Coin Collecting, Silver Bullions, Ancient Coins

Gold Bullion Prices

2011-11-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

In the wake of the recent recession and the current international debt crisis, economic volatility has hit unprecedented highs. Even the best hedge fund traders find it difficult to make money in an economic environment such as this, which puts the retail investor at a serious disadvantage. However, there are many recession proof investments that have stood the test of time and allow investors to make money in even the most volatile of financial environments. One of these investments is gold, which has seen incredible support in the past three years, with a rise in price of 250%.

Aside from gold being one of the historically recession proof commodities, there are other factors which make gold an especially attractive investment in the wake of the current recession. As the US dollar becomes more and more devalued based on the printing of trillions of new dollars, gold, which is historically seen as moving against the price of the dollar, will continue to hit new highs.

Also, the Federal Reserve has been seen to hold down interest rates artificially. However, Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve have already admitted that they will have to raise these rates to market value in the near future, which will further increase the price of gold.

As investors choose their financial vehicles to invest in gold, it must be said that some are better than others. Gold, like all investments, has its derivatives in paper stocks that people trade in the form of ETFs and CDSs. However, these derivatives do not always follow the true price of gold as they are susceptible to the pull and tug of market forces.

The most steady investment in gold has always been to buy gold bullion or buy gold coins. Ownership of actual gold instead of a gold derivative insurers that your investment goes up at the same time that the market price of gold goes up. There is no market pressure, and the short term buying and selling of individuals cannot affect your investment in any way. It is because of this that many of the ultrarich such as currency expert George Soros have decided to diversify their portfolios by investing in actual gold pieces directly instead of investing in gold through the stock market.

Buying Gold Bars - What You Should Really Know

2011-09-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

The majority who choose to try investing think basically of stocks, bonds and similar types of instruments. Many would like to buy gold bars, but are unsure of where to start. Others may wonder if they're advantageous or why they are of any seriousness, since most people aren't used to trading in metals. These bars are made from pure gold, and always have the purity and weight stamped on them. Each also has its own registration number for identification and authentication purposes. These features allow the bars to be easily identified and verified as being authentic.

When you purchase gold bars, you will realise that they can be gotten in a few sizes. Tiny bars weighing about an oz or kilo are sometimes called biscuits. Many people who own these smaller bars put them in their homes. Because of their small size, they are also easy to carry about. Massive bars, frequently called ingots, are usually stored in banks, instead of in private homes. To avoid security issues which will arise when transporting them, ownership papers are often transferred without the bars leaving their storage location. Many backers collect their biscuits and strips over a period.

These bars are refined in numerous countries around the planet. Though many prefer gold bars made in the US, there are some made in other nations that have a high value among financiers. Bars that weight in at 400 ounces are often made in the UK. Tezabi bars that are made in Pakistan have a high purity rate, and the quality is equivalent to that of gold coins employed in antiquity. There are bars originating in Switzerland that are quite famous for the holographic photographs that are placed on them. You'll find that there is a large array to select from.

If you've made a decision to buy gold bars, you'll need to find a credible dealer to buy them from. Always find out what their policies are concerning payment, buying products back and privacy. You do not want to put your trust in a dealer who doesn't follow sound business practices. It mostly helps to find out what kind of reputation they enjoy with prior shoppers. When possible , you would like to do business with an organization that has representatives available who can be reached by telephone or net chat at convenient hours. This may increase your likelihood of having a pleasant purchasing experience with a company you can do business with again.

Buy Gold Bars Online - Top Tips You Need to Know

2011-08-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

Gold bars are tangible, small and very easy to move. So, if you buy gold bars, you can actually take advantage of one of the most effective ways to invest in gold today.

A lot of people mistakenly believe that buying gold is the same as buying bonds or stocks, or that they should invest in gold stocks instead. However, the truth is that gold holds the most value when people have it in their own personal possession. This means that the best gold investment would be to buy gold bars - and, now, you can buy them online.

