After I left work, I decided to go to a local coin dealer that was on my way home from work. I went in there to look for 1-oz silver art bars since that is what I usually buy. They did not have any 1-oz silver art bars. Overall, they did not have much silver in stock when I entered the coin shop but I decided to look in their .999 silver bin to see what they had. Something caught my eye. I noticed that there was an NGC slabbed silver coin thrown in the .999 silver bin. I only saw the reverse side of the the 1-oz silver coin. At first, I thought that it was a silver Australia Kookarburra but I told the dealer that I wanted to take a look at it. When I looked at it, I realized that it was one of the Lunar coin series that was enclosed in an NGC slab. At this point, I was deciding to get it but I was not sure yet because, from what I have seen in the past, these Lunars usually have high premiums over spot silver and I was not sure how much he was asking for it. I asked him how much he wanted for it. When he told me, I was surprised when he told me that he was asking $40 for it. At that point, I told him that I was going to buy it. Even though he was asking $40.00 for it, I ended up paying a total price of $43.70 for it because of a sales tax. Spot silver closed today at $40.66/oz (Kitco Quote). Since this dealer was located in Tennessee, a sales tax was applied to this purchase. Despite the sales tax, I still thought this was a good price for an NGC MS-69 slabbed Lunar Snake silver coin. It is very rare that I buy 1-oz gov't minted silver coins because I am a silver art bar collector and I usually buy 1-oz silver art bars. This is the only slabbed bullion coin that I have in my silver stack. I like this coin a lot. Here is what it looks like. Sorry for the small picture but I had to upload it in the forum because photobucket is offline.
I've been waiting for you to chime in 'Silver Art'! Show us some more of those beautiful silver art bars!!! Beautiful snake BTW.
I think most posters on this thread have their bullion well protected, I know I do. By the way...Peace to you brother.
Thank you. That was the only silver that I picked up this week at the local dealer. So far this week, I did not find any silver art bars that were on my "wish list" when I went to several local coin dealers this week. Most of the local coin dealers were saying that they are not able to keep silver in stock because a lot of people are buying it up as soon as they get it. Silver is in such high demand here in my local area and I do not think that this will change anytime soon since silver is continuing to rise. I am surprised that I was able to snag the graded Lunar Snake for such an excellent price from a local coin dealer.
Ripley, these are my favorites! They are beautiful, and I'm hoping to acquire one soon, if it comes in.. Very pretty coins. A very nice collection you have.
Its bullion. Its commemorative. Its BOTH! No two are exactly alike. Appeals to me as a saver AND a collector. :thumb:
1970 Silver Art, Amazing just amazing. Great Snake. Very nice price. Nice goin'. Claygump, Beautiful commemeratives. Are those the 5 oz. ATB's I've been herein' about? Wasn't much interested in them til I saw yours. WOW!
Thought I'd share one of my favourite silver coins with you today as it is exactly 99 years since the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg. This is my 1998 Silver Maple Leaf with a Titanic Privy mark. I lived in Southampton (the Titanic's home port) for 7 years and the city has many monuments to the ship.