My intent is to limit this question to non-dealers. After surfing eBay and the Internet this is what I came up with. I buy ONLY 1 oz gold bars (actually I've only bought one so far). No ASE's, Pandas, Maple Leaf's nor any other "designer" coins. I pay Gold Spot + 3.2%. I buy locally (about a 40 mile trip) so that I don't have S&H; just gas. I'm in Maryland where, if you spend more than $1000 on bullion items, there's no tax. Therefore at the current price of gold tax is not an issue for me. At the current gold spot (about $1260) a 1 oz bar would cost me (in round numbers): $1260 + $40 (3.2%) + $10 (gas) = $1310
You can buy a 1 oz gold bar from Provident for $19.95 over spot http://www.providentmetals.com/provident-metals-1-oz-gold-bar.html They also have free shipping if you add certain items, I think the best deals are the Canadian Wood Bison for $24.82 or $1.00 face value of 80% Canadian silver for $13.91 (which is about $2 over the spot value). There is .6 oz of silver in $1 fv Canadian. So you could get 1260+19.95 premium+13.91= About $1294 for 1 oz of gold and .6 oz of silver.
