long ago in new york city, the mass transit system used tokens. the subway tokens functioned as a second currency since everyone recognized them, and knew what they were worth. but every few years, the city would have to raise the transit fare. rather than rip out thousands of turnstiles all over the city, and redesign them, it was much easier to revalue the tokens.

normally, anyone could buy as many tokens as he wanted at any subway station. but if everyone knew the price of tokens would increase from 80 cents to 1 dollar next week, everyone and his brother would hoard tokens before the fare increase. so in the days and weeks preceding the scheduled fare increase, the city placed strict limits on token sales. the day before the increase, people might only be allowed to buy 1 or 2 tokens.

what does this have to do with silver?

i believe we are seeing the same phenomenon at work today, only on a much grander scale. silver (and gold) will be revalued much higher in the near future. the us mint has been rationing silver eagles for almost the entire year, which has driven their price to $18 in the free market. the mint claims there is a shortage of blank planchets. a few weeks ago, the mint made they amazing announcement that they were raising the price of the silver eagles they sell to their authorized dealer network from spot + 1.25 to spot + 1.40.

but private mints are willing to pay more than spot + 1.40 to get their hands on blank silver planchets. that's why the mint has no silver. its suppliers are sellling the blanks to private mints as fast as they can make them, and they're backed up, too. of course none of this is news to the us mint. they know that silver is worth a lot more than the spot price, and they don't want to sell any prior to the coming revaluation. like subway tokens before a fare increase, buy as much physical silver as you can get anywhere the phony spot price. it isn't going to last.