Coins, rounds, or bars? And why?

What do you prefer for your investment?

I prefer a mix of bars and coins for silver. About 1/3 of my silver is bars, all from generic but recognizable private mints, due to the very low premium. The rest are government issued coins with mild premiums over spot ($1-$3 for most). I buy those due to their recognizability and easy resale, particularly ones where I will regain some of the premium.

All of my gold is government issued coins.

How about you, and why?

 

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Just starting my investing adventure now have been told by many to diversify
So i just bought 20 1oz Silver rounds at a local shop here in Las Vegas, next
will buy some Silver Bars and then some 1oz eagles, then plan on buying some
Gold using the same formula

 

Coins, except where I can get non-coin PMs well below actual value. (I define "actual value" as "what I can confidently sell them for, minus transaction expenses".)

I look at it this way: there's a lot of muscle making sure coins aren't counterfeited. Generic rounds or bars, not so much, because while it's still fraud or copyright violation, it's not messing with the money system.

As a result, with coins, I can have more confidence buying, and others can have more confidence buying from me. (Although never complete confidence, of course.)

 

It isn't that long ago, about 10 years tops, that almost no serious silver or gold buyers would take private mint stuff, because it was supposedly too easy to fake, and nobody was out there enforcing counterfeits of private stuff. I guess that changed. I know that Barry Stuppler was working on legal changes. I remember a session at Philly in 2012 like it was only five years ago.

 

Maybe we should clarify what we mean by private mints:

Private mints should include A-Mark, Johnson Matthey, and all the other older refiners and mints. These have always carried reputability and been easy to sell.

Perhaps you thought I meant only the small, private producers? Or the large, gimmicky ones like Franklin?

If there's a more preferred term to refer to A-Mark, Sunshine, Johnson Matthey, Geiger, etc. please chime in and let's see what the community thinks.

 

Silver:
50% junk 90%
20% ASE's
20% Generic Rounds
10% 10oz Bars

Gold:
100% US minted coins

I plan on loading up on ASE's for awhile. I have too much junk 90% right now. Another gold Buff is on the way too. Buliding a herd.

 

I'm a small potatoes silver investor. I generally purchase only 40% (when way under melt) or 90% junk and ASEs when I can get them for under melt. I don't actively purchase any bars or rounds (unless I can get them under melt). I also don't actively pursue gold.

Why? Because I personally think the liquidity of small 90% coins will come in handy if I need the money quickly or if something were to ever happen. Much easier to break down and sell a bunch of silver dimes vs trying to offload a single 20oz bar. Also, I can search the junk coins for errors and varieties. And right now, gold is too expensive so I don't chase after it unless I'm comfortably under melt and I can verify it's actual gold. As I age and increase my income and investment diversity, I will start looking at larger purchases like bars and gold.

 

I knew exactly what you meant. About 10 or so years ago, ANYTHING private, big or small, normal or gimmicky, sold at SIGNIFICANT discounts to government-issued silver and/or gold. Who made it didn't matter. A-Mark, Sunshine, JM, Geiger, didn't matter. If it wasn't a government, it sold at a significantly lower price. Still true, to an extent. [Note: east coast, where silver has never quite had the same allure as in the west, and likely never will.]

 

All of them, I do not discriminate. I treat my collection the same way I look at my overall investment strategy - diversify.

I also set my stash into two categories - "collections" and "bullion".

Collections consist of any "artful" pieces - such as the dragons, the private mint series like the Zombucks, Privateer, Cleopatra, yadda yadda. These are what I will organize, put into albums and display, and I don't pay attention to premiums - they are collectors pieces first, bullion second.

Bullion on the other hand goes into tubes and boxes and into safe places such as my SDB to only see the light of day when I either add more, or cash some in. I will usually buy on lowest total cost (spot + payment method overhead + shipping). My bullion consists of:
Silver:
- any government minted silver rounds (ASE's, Maples, Pandas, etc)
- primarily US mint junk silver coins, mostly 90%
- private mint bars, typically silvertowne, sunshine mint, Provident, APMEX
Gold:
- any government minted rounds (AGEs, Maples, Sovereigns, Krugerrands)
- private mint bars in assay cards (pamp, valcambi, etc)

I also have several "hand pour" silver pieces, which don't always fit into an easy classification, and I treat them more as novelty pieces than true bullion.

For bullion storage, I will typically keep junk silver and silver rounds, as well as gold rounds, in tubes. Bars up to 10oz go into individual air-tites because they fit and stack much easier than the plastic sleeves they come in. And yeah, the air-tites are a little more expensive, but honestly, if I'm tossing that much cash at a 10oz bar, the extra buck for the storage is worth it to me.

 

BTW, the day any of you see me buy a Zombuck, I can assure you the apocalypse will arrive within the next 5 minutes or so, if that. I do own a FEW private mint silver pieces, but they, WITHOUT exception, fall into one of the following categories:

1) coin club medals
2) extra junk included in a bulk auction lot
3) gifts from people who don't know what I'm into
4) awards or prizes, including "door ..."

EVERYTHING I buy with intent is a government issued piece.

 

A mixture, and each for different reasons.

1) I buy US junk silver and ASEs for the current going price because I think I can sell them for about the same relative to melt.

2) I buy world silver coins when I can get them below value. By value, I have a formula I use based on fineness. Same with modern world gold coins.

3) I buy gold bars only if in original packaging from an accepted mint (Pamp Suisee for example).

4) I buy silver rounds and bars only from reputable companies and only if I think the price is fair based on recent premium levels.

5) I buy pre-1930s world gold coins based on their current market value for the condition they are in.

I do not spend equally in each of these categories. I probably spend most on 2 and 5 and least on 3 and 4. However, as my budget is not large there are years where I spend nothing on some of the categories.

 

Don't you think, though, that if you can reliably pick these up "below value", then most other buyers will expect to do the same?

 

Of course. I buy them below value so that when the price goes up (as it will) my profit from selling will be greater. If think there is a fair change that a time will come when people are willing to pay a premium for silver. I am in no hurry to sell so I will just put them up for sale whenever that happens, be it 5 years or 25 years from now.

 

I started out with bars because they were cheapest. Then rounds got cheaper,so it was rounds. I mixed in some official coinage just for a little variation. I'm now starting to lean more toward ase.

 

I cherry pick my world silver from World coin bins at shows and LCS. I don't think everyone has the knowledge or patience to do this.

 

Yes, cherry-picking with knowledge and patience lets you turn time into money. I guess that's a form of "bullion investing".

 

One of everything.
Buy what you like.

 

I agree to buy what you want. ASE's are special though for a ton of reasons. I'm going to get a few more tubes by the end of the year.

 

When I periodically want to add a small amount to my gold investment, I buy a 1 oz. AGE. During the last gold rush I owned the GLD ETF. I suppose, in the future, that's possible again.

I have gold collectible coins, but those are in a "separate category" The investment gold is a small portion of an overall investment portfolio.