Yes, just as with every other product out there nowadays, it is now possible to buy gold bars online. All you have to do is browse through various categories and look for the kind of gold bar that you would like to have. Fortunately, most of these gold bars will be very affordable. However, a lot of them might be quite expensive, too, due to the increasing demand for gold in today's day and age.

Now, because of this ever-increasing demand for gold, it might make sense to jump at the opportunity to buy gold bars online the minute you see any that you are interested in. However, it would be much more important to check whether the seller can be trusted first. To do this, just look for online testimonials or feedback about them. If you can't find any, then you might want to reconsider buying any of their products.

Shipping insurance would be another important thing to look out for when buying gold bars online. Make sure that you buy your gold bars from somebody who specifies their insurance costs. Normally, the information on this should be found on the seller's webpage, but if you they aren't there, you might want to think twice before committing yourself to their products.

Overall, though, it would be a great idea to buy gold bars online. In fact, by taking full advantage of what online marketplaces have to offer nowadays, you can get your gold bars with both ease and speed. What more could you possibly want?

Keep This In Mind When Buying Silver Rounds

2011-07-08T00:32:00.000-07:00

Buying any form of silver to make a successful investment does require a bit of thought beforehand. First of all, there is the question of whether you will be buying silver rounds or bars. When we speak about silver rounds, it is simply another way of saying silver coins, although there is some argument that there is a slight difference. For example, some people feel that a silver round is almost a coin, except that it doesn't have an actual currency marking on it. Either way, the general accepted definition is that rounds and coins are pretty much the same thing. What is more important is the actual value of the silver, as this will dictate whether you make a decent profit or not if you are looking to buy silver as a way of investing.

One thing you will notice when you begin searching for silver coins is that they can come in the form of fine silver or junk silver. Now, when a person first hears the word "junk", it becomes very difficult not to devalue this type of silver. By thinking this way, you are in fact making a big mistake, because junk silver will still contain the actual value of silver. The reason why some silver rounds can be known as junk silver is because the design of the coin might be in poor quality. Therefore, in terms of premium value, the coin loses some value, but it does not mean that the actual price of silver will drop with these types of rounds. In fact, many people will buy junk silver rounds if they are solely focused on investing for the actual worth of silver and not the collectors' attributes of it.

The reason why junk silver rounds are so worthwhile buying is because they have such low premiums. In other words, you can purchase these coins at a price that is very close to the spot price of silver, which in turn ensures that when you do sell for investment purposes, you are in fact getting a bargain. Be very careful when on the search for any type of silver coins, as you will come across people that will try to sell you counterfeit coins. One way to ensure that this does not happen is by educating yourself as much as possible on the types of coins you are interested in purchasing. This can easily be achieved by going online and searching through many of the websites that offer this information. In fact, you will be quite surprised at just what you need to look at in order to find out what truly makes a coin authentic or fake. In the end, the whole purpose of purchasing silver is so that you can hedge against negative circumstances that could arise in your life, which is the reason why it is important to only purchase authentic silver bars or coins.

Investing in 1 Oz Silver Coins

2011-03-29T03:05:00.000-07:00

Investing in silver bullion is a serious deal and one must be really careful before and while they are dealing with the seller. The risk is even more if you are planning to buy online as you will not be able to physically meet up with the person you are dealing with and the risk of dealing with a brick and mortar shop is lot less than the online dealer. 1 oz silver coins are the most commonly bought silver bullion from the online sellers and the regular bullion dealers. This is mainly because buying them is a pretty cheap affair and one can buy as little as one coin. But if you are looking to invest in similar size gold coin, it would cost you lot more than the silver.

1 oz silver coins are made both by the government mint as well as many other private mints in USA. Those which are minted by the government are commonly called as American eagle silver bullion coin and those by the private ones are called as silver rounds. Almost both of them are made to the same exact specifications but then the finishing of the American eagles will be excellent with front of the coin with walking liberty engraved on it and the other side with an eagle with wide spread wings and stars above it. It is because of these extra works on the precisely made coin, the cost of American eagles is lot more than the generic silver rounds. Silver rounds are just plain simple coins made with silver of 99.99% purity and one troy ounce weight exactly like that of the govt. silver coins.

