Were you to invest in silver.......

PutTogether

How would you do it? Pre 1964 coins? SAEs? Other countries bullions coins? Rounds? Ten oz bars? Or bigger?

How about just squirreling some away as opposed to investing? Does it change your answer? I'd really like to know, and I'd like to know why you'd pick what you'd pick.

dcarr

90% silver US "bags" are probably the best. At times, they can trade significantly above melt value. Right now, they are close to melt value. Plus, you may find a couple interesting coins in a bag. I bought a bag of halves once (had to sell most of the coins later), but in the bag I found a very worn 1878-CC half, and an XF-45 (circulated) 1942 PROOF Walking Liberty !

Another good buy is the 80% silver pre-'66 Canadian coins. If you are lucky, sometimes you can find the '67 & earlier 80% Canadian silver dollars for around melt.

If you can tolerate the extra bulk and weight, the US 40% Kennedys are good too - and they can be had for spot or less (plus you have the added face-value backstop protection). I've been told that it is no harder to refine (melt and purify) the 40% silver coins than it is the 90% silver coins.

For bars/rounds, I think the 10-ouncers offer the best overall combination of price (per ounce), popularity, and saleability.

ARCO

I would choose 90% silver bags also. Very close to melt and in the very remote possibility of financial breakdown and/or collapse of fiat money they would make perfect monetary units, as they are familiar, comprised of small exchangeable denominations, and are made of silver.

Of course for beauty, the various one ounce bullion coins issued around the world would be a much more interesting and aesthetic option. I think the key element to buying bullion is to get the silver as close to the spot price as possible. For collecting and enjoyment purposes that goal is not as crucial.

Tyler

roadrunner

I'd comment on this too but the usual anti-PM replies are not worth the commentary. As David Hall says: "Have Fun with your PM's!"

roadrunner

joejeweler

Definitely go with the 90%.... $1,000 face coins first(1964 and before), if you can afford the full bag at around $4,350 or so now. A smaller bag will probably cost you a higher rate for the coins, but you can build as your budget allows. My local dealer is selling right around "spot" currently to good customers like myself, and if a local dealer is not available someone like www.tulving.com is very competitive! Tulving has only "full" bags, BTW. Most dealers have about a $150 to $200 spread between buy and sell on these, so it's a pretty good deal.

Most dealers seem to offer the bags in dimes and quarters, which do average around 715 troy ounces of fine silver. However, from time to time my local dealer has bags of Kennedy halves, which actually contain closer to 721+ troy ounces or so as Kennedy's left circulation very quickly and often many in a bag are MS dated 1964.
These bags won't realize a higher price if sold to a dealer......but if sent to a refiner will yield more.

After i get a bag i often devide it into two 1/2 bags of $500 face each, mainly to ease the weight when moving in the future. The 54+ pound "full" bags are a bit much when dealing with stairs.......and multiple bags. I picked up 7 bags recently and i was beat when i was done! After that i'll only do two bags at once, as it's a lot easier.
When i have to move them i'm going to get someone younger to get a work out.......700 pounds of silver is no fun!

I would also recommend the Engelhard 100 ounce bars when you can get them. They stopped making them in the mid- 80's so they're not always available. My local guy usually has them, and they cost me about $.35 per oz over spot. Some of this premium comes back on resale, however. Just got 5 more today to go with the 8 i bought yesterday as my dealer just had someone sell him 30 and he had a shipment of 20 come in the mail. The stamps very in two styles and the earliest ones were cast......later ones extruded and look nicer IMO. Silver is silver, however.

They're much easier to move around than the bags, store and stack nicely in a bank safe deposit box, and are trusted by most dealers. However......there ARE some in the market that have been tampered with........usually by drilling on the ends to remove 40 or so ounces of silver and filled with crap. Most of these are easy to spot IF you look! Work with a trusted dealer and you won't have a problem here, though.

cladking

There are a few ways to go.

If this is a short term speculation then go for something that's easy in and easy out with a
minimum premium. This would be 90% bags or 100 Oz bars.

For a several year hold then look for something that can be bought for close to melt and
might increase in value or very low premiums. This might include choicer Franklin Mint items
or war nickels. The nickels can be found at a big discount to melt. Same with 40% half dol-
lars. If you can get these unc or as original rolls then you also have a numismatic play.

