Does anyone even bother with these? I hardly ever see them at shows. To me it is just simply paying $65 over the value of the silver for simple bullion. And unlike gold Buffalos or Gold eagles, where even people on eBay sell them for spot, no one that does have them will even consider selling them for their straight up spot silver value, or even $10 over.
I bought one. It's DPL, and its from SC. It complements my prooflike set. I won't buy any more, but its a cool part of my set.
I think you'll find the most recent bullion issue sells for about the same premium per ounce as a silver eagle, an SAE is one ounce, the quarters are 5 ounce, so 5 times the SAE premium. When the current issue sells out, the premiums increase because now you have an extremely low mintage coin compared to the SAE - nothing wrong with that, I LIKE IT. Once you realize the bullion premiums are the same as the SAE's, it's not much of a leap to pay $25 more for the collector version with even lower mintages and better aftermarket performance. My complete collection of collector version 5oz pucks can be sold for more than I paid for it, even though many were purchased when silver was many multiples of what it is today, I LIKE THAT.
I want a Hawaii Volcanoes set (both plain and P), but they have become really popular and sell for premiums that i am not willing to pay.
I think that the Hawaii coin already did. I have a set of Maryland (Ft. Mc Henry) 5oz, just to have the type in my collection, but I'd like the Hawaii design a lot.
You may be right. But, I'd say interest is extremely low these days, evidenced by extremely low sales. With these low mintages, it wouldn't take much increased interest to drive prices higher. I like the gamble with these 5 oz'ers minted in the tens of thousands, compared to SAE's minted in the tens of millions.
I just think that there's too much premium on both eth ASE and ATB to buy them as bullion. As coins, I don't think that they'll do well as collector items. Only time will tell, but in truth, little interest now and huge interest later is what makes a coin a winner.
