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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,512 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1450 Posts |
What should a collector expect to pay for a Silver Eagle bullion coin? Silver is going for about $16 an ounce and the RedBook says about 32 bucks for a Silver Eagle. I just like the design of the coin since I collect the Liberty Walkers. The Liberty Walker is only about .36 oz. of pure silver, so it takes 3 Walkers to equal the silver in one Eagle. Even a Peace dollar is only .77 oz. Silver. The Eagle is .99% silver, but I just like the design. The price tag on the Eagle seems excessive markup of at least 100%. There are cheaper ways to buy silver.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
They will (the 2015) not be rare. Except for those wishing to start or continue a complete set, they are not collectible. They are just a small part of the everyman's investment in silver.
I would not pay more than $5.00 over spot for one. Of course if you want a particular year, it is all supply and demand.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36710 Posts |
$4-5 over spot is a normal retail price.
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Valued Member
United States
110 Posts |
Yeah, my local coin shops charge about $3-$6 over spot, depending on what year. The local pawn shops, charges $10 over spot regardless of year. Even these premimiums are enough to deter me to buying other silver coins. I would never pay double for an eagle. Do some shopping, you should be able to pick one up for around $20 right now.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1450 Posts |
Great advice from all as usual!
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Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
was in my LCS a week or so ago and they had ASE's for $22 when it was in the high 16's spot range so that does sound alittle on the high side. some of their gold coins were slightly over spot while some were WAY over spot. EX: I ended up getting a canadian commemorative half oz gold, for 625 (20 over spot) but their chinese panda and AGE halves were 725 (120) over spot. I have literally no idea where these prices came from. his krugrand 1 oz's were 75 over which didnt seem too too bad.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
Consider the hands that they have to go through. Only Authorized Purchasers can buy bullion from the mint. They pay spot + $2.00 for each Eagle. APMEX is the only major online dealer who is an AP. All other dealers have to buy from an AP who have to add a profit for themselves (another $2.00) Most LCS' buy from these secondary dealers and have to add yet another level of profit for themselves. So $5-$6 over spot from your LCS is not outrageous. Of course LCS' aand pawnshops also buy silver from customers, at or below spot. These coins they can sell for less, but why ? Mostly they just have one bullion price no matter where the coins come from.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I had no idea the Mint practiced bias in their selling. Heck, that's enough to never buy an ASE again, just on principle. You'll never hear me recommend buying one again.
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Moderator
 United States
188026 Posts |
I always believed that the distribution method was legislated, but my initial search indicates that it is not.
Can anyone verify this?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1187 Posts |
The best place I've found to get them is APMEX (spend over $100 for free shipping) and pay with a check. It takes forever to get though but paying with a check saves you a bit and you don't have to deal with a shady seller on ebay who might be selling counterfeit coins.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12817 Posts |
Quote:The best place I've found to get them is APMEX (spend over $100 for free shipping) and pay with a check. It takes forever to get though but paying with a check saves you a bit... It's essentially the same with JM Bullion. As has been said, there are more economical ways to buy silver than ASEs. For investment, I try to find something at less than a dollar premium per ounce over spot, though I do like to get at least one ASE from each year. And for what it's worth, my LCS usually sells new ASE's for $4-$5 over spot, and older ones for as little as $2.50 over spot if they're not nice and shiny.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
Quote:I had no idea the Mint practiced bias in their selling. Heck, that's enough to never buy an ASE again, just on principle. Dave, that is not the way it is at all. When the Silver Eagle program was first legislated. The goal was to first, deplete the U.S. precious metal stores, that were just sitting there doing nothing. But also to give the average citizen the opportunity to invest in precious metals and as a byproduct, avoid another Hunt Bros. situation.. To this end the program has been wildly successful. Well "investment" implies a two way street. Not only the ability to buy, but the ability to liquidate when necessary. The assurance of this also had to be provide by the legislation. Hence the stringent requirements involved in becoming a U.S. Mint Authorized Purchaser. http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/Silv...irements.pdfYou have to not only have the ability to widely sell, but must also show the long term ability to buy back under all market conditions. This is why APMEX, being the only major PM retailer on the list of 11 APs, always publishes a "buy back" price along with a sell price. This, rightly so, establishes a two way street of investing in silver and gold from the gov't. Otherwise the whole "everyman" PM investing market would collapse on a pile of fly by nighters, selling .... selling ....selling during the good times, and then disappearing durin the times that people want hedge their bets.
Edited by denco7 03/02/2015 9:11 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1109 Posts |
I buy locally for $4.00 over spot, unless they are blemished, then I pay $2.00 over. I like me some blemished Eagles! Just keeping them for silver so not worried about the looks. I do have a set of BU Eagles that I DO care about the looks of, but for just bullion, silver is silver, regardless of its appearance.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:I had no idea the Mint practiced bias in their selling. Heck, that's enough to never buy an ASE again, just on principle. You'll never hear me recommend buying one again. Where have you been? The selling to approved distributors is the way the ASE's have been done since 1986. The government wanted move the things in quantity to get rid of the silver stockpile, and they didn't want to have to deal with small orders from individuals ad run the risk of returns if the silver price changed. Not to mention the headache of constantly have price to the small collector changing all the time. But anyone can become an approved distributor, you just have to meet the qualifications. Something like 5 million in liquid assets (The mint wants to make sure you can pay), a certain amount of time having been in the market buying and selling PM, and agree to minimum orders of 50,000 oz of ASE's.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
I don't throw away money on bullion, so I don't need to know about it. That's where I've been.
For those who do, it kind of bothers me that the Mint can force them to buy through a middleman. It's proof the Mint is under the control of business - why would they abdicate half their profit margin to benefit business otherwise? They sell everything else to the end user, and can't say they lack the capability.
And they're fools if they think they can control the secondary market.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
I agree with others that a average price for silver bullion Eagles is about $4.00 over spot. In my opinion the ASE/AGE program is one of the U.S. mints most successful programs. They pretty much sell every ASEthey make. No matter how the mint/government set up the selling of the ASE's, they are still a good buy. Each state is different, so I can only use Florida as a example. In the local coins shops I go to, ASE are $4.00 over spot, unless you buy larger volume. Most cases you have to buy a monster box to get the best discount. (500 coins) If you are selling, they will pay spot when you bring them back to sell. The closest to ASE's are bars and rounds. They sell for $2.00 over spot. But in Florida you have to pay tax on bullion if the sale is under $500.00. No tax on U.S. coins. In this case ASE's are considered a U.S. coin. When the LCS here buys rounds and bars from walk in customers they pay $1.50 to $2.00 under spot. The buy/sell ends up being very close to the same price. I think there is more confidence in the ASE's as far as quality silver. I try to advise people to learn what coins buy and sell for, so they can decide what is the best deal for them is.
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,512 |