I can't speak to the secular beliefs of most investors. I'm sure they cover all religions. The one thing they have in common is their bible. In investor parlance that publication is the "Wall Street Journal." For almost 120 years, it's what those with fortunes or wishing to make a fortune read.

A story has to be fairly significant to make it into the Journal. For a story to hit the front page it better border on earth shattering.

A week or so ago, a story made the Journal's front page with the headline, "Losing a Mint: Curb on Coin Sales Angers Collectors." It was referring to the U.S. Mint's reduction in producing the one-ounce American Eagle Silver coins. According to the article, some major distributors were experiencing an 80-percent drop in the number of coins they could acquire … down from 500,000 coins per week to 100,000.

That's a lot of silver. But I wondered why it angered collectors. I grant you, it might upset investors. They're the ones who buy large holdings of silver speculating the price will rise significantly. Collectors, on the other hand, might buy five, 10 or 20 coins at a time.

I spoke to several coin dealers to see what impact the reduction in production had meant to them or their collector customers. Turns out, not a whole lot. Here's why.

If silver is selling for $17 an ounce, the Mint charges major distributors a premium of about $1.35 per coin. Those distributors in turn charge dealers a 20-cent premium or $1.55. The dealers in turn mark up the coins another 20 cents. Finally, we pay roughly a total of $18.75 per coin. But, when supplies are short, such as now, the price may be another 20- to 25 cents higher or $19 per coin.

For an investor purchasing 10,000 coins that could be a blip — an extra $2,500 on a $187,500 purchase. As for the casual collector, I don't see an extra quarter here or there getting them bent out of shape much less angry.

According to dealer Jay Woodside of Scotsman Coins, everything goes in cycles. "The Mint doesn't like to see this," said Woodside. "When they realize a scarcity is happening they gear back up to supply the demand and the premiums go down. The reason for the shortage is that the Mint has expanded their product line with other coins, which has taken away from their capacity to supply their bulk suppliers," Woodside said.

Also impacting investors is that in the past, those purchasing large quantities of silver coins enjoyed discount for orders over 500. "Right now, there is no discount on large quantity purchases of even 5,000 coins," noted Woodside.

The coin shortage has also put pressure on other silver products. Items such as 100-ounce bars or Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins are now also selling at a premium. Prior to this, you might have been able to get those for $1.25 over spot. Now you may well pay $1.75 over spot.

There is one way the silver shortage could negatively affect novice collectors. Some companies are having ordinary uncirculated 2008 American Eagle silver coins graded by recognized professional firms. Most come back certified as Mint State-69. That's very high grade, but, in reality, common. According to Woodside, "Most every uncirculated American Eagle coin will attain that grade. But, the companies are selling them for $49 when they're only worth about $20."

That's something I guarantee would anger collectors. As always, SHOP AROUND!

Editor's Note: A JPEG visual of a 2008 American Eagle Silver one-ounce coin has been sent with this column.

To find out more about Peter Rexford and to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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