Investing

thats fine if you want to invest in PMs. However, like everything else, there is a time to do it, and this is not the current time to invest in PMs. If I was in your shoes I would be putting money in your FTSE... or even overseas,, anywhere but gold and silver.

Since however thats what you want to do and it is your money, and you are looking at roughly on the high end spending about $810 USD (rounding it up roughly) you could easily do half an oz of gold easy...

so since you want the metal, I would look for high end coins that are either silver and gold and see which ones are coming down in price because of the drop in PM prices... this is where you can make the most of that money, because if you buy bullion in these areas right now, you are going to be looking at an investment that starts underwater from the start and thats not a good way to start investing in anything.

I hope it works out

Tom made an excellent point Ben. You have a knowledge of ancient coins and if you buy right you could make a serious profit. What you need to consider is (and again pointed out by Tom) that 500 quid is a very small investment to make for any serious profit in the metal market. Spreading your cash over several different things is one answer but then you need to look at the returns. Higher risk = higher return. Unit trusts for example are a safe investment and in the past 3 years an initial investment of 25k (gbp) has given me 1200 pounds profit. Against this, in the last 3 months trading, I have been paying on average 6.90 a gram for 9 ct and have cleared a profit of approximately 26k (gbp).
When I first began to buy scrap, I had a budget of 2,500 pounds and at times I was so afraid of the market that I would lay out almost all of it for a very small return. In your case, with a limited cash resource I would strongly suggest trying to buy from the people that have jewellery they no longer need or want. If you try to trade with the dealers you will make very little. As I said in another post Ben, you have my personal email and I believe my phone number, if you are serious in wanting to begin on this route please get in touch, I am sure I can give you a hand up to at least the first rung of the ladder. Nice coin there Tom..