can brought about $4K. I bought a running 1974 Plymouth Valiant in 2011 with a very clean body with $3K, spending the rest on bills. So far, so good.
Then I retired and after a couple months and several unplanned expenses I found that I didn't have the spare cash to do a proper rebuild on the Valiant's V8 and steering. Over the succeeding years I kept hoping but my bank account just barely stayed balanced and the car sat in the driveway. Then I tried to recoup most of my original investment by putting the car up for sale at $2.5K, then $2K and $1.5K -- the local vintage car market wasn't biting. Last year I finally listed the car with an Internet Mopar group. Two months of so-so interest but no one coming around for a look, then finally, a dedicated Mopar collector from Australia(!) says he'll be through my area in two months and offers $900 unseen. Up to that point my highest offer was $230 from a local scrap dealer, and since by this stage (almost seven years) my pride had long departed over this car, I took it. The collector stopped by in May 2018 and the car was picked up for shipment the following month. I get periodic photos from Melbourne showing how the restoration process is going -- the car's in good hands now and I've learned to avoid cars and stick to firearms. In a way the car still cost him $3K, given the almost $2K he paid for shipping.
About two months after I sold the car I encountered the husband of one of my former supervisors at a gun shop. Jim was getting too infirm to shoot and had a couple of M1 Garands he wanted evaluated. His rather cherry IH was complete enough for the donation he had in mind to a local museum, but the second rifle, a Springfield with Blue Sky import marks, some minor issues and a beater stock, would go up for sale. I asked to look at it and decided it was exactly what I wanted in a Garand: no pitting, mismatched parkerizing, and a stock and barrel I could easily upgrade. There was a sound, good looking shooter under that POS stock. He quoted $750 to me. I replaced the stock with a new piece of walnut I bought through SARCO and now could probably get $1200 or more for it on the local market, not that I'd sell.
In summary, I turned $3K of silver into a $1.2K rifle. I comfort myself by saying the rifle is worth $3K to me.
I should probably work for the DOD or GAO with those bargaining skills.