Coins issued by the government mint are of three types mainly, the regular silver coins which are circulated, the ones which are special edition or uncirculated limited coins and the proof coins. If you are regular investor who is interested in only the silver contained in the coin and nothing else, then you should go the regular in circulation silver coins. The special edition coins and the uncirculated coins are of interest for those who are into silver coin collection. Collectors would love to pay any extra premium to get their hand on that very rare special edition 1 oz silver coins which are specially released for a particular occasion and in limited number. Sometimes particular batches of coins which have been misprinted gets released into circulation and get discontinued immediately after finding it out. Such coins which go into circulation will have a huge demand among the numismatics. Proof coins are the regular silver coins but the image on the coin being more clear and appreciative. They got better mirror like finish and looks very attractive. This is achieved by striking the die twice or thrice on the blank coin to get a good image of the die.

Before you buy a 1 oz silver bullion coin or a bar, make sure you check for the sign of authenticity that is present on the coin. Do look for the warranty card if there is any provided with it. Check if the weight of the silver is exactly one ounce or not. With a little know how and caution you can happily invest in 1 oz silver coins and wait for the profits to knock at the door. The bells are surely going to ring as the price of silver has not seen a downfall for a very long time and there is no possible chance of going into losses.

Silver Bullions and the Numismatics Affair

2011-03-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

One of the rare hobbies which not only gives the pleasure of doing it but also becomes a source of income after a while is coin collection. But not all numismatics tend to get this opportunity, it’s only those who are particularly interested in collection of silver coins. These coins which are often referred to silver bullions are coins made up of pure silver and have a good face value as well as metal value to it. Coins which are rarer tend to get lot more price as it gets older and this is where the coin collectors reap the benefits.

Investing on silver bullions is always a good form of back up that can support you in times of need. Both silver and gold bullions are available but silver is lot more preferable than gold if you are starting up with smaller amounts. Silver coins are cheaper to buy and the price increase is lot more than that of gold. The price of a silver coin goes higher and higher as it get older and rarer. Consider your great grandfather had a few dozens of them and you found the box in which he stored them, then you are sure to hit a jackpot. The price of an ounce of silver has increased in multitude of times and continuing even today. When investing in silver bullions in the form of coins, make sure you do some market research about the coins that you are going to purchase so that you are not fooled. Have firsthand information of the various kinds of rare silver coins and their market value from the analysts. This will surely help you when you are considering buying or selling them.

Buying silver bullions in bulk is always a good option and it is said that you should put in as much amount as you can afford to, when you are buying in silver bullions. This is because once you buy it and keep it aside, the value keeps on increasing on and on. So it’s like a money tree that will keep growing in multiples. That’s the reason why it’s always best to buy all that you can afford at once. This is especially true if you are considering using silver bullions as a means of investment. The more you have the more you will reap.

Coin collectors who purchase silver bullions as a part of their collection will not look for the silver that is present in it but for the history that is attached to it. Such people pay a lot of money to get a single coin of the same one ounce weight just because there is a history attached to it. If you are the lucky guy who is willing to sell such coin, then your coin collection surely will pay you well.

American silver eagle coins- now is the right time to invest!

2011-02-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Coins have always been a potentially rewarding investment since ages. Earlier they were a part of the day-today lives but as currency papers have replaced metals, the demand for precious metals should have gone down but on the contrary, it is still growing. This bullish trend on precious metals like gold and silver has really triggered retail investors into gold and silver bullion trading. American eagle silver bullions of late have become very popular among the investors because of both its metal value and the face value too.

Silver bullion is available in two most common forms one being silver bars and the other being silver coins. There are various kinds of silver coins available to purchase and the American Silver Eagle is one of its kind, which was issued by the United States Mint in the year 1986. It is the official silver bullion coin of the United States. It bears the “Walking Liberty” symbol on its face and continues to retain its pride of place even today.

