Gold/Silver Bullion purchase for an ignorant rookie

[Pig Renter]

I remember seeing some discussion a while back concerning either gold or silver buying, however I paid little attention because at the time I had little or no interest.

But now I'm thinking of buying a little gold for my dad for a Christmas present. Problem is I know nothing about the market as far as where and how to purchase.

I do know I want actual physical gold (coins or bars). I also know that neither I or he would care what art, design, engraving, etc is on the coins/bars. Just plain simple blank gold would be fine with me, especially if it cost more to buy something with fancy eagles, guns, faces, etc as part of the design. These will just end up sitting in his gun safe probably until the day he dies. He's not a collector.

So I'd like any advice on what the best method is to buy gold. Can I buy online? If so, from who and who can I trust?

I get confused at things such as why one bar of gold weighing five ounces cost more than another bar of the same size, weight, purity, etc when it is being sold by the same website?

Thanks

[bblhd672]

I'm an uneducated buyer as well, was just looking into this yesterday. The site below may answer some of your questions.

https://www.jmbullion.com/investing-guide/james/intro/

I'd say it depends upon the purpose you are buying him gold.

Personally, I"m looking to investing for economic collapse scenarios and purchasing silver instead of gold. Several prominent "prepper" and "survivalists" sites recommend silver over gold due to the extremely high prices of gold; as well as silver being easier to trade in small amounts when paper money is no longer good.

[Soccerdad1995]

I'm an uneducated buyer as well, was just looking into this yesterday. The site below may answer some of your questions.

https://www.jmbullion.com/investing-guide/james/intro/

I'd say it depends upon the purpose you are buying him gold.

Personally, I"m looking to investing for economic collapse scenarios and purchasing silver instead of gold. Several prominent "prepper" and "survivalists" sites recommend silver over gold due to the extremely high prices of gold; as well as silver being easier to trade in small amounts when paper money is no longer good.

If you are buying for an economic collapse scenario, then the "fancy markings" might be important. It would be very important to have something that a buyer knew to be genuine when they had no equipment to do an analysis of the metal content, etc.

Personally, I think that bullets will be a more readily tradable commodity than either gold or silver if we have a true economic collapse.

[bblhd672]

I'm an uneducated buyer as well, was just looking into this yesterday. The site below may answer some of your questions.

https://www.jmbullion.com/investing-guide/james/intro/

I'd say it depends upon the purpose you are buying him gold.

Personally, I"m looking to investing for economic collapse scenarios and purchasing silver instead of gold. Several prominent "prepper" and "survivalists" sites recommend silver over gold due to the extremely high prices of gold; as well as silver being easier to trade in small amounts when paper money is no longer good.

If you are buying for an economic collapse scenario, then the "fancy markings" might be important. It would be very important to have something that a buyer knew to be genuine when they had no equipment to do an analysis of the metal content, etc.

Personally, I think that bullets will be a more readily tradable commodity than either gold or silver if we have a true economic collapse.

You're correct, but it doesn't hurt to have another commodity to trade if someone who already has plenty of the 3 B's (beans, brass and bandages) has something you need. "If only" I had been wiser when I was a kid and hung onto all those pre-1965 silver coins that were still in circulation! (Yes, some of them were new then!)

[Soccerdad1995]

I'm an uneducated buyer as well, was just looking into this yesterday. The site below may answer some of your questions.

https://www.jmbullion.com/investing-guide/james/intro/

I'd say it depends upon the purpose you are buying him gold.

Personally, I"m looking to investing for economic collapse scenarios and purchasing silver instead of gold. Several prominent "prepper" and "survivalists" sites recommend silver over gold due to the extremely high prices of gold; as well as silver being easier to trade in small amounts when paper money is no longer good.

If you are buying for an economic collapse scenario, then the "fancy markings" might be important. It would be very important to have something that a buyer knew to be genuine when they had no equipment to do an analysis of the metal content, etc.

Personally, I think that bullets will be a more readily tradable commodity than either gold or silver if we have a true economic collapse.

You're correct, but it doesn't hurt to have another commodity to trade if someone who already has plenty of the 3 B's (beans, brass and bandages) has something you need. "If only" I had been wiser when I was a kid and hung onto all those pre-1965 silver coins that were still in circulation! (Yes, some of them were new then!)

Agreed. It would be good to diversify a bit.

But I also think it will be of value to have something that can be fairly easily confirmed as genuine. Old silver coins are a great example of this. They can be broken down into very small amounts of silver and they would be difficult to fake.

[curryman]

I order these every time I can afford it and spot is under $20. Never had any problems with them other than slow shipping.

https://www.providentmetals.com/2016-1- ... -roll.html

curryman

[curryman]

Yeah, they're solid. Can't beat free shipping and no sales tax. Have an order waiting on shipping with them right now.

curryman

[Soccerdad1995]

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned is that you can buy gold and silver bullion on eBay if you want to avoid some of the over/under spot markups that were mentioned up thread. I dabbled in collectible silver dollars some years back and primarily bought and sold on eBay without incident. I never personally bought bullion there, but it definitely is available.

[uthornsfan]

If you are in Austin I get my stuff at Capital Coin and Bullion off Burnet road.

http://www.capitalcoinandbullion.com/

I think their silver is $1.75 over spot unless you are buying specialty / minted coins. I have a mix of minted and dealer coins. Quiet nice people to deal with, cash only :)

They also have a nice collection of forged/fakery stuff to look at.

What Andy said above is about what you need to know. If you aren't buying to sell and make a profit, get a variety of silver minted coins, silver dealer coins, and gold in varying sizes from .1 oz to 1 oz.

[mojo84]

Just call this guy.

[rotor]

Just got one of those flyers from my accountant. Profits from the sale of bullion and coins is taxed differently than profits from stock. I know you are all talking about the end of the world scenario but realize that if the world doesn't end uncle sam will hit you hard on profits if there are any. Talk to an accountant before putting big dollars in this. If you keep hearing that silver is selling for half of its high routine therefore you should buy, I wouldn't.
Now guns and ammo, you can hold in your hands.