Will there be a gap between a jump in precious metal prices and total SHTF?

[Tarrel]

Why silver? If you buy silver in the UK you pay VAT on it, and immediately take a 20% drop in your asset value. Gold coins, on the other hand, are regarded as legal tender and don't attract VAT. Gold coins such as quarter sovereigns are available for modest sums, making them relatively easy to acquire, and potentially a viable medium of exchange post-SHTF.

If I was purely looking for a store of value to be used post-SHTF, I'd probably go for silver as it has multiple uses and is available in smaller denominations. Either gold or silver would be useful as a way of paying a large sum in order, for example, to be smuggled across a border (as Selco suggests on SHTF-school). But for bartering, I'd suggest there are other things that could be acquired more cheaply that would become highly valuable (Paracetamol for example).

So, in my personal opinion, it boils down to making two types of investment:
- Post-SHTF barter goods (cheap to buy now and easy to keep); painkillers, water purification tabs, matches, batteries, Stanley knife blades, etc, etc)
- Pre-SHTF precious metals, betting they'll go up in value as the S approaches TF. (Gold coin to avoid the VAT)