Which silver bullion coins are the best to acquire?

I like the idea of getting it closest to spot. I have two questions:

1) If you buy generic rounds / bullion when you go to sell it is it easy or hard compared to say an ASE? I'm assuming your asking for the premium with this question when you sell. So you buy generic at spot plus $1 can you easily sell it for spot plus $1?

2) Do you care what condition the bullion coins are in or are BU better? I've noticed that I can get decent condition ASE's at spot or spot plus $1 or so.

I have been focusing on junk silver in the best condition I can find and BU ASE's as I have had no problem selling BU ASE's for the premium I buy them for.

Interested in hearing your experiences or thoughts.

 

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The "Fake Silver Ingot" thread is exactly why I stay away from small bars and rounds.

"Junk" silver, as well as being cheap over spot, alleviates this problem.

 

Problem is a lot of people are told real estate is an investment, it is not. Yes house is important just like car, clothes etc but realtors falsely preach the populace that it will pay for their retirement . Housing values increased for past decades because large portion of US population purchased houses thanks in part to baby boomers and cheap credit, baby bommers are now entering retirement age and US population growth is stagnant so demand is drying up (unless you create another mortgage bubble). This is far cry from asia where there is simply no land to build houses in (and even there is signs of property bubble).

 

One has to make the distinction on whether the home being bought is the primary residence or something else. A place to sleep is a necessity. The rest are investments and should be considered as such. The place where you sleep is not an investment and don't treat it like one. Without getting into the discussion of buying vs renting and the investment purchases, the best thing that anyone can do for themselves in regards to the place where you sleep is this. Only purchase a place that you intend to stay in for many years and only buy as much as you can pay off by the time you are in your mid 40s. Earlier the better. You should make this a priority over PM speculation.

I realize this goes counter to what most people will tell you but these people are either going to profit off your purchase and/or they are already in debt. Remember misery loves company. Any long term financial plan that you have should involve a plan for being debt free by your 40s. The thousands of dollars you will save in interest payments to the banksters will put you far far ahead of your peers.

 

Great advice. I paid cash for my first home at the age of 33. I spent the next few years getting all the utilities to function. The neighbor across the street called my home to my face a "box." He said, " you don't have a home, you have a shell/box." He was basically right. A few years later his grown kids bought him and his wife a house/home in the city. In the end, I was grateful that my house was paid for. It is not occupiable to a lot of people, but I made it work.

 

I'm really new to this coin collecting but have been reading this thread and think I am in the right ballpark. What I want to do with buying silver is what I think th OP is trying to do. I'm looking to put a bit of cash into something that has actual worth. With that said, here is what I have been buying.

I go to a local Pawn/Coin Shop. Guy that owns the place seems real knowledgeable on coins. I have been buying out of his 90% junk bowl. When I go in I ask what the price is today and he looks at coinflation.com and quotes the rounded off melt price that day. I bought some at $23x face a couple days ago. I always pick out the Morgan/Peace dollars first since they have the highest content of silver. He made me a deal on some uncirculated Roosevelts at $2 each when melt was $2.14. I bought 10 of those. I've picked up a few ASE coins at $1 over the going price of silver that day.

The other guy that I have dealt with recently is in a gunshop that I frequent. He sold me 20 40% halves the other day for $4 each when the melt on them was $4.40.

Am I getting a fair deal on the coins at these prices? I don't have much of an interest in truly collecting. My interest currently lies in the accumulation of actual silver. With that being said, the coin shop guy is putting out an 8oz ASE on Monday and I might have to see what he wants for it. It was in proof condition.

 

I want to make this perfectly clear that I'm not telling you what to do and am only giving you my opinion.

You're getting a fair deal for you and the dealer and that is how relationships are built and I'd keep going this route if I were you. That stated, recent trends tell me a couple things. One is that the canadian wildlife series is a good one and if you can buy them for reasonable prices, you should consider them. The reason I say this is the wolf came out at a about $3 over spot and with spot at about $30 now, 1 year later, that coin is selling for about $50. The grizzley, which was panned about as much as the cougar came out at the same $3 over and is now market is about $40 on that coin. You can find the cougar at about $3 over spot and if recent history tells us anything, it won't be long before that has a nice quick little premium added to it as well. It gives you some flexibility to get in and out of them fairly quickly based on recent info and trends. Just one persons opinion and yours and others may vary.

The other thing I'll mention is that precious metals are speculative. You need to believe they will go up and are willing to hang in there through the ups and the downs. Make a plan on how you want to get in, what you're going to do to stay in by increasing your holdings, holding your holdings or liquidating your holdings to your advantage. It's really easy to say you're going to buy and hold on for a long time, but what does a long time really mean? 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 6 years, 10 years, 50 years??? Whatever that timeframe is you need to devise a plan on how you will manuever your holdings to your benefit. Good luck to you, but devise a plan with an exit strategy, not I'm buying because somebody told me to....that's a bad move.

