Bars of Silver at Melt price?

Johnson Matthey is one the top brand name silver bars you can get. You did very well and at $2.50 over spot, that is a good price to pay IMO. Congrats on your first purchase.

 

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Thanks! There was a sheet of 10 that i took the two out of, I kind of wanted the whole sheet. Also was a 10 ouncer bar that is really burning a hole in my pockets. Strange thing about it is they sell on ebay from 400-450. If I paid about $380 in store I could (possibly) resell it for profit after taking out 9% ebay fees, 3% paypal fees and shipping costs. At least it is nice to know if I ever need to sell them fast I can get at least spot after all costs are taken out.

Do you guys think They are worth a premium if left in the packages? I like that it is evidence they are uncirculated, however it seems like putting them in a air-tite might be better to keep them from turning black/brown over time.

 

leave them alone in the packaging...no point in opening them to put in another packaging when that packaging is already sealed and you'd have to pay for the airtites...

 

Interesting that you say this.. I have been told , 'Never buy premium; over time, premium always disappears"
Gosh, everyone says something different.

In the end, I imagine it depends on ones goal(s).

Lucy

 

what I don't get is if the op is about investing in silver...why stick to just bars? bars can be faked easily with a lead core or other equal weight metals... I say go with American Silver Eagles... sure you pay a premium for them but you also get a premium back for them... and if your paying $2.50/oz premium on bars...why not just open the door to get some Eagles if you can find them at a nice price?

 

10 years ago when silver was $5/ounce a family member bought ASE's for less than a $1 premium. Today, I could sell those same ASE's on ebay for a $5 premium or on craigslist for a $3 premium. So over 10 years, the premium certainly didn't dissapear.

 

Where any small bars ever faked or was that just the kilo and 100 oz bars?

 

I've been looking into ASE too, but the demand is just as high, if not higher. A guy came into the shop i was in yesterday and inquired if he could buy 100-200 ASE's. owner kind of laughed. I will have to learn more about them before I dive in, bars seem relatively simple and I think they are cool. I haven't seen any faked bars but i wouldn't be suprised. I like how engelhard and J-M serial# their 1oz when most others only serial the 5oz/10oz. Whats the first things I need to learn about ASEs?

 

How is the average Joe going to get the premium back on Eagles? If you take them to a dealer you won't get it and if you sell on ebay you get hit with 10%+ fees.

In my opinion it is best to avoid the Eagles now since the premium is high. You'll still get the benefit of the rising price of silver (if it does rise), but the premium is a retail markup that you won't recover unless the premium goes up.

If you buy the lowest premium silver you get the full benefit of the rising price of silver.

 

I agree with you sodude, and would prefer to pay a lesser premium for a less desirable (but equally silver) product.

birdy, as far as what you might want to know about ASE's (I'm sure there is more than I will say), but I know that 1986 issues are definitely more desirable because it was the first year and they minted less that year than any other. Also, 2011's are selling out so fast they actually have a higher premium than most previous years. ASE's are 99.93% silver, as compared to Canadian Maple Leaves which are 99.99% (and more often come in sealed packaging).

 

From my local guy I can usually get 1 oz bars for a couple of dollars over spot. Since you have a specific amount you want to pay best to stay away from ebay.

 

Just another thought for you. If you want something big, you can purchase a 1 kilo Australian Kookaburra for $1,299.00 right now at providentmetals.com. The melt value is $1,216.00, so the premium is about $2.50 an ounce. It's a nice-looking coin without a lot of premium.

 

It's nice to avoid large premiums, but folks should keep in mind that someone who paid a $2 premium to spot when silver was $20 made a much better deal than someone buying today even if they pay spot. You can miss the forest by looking too closely at the trees, and it doesn't become apparent until much later.

 

Definately true.

And yes, I would always try to avoid any premiums. But still, I believe you can recoup most of your premium when selling to the right person.

As for the ASE's, I consider them along with maples and Philharmonics to be pretty equally liquid. Perhaps the American Eagle will be slightly more liquid here in America. I think it comes down to what you want your coin demoninated in... Dollars, Canadian Dollars, or Euros. I'm not completely sure, but I believe there are certain benefits to having a coin denominated in a certain currency. I think it helps with something along the line of being exempt from taxing, and other laws about transporting that may come into effect in the future. But this is not something I personally worry about. Others will have to chime in here about this subject.

When it comes to ASE's and Maples, I would definately just buy whichever is cheaper. Stay away from slabbed bullion, or proof editions for that matter, for now.

 

i buy all my metal on ebay and do very good with rebates. some of my recent snags were

roll of buffalo rounds for $35.40 when spot was $35.50
3 roll's of eagles for $37.49 with spot at $37.71
50 divisible stagecoach rounds $36.44, spot at $35.62
roll of maples at $38.27 spot at 35.30

 

thats very good. How much time do you have to spend searching ebay to snag deals like this, if you don't mind me asking? I have never had any good luck with ebay.

 

when im buying silver i will search ebay daily, i'll run through my usual searching, i like to use obscure wording when i search.

eagle rolls
silver rolls
20 eagles
20 silver
tube eagles
tube silver
tube maples
roll maples
20 rounds
roll silver rounds
.999 roll
etc.......

i snagged a roll of mexican libertads for $5 under spot, the seller had listed the auction as "20 onzas" and i was the only bidder, if you had seached for libertad you would not have seen the auction. using this search method have yielded me some great deals.

 

great points, check out this nice article, compares bid to ask prices. looks like bars come out about the best,

http://seekingalpha.com/article/271975-the-expense-of-investing-in-gold-and-silver

 

thats good advice, and I actually have tried a few of those keywords/ that technique... I also check for recently listed BIN's. I think I just don't put enough time into it... anyway thanks for that list of keywords, I appreciate it.

 

I remember reading somewhere once upon a time that it can be a good idea to search for auctions in Canada (or maybe even Mexico) willing to ship to the US that often fly under the radar. You have to go into "More Options" and then click "Advanced" search to get more country options. I don't see hardly any silver in my results though.