Silver eagle's OR Morgan dollar's ???

Right you are Chris.....travel light.

 

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Negative I am Doug From Kent wa.

P.S. I always travel VERY heavy !!!

 

Well then... even if I switched silver for gold, I still got boxes and ammo cans full of Pre-Euro coins from France, Netherlands, Belgium, etc!!

 

Unencumbered is the best way to travel, though I dare say, that I've encumbered myself much in this lifetime. A lesson to be learned.....

 

At the right price I would take Morgans over Silver Eagles ALL DAY. So much more history and it's an original design. ASEs are basically just replica coins, no originality, no appeal to me.

 

Apples and oranges... .90 vs .999 silver. Aesthetics and history don't factor for bullion matters.

 

But a much higher silver content.......if one wants to invest (so called) in such........

 

Here is the only advice I will give you. BEFORE you buy as an investment, plan your buy price and your SELL price. You will never realize a profit from your investment if you do not sell. Many forget this. Lots of people rode the wave all the way up to $50 an ounce and then rode it all the way back down. If you really want to buy as an investment, you must make a game plan and stick to it. Good luck.

 

Yeah, I'm not convinced in the "long term investment" possibilities of either unc ASEs or cull Morgans, except as Ag. There may be very slight incidental numismatic premiums for specific bullion you buy that will evaporate when you sell later at significantly higher spot Ag. Best avoid or minimize retail and/or numismatic premiums today, to sell with the greatest profit tomorrow (years in the future.) When Silver next hits $50., your Silver will almost certainly sell at Melt or close to it.

If you're new to coins and bullion (and it sure sounds like the OP is):
Bullion investing works best as a DISCIPLINE - Buy Low, Sell High! Keep it as simple as possible. There's almost no room for "mixed feelings" in this particular endeavor. Avoid emotional connections to metal you accumulate, form your price targets early, stick to a plan. "Collecting" (the psychology and practice of holding as long as possible, almost regardless of price) is in many many ways antithetical to real "investing" (the psychology of trading up, for gain, as quickly as possible, etc.) - please don't confuse the two! This is a trading game, even if most here are really bullion collectors.

I can imagine investing in bullion art or coins or some other niche product that might one day deliver a significant opportunistic numismatic investment return ... but a newbie isn't likely to find that with generic ASEs or "junk" Morgans. Most should be discouraged from that delusion, promptly and firmly.

 

Thank you for your feedback !!!

 

I think you'd do better with ATB bullion.

 

I do have a 5oz. Washington quarter .

 

I know its off topic, but those Zombucks are minted in the tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands. I can imagine that kind of bullion product (niche, kitschy) with some rarity and sold fairly cheaply close to Spot, will probably hold or increase it's numismatic value fairly easily.

By contrast, I suppose most US Mint products are more apt to be greatly discounted: cheaper soon, on fleabay.

Collectible old bullion I would want to study much more carefully, tracking old sales, etc. if significant numismatic premium were allowed. But then: that's like coin collecting! Different topic in my book.

 

Doug, there's no right answer. And you got lots of good information here from all the posters.

I guess the most important question I focus on is: what is your asset allocation and what is your risk tolerance ?

(1) Are you talking about DISCRETIONARY monies for an investment ? Or are you talking about your a good chunk of your REAL savings ? Because in that case, BOTH investments -- Morgans and ASEs -- are BAD INVESTMENTS. They are actually SPECULATIONS. I'll assume you have other savings and this is discretionary monies or funds targeted for coins and/or a hobby and NOT money that you need to fund an IRA, regular savings, etc.

(2) Assuming you have other savings.....is this money you can AFFORD a lot of risk or you can't accept alot of risk ? If the former, you might want to look into really top-notch Morgans, high-MS grades. You are going to be paying a big premium to underlying silver content (200 - 2,000% or more) but if you buy quality and it's a Morgan that is in demand, it could be a good investment. I'm not an expert in Morgan's though I own a few.

With ASEs, your risk is strictly the silver bullion price. At $18 or so per coin, much less downside than at $30/oz. But a deflationary vortex can take them back down to the single-digits, so again this goes back to (1) above, make sure even this risk is something you can stomach.

If you are going to be making regular investments with new funds, you might want to do both. But make sure you research the Morgans if you put serious $$$ there. ASEs need no research except the years you buy, proof or other special types, etc. -- you may 'keep it simple' and just buy plain UNC ASEs.

Understand that there are lots of variables: the price of silver can get crunched, but the Morgans can hold up. OTOH, the price of silver can move up nicely -- but your Morgan can lag, flatline, or even go down.

 

Generally speaking and not directed at anyone in particular:

As most people don't understand the difference between "guilt" and "shame," fewer still will understand the difference between "investing" and "speculating." Rude to say maybe (the truth hurts!) but most coin collectors paying +50% premiums and who imagine they're "bullion investing" are simply delusional.

I have nothing against someone blowing their life savings on whatever (hobby, trip to Vegas, etc) but please take a moment to consider how this "investment" played out over time.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/well-here-goes-nothing.217748/page-9#post-2045790

Factoring 'opportunity cost' (either Silver or FB), this investment loss is correctly calculated as -140%!
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/silver-is-up-a-bit.257669/page-3#post-2062485

 

I'll take 10 ounces of silver in any US 90% form over 10 ASE if the price per ounce was the exact same. Old silver dollars all the better, I like halfs the most.

 

The majority of my silver is in Morgan Dollars. Wide variety of dates from 1879-1921. About 20% of my silver is in bullion and ASE's.

I made sure I didn't get what many consider "junk" - more than half of my Morgans are in the XF plus (some AU) category. No rare years but in general Morgan Dollars long term won't stay close to spot. When the coins enter the 150-175 year old mark I just can't imagine them selling like they are Rounds or ASE's. I just don't see this in the cards. These are also one of the most collected coins in America. The popularity alone is something that could change prices in the long term. I have foreign silver coins that are barely 100 years old and they sell for 3-4x spot price already. Some of those coins have mintage similar to Morgans.

I definitely wouldn't blow all of my life savings on precious metals. I'm the type to "gradually" get into silver. Keep adding to my holdings instead going all out on one purchase. I average a budget of maybe $200 / month on my coin collecting / investing. If perhaps I were to win a lottery or slot machine or whatever, I'd probably blow all of that on stacks of silver/gold. But that's a different story altogether.

 

Haha, yes: Windfall = Gone Pirate!

But my point was, it's not MY money and it's someone else's choice anyway. Sensible investors can point out how it's totally bonkers, but at the end of the day, the proverbial frightened 77 year old who sinks half his savings into a monster box or two of ASEs from Tulving is gonna do whatever s/he's gonna do.

Btw, I added another point to the "10% PM allocation" thread.

 

There are over 800 million Morgans minted in their lifetime...that's ALOT of supply to mop up for U.S. collectors. Not much foreign demand for those coins.

Conversely, there are only about 130 million Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles, and collectors worldwide like 'em. So keep that in mind, even though the price is much higher.

Whatever coin you are buying, whenever you pay a premium over that underlying bullion value....ask yourself 2 questions......why am I paying that premium ? And......is it worth it ?

Do that and you'll be OK.

 

Most Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles sell not a whole lot higher than spot gold price. I see some $20 gold's at my local coin shop for $1400. That's only 20% over the gold content they contain. I'd be shocked if I could buy Morgan's that dirt cheap!