 

Also - FYI - those are not really ASE's. I enjoy collecting them, too, but ONLY as bullion silver. They are not issued by the US government, so they should be treated (and priced) as generic bullion. I have a lot of them, including one that weighs 60 ounces, but I never paid more than spot plus or minus 25 or 50 cents.
I just wanted to make sure because some people try to make you think they are US issued ASE's and should carry a premium. Also, like any generic silver rounds you purchase, make sure it says ".999 fine silver" on it. The bigger ASE type coins usually say "ONE TROY POUND" or "HALF POUND", but make sure to weigh them before purchase. I have 3 different ones that say "one half pound" on the back. One is 6 tr oz, one is 8 and one is 10. So - make sure to weigh them.

 

So I probably should've read those last couple lines instead of blowing them off and going into my tirade? LOL...

 

Sorry PP - I was replying to aandbooks.

I like your theory on the Cougars - I might have to get me some of those...

 

I agree with the Cougar route as well. I'm personally hoping the price comes back a bit more so I can grab some at an even better price. I hear the next coin will be released in March. I plan to buy at the release and maybe it will follow the trend of the Grizzly and Wolf but if not they are great looking coins. Personally I would like to see a Moose on the next coin.

 

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that I'm buying at decent prices. I do have a strategy for my exit from the market. So far everything that I have purchased has been with silver in the $30 range. If silver doubles in the next few years, I will consider exiting.

What really brought some of this about is that I want to have some holdings in real value. Not a piece of paper saying that I have so much accumulated but can't actually touch it. It is the same reason that I am stockpiling other things as well. I won't go into that here but if you get around to any of the gun forums on the internet you will quickly know what I might be stockpiling.

And Hof, thanks for the heads up on that 8oz ASE. So if spot is $30 then I should be looking at no more than $245 for the coin? I think he is going to be at more than that. I does have a cert with it stating that it is 8 troy oz.

 

Some people overvalue those, so if he wants to charge you more, I'd pass. Like anything, though - if you like it, buy it. Just know that dealers and B+M stores won't pay a premium for it. Just spot, if you're lucky. Usually a bit under spot for generics.

 

Like mentioned before, when buying you need to be thinking of your exit strategy and how easy your pm's will be to liquidate. There are many opinions on this topic but personally I have been back and worth on this before finally settling on my current strategy.

I have purchased the 100 ounce bars in the past but starting thinking about the future. If silver does go up dramatically you will all of a sudden have a 100 ounce brick worth $10k or maybe more. Who will be your eventual buyers? Someone willing to buy a 100 ounce brick at much higher prices than today will more than likely be your local coin shop. Do you think they will give you anything close to spot, knowing no one else will buy from you? Probably not. This is why I have changed my strategy to 1 oz coins / rounds or less.

I buy ASE mint tubes of 20 coins and various junk silver as close to spot as possible. However, there are some older "junk" coins that I believe will start to increase numismatically as they become harder to come by, especially in very fine to bu condition. These coins I am okay with a slight premium as I believe the premium in the future will be greater than what I am paying today.

I have yet to step away from the ASE's but plan to buy the Canadian Wildlife series. The main downside the the Canadian Wildlife / Maple are the chance of milk spots. I don't like anything but BU bullion so any Canadian purchases I make will be much smaller volume compared to my ASE purchases. I just like the look of the Canadian Wildlife coins and want them. And the low mintage and popularity of the current coins makes me think this will be a good investment as people will want the whole series. My goal is to own a tube of each of the six coins. This will give me 25 complete BU sets that I may be able to get an even higher premium for in the future. If not, oh well I really like them.

 

I'm slowly aquiring a bit of everything. The bulk of my stack will be junk silver though. always avail at or slightly below spot and always a nice peice of history! I feel like I am doing my part by hoarding these coins and saving them from the melting pot!! They are also very easy to sell when the time comes.

I also love coin roll searching. I had bad timing on starting my silver stack, but Roll searching has lowered my DCA from 34.87 to 20.65!!!

generic rounds and no Bu junk go in the SDB. I have a few BU halves and toned ASE's in a display case. I hope to add a Lunar and a Panda to my display at some point.

Why buy premium if you are going to leave it in the tubes and never look at them??

I like the profit on premium aspect of the wild life series that was mentioned here. how long does it take for that premium to go up? Maybe a year after release?

Oh, if only I had got an ASE anniverary set straight from the mint!

 

1. ASE
2. Panda
3. Canada Wildlife
4. Britannia
5. Libertad
6. K-Group
7. Maple Leaf
8. Philharmonic


buy of of each pay check.. youll be happy​

 

why would you pay the premium on the Panda?

junk silver
ASE
Maple Leaf
Libertad
rounds and bars

 

What's the deal with the vertical lines in the field of Canadian bullion? I find it's a real distraction looking at maples.

 

What will you do if it goes to $17-$18 an ounce like it was a couple of years ago?

 

I would buy Pandas for 2 reasons. First, if you collect coins because you like their designs, the Panda changes every year, as opposed to the ASE, Maple Leaf, Philharmonic and Libertad. Second, although it is true Pandas sell at a higher premium than those mentioned above, they also bring a higher premium from dealers when you want to sell them. The typical ASE, Maple Leaf and Libertad premium on purchase is about $4.00; when you want to sell them, you will get about $1.00 premium, if you are lucky. On a percentage basis, you will typically get a much better selling premium relative to your purchase premium with a Panda. The key is to purchase them when they are first released for the year and while the supply is still good.