For long term holds then you should definitely look at world coins and better silver bullion
from all over. Art bars can be purchased near spot many times. Consider a silver bar col-
lection. There are lots of small bars and often there will be a less premium for the off brand
bars. Use your imagination; there are lots of forms of silver that gert little attention and
for a little effort you get much more bang for the buck.

nwcs

If you're looking for silver only, get it in bars. Why pay for the "coin premium" if you don't have to?

CoinHusker

I didn't ask the question, but i sure got a lot of great answers. Thanks everyone. Once again, the forums prove to be my source for good advice.

dcarr

<< <i>If you're looking for silver only, get it in bars. Why pay for the "coin premium" if you don't have to? >>



Most of the bars have a HIGHER premium than the 90%/40%/35% US silver coins.
For example, the accepted 100oz bars (like JM/Englehard) usually trade for, what, 20-50 cents OVER spot per ounce. 40% Kennedys and war nickels (35%) can often be bought for LESS than their melt value, along with Canadian 80% and sometimes even US 90% is less than melt.

fishcooker

I've read that dealers are not required to report sales of American Eagles - gold and silver - to the IRS. It's a 1099-type form just like when trading stocks.

Is the same true for the $1000 bags of coins?

Merc

Those 100 OZ bars are huge and heavy! I was at a small show and someone brought in 11 100 OZ bars and sold them. It was neat to see so much silver. I think the big bars are the way to go if you wanted to invest. They have a small buy/sell spread plus take up less room to store.

KADieter

I am going to go out on a limb and recommend Silver Eagles. They are .999 pure and, surprisingly, have some collector interest. While you will definitely not find prices on them close to melt, they seem to be a decent cross between collectable/meltable. The 90% bags of silver coins (for the most part) and the bars only have meltdown value.

Along the same lines, some uncirculated rolls of Franklins, Roosevelt Dimes and Washington Quarters have the same benefits.

cladking

One should be cautious when buying the Englehardt 100 Oz bars. Some of these
have been meticulously drilled out and the silver substituted with base metal. Those
I've seen have no visual clues. These should at the very least have the "ring test"
performed on them.

hockeyman1717

Dcarr: I always thought war kickels were 15 % are they 15 or 35? Anyone?

Thanks,

Chase

cladking

They're 35%. .0563 troy Oz Ag.

Wondo

I like a mixture of circulated silver coins; you can get them below melt and they are fun to play with!!

MacCoin

I am a hobbist not an investor history of my coins means more to me than the dollar value. if I was just investing in silver I go with world country bullium coins but thats the collector in me.

nolimitz

probably a better bang for your buck is mining stocks

fishcooker

Someone posted elsewhere about receiving a 1099 from selling 90% coins. The 1099 indicates that the dealer has told the IRS of your sale to them- with the implication that you should be sure and include the "trade" on your taxes. With the silver eagles, the IRS does not require a 1099 notice. I did a quick search and found this.........



.Only one common silver product is reportable when sold: pre-1965 U.S. coins. The quantity that causes the filing of a 1099B, however, is not clear. The IRS bases its authority to require reporting on CFTC-approved contracts that call for the delivery of $10,000 face value. Consequently, many dealers do not report sales of pre-1965 U.S. coins unless the sale totals $10,000 face value; others report $1,000 sales.

Sales of American Silver Eagles, privately-minted Silver Eagles, and 100-oz silver bars are not reportable, no matter the quantity. Other precious metals products are reportable, but they are not covered here because the average investor does not trade them.

MadMonk

Junk Mercury dimes! But It would be a hedge.

Ethan

Well I have a hell of an idea! I get 40% halves at face value! There is .14792 of an ounce per half.

Silver at 5.50 = $0.814 a piece
* 20 = $16.271 per roll! = 62% profit for 30 seconds work...........


































Of course I have to search through $500 worth to get them......

dollardude

<< I'd comment on this too but the usual anti-PM replies are not worth the commentary. As David Hall says: "Have Fun with your PM's!" >>

I'll keep quiet this time, Roadrunner!

LALASD4

How about silver future from the COMEX, or options from CBOE?

fishcooker

The last $500 I searched had about 2 40% halves and $499 in junk clad. Made about $0.20 per hour on that deal.