Hello, I have always been interested in collecting coins and have a bunch I collected as a child, though nothing particularly valuable. Now I'm looking to get back into collecting, and have decided to start a few series of modern, BU, one-ounce silver coins from other countries. (E.g., some of the recent animal bullion series from Canada and Australia.) I have been wondering where I should get these uncirculated coins from. Here are some of my thoughts; but I was wondering what you guys think based on your experiences, as I'm really not sure which is the best. I have thought about the bullion sites, such as APMEX and JMBullion. These seem to offer some benefits. One is price; usually a couple bucks cheaper than eBay even with shipping. Another is I feel confident that I would be getting genuine coins, no worries about unscrupulous sellers or fakes. But a downside is not being able to see the exact coin, especially if it's one that's a couple or a few years old. Even in BU condition it could have some white spots or scratches, and it would be hard to return or exchange if it's advertised as BU. I like to display my coins and so if I get an uncirculated coin with stuff like that and it's too noticeable, it would always bother me. Another potential downside is they don't usually ship in airtight capsules and may not be stored the best way. I have capsules to transfer them to once they arrive, so that isn't the problem, I'm just a bit worried they may arrive in not the best shape. For eBay, downsides are cost (often people reselling them from the bullion places), and the potential for fakes or coins that aren't as advertised. The coins I'm looking to collect aren't particularly rare or valuable ($20-30 range for most including shipping) so there may be less incentive to make fakes but still I know it's possible to get fakes. (I also plan to collect a few others that may be riskier, like Chinese silver pandas, but I think for those I'm gonna stick to NGC- or PCGS-graded speciments.) eBay from my understanding offers protection against this but still it just sounds like a hassle. An upside is individual sellers may be more willing to accept a refund or exchange than the bullion sites. And of course lastly, the main upside is I can see the exact coin I'm purchasing. This is a big reason I'm drawn to the eBay listings, given that the aesthetics are important to me as more of a collector than just an investor. Overall, I think I'm leaning toward buying from the bullion sites. Cheaper and more trustworthy, and they probably wouldn't sell coins that are too damaged or else I could contact them about it. But I'm curious to hear you guys' thoughts on this and see what you think the best option is, before I start buying coins and realize I've already made a mistake. Thanks!
As a first thought, we are talking about bullion coins. Unless you really want to get into the graded and slabbed coins, they are sold mainly by weight. Some countries (Chinese Pandas) sell for more than others, but you are right, in general we're talking $20-$30 coins. Slabbed, these can quickly become $100 coins. I would mostly buy from e-bay, avoiding many "foreign" sellers and trying to buy from sellers with high approval and fairly high sales. Keep us posted on what you buy and welcome to CT.
Thanks for the input! I do think Ebay would work out fine if I'm looking more for an aesthetically pleasing coin without much spotting or scrapes, etc. I do like that they have value from the silver content and that makes them a good choice to collect and build up over the years (I also would love to invest in silver someday, likely bars), but I'm not looking just to stack silver, I like to pick out series based on how i like all the designs and how I think they would add aesthetic variety to my collection. I want to start with the Canadian 1 oz. silver animal series, I have yet to decide which one specifically. They had the Canadian Wilderness, predator, arctic animal, birds of prey, and sever other series that I think are beautiful, and I love the animal themes. I also wanna start the Australian Wedge-Tailed Eagle series, which I believe started in 2014 (maybe 2015), so not too many back years to catch up on. (I love the other Aussie animal series as well, I'll start the others later.) Then I wanna start the Chinese silver pandas and South African silver krugerrands, the latter having begun production just last year so again a fairly good series to start in 2019, pretty coins too even though it's the same design each year. So that's four series to focus on, I'm hoping it won't be too much to handle, but I think it'll be just fine. I really struggled trying to narrow it down to these four. My budget is fairly limited at this moment so I'll more likely be buying a couple coins here and there rather than buying huge bulk lots, but I find this way to be a bit more exciting anyway. Thanks again!
