When I mean generic, I am talking about non-governmental issuance...like SilverTowne, APMEX, etc... So which is better? From what I have seen, the premium of generic is much less than lets say a maple leaf or silver eagle.
I have most all government backed. Almost no generic...just a few fun ones....... but I am a "collector", not a "stacker" If you buy on price alone to accumulate most seem to the generic offerings with some government backed coins as well.
Define "better" please? Government rounds may have a better resale value. Imagine you had 100 pounds of it. Which one is easier to sell to the public as a lump lot or diviied up? The Guv' rounds I think because there's less guesswork about what they are.
But, if you're going to use the silver for an actual purpose besides making money then go with the one with the smallest premium. End-purpose plays an important role. If you think it will skyrocket then go for the lower premium anyways, right? If you're selling it off one by one as it fluctuates and selling it to the normal public then Guv' rounds may be better because of the trust in those rounds.
In the end, bullion is what it is - just worth the market price.
There will always be a disparity between brand-new government issues and bulk silver (or gold) - this is called "the collector factor". This is a sort of premium that exists because the US mint convinces uninformed buyers that they are buying something scarce (not so), or because the the buyer wants to play the game but does not understand his options (often so).
Buy some of each, buy what appeals to you ... it amazes me to see certain bullion silver coins or rounds increase in value for this reason or that reason as time goes by.
Pure bullion silver, be it rounds or bars of any weight, does not need any backing, either from Government or from any commercial oraganisation. All that needs to be known is a verifiable guarantee of fineness and weight.
Numismatic collector value of bullion pieces is entirely another matter. It depends what takes your fancy - silver as bullion, or bullion pieces with an added numismatic collector value.
Just going to add this, you are actually doing better with rounds if you go by the buy back rate verse the premium paid. But your mileage may vary from site to site .coin/rounds/bars etc.
Plus remember that not all .999 silver bars/coins/rounds are equal, some bars have a very high value above spot such as some hand poured bars etc that "bar" collectors will pay big money for. Educate yourself on any round , coin, bar that you are thinking about buying or selling.
1 oz Assorted Standard Silver Bar/Round
Product details
Qty We Sell We Buy 1+ C$22.78 C$19.63 20+ C$22.68 C$19.88 100+ C$22.58 C$20.13
Sunshine Mint has too many fakes to be collected, as least by me. They're all good though. That's another issue one can argue is that coins are inherently harder to fake than bars. But cut up, drilled bars are hard to fake. Why cut one up - because you are checking the authenticity if you know what you're doing. As I've said before, RCM maples with milkspots are a good indication of authenticity, although that can also be faked and if I were a counterfeiter I would be going that route - it's only a matter of time for those crooks, but I digress. I can't stress enough that every silver stacker must explain his/her goals and reasons for stacking before asking any question such as this.
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Posted 10/04/2015 5:54 pm
