What kind of Silver should you buy?
Besides all the questions and advice I'm asked about buying silver, how much, price, etc., there's another question that I've been asked quite often. That question is: "What TYPE of Silver should I buy"? I've been asked this question for many years. Every time I get ready to answer the question, I get the question again from someone different, where the answer I was going to give, doesn't really apply.
This blog and other writings I've been asked to write, have been read by many different people. Readers from numerous countries in Eastern and Western Asia, Europe, Australia, the Americas, etc. Rich, poor, highly educated, laymen, etc. So, is there a certain type of silver that a person should buy?
I have determined that it depends on "Why" you are buying silver. The first thing to realize, is that I have always said, and I still say today, that if you don't own "Physical Silver", then you don't really own silver. This includes silver that is held by another company or facility. If you can't hold the silver in your own hands, and store it in your own home, property, personnel self, etc. then I don't consider that you have bought any silver. All you've done is "Bought a Promise". Don't confuse this however with buying stocks in Silver Mines or Silver companies. That is totally different. (And acceptable if that's what you're into). I'm talking about physical silver vs ETF, stock, or similar that "Promises" that you own actual silver. Even if you can't touch it. If you don't hold it and possess it, then you don't own it.
Now that that is out of the way, what kind of silver is there? There's obviously the 1oz, 10oz, and 100oz bars. (There's actually larger, but that's not even practical to buy). There's silver rounds. These look like coins in their shape, but they are simply made by private companies. There's government MINTED coins. Examples are the U.S. Silver Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, Austrian Philharmonic, etc. These are actual coins produced by a country's mint. They have actual currency value. However, realize that the currency value is not the same as the silver weight value. Example: A 1oz U.S. American Silver Eagle has a currency value of $1.00. However, the silver value is approximately $17.00 as of today's writing. Similar to this are other silver currencies. In most countries, common use currency coins are no longer made of silver or gold. But there are still many available in circulation. For example, the U.S. American quarter, Dime, and half dollar are still produced today as regular currency; however, those produced prior to 1965, were 90% silver. And many of those coins can still be bought today or even sometimes found in circulation. These coins are sometimes referred to as "Junk Silver". Certain years, the silver content went down to 40%. Today, there's no silver in them. But these older coins are from from actual "JUNK" silver.
The final types of silver to buy, are the commemorative type coins and bars. I will not spend much time on these. I will simply say, that unless you got some really special deal, where you could buy these at the SAME price as their silver weight in bars or rounds, then you are totally wasting your money. I'm speaking of the Panda Bears, Canadian Wild Life, holiday coins/bars, novelty, etc. You are paying up to 2-3 times to value in silver.This is a waste of your money. I've bought some of the 4 ounce silver plates that looked like $100 U.S. Currency Bills. It's a novelty. The normal price was about 50% more than the going price of silver. I was fortunate to come across some at a pawn shop where they bought them when silver was much lower. So when I found them, I bought them for spot silver price. But if you can't do that, then stay away from them. Another thing that can be found if you look hard enough, but you should stay away from, is "Silver Shot". It's small silver pellets used mainly by Jewelers to melt down and make jewelry. Once melted into jewelry, it's easy to test the silver content and determine purity. But as silver shot, you can't really test it. So unless you know the origin of where you got it, and you plan on melting it down into bars and have them tested and stamped, it's just not worth the hassle.
So; now that we've listed the various types of silver you can buy, what should you buy? Well, my #1 priority is to try and get whatever silver you buy, as close to spot price as possible. You'll usually have to pay some mark up, but there's no sense in paying a lot more than you have to. Obviously, different states and countries have different rules. Some charge taxes. Some charge higher premiums. Some countries put import levies on silver and gold. Whatever your restrictions are, try and get the price as close to spot as possible. That spot price can actually change, depending on what the seller has. Most people don't walk in with $1800 in cash wanting to buy a 100 ounce silver bar. Most people walk in and want to buy a couple silver rounds or silver eagles. This is why 100 ounce silver bar has such a small markup. Supply and demand simply isn't there. On the other hand, if the purpose for you to buy silver is because you believe in an economic Armageddon where you believe you will need silver and gold to purchase goods and survive on; then you probably don't want a 100 ounce bar. That's pretty difficult to buy some groceries and expect change back. But if you simply want to buy silver as an investment or as an insurance policy against inflation, then a 100 ounce bar probably doesn't bother you. (Unless when it comes time to sell, you only want to sell SOME of it).