Each American Silver Eagle contains an ounce of silver and has specification for its accuracy in weight, content and purity. These are directly issued by the United States Mint and are minted to exact specifications with guarantee from the US government for its purity, weight and content. These coins are not sold directly to the people by the mint. The US government distributes them to a network of authorized bullion agencies certified by the government. The bullion dealers buy the coins in bulk from the government and in turn sell them to further bullion dealers, coin dealers and the general public.

These American Silver eagle coins can be purchased in several modes. For instance, bulk purchases can be made through the “Monster Boxes”. They are actually a bulk consignment of silver eagles. They contain 25 rolls of bundle and each roll with 20 coins. Anything bought in bulk has lesser cost when compared to buying in smaller quantities. Hence, these “Monster Boxes” would cost you lot lesser than buying in retail singles. However, not many can afford to buy such huge quantities and only bullion dealers usually do this. Small investors usually purchase smaller rolls containing 20 coins in them and will fall within the budget of a common retail investor. These attract a higher cost and are to be borne by the retail investor obviously.

The price rise of silver has surpassed that of gold in the last decade and this is expected to continue in the same trend in the near future too. Looking at the steep bullish trend in the prices of gold and silver, making a decision to invest in silver is pretty easy. The annual sales of bullion silver eagle reached an all-time high in 2008 showing clearly that investors want to pile up precious metals owing to the volatile trend in stock markets worldwide. Now, in February 2011, the silver eagle has again created records for yet another all-time high sales of 6,422,000. This has also come surprisingly at a time when silver prices all over the world have gone down by 9 percent.

Hence, to wrap it all up, investing in the American silver eagle coins is bound to be a sure-shot investment for any kind of investor.

What are American silver eagle coins?

2011-02-03T04:48:00.000-08:00

American silver eagle coins are one of the most sought after investments today. They have good face value as well as metal value. There are two kinds of investors; the serious ones are only bothered about the pure metal that is present in the coins whereas the second type is the coin collectors. These numismatics collect the American eagle coins as a part of their collection and their value keeps on increasing a coin gets older or has a rare design or a sometimes even a misprint.

Though there were many other silver coins before, American silver eagle coins started their journey just about twenty-five years ago in the year 1986. These were initially made in the city of New York but later on, many other govt. mints started making these in America. These coins are available either as a proof or as bullion. The latter ones are more popular and has about 99.99% pure silver in them

Silver Eagle coins worth keep increasing day after day and there is no doubt in saying that silver is one of the wisest investments anyone can make today. You can sell them any day when you are in need of urgent money and you will get returns at the current price of pure silver on that day according to the weight of pure silver that is present in the coins.

There is some debate whether to go for silver coins or silver bars but the reasoning is simple. If you are considering simple long-term investment and aren't looking for selling it in parts then bars are good for you. However, if you are a coin collector and want to bet on the face value of the coin and with a possibility that you might want to sell them later on in parts, then you must go for silver coins.

Tips in Buying Silver Bullion

2011-02-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

Computers and internet has made buying silver bullion so easy that anyone can simply log on to the internet, search for an online dealer and buy silver online. Now that sounded pretty simply is not it. However, the difficult task is finding the right dealer who gives you the right silver bullion and where you get the proper value for money.

If you are considering investing your hard-earned money on silver bullion, then make sure you get the best possible deal. It is always good to look around and search for many dealers who have silver bullion for sale. A dealer can charge anything above the set spot price for a bullion bar and you need to find the right dealer who is not over charging you and giving you the best price.

Therefore, it is always best to find the spot price of the silver bullion before you start searching for silver bullion sale on the internet. Google it and you will know what the current spot price is prevailing for that day. You can get the spot price even in the daily newspaper in the last pages where stock market is listed.

Spot price of silver bullion that you see on the internet or the newspaper is for 99.99% pure silver. So make sure that the silver bullion that you are planning to purchase is also that pure. When purity of the silver bullion goes down, then the price should also be lower than the spot price. Make sure to check the purity levels mentioned in the details of that particular bullion bar. You might be paying for a 99.99% pure bullion bar but in reality you might have got silver which is just 90% pure. So be sure to double check on that.

