What do you prefer pre 1965 90 percent coins or .999 fine silver bars and rounds. I personally prefer 90 percent coins for they hold a some history behind their wear. However .999 fine silver may be a better investment strategy. Whats your opinion?
bars and rounds from who? It better say credit suisse and have the correct stamp and still be in the correct holographed case.
What? Purchasing Credit Suisse silver bars is probably to worst way to accumulate silver When you go to sell, good luck getting the premium back.
I prefer junk silver coins over silver bars & private minted rounds. I prefer govt. issued bullion coins over junk silver coins.
How about you tell us when you have 100 ounces of each....The thing you'll find about this site , other forums and life in general is people speak with a bias....I have a good amount of all three and I can't answer this subjective question for you....I will tell you what I don't like, one ounce bars and also rounds I can't complete a tube of....You need to think down the line when you have more silver than space, do you really want a bunch of mint boxes with a single ounce in each one taking up the room that 20 ounce could fit.
Good point. I do not buy much silver anymore besides ancient coins since my sdb is getting full, (and heavy, probably 100 pounds now). At some point compactness is a concern both in terms of what form of metal you buy, as well as what metal youbuy.
I'm surprised this question gets asked so often, but yeah, it is a newbie type of question. But to answer it for some newbies (since we all were at one point), it really doesn't matter which type you have. If silver takes off to the moon, or increases substantially in value, either form will be in demand. Junk silver has the advantage of being more recognized, and bullion bars and rounds have the advantage of generally being more cost-effective due to smaller premiums above melt (my definition of junk silver includes Morgans, Peace dollars and other coins with premiums, though). However, certain types of junk silver, like Roosevelt dimes, may have small premiums above melt. Some foreign junk silver may even sell for melt. Actually, junk silver, to me at least, is a misnomer, because 90 percent silver from the U.S. Mint generally carries a significant premium. In my case, I started out collecting mainly junk silver. As I developed my interest in silver, I began noticing that there is little difference between the two, other than that junk silver can at times be a hedge due to some additional numismatic value during a silver down market. It's a good idea to have a mix of both, in my view.
I agree that is somewhat how my collection is. I still find my self looking through my junk silver in the hopes of finding key dates.
The main thing I would add is about premiums. Premiums disappear when markets rise, so if you are buying only for investment things like pandas and other coins with premiums higher than usual are a bad buy. If silver shoots up to $45 I doubt you could sell them for more than a maple leaf. Same with junk silver, the premium for halves or older coins disappeaf when silver goes up. So, if only for investment, buy the cheapest you find and do not pay premiums. Having said that, I personally like collecting some bullion items, so am willing to pay premiums for my personal enjoyment. Just know this premium is lost if you sell in an up market.
To dig a little deeper into this issue, I will relate some supposed advantages of each that I have not covered. According to a supposed expert once interviewed by Chris Martenson, during the last PM bull market peak, around 1980, sellers of silver bullion got more for their silver from refiners than sellers of junk silver. When I read this, I began to diversify into bullion in case this situation ever returned. However, some old-timers I have purchased coins from have related to me that in 1980 demand for junk silver was very high and the prices paid for them were the same. Some doom-and-gloomers, on the other hand, believe, in the face of a currency collapse, pre-1965 silver coins from the U.S. Mint will once again be considered money, based not on the denomination but rather on silver content. Because the sizes of the denominations differ, they consider these coins, especially silver dimes, more practical during an economic collapse. I personally believe that junk silver has the advantage of being minted by a government entity, which gives it universal recognition and legitimacy. Morgan and Peace dollars are therefore recognized practically all over the world. In a collapse scenario, bullion, especially from lesser-known mints, would have to be tested to authenticate it, which might bring some inconvenience. While junk silver can also be counterfeited, it is much more difficult to do so given all of the unique features of each coin type. Plus, the Secret Service will be on your side to prevent counterfeiting of U.S. currency. But there is a chance that some refiners will pay a premium for bullion over junk silver in a situation similar to the tulip craze. I think when you get to the point that your ounces are in the hundreds, and not the tens, you realize that silver is silver, though numismatic (highly collectible) coins are a different story.
I was around in 1980. Of course bullion, .999, is worth more to refiners, and the price paid was higher. It will be in the future as well. Honestly, I find US junk silver overpriced nowadays. You used to buy at melt, and dealers paid below melt. Nowadays dealers want a premium to melt. If I wanted to buy silver in today's market I probably would buy something like maple leaves. In the future, if silver goes up and you truly are selling to refiners, they will not offer melt for 90 percent, they have costs to handle and refine it, as well as the fact junk silver usually lost a bit of weight in circulation. For fun and collecting I like buying junk silver, from a purely investments perspective, at todays prices, I do not consider it the best purchase. Btw, if things are different when you ounces are in the hundreds, does anything change once they are in four digits of ounces?
That's what I consider to be a "good problem." I think, though you are optimistic in your posts about the U.S. economy, you are as prepared as any doom-and-gloomer, judging by the very nice coins you have posted recently. Again, we have to bear in mind that 1980 was not a full-bore collapse. In a collapse scenario, I think junk silver would also be liquid and useful. I diversified into bullion in case I need to sell to refiners some day in the future, though. You are not the only one who states they paid more for bullion. Given their concerns over purity, this makes sense. Junk silver and semi-numismatic coins are a hedge in a down market, though. When the silver market collapsed in the last couple of years, Morgan and Peace dollars (average circulated and better) retained much of their value. In an up market, premiums are said to drop. In my case, I have hedged by buying both junk silver and bullion, and I have further hedged by investing in numismatic (highly collectible) silver. I am about to move away from silver due to concerns about space, so gold and then paper assets are my next likely investments.
You are about where I am then. My last major spends in PM have been semi-numismatic to numismatic gold. I just received a Thai half ounce gold piece from 1981. Pretty coin.
A good case can be made for either 90%, .999, or rounds being the best investment. 90% is BY FAR my favorite though. I think certain kinds of 90% have the potential to command greater premiums in the future, such as VF + Mercury dimes or Walking liberty halves, or 1948-49 Franklin halves so I get them when I can. I have a few ASE's and Philharmonics, kind of pretty, but they feel like government issues rounds to me.
I have a mix of 9% bullion, 57% in 90%, 15% in ASE, and 19% in slabbed coins. I think I'm going to slightly raise the bullion and ASE.
My answer to this is probably the most unscientific approach...whatever has the lowest premium is what I'm going to go with. If that means taking a sack of ugly dimes vs. a few pretty bars, I'll go with the dimes every time...
I agree with this approach. Most junk is going for 9% over melt it appears. But dealers pay at or below melt for them: that's about a $1.80 spread. With .9999 you pay about $1 over spot for common stuff, which is a 5% premium and you can sell it back for spot ($1 spread). And at those same dealers if something is $2 over (J&M) or $4 over (ASE) they also buy them back close enough to keep the ratio close to $1 (5%) on the premium. Until a few years ago, junk was selling for about 30 cents over melt per dollars worth so I had no problem buying halves for the most part. You would sell it back at 30 cents below, a 60 cent spread. I plan to hit some flea markets once the weather warms up, in non-rural areas, and see what I can find. I've come across older rounds/bars and junk coins in the past this way where the sellers are happy with something a little more than their LCS's are offering them, which in those areas is a lot less than rural dealers offer.
