Buying Physical Silver - Advice for a friend

reddwing

I have a friend who met with his financial adviser yesterday. He was told to buy physical silver and Swiss Francs, and get out of the US dollar. I always respect the sage advice from this board. Any recommendations on the best way to buy silver bars and Bullion coins? It would appear that the best price over spot is with the .999 silver bars. I see that the American Silver Eagles have a higher premium over spot. My friend is looking for reasonable liquidity (being able to sell the physical silver relatively quickly). I recommended that my friend visit the usual sites (Blanchard, Monex, Apmex, Onlygold) and also stop by a B&M in the local neighborhood. Any other recommendations would be appreciated and or links to sites on how to buy physical silver and the tradeoffs between bars and bullion coins. He has about 30k to invest.

derryb

Wow! a financial advisor that gives good financial advice, must be a member of his family.

tell friend to look at the APMEX site for silver selections. I would limit my purchase to similar items to facilitate easier resell in the future. The best prices for quantity with free shipping I have found at tulving.com, very reputable, I have bought thousands of ounces from them. Best to watch the kitco.com ticker for current spot price and look for a price drop to enter. If I were going to go with a sealed case (500) of the American Silver Eagles, I'd choose the ones from the San Franciso mint and leave the sealed band on the box intact. While they can be purchased at no additional premium they could easily draw a higher premium upon resell. Also look a the cases of 5 oz. silver ATBs. I also think Tulving's RCM .9999 100 oz. bars are a bargain (89 cent over spot). Best to buy the item with the lowest premium (cost over spot price).

Storing a lot of silver is expensive if done away from home and dangerous at home. Nice thing about the 100 oz. bars is you can store them in the garage under a stack of bricks or lumber. Otherwise a very good safe is recommended. The problem with a good safe is someone holding a gun to your wife and demanding that you open it. It is important that no one else know the silver is being stored at the address. A good alternative is the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV) that backs their shares with physical. Eric Sprott is highly regarded in the metals markets.

Your friend also needs to be aware that silver is a very volatile market and not to panic with drops. Fundamentals and long term outlook are strong. He doesn't need to buy it all at once and should purchase on the dips.

mrearlygold

90% bags

CaptHenway

I personally like 90% bags bought at melt.

reddwing

Yes, I like the 90% bags too (probably the collector in me). But is it just as easy to move 90% bags as it is with bars and or silver eagles? Probably a stupid questions as I am guessing the answer is yes.

nibanny

<< <i>Yes, I like the 90% bags too (probably the collector in me). But is it just as easy to move 90% bags as it is with bars and or silver eagles? Probably a stupid questions as I am guessing the answer is yes. >>



With 90% bags you don't need to be as careful as you need to be with bars and rounds (unless you don't care if they have dings and scratches).
On the other end, being bars and round made in silver .999 you carry less weight for the same amount of silver.

On small volumes, I found the best prices and a very good service at ProvidentMetal.com.

zrlevin is selling now on the BST a nice amount of silver at a fair price. You may want to check his listing.

Pokermandude

If he's just starting out I'd recommend anything .999, 1oz - 10oz. 100oz bars might also not be bad since he has a substantial about ($30k) to spend.

Then later 90%/junk silver.

coinkat

world silver coins

57loaded

<< <i>Yes, I like the 90% bags too (probably the collector in me). But is it just as easy to move 90% bags as it is with bars and or silver eagles? Probably a stupid questions as I am guessing the answer is yes. >>



yes but if you are buying something like a $1000 face bag be sure to have it weighed. when one sells i guarantee it will be weighed for it's silver content.

i think the bars would, too, depends on where you bought 'em.

also if the maket is a buyers or sellers will have a big impact on the premium for eagles, mostly because they are minted and guaranteed by the us mint and rarely show appreciable wear.

Wingsrule

With a dollar amount that large, I would be looking at dividing that into smaller groups (say 4 x $7,500 for example) and buying every other Tuesday over the next two months (again, for example). No one can time the market perfectly.

COINB0Y

<< <i>I personally like 90% bags bought at melt. >>

= the Best!

Then buy ASE.

No Bars, Homemades or Clown Sliver Coins

LakeMonster

All silver and no gold?

Your friend should get his first 25 ounces HERE at under melt!

jmski52

I'd go with 90% silver US coin at around melt or 1 oz. Silver Eagles at a reasonable premium.

Well-known bars of 10 oz, 50 oz, and 100 oz sizes should be ok, and the 5 oz. ATB silver coins should be ok if the premiums are comparable to Silver Eagles.

I wouldn't go with foreign silver or art bars.

The key with silver isn't getting the absolute best price, but it's getting a fair price based on known market premiums for what you are buying.

Hey, what's wrong with Clown coins?

coinkat

What does continue to amaze me is the number of collectors/investors that are willing to pay a premium for bars and Eagles when world silver can be bought at a discount- if buying as much silver as possible is the goal- is the goal being met?

I would tend to say no- further, the world is just a different place now

RedTiger

<< <i>What does continue to amaze me is the number of collectors/investors that are willing to pay a premium for bars and Eagles when world silver can be bought at a discount- if buying as much silver as possible is the goal- is the goal being met?

I would tend to say no- further, the world is just a different place now >>



I bought a good bit of world silver (England, Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, and a few other strays) and kind of regret it. I have a mish-mash of low liquidity hard to trade items, and it can be difficult to calculate the value and find a buyer. Many dealers don't want it, those that do have low offers. That's reality, because dealers have to price it back of melt to move it, so they can't offer melt. A person can rationalize all they want about the way the world should be, but it ain't that way. And when dealing with financial questions, "should" doesn't get a person very far, reality and experience weigh heavily.

So with that, I also suggest U.S. 90%, the coins can be bought for melt or just under or over at many venues. I kind of wish I had taken my own advice. While all my many world coins do make for an interesting collection of sorts, it isn't optimal as far as investing in silver.

Justacommeman

I own Swiss Francs. I wouldn't add to my position today with a ten foot pole. I would also be wary of silver here and now. His financial advisor sounds like he just woke up from a rather long nap. Rumple B Stillskin? MJ

halfhunter

I'd suggest he check into Tulving, HERE . . .

Not a fancy website but decent prices with free next day shipping if buying in quantity.

HH

cone10

Tell your friend to wait and watch, silver is lower today and there might be a good buying opportunity in the next couple of days.

coinkat

Kinda funny that several collectors here likely remember the days when the 1933-34 Junk Dollars and earlier"fat man" Dollars as well as the British Trade dollars traded at melt- even below melt and there was minimal interest-

times have changed- buy wisely