Maple Leaf vs. Silver Eagle

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by SilverLoot, Feb 9, 2012.

  1. SilverLoot

    SilverLoot Stacker of Silver

    Was sitting around today, daydreaming about silver and I stumbled upon an interesting fact:

    -A monster box (500- 1 Troy oz. Coins) of Canadian Maple Leafs has 9.33 grams more silver than a monster box of American Silver Eagles due to the slightly higher purity of the 1oz Maple Leaf coins.


    (31.1 x 0.9999) - (31.1 x 0.9993) = Extra silver weight in grams per 1 oz coin
    (31.09689) - (31.07823) = 0.01866 grams (difference in silver weight)
    0.01866 x 500 = 9.33 grams or 0.3 troy oz

    If spot = $34.00 then each Canadian box has an extra $10.20 of silver! (34.00 x 0.3)

    Seeing as you can buy a monster box of Maple Leafs for about $300 cheaper than a box of Eagles, I'm surprised more people aren't going the Maple Leaf route. Plus you get a bonus of 1/3 oz! You wouldn't think that small difference in purity would make any difference, but when you start getting into larger volumes....
     
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Fall Guy

    Fall Guy Active Member

    I would think that the silver eagles are more popular and sought after than the maple leafs which may be the reason more people don't go the leaf route. I never did the math though, interesting.
     
  4. rodeoclown

    rodeoclown Dodging Bulls

    Where did you get that ASEs are only 31.09 grams? Most stats I've read usually say it's actually 31.103 grams in weight. I've also seen some a little more or less.

    I think the only way to get a true accuracy of Maple's vs Eagles would be to buy a monster box of each and weigh each individual coin to compare. I bet they'd range slightly from one box to the next box for each as well.
     
  5. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    Also that weight listed for the ASE is the guaranteed minimum weight. Seemingly fairly often when I have seen people list actual weights of their coins they frequently list 31.2 grams. Of course the Maple leafs may have the same slight overweight. There is also the possibility that like they used to do years ago the coins may be automatically weighed and sorted into heavy and light a dn then the box is made up of a mix to a weight of 500 oz +/- a small tolerance.
     
  6. SilverLoot

    SilverLoot Stacker of Silver

    Well, the silver eagles weigh 31.101 grams. And they're made of 99.93% silver, and 0.07% copper, right? So, taking the 31.101 and multiplying it by 0.9993 gives 31.0792293 grams of asw. (and 0.0217707 grams of copper) Did the same deal for the maples, and well you saw the math. I'm sure at this scale they'll all vary a little bit, but the idea is that the 0.06% difference in silver purity between the two coins can add up to some real value when you get into large quantities. Can you dig it?
     
  7. james m. wolfe

    james m. wolfe New Member

  8. rodeoclown

    rodeoclown Dodging Bulls

    Sure, but most collectors don't just dish out the amount of money it would take for a box of 500 of either unless they're a dealer planning to sell them. ;)

    I can see on a finer detail where there's a difference but most will just consider 99.9% or 99.99% as both 100% by just rounding up to make it simpler. When selling such bullion, they're both treated as 1 troy ounce of silver and go by the current spot price regardless. If a dealer was to go so far as trying to squeeze out every nickel and dime they could by comparing the decimal % differences, I could just see most people walking away and going to the next dealer.
     
  9. InfleXion

    InfleXion Wealth Preserver

    I knew there was a reason I liked 9999 purity besides the solar panel requirements for it and wanting as close to perfection as possible. I can dig it.
     
  10. SilverLoot

    SilverLoot Stacker of Silver

    Yea, it was more of just an theoretical idea. Makes you wonder though if anything could (is) happening with that little fraction of precious metal that everyone rounds up and disregards. Like the scam in Office Space (and others) where they take a fraction of a penny off each transaction and put it into an account instead of rounding up. Adds up after millions of transactions... hmmmm....
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page