For the Economic Armageddon or survivalist crowd, (Which there is NOTHING WRONG with this type of silver/gold stacker), your BEST form of buying silver, is the JUNK SILVER (90% U.S. Coins - Pre 1965 quarters, dimes, and half dollars). For this silver buyer, this type of silver allows you to have smaller units of silver. These coins are all smaller than 1 ounce. Great for spending. Just remember to only use this type of silver with people that know what it is. To the average person, they look like a regular quarter, dime, and half dollar. And to them, they will only give you the face value. But for the individual who will actually do commerce WITH SILVER, they will know what it is. Many countries also have minted coins that had silver in them. If you live outside the united states, you should look for similar coins.
For the less educated person to do a transaction with, the government minted coins are the next best purchase. The reason being, everybody trusts a MINTED coin from a country. Whether it's the US American Eagle, Austrian, Canadian, British, etc. these coins are trusted. You can't duplicate them. If you plan on buying and selling to many different people and you haven't established a relationship with them, (Like your local coin dealer you've known for years), the the eagles, maple leafs, philharmonic, etc. are the best silver to buy.
After these, I'd say it's a tie between regular 1 ounce rounds (Generic Round Silver) and the 10 ounce bars. My only suggestion is that either have mint marks from recognized companies. Buffaloes, Sunshine Mint, Republic, OPM, etc... Basically, a company's name that you've heard of or seen before. You just don't want something that looks like someone melted down a bunch of jewelry and stamped it. Mind you, forging artificial silver is not that profitable. A 1 ounce coin is worth $18. It would cost almost that to use a cheaper metal and a die to make the coin. But a 1 ounce GOLD coin is worth $1250. That is worth forgery. Also, if the time comes when silver is worth $100 an ounce and gold is $4000 an ounce, the chances of forgery is higher. Currently, it's not such a big deal.
After these generic rounds and 1-10 ounce bars, come the BIG BOYS. The 100 ounce bars. definitely only buy name brand such as "Academy" "Sunshine Mint", "Pan America", "Johnson Matthy", etc. Obviously, if you're buying the big boy bars, then you are mostly looking at an investment. Where you can sell them for a profit. Here's a note of advice. Most places charge some sort of "Capital Gains Tax" or a "Profit Tax" if you earn a profit. If you are in the United States, most times, you can buy and sell silver and gold without much attention unless the amount of cash you are spending on buying or selling goes past the $10,000 mark. If silver makes it to $100 an ounce, a 100 ounce bar will be worth $10,000. When it comes time to sell it, you'll have to deal with larger companies. Thus, everyone in the "TAX CHAIN" will know who you are. Unlike selling 10-15, 1 ounce rounds or coins per day where you can keep a lower profile. Not that I'm recommending or suggesting ways to avoid taxes or fees. I'm simply saying your options are greater when you can walk into a pawn shop, local coin shop, friend at work, etc... and sell individual 1 ounce coins. Even a 10 ounce bar. If you have a 100 ounce bar, there's not a lot of places that will be able to fork over that kind of money. You'll wind up having to sell it back to a larger company. And they charge a premium to buy it back. Most local places give you spot price and they make their profit when they sell with a premium. They don't make a premium when they buy back. But the ON-LINE type places do charge a premium to both buy back and to sell. So keep that in mind when buying the larger bars.
Anyway; that's my advice on WHAT silver to buy. Determine why you are buying silver and buy accordingly. Me personally, I usually buy generic 1 ounce rounds (Legitimate Companies). They are the lowest markup for smaller units. I also buy as much of the 90% "Junk Silver" I can. My concern is SILVER. I don't care if it's MS-69 mint. (What a Waste). I don't care if it's Panda or bi-centennial commemorative coin. I don't care if it says merry christmas. I care about the silver content. I care about the ease of selling it later. I care about maximizing my profit. Your priorities may be different. Remember to, if you feel you need to be very MOBILE, $10,000 worth of silver currently a bit over 500 ounces. That's 30 pounds. $10,000 in gold is only about 8 American Gold Eagle 1 ounce coins. So what your goals are is important when determining what you buy. Even though the $10,000 in silver is 30 pounds, that can easily fit in a small ammo can and can be safely stored in your home in a safe, buried, etc.. Best of luck. CYA: SE
This blog and other writings I've been asked to write, have been read by many different people. Readers from numerous countries in Eastern and Western Asia, Europe, Australia, the Americas, etc. Rich, poor, highly educated, laymen, etc. So, is there a certain type of silver that a person should buy?
