Monster Box Of Silver Maples!

Yep, I'm done with silver for awhile (at least large purchases). We're thinking of buying some gold if the price drops a bit. Not too much, though, since (a) it's so darn expensive and (b) the wife and I both feel that silver has a much greater potential for growth. Silver purchased today for $30 could plausibly be worth $100 some day in the near future. But will gold purchased for $1600 ever be worth $5300? Hmmmmm....

I did buy a one-ounce Australian platinum platypus last year when it dropped below $1500/ounce, just to have one. I really have no idea what the long term potential is for platinum, though. Ever since it fell below gold I've been very confused.

Not only the low mintage T, but I like the frosted look of their coins an reverse proof designs. An their coins are very detailed and raised often. These are the little things one really can't appreciate until you have an example of both in hand, as a picture just does not tell the entire story, never does....

I believe the 1 oz. dragon have a mintage of 300000, where as the 2 oz. dragons can be massed produced to meet demand. Because the 1 oz. variety is technically rarer, or may be in the future, people are willing to pay more for them.

I'm always a bit leery about buying bullion coins at a high premium due to "limited mintage" or "high collectability." The silver value will always be there, but who knows if the premium will still be there 10 or 20 years down the line. Maybe it will be, but I can't shake the feeling that, unlike historical numismatic coins that have a long history of maintaining significant value over silver content, all of this nonsense about paying double silver value for a coin that was minted purely as bullion might just end up being a passing fad.

Having said that, I did buy five of the 25th Anniversary ASE sets purely because I figured they would go up in value and stay up in value, despite the fact that they are also "just" bullion coins, so I'm obviously not being consistent here. Maybe it's just because the ASEs are American coins and, being American, I'm biased. Other than that, though, I'm willing to pay high premiums for coins I want to add to my collection but refuse to pay much over melt for something I want just for silver ownership. That's why, when I decided to buy a 2012 Australian Lunar Dragon silver coin I went with the 1 kilo version (which had very low premium over melt) as opposed to the 1 ounce version (which cost about 3 times melt). I was buying it to have some silver -- not because I collect Lunar Dragon coins.

Sure we can, Hawk. It happens all the time. Just think of what a Carson City Mint 1889 Morgan silver dollar is worth compared to two very common 1921 Morgan silver dollars. BIG difference there in value.

http://www.usrarecoininvestments.co...n_dollar.htm

I'm all done with monster boxes for now. I might buy a $100 face value bag of 90% silver coins if the price drops a bit more, though...

Ed B,

Don't do that shop around a bit. I usually get a ton of Walkers in my local deals and have a hard time trading them because of the their wear.

I just bought a 50 oz engelhard but paid a significant premium. If I weren't waiting for the dust to clear I would be buying 10 oz stackers or ASE via gold mart. Eagles at $30 are almost a no brainer to me.

Re: milk spots. I've heard that silver wipes will take them off, as will a soft eraser or cloudy ammonia. I bought Weinman Silver Wipes to try it out on a bunch of Philharmonics Kitco sent me last year covered in milk spots but haven't gone out to dig them up yet. Will report back if there's interest.