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From Silver Bullion Bars, Coins and Rounds. Silver Ingots and Junk Silver. Silver Prices
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Silver bullion
Precious metals, especially gold and silver bullion have been regarded as a form of money and store of value for more than five thousand years. And today precious metals in bullion form are one of the most important parts of any investment portfolio. And silver bullion is the most popular way of investing in bullion products.
Silver bullion is the basic commodity traded in the precious metals market along with gold, platinum and palladium bullion. Silver bullion is the least expensive and may be the most convenient way of buying precious metals.
Nowadays, a variety of ways to invest in silver bullion are available to investors of varying investment sizes.
Investing in silver bullion
Usually investors buy silver bullion for one of the follow purposes: as an inflation hedge, as an investment (larger silver bars), or for survival purposes (fist of all junk silver coins). It is suggested to have 15-25% of investment portfolio be in precious metals, in the first place gold and silver bullion but palladium and platinum bullion too.
If you are investing $5,000 or less, I recommend you invest exclusively in silver, first of all in 1-oz silver rounds or junk silver coins because they carries the lowest premium over spot silver price. If you are investing more than $5,000 I recommend you to include in your portfolio also a few silver bars or silver ingots (especially the large silver bars like Engelhard or Johnson Matthey 100-oz silver bars). If you are investing more than $15,000 I recommend you buy a few gold, palladium and platinum bars and coins.
Owning silver bullion is easy and convenient, and commissions on buying and selling silver bullion are minimal. IRA participants can invest a part of their investment portfolio in silver bullion including silver bullion coins and silver bullion bars.
The best way to invest in silver is to buy some physical metal like .999 pure silver bullion bars, silver bullion coins, silver bullion rounds or junk silver coins.
Any silver bullion products like silver bullion bars or silver bullion coins and rounds are very liquid and easy to sell.
Silver bullion prices
The prices of silver bullion products depend on spot silver prices. Silver is a commodity that is traded 24 hours a day in the world’s market centres. There are a number of web sites which give live spot silver prices, including this page at the site at Silver bullion prices.
Silver prices may move up and down some over time, but they will never experience the sharp rises and declines that stocks and paper money are capable of. Although the prices may vary, silver has an intrinsic value that is immutable and permanent.
Different silver bullion products carry different premium over the spot silver price. Always try to find sellers who are selling silver bullion products as close to the spot silver price as possible. The more silver you are buying the less premium you should be expected to pay. If you are buying 1-oz silver bars, 1-oz silver coins or 1-oz silver rounds you are paying much more premium then for larger silver bullion products like 100-oz silver bars.
Silver bullion investing choices
There are the follow choices of investing in silver bullion:
- Junk silver coins (in junk silver bags).
The most popular silver bullion products are 100-oz silver bars, junk silver coins, popular silver bullion coins like American Silver Eagles or Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins and 1-oz silver rounds. But each silver bullion product has unique features that appeal to different investors.
Silver bullion bars
[Silver bullion bars], called also silver ingots, are one of the most popular way of investing in silver bullion.
It is possible to buy silver bars or [silver ingots] in various sizes from 5 grams up to 1,000 ounces but 100-oz silver bullion bars are the most popular with retail investors. 100-oz silver bullion bars are often called investment bars.
100-oz silver bars are easy to handle, stack and store, and they carry very low premiums over spot silver prices compared to 1-oz silver bullion coins, bars and rounds. The most popular brands of the silver bullion bars are Johnson Matthey silver bars and [Engelhard silver bars]. Now 100-oz silver bar dominate the silver bullion market. You can buy also [10-oz silver bars] or [1-oz silver bars], but you have to pay much higher premium for these smaller bars.
If you want to buy silver bullion with the lowest premium I recommend you to start with 100-oz silver bars.
Many different producers mint silver bullion bars but I recommend you to stick to well-known and reputable brands: Engelhard, Johnson Matthey, US Assay and Wall Street Mint.
Silver bullion coins
Silver coins are probably the most popular way of purchasing and collecting silver bullion.
If you want buy silver in a form of real money you can buy American Silver Eagle coins or [silver bullion coins] from other countries like Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins, Mexican Libertad or the Australian Silver Kookaburra.
The American Silver Eagle coins are more attractive than silver bullion bars or junk silver coins but they carry premiums usually several dollars an ounce higher that the premiums on junk coins, 1-oz silver rounds or 100-oz silver bars. Starting from 1986, more than 230 million of American Silver Eagles have been sold.
Each Silver Eagle is guaranteed in terms of weight, content and purity by the US government.
Silver Maple Leafs are Canada's official silver coins, and they compete with the U.S. Mint's Silver Eagles. While Silver Eagles are .999 fine, Silver Maple Leafs are .9999 fine but American Silver Eagle coins are more popular. But both American Silver Eagle coins and Silver Maple Leafs are very liquid bullion coins.
From [silver Mexican coins] the most known is Mexican Silver Libertad. It is bullion coin minted by Mexican government.
Silver bullion rounds
[1-oz silver rounds] minted by private refiners are good low premium alternatives to 1-oz bullion coins. They look like silver coins but do not have legal tender status and face value.
Silver bullion rounds are usually cheaper then Silver Eagles and they have lower premium over spot price.
There are lots of different 1-oz silver bullion rounds on the precious metals market. The most known 1-oz silver round is Engelhard Silver Prospector. Wall Street Mint silver rounds, Sunshine Silver Eagles and A-Mark silver rounds are also popular. You can find a lot of generic 1-oz silver rounds on the market too.
Junk silver coins (junk silver bags)
Investors wanting silver in a form that could be used as money or in barter situations but with the lowest premium over spot silver price usually prefer circulated pre-1965 US 90% silver coins, commonly called "junk silver coins".
Usually junk silver coins are sold in junk silver bags. Each junk silver bag with $1,000 face value contains 715 ounces of pure silver.
Junk silver coins are very liquid, are legal U.S. tender and has a very low premium over spot prices (as 100-oz silver bars).
Silver bullion collection
Silver bullion is very interesting for collecting. You can collect silver bullion bars, silver bullion coins and rounds.
American Silver Eagles and Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins are the most popular coins among silver bullion collectors. And there are hundreds of other various silver bullion coins, rounds and bars for your collection.
Read more about silver bullion at other pages of this wiki-site.