I have determined that it depends on "Why" you are buying silver. The first thing to realize, is that I have always said, and I still say today, that if you don't own "Physical Silver", then you don't really own silver. This includes silver that is held by another company or facility. If you can't hold the silver in your own hands, and store it in your own home, property, personnel self, etc. then I don't consider that you have bought any silver. All you've done is "Bought a Promise". Don't confuse this however with buying stocks in Silver Mines or Silver companies. That is totally different. (And acceptable if that's what you're into). I'm talking about physical silver vs ETF, stock, or similar that "Promises" that you own actual silver. Even if you can't touch it. If you don't hold it and possess it, then you don't own it.
Now that that is out of the way, what kind of silver is there? There's obviously the 1oz, 10oz, and 100oz bars. (There's actually larger, but that's not even practical to buy). There's silver rounds. These look like coins in their shape, but they are simply made by private companies. There's government MINTED coins. Examples are the U.S. Silver Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, Austrian Philharmonic, etc. These are actual coins produced by a country's mint. They have actual currency value. However, realize that the currency value is not the same as the silver weight value. Example: A 1oz U.S. American Silver Eagle has a currency value of $1.00. However, the silver value is approximately $17.00 as of today's writing. Similar to this are other silver currencies. In most countries, common use currency coins are no longer made of silver or gold. But there are still many available in circulation. For example, the U.S. American quarter, Dime, and half dollar are still produced today as regular currency; however, those produced prior to 1965, were 90% silver. And many of those coins can still be bought today or even sometimes found in circulation. These coins are sometimes referred to as "Junk Silver". Certain years, the silver content went down to 40%. Today, there's no silver in them. But these older coins are from from actual "JUNK" silver.
The final types of silver to buy, are the commemorative type coins and bars. I will not spend much time on these. I will simply say, that unless you got some really special deal, where you could buy these at the SAME price as their silver weight in bars or rounds, then you are totally wasting your money. I'm speaking of the Panda Bears, Canadian Wild Life, holiday coins/bars, novelty, etc. You are paying up to 2-3 times to value in silver.This is a waste of your money. I've bought some of the 4 ounce silver plates that looked like $100 U.S. Currency Bills. It's a novelty. The normal price was about 50% more than the going price of silver. I was fortunate to come across some at a pawn shop where they bought them when silver was much lower. So when I found them, I bought them for spot silver price. But if you can't do that, then stay away from them. Another thing that can be found if you look hard enough, but you should stay away from, is "Silver Shot". It's small silver pellets used mainly by Jewelers to melt down and make jewelry. Once melted into jewelry, it's easy to test the silver content and determine purity. But as silver shot, you can't really test it. So unless you know the origin of where you got it, and you plan on melting it down into bars and have them tested and stamped, it's just not worth the hassle.
So; now that we've listed the various types of silver you can buy, what should you buy? Well, my #1 priority is to try and get whatever silver you buy, as close to spot price as possible. You'll usually have to pay some mark up, but there's no sense in paying a lot more than you have to. Obviously, different states and countries have different rules. Some charge taxes. Some charge higher premiums. Some countries put import levies on silver and gold. Whatever your restrictions are, try and get the price as close to spot as possible. That spot price can actually change, depending on what the seller has. Most people don't walk in with $1800 in cash wanting to buy a 100 ounce silver bar. Most people walk in and want to buy a couple silver rounds or silver eagles. This is why 100 ounce silver bar has such a small markup. Supply and demand simply isn't there. On the other hand, if the purpose for you to buy silver is because you believe in an economic Armageddon where you believe you will need silver and gold to purchase goods and survive on; then you probably don't want a 100 ounce bar. That's pretty difficult to buy some groceries and expect change back. But if you simply want to buy silver as an investment or as an insurance policy against inflation, then a 100 ounce bar probably doesn't bother you. (Unless when it comes time to sell, you only want to sell SOME of it).
