How much over spot (silver)?

I'm sure this question has been asked before. Curious how much over spot for silver are you willing to pay? I recently bought some 2003 silver eagles at an auction. I paid between 18 and 20. With silver being in the 15 dollar range is this decent?

 

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You paid what they are currently selling for, so you did good. $2.50-$4ish over spot is what they usually retail for, individually and in bulk.

 

Yes, this question gets asked a lot. The problem is that you are likely to get different suggestions for "before the auction" and different criticisms for "after the auction". Personally, I think a 20% premium might be okay, but a 30% premium is too much. Others may disagree.

Chris

 

If you got them with the velvet display cases from the Mint, some would say you got a deal.

 

Call me crazy, which maybe you're right , I've payed as high as $40/oz (with spot around $17/oz) and might go as high as $150/oz..... BUT thats because I'm a vintage bar collector! When it comes to the rare engelhard bars and other vintage refiners you could easily shell hundreds per ounce for exceedingly rare pieces. If your looking for some vintage 1950's and prior US government Philadelphia and San Fransisco bars, you'll go as high as $500/oz!

 

DANG Sawyer YOU REALLY LIKE THOSE VINTAGE BARS ANY PICS

 

Those are proofs. He can easily double his money if they're proofs.

 

You are CRAZY. There I said it

 

Did they hammer for that price and if so did you factor in buyers premium and tax if applicable. What kind of auction?

 

When it comes to plain bullion, I don't look at price over spot, but rather price overall. The reason I say that is because "sales" pop up after the metals pop to the upside. And when prices drop, the markups are either sticky or rising.

I used to moan and groan on here when silver was falling. Regardless of what the silver price was, it seemed I could never get a ten ounce bar for less than $158. So, even if you can get a ten ounce bar for 49 cents over spot, that bar may have gone up $1.50 in the two days leading up to that "sale." And when silver fell $1.50, the markup would go back to $1.69 or higher.

 

It was a club auction. No buyers fee. Pay what you bid

 

I like buying slabbed PCGS 69 ASE coins when I can get them for spot + $15 over melt or less.

 

Howdy campers,

Spot varies according to market forces. Most often it relates to how much folks prize a particular item over others like it. For example, American Eagles demand a higher spot price than a round silver ingot. An Engelhard ingot will fetch more than a plain vanilla (Joe's Bar and Mint) ingot. These differences can be influenced by scarcity, desirability, and ease of potential sale. This last one can be significant. How easy is it to sell an ingot from Joe's Bar and Mint vs. selling an ASE?

Lastly, the spot price can be impacted by difference in the price of real bullion vs. paper bullion. There are times when the folks that trade commodity futures (Central Banks and major players) get the paper price of gold and silver lower than what folks on the street are willing to accept. We call it artificial pricing and it's an Econ 101 supply/demand case study. Whenever price controls are imposed on a commodity, either supply disappears, or the mark up goes through the roof. This happened when Nixon imposed gasoline price controls. All of a sudden, the gas stations ran out of gas. duh. A few years back, they dinked the paper price of bullion so much lower than the street's price, that supply dried up and premiums soared.

So, what's a good premium to pay? The best you can get given the circumstances.

and so it goes,

peace,

rono

 

What's the cheapest anybody has seen silver coins/ASEs selling for over spot, % or dollar-wise ?

I've seen 1 oz. gold coins about $35 over spot at the current price more or less.

 

I rummaged around a bit and found $17.84 for ASEs.

 

To add to what Rono says....as a financial professional... LIQUIDITY is important and can be counterintuitive.

Bars and other ingot-things are more acceptable over in Europe where the people never trusted their governments as much (hence the popularity for Saints and Liberty DE's overseas).

Since we are in the U.S., the American Silver Eagles tend to carry a premium for bullion and numismatic reasons. Knowing you can get spot or a premium to spot means the price tends to trade above intrinsic/bullion value. Other silver coins or bars or whatnot may trade at lower premiums or even discounts.

You might think that ASEs should trade CLOSER to silver because they are more liquid than other forms of silver but MARKETABILITY is not liquidity. DEMAND for ASEs insures they trade at a premium because they are also the most marketable in the U.S.: you'll get the most relative to silver than any other product, silver bullion or bars or pure silver or whatever.

 

Hey I agree GF1969 Do the slabbed ASE even bring more? I know there is allot of collectors on here that don't even mess with Bullion and some down play it...

 

With ASE not being circulated I would think that they would all be in very nice grades so I think they wouldn't really need to be slabbed. Maybe special minted ones in deep cameo.

 

I'm new to investing in silver. Bought some in January when spot was $14.20. Paid $2.00 over spot for rounds and bars at an LCS. Bought some ASE's online for $2.00 over recently. Talked to a dealer yesterday about premiums when spot is in the $30.00 range. Wasn't sure what he said exactly but he said they were a lot more than they are now. For those of you that were buying and selling when Silver was high 5 years ago what type of premiums were you seeing on rounds, bars, and ASE's?

 

Slabbed bring more, but who knows if the premiums are constant, expand, or contract ?

You are already buying a commodity which is speculative.

Buy a few slabbed ASEs if you like the packaging and the grade for a novelty, but I would NOT buy them in bulk. Just as a change-of-pace.