Best Silver Bullion to Buy?

keyman64

If I were to consider buying 10-20 ounces of silver, what is the best to buy? I like the idea of 10oz bars but sometimes when you go to sell people want to drill...or pass because they would have to drill. Then the off-brand 1oz silver bars? 5oz bars? Silver rounds? Silver Eagles? Name Brand Bars? Etc. Etc.... I am not interested in paying a big premium for whatever I buy but I also don't want the hassle when selling. I don't like buying melt/culls etc.



Your insight is appreciated.

BAJJERFAN

Seems like your best bet would be a roll of silver eagles. Your thoughts about bars or rounds are the same that others have about the trustworthiness of those forms. Selling to someone who has a PM tester at a show would be your best bet. Then again selling a roll of ASEs here wouldn't be too hard as long as your prices are competitive with the big boys.

Coulport

I would suggest name brand 10 oz bars like JM , Engelhard, A-Mark or Sunshine.



If you go with Silver Eagles you pay a bigger premium but you usually get some of that back.

OPA

Originally posted by: Coulport
I would suggest name brand 10 oz bars like JM , Engelhard, A-Mark or Sunshine.

If you go with Silver Eagles you pay a bigger premium but you usually get some of that back.

For Ultra High Relief silver rounds or bars, I would add Elemetal Mint (formerly Ohio Precious Metals). Small premium over spot when first issued, limited mintage with great designs.

Downtown1974

Different strokes, but I like Silver Eagles and Silver Maples. Like Coulport said, you will get the premium back when you sell. I'm not a big fan of bars but I do like the 10 oz RCM bars.

keyman64

So what would you all say is the acceptable premium for the different mediums mentioned and then does that premium also exist when selling or do people just want to rip you off paying melt or less? Just trying to learn about a few examples, how the game is played etc. What is the premium per oz etc?...so if the premium is $1 per oz when silver is $12.75/oz does the premium double when the price of silver doubles? Blah blah blah.

PerryHall

Originally posted by: Coulport

I would suggest name brand 10 oz bars like JM , Engelhard, A-Mark or Sunshine.



If you go with Silver Eagles you pay a bigger premium but you usually get some of that back.

Agree. Also, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Perth Mint, NTR, Republic Metals Corporation, OPM, A-Mark, and Silvertowne among others are good bars. Buy from the major bullion dealers such as JM Bullion, Provident, APMEX, MCM, etc who occasionally have good sales and free shipping. Check their web sites to get a feel for what's available. I've never had any problems selling name brand recognized 10 oz bars and I never heard of a dealer wanting to drill holes in them. Many years ago there were reports of someone drilling holes in 100 oz bars and filling them with a base metal such as tungsten or lead but this was not a widespread problem. A visual examination of a silver bar will usually reveal any tampering. There are several useful You Tube videos that show how to authenticate silver bars---the ring test, the magnet test, etc.

keyman64

Good tips. I appreciate the feedback.

So what are acceptable premiums on these things and will they be gotten back when selling?

bronco2078

90% halfs

BAJJERFAN

Originally posted by: keyman64

So what would you all say is the acceptable premium for the different mediums mentioned and then does that premium also exist when selling or do people just want to rip you off paying melt or less? Just trying to learn about a few examples, how the game is played etc. What is the premium per oz etc?...so if the premium is $1 per oz when silver is $12.75/oz does the premium double when the price of silver doubles? Blah blah blah.

First off, normally nobody is going to sell at cost so you generally are going to pay something over spot. I'd think for bars or rounds, $1.50 over might be tops. ASEs have a $2 premium right out of the gate. The APs add their markup to the $2, and the dealers like Provident, SDBullion, JMBullion, et al mark up above that. The premium kind of depends upon supply. When supplies are plentiful, premiums are lower. When selling to a B & M type dealer, you can expect to get offers all over the place from about spot, to maybe $2 over.



There is one AP with published buy/sell prices from their dealer price list.



Selling 2015 ASE at $2.85 over for 1 MB and $2.80 over for 2+ MB. Their buy price is $1.75 over for sealed boxes.



2016s are $2.95, $2.90 and and $1.75



For the small quantity you are talking about buy the eBay specials from APMEX/MCM and sell em here when it's time.

OperationButter

Grab 100oz bars, RCM or JM and call it a day. Lowest premium to get into silver and shouldnt be as hard as people claim to be when selling to the big boys (APMEX etc) when the day comes. Otherwise go with ASE and hope that the premium is still there when you go to sell.

TopographicOceans

SAE's have the highest premium, but you can sell them for a premium over spot as well.
If you buy off brand bars without assay you can expect to sell them under spot. And there are a lot of fake bars as well.

mariner67

"If I were to consider buying 10-20 ounces of silver, what is the best to buy?"

That is such a small purchase and you have so many concerns.

If that is all you are going to spend I would do sonething else with the cash.

keyman64

Originally posted by: mariner67

"If I were to consider buying 10-20 ounces of silver, what is the best to buy?"

That is such a small purchase and you have so many concerns.

If that is all you are going to spend I would do sonething else with the cash.

Not everyone is rich. Then it also might be wise to consider dollar cost averaging. Instead of buying 100oz now, buy 10-20 now, if it dips a little more then buy 20-30 etc etc...if silver contracts start going a little higher then maybe buy the rest. There is no reason to buy all at once unless you happen to have a crystal ball that predicts this to be the bottom.



I just want a little while I continue to play with most of my money in coins and retirement accounts.

keyman64

Interesting to see all of the varied responses. Much appreciated. The last time I had a play in silver, my cost basis was well below $10/oz and I sold a little in the upper $20s, a large portion in the upper $30s, then another large portion in the mid $40s....then the rest in the upper $30s when it was on the way down. Most of my stuff was melt/culls. It sure was interesting how dealers would pay very different X times face and I had to shop around every time to get the best deal.

derryb

current premiums on various products are a good indicator of what is best when it comes to investing in physical silver. Government mint products are the best play as they offer the safest buy to your future buyers. Buyers pay more premium for a good reason.




My personal preference is bulk bullion silver eagles and RCM 10 oz. bars. The notorious spotting problem with silver maples removes them from my wish list.

stockergreen

Perth Lunar Series Coins And Chinese Pandas.

Baley

Buy the form of silver you like to look at and will have joyful pride of ownership while holding,

because if you intend to sell it for a significant profit, you're probably going to be holding it and looking at it for a long, long time.



Depending on your age, you might die with it, and then your heirs can inherit the joy..

guitarwes

Bars are boring. My first choice would be 90% Halves. But get some Eagles, Maple Leafs, Australia Roos, China Pandas, or Brittanias.

BAJJERFAN

Originally posted by: keyman64

So what would you all say is the acceptable premium for the different mediums mentioned and then does that premium also exist when selling or do people just want to rip you off paying melt or less? Just trying to learn about a few examples, how the game is played etc. What is the premium per oz etc?...so if the premium is $1 per oz when silver is $12.75/oz does the premium double when the price of silver doubles? Blah blah blah.

Speaking of premiums, I got smoe gasoline tonight for $1.89 per or super unleaded which is the crap with ethanol in it. They also had the regular unleaded, same octane rating 87 with no ethanol for $2.29 per. Never used to be a $.40 premium for the regular. Gettin kind of hard to find. I'm not a fan of ethanol. It's more energy intensive to produce, mileage is chittier, it's false economy and the environmental impact is no less. The pollution from an ethanol plant is significant and they suck up a crapload of water. No silver lining in that cloud!