For the Economic Armageddon or survivalist crowd, (Which there is NOTHING WRONG with this type of silver/gold stacker), your BEST form of buying silver, is the JUNK SILVER (90% U.S. Coins - Pre 1965 quarters, dimes, and half dollars). For this silver buyer, this type of silver allows you to have smaller units of silver. These coins are all smaller than 1 ounce. Great for spending. Just remember to only use this type of silver with people that know what it is. To the average person, they look like a regular quarter, dime, and half dollar. And to them, they will only give you the face value. But for the individual who will actually do commerce WITH SILVER, they will know what it is. Many countries also have minted coins that had silver in them. If you live outside the united states, you should look for similar coins.
For the less educated person to do a transaction with, the government minted coins are the next best purchase. The reason being, everybody trusts a MINTED coin from a country. Whether it's the US American Eagle, Austrian, Canadian, British, etc. these coins are trusted. You can't duplicate them. If you plan on buying and selling to many different people and you haven't established a relationship with them, (Like your local coin dealer you've known for years), the the eagles, maple leafs, philharmonic, etc. are the best silver to buy.
After these, I'd say it's a tie between regular 1 ounce rounds (Generic Round Silver) and the 10 ounce bars. My only suggestion is that either have mint marks from recognized companies. Buffaloes, Sunshine Mint, Republic, OPM, etc... Basically, a company's name that you've heard of or seen before. You just don't want something that looks like someone melted down a bunch of jewelry and stamped it. Mind you, forging artificial silver is not that profitable. A 1 ounce coin is worth $18. It would cost almost that to use a cheaper metal and a die to make the coin. But a 1 ounce GOLD coin is worth $1250. That is worth forgery. Also, if the time comes when silver is worth $100 an ounce and gold is $4000 an ounce, the chances of forgery is higher. Currently, it's not such a big deal.
After these generic rounds and 1-10 ounce bars, come the BIG BOYS. The 100 ounce bars. definitely only buy name brand such as "Academy" "Sunshine Mint", "Pan America", "Johnson Matthy", etc. Obviously, if you're buying the big boy bars, then you are mostly looking at an investment. Where you can sell them for a profit. Here's a note of advice. Most places charge some sort of "Capital Gains Tax" or a "Profit Tax" if you earn a profit. If you are in the United States, most times, you can buy and sell silver and gold without much attention unless the amount of cash you are spending on buying or selling goes past the $10,000 mark. If silver makes it to $100 an ounce, a 100 ounce bar will be worth $10,000. When it comes time to sell it, you'll have to deal with larger companies. Thus, everyone in the "TAX CHAIN" will know who you are. Unlike selling 10-15, 1 ounce rounds or coins per day where you can keep a lower profile. Not that I'm recommending or suggesting ways to avoid taxes or fees. I'm simply saying your options are greater when you can walk into a pawn shop, local coin shop, friend at work, etc... and sell individual 1 ounce coins. Even a 10 ounce bar. If you have a 100 ounce bar, there's not a lot of places that will be able to fork over that kind of money. You'll wind up having to sell it back to a larger company. And they charge a premium to buy it back. Most local places give you spot price and they make their profit when they sell with a premium. They don't make a premium when they buy back. But the ON-LINE type places do charge a premium to both buy back and to sell. So keep that in mind when buying the larger bars.
Anyway; that's my advice on WHAT silver to buy. Determine why you are buying silver and buy accordingly. Me personally, I usually buy generic 1 ounce rounds (Legitimate Companies). They are the lowest markup for smaller units. I also buy as much of the 90% "Junk Silver" I can. My concern is SILVER. I don't care if it's MS-69 mint. (What a Waste). I don't care if it's Panda or bi-centennial commemorative coin. I don't care if it says merry christmas. I care about the silver content. I care about the ease of selling it later. I care about maximizing my profit. Your priorities may be different. Remember to, if you feel you need to be very MOBILE, $10,000 worth of silver currently a bit over 500 ounces. That's 30 pounds. $10,000 in gold is only about 8 American Gold Eagle 1 ounce coins. So what your goals are is important when determining what you buy. Even though the $10,000 in silver is 30 pounds, that can easily fit in a small ammo can and can be safely stored in your home in a safe, buried, etc.. Best of luck. CYA: SE
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