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AndyC wrote:Ok, I'm not an expert but here's what I've learned in buying silver for a few years:

Spot price: this is the actual dollar value of your metal. You'll pay a slight bit more than this (called the premium or 'above spot') if you want to buy actual bullion - this is because it costs the dealer to make molds, pour the metal and market their wares as opposed to merely trading in paper stocks. For silver bullion, $2/oz above spot is normal - anything less than $2 is a good deal, but you'll often see far higher than that, too, for specialty-runs eg. collectibles such as pure silver "pirate" coins, etc at $5/oz above spot. Example: the silver spot-price might be $18.00 per ounce - but you'll be buying silver bullion at $20/oz; this is normal.

Some people buy bullion to try and make a profit (well, who doesn't like that?) - so be aware that when you go to sell your silver, the buyer will typically pay you a few dollars UNDER spot - so if you're trying to make a profit, you'll have to wait until the price is at least $4/oz more than you paid to account for $2 above spot when you bought it and $2 under spot when you sell it.

Others like me are more focused on having what amounts to hard currency in their hands away from the electronic numbers stored by banks or simply a hedge against inflation.

In Texas there's no sales-tax on buying bullion - and many places offer free shipping if you buy over $100 worth of metal.

Gold/silver ratio: https://www.providentmetals.com/knowled ... ained.html

Silver (and gold) spot-price ticker: https://www.bullionvault.com/silver-price-chart.do

All of the above is staying away entirely from the subject of numismatics - coin scarcity. That's a whole other world I'm definitely no expert in or have any interest in.

Soccerdad1995 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote: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.