Silver Rounds vs. Silver Eagles?

I just started getting interested in buying silver bullion. What is the difference between hoarding/collecting "rounds" vs Eagles or other government minted coins? APMEX has a sale on rounds at about $1 over spot and I was thinking of buying some. They would be my first silvers. Whats the difference? Does anybody care when you go to sell? Oh and I'm investing/collecting for long term and as a hedge against the dollar and financial meltdown. Thoughts?

TJR

 

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if your long term you get more OZs for your money with bullion. but the debate of bullion vs. govt. coins rages on and will never be settled. BTW westminster mint has generic bullion all the time for spot + .95-1.00

 

It comes down to collecting vs investing. If you are looking just to cash in so to speak on silver and the prices realized; hoping it will go up more then rounds and bars are fine. If you are a collector especially of coins then you mostly want eagles. Something to consider also is even though both are silver (and providing the rounds are .999 fine as they do have some 90% rounds) and therefore are tied to the market price the silver eagles at least some of them like the 1996, 06W, 07W, 08W 07's with the reverse error has a numismatic premium over the silver value. Now with silver prices what they are those premiums are long gone on all but the 07 error but if you don't time the sale of your silver just right and get out at the top you can actually lose money if silver drops back even close to pre 2008/09 levels. Then if you have those higher value dates the premiums will be back in place and could help you at least break even if not make a bit of money. Rounds and bars you are out of luck no one will ever pay more than the silver content of those items. So it comes down to your interest, you purpose for buying, and your comfort level with understanding the investing side of bullion and 90% silver.

 

All great info to continue pondering!

 

i'm a collector myself, for many years before i started stacking and have many numismatic coins and every silver eagle made but the '95w proof so i get collecting. but for the main stack i just go for the generic with some .90 thrown in 'cause it's cheap. everybody has their style and the debate will go on.

 

The ASE (American Silver Eagle) is probably the easiest to sell as it is well known and respected in the Unites States and for a good part around the world. Some of the premium you pay when buying you can recover part of when selling, by getting straight spot for them or maybe a little over spot. Generic rounds you pay less of a premium for but will end up selling at some percentage below spot. Maple Leaves have the advantage of that extra purity .9999 which is needed in some applications like solar panels. And then there's cull 90%, I don't like calling then scrap, pre 65 silver coins that have their own value as they are also well known in the community and come in fractions. I have all of the above with the most being ASE's and Maple Leaves. I think all in all everything would wash out even with the sale. But that's only my opinion.

 

It truly comes down to personal preference. buying silver rounds is pretty much the same as playing the silver ETF on the stock market except that you actually have the bullion in your hands. I personally prefer to collect proof ASEs because you have metal value and numismatic value as well. I like the idea of having dual values in 1 coin so i can fall back on the rarity of the coin (numismatic value) if the price of silver falls. Oh and since you just started collecting, I would caution you against any canadian minted coin. Over half of them have milk spots on them. Good luck mate.

 

Thanks Cleveland...do you have those concerns about the Maple Leaf coins as well? I assume so since you said "any" Canadian minted coin.

 

^ My Maple Leafs also have milk spots. They are famous for them.

 

Penny that's good to know. Thanks!

 

Most of my Maple Leafs don't have milk spots, although some do. They do not affect the value of the silver. You'll get the same price spotted or not.

 

That makes sense so as bullion the Maples are fine. But for collector value the spots hurt.

 

You aint kidding......I had some really nice Canadian silver that caught a bad case of the "spots." They were in air-tights too. That extra 9 in the purity of them seems to do them in.

 

@tjsafari.....As was already echoed on here.....it`s all about preference. The A.S.E. is indeed the most well known silver bullion coin in the world, which makes it more easily identifiable and accepted. However most places that take in silver items in general will have no problem with any form of bullion provided the weight and purity is marked on the piece. I personally load up on both as well as other mints releases. I tend to stay clear of any silver coin/bar that is $10+ over spot. (unless I know I can resell the piece for a good profit)

Also if You are looking just to invest in silver, and don`t want to pay a good premium over spot.....stay away from graded silver bullion, (aka slabbed coins) as this is overkill for what You are considering.

 

This is my Silver Eagle. Don;t know much about it, but I do plan on getting a proof'd one. VERY beautiful coin.

 

@splintercellsz....ICG is not as popular as PCGS and NGC, but they are still somewhat respectable. This is a common date for an ASE, but Your ICG in a 70 goes for around $100 on ebay.

 

Rounds will cost less than silver eagles due to popularity of the silver eagles in general.

 

From what I can tell 95% of this site are Americans so you will only really get bias answers

 

I'm sure some one has already said this, but ASE's sell for a higher premium than generic rounds, so when buying them they will cost more, but you will also get more for them when/if you decide to sell. One of the benefits of ASE's over generic rounds is that if silver should ever become almost worthless, ASE's will still hold numismatic value.

 

Well, the OP asked about Silver Eagles which are American. Do you have an opinion to offer? Even if your opinion is biased, it might still contribute to the discussion.