I'm posting this on behalf of my father: "I would like to know what would be better for buying silver, Silver Eagles or circulated silver dollars (peace/morgan). Would Silver Eagles be better because they are pure silver and 1 oz and are in good condition? Or would silver dollars be better because they're older and have a higher probability of having higher numismatic value down the road?" I would like to mention that the silver dollars would be common dates and mint marks in circulated condition and that the Silver Eagles would be 2012 bullion versions. He isn't interested in 90% silver coins. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help! I don't collect or have any silver, so I have no knowledge on the subject. Edit: He just told me that he has 4 rolls of BU 1964 quarters. He wants to know whether or not they will go for more than melt/junk silver price because they're in BU condition.
This is the problem that I am having. I cant decide whether to focus on just ASE's or 90% USA coins. I think many would say that buying Silver Eagles would be the best since they are most likely the easiest to re-sell and you will prob even get paid a dollar over spot when you sell them. I'm still fairly new to this and a problem i have encountered with Silver Eagles is that it seems like everyone wants them. Ive been to three different shops now and none of them had any in stock. One shop would order them for me and charge me 5 dollars over spot, not sure if that is a good deal or bad. I really enjoy the circulated 90% coins and cant keep from buying them so I'm just going to stick to what I'm doing now and buy both
He isn't interested in 90% silver coins? Well that's what silver dollars are. And silver will have to drop quite a bit for BU 1964 quarters to be worth over spot. When silver was $5 an ounce, I bought my first BU 1964 quarter for $1.00. So it'll be junk silver for a while.
Just look at APMEX website. Order several rolls of raw 2011 & 2012 ASE's and maybe a San Francisco Monster Box.
I've been splitting mine between 90% Junk Silver and ASE, Maple Leafs and such. The better deal is on the 90% Junk Silver at my dealer. He sells it for melt and usually rounds down. So if melt is $26.40, I pick up all the Morgan/Peace at $26. I've been buying some halves and yet to pay more than $12 per coin for any of the halves in his junk tray. I can't seem to resist picking up an ASE/Maple Leaf lately though. They are just too pretty. They should get me closer to spot or just a little over if I were to decide to sell. His price is $3 over spot rounded down.
IMO, 90% "junk" silver has the lowest premium, is the safest from counterfeiting and is the most easily resalable.
I'm with Duke on this one. Buy some ASEs and some 90% silver. Diversity is good in any type of investment.
As others have said, a bit of diversity sounds great and is the way I typically go myself. The older coins "junk" silver really don't have much collector appeal and typically sell for spot or a few percent over spot, but they are more appealing to me personally for their character and designs. The silver eagles, which you should be able to find for a few bucks over spot or less in uncirculated condition online, generally command a much higher price on resale. I frequently see people posting and selling uncirculated silver eagles for 40- as high as 70$ locally, just because people love the eye appeal of the ASE and silver is so hot right now. In the same situation silver content wise selling junk silver locally is extremely difficult for anything considerably over spot.
To me it depends on who you think you might sell it to down the road. If youlocal dealer is selling 90% for spot you better believe he is buying. WELL below spot. If you think you might sell on Craigslist or the forums, you can probably get spot. ases on the other hand generally go for $4-5 over spot, dealers usually buy them back for spot +$1. Back when 90% was 26x face, dealers near me were buying at20x face.
Hi Zephr... I prefer US Mint produced Numismatic Bullion over bars and rounds because there's a chance for Numismatic price support should the bullion prices collapse. I put Numismatic Bullion into three groups; ASEs, Circulated US Mint (pre-1965) coins, and Uncirculated US Mint (pre-1965) coins. 1. ASEs: American Silver Eagles are the best buy from a silver/dollar perspective. Silver is currently about $35.50/Oz and APMEX sells 2012 ASEs for about $39.50/one Oz coin...10% premium over spot. You can get better prices the more you buy. 2. Circulated US Mint silver coins: There are many dealers that sell bags of circulated US Mint coins. When silver was cheap, I bought two (2) twenty-six (26) lbs buckets of mercury dimes. The only reason I bought them was because I found a dealer that sold by weight instead of face value. Most dealers sell by face value and the buyer loses at least 15% right off the bat. 3. Uncirculated US Mint silver coins: This is what I like the best. Whenever I can find Uncirculated rolls of US Mint silver (Pre-1965) coins for less than a 25% premium over spot, I go for it. Based on current prices, that would be $321/roll for quarters and halves (7.236 Oz * $35.50 * 1.25 = $321) and half that ($160/roll) for dimes. Silver rolls dated 1953-1964 were heavily hoarded in the early '60s so you may find them for less than that on eBay. I believe they will increase in numismatic value as they approach 70 years old (2023-2034)...which is a bonus. You also have a "chance" of finding gradable, error, or variety coins. Your Father's 1964 quarters could very well contain some Type-B reverses. Between 1956 and 1964, the Mint would only strike a few thousand proof coins from a proof die. The die would be no good for additional proof coins, but could be used to strike many more production coins. These "used" proof dies were used to strike production coins, but there were slight design differences that are easily identified by the average collector. About 1%-5% of quarters during that period were struck with Proof (Type-B) reverse dies and will likely sell for a premium in the future. EDIT: There's a series of silver Unc Roosevelt dime auctions on eBay by a single Seller. The current bids are between 1¢ - 6¢ and the dimes contain $2.57 of silver (each). Anything less than that will be "Below Spot". What's interesting is that the auctions end around 2:00 PM Monday afternoon (likely not many last minute bidders) and all the auctions are "Free S&H". I've stumbled on these auctions before...sometimes I get outbid and other times I get GREAT BUYS!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/KB8-1955-S-SILVER-Ch-Gem-BU-Uncirculated-Dime-Roll-SILVER-BONUS-READ-/310382889704?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item4844430ae8 The Seller will give each bidder that wins sevens (7) dimes...a bonus dime.
This is the same approach that I take and I rarely deviate from it. Recently I have been beefing up my uncirculated hoard as it was lacking. eBay has been a good source for these but you must be patient and know you won't win most of your auctions. Take your time and over time you will have a good stash that is very well diversified.
I would primarily go with the ASEs since the purpose is "to invest." But there is no reason why he couldn't add a few silver dollars into the mix, particularly if they are in better than junk condition. After all, they are beautiful historic coins and fun to own. Regarding the dates on the ASEs, it isn't a bad idea to look for some with "older" dates from the 80s and 90s if you can find them. The mintages were lower and that might make a difference someday.
I didn't notice if anyone has already clarified this or not, but Morgan and Peace dollars are 90% silver coins.