If you are offered a good deal in the flea market, remote possibility is that you might be lucky. Most of the times such silver bullion coins turns out to be fake or with lots of impurity in it. So be cautious when you are buying in such local markets.

If given a chance between coins and bars, always choose to buy bars. This is particularly applicable when you are planning to buy silver in large amounts as bars weigh more and are easy to mange unlike the coins. End of the day when you are planning to sell silver its only the weight that matters the most and the purity of the silver in it.

No one can surely say if silver is the best form of investment but then it sure has better chances of returns than other investments. Happy investing!!

After Gold, Silver Bars Strike In

2011-02-02T05:03:00.000-08:00

With the ever improving global market, silver is quickly catching up with gold as an essential commodity of investment. Although, it might never beat gold or platinum, more and more people are buying silver bars as a primary or secondary form of investment. The main reason for this would be its market price when compared to an equal amount of gold. Traders, investors or buyers use the Gold/Silver ratio as an analytical tool to appreciate the market price of the commodity.

Nowadays, many banks and financial institutions have started selling silver bars along with Gold. There is said to be an increase in its sales during festive periods, wedding seasons, etc. which clearly speaks about its growing popularity. As a trading commodity, buyers and sellers of the commodity market have included silver in their daily business deals. They buy different weights of silver bars – 50g, 100g, 500g, and 1kg – at a particular rate and then sell them later for a good profit. However, only good quality silver fetches a good price. Therefore, traders usually deal in 24 Carat and 99.99% pure silver.

This trend of dealing is very common around the wedding season when people gift their friends and relatives silver coins and bullion, chains, jewelry, or glasses. In India, gifting a silver ornament or a silver bar at a wedding or on a birth of a child is considered to be quite auspicious, and is still a common practice in many places. Usually, a good quality silver bar or coin is available in tamper-proof certified card packs to signify the highest level of purity as per international standard. Such packs are available at all banks, jewelry stores, and the commodity market.

If one intends to get into trading silver bars or wants to buy silver for an upcoming occasion, it is advisable for to study the market price, past and future price variations and the quality, before making a deal.

Hi Ho, Silver!: 3 Quick Reasons to Buy Silver Bars and Bullions

2011-01-14T03:37:00.000-08:00

With the economy still in tatters from the Great Recession, many thrifty and street-smart people who learned lessons worth their weight in gold are trying to find ways to keep their bank accounts solvent and heads above water. Fears about a double-dip recession, inflation, and overprinting practices by in-the-red governments drive these recovering investors back to the basics – and precious metals.

Silver bars and silver bullions quickly emerge as a relatively safe investment for three easy-to-understand reasons:

1. Hedge your Bets with Silver Bars

It’s no secret that central banks the world over are printing money at faster rates to steer their economies back on track. Overprinting creates a very tangible concern about inflation, a veritable economic Weapon of Mass Destruction that could destroy the value of a dollar overnight.

Silver bars and bullions retain value because of silver’s status as a precious metal. Whereas the value of its popular cousin, gold, tends to skyrocket in bad times and drop in good, the relatively small market that silver bars and silver bullion represent in the United States and United Kingdom ensures its long-term stability and reliability. The fact that it can be stored in a home safe or with a bank in non-fungible storage means that you can rely on silver through economic crises thick and thin, and trade it in when you need your money’s worth.

2. The Going is Cheap for Silver Bars – for Now

Faltering markets and safe bets aside, silver bars and silver bullion are cheap by most standards in 2011. As of this article’s writing, the market value for an ounce of silver jumped to just over $31.00 on January 3 and since fell to above $28.50 around January 6. Contrast this with one troy ounce of gold, or about 31.10 grams, and the comparison is staggering: that amount of gold was worth $1,381 by January 10.

Moreover, investors are projecting that prices for silver bars and bullion will explode by 2012 – and with them, their long-term value. Money Morning, for example, forecasts that silver bars and silver bullion per ounce could rocket to $50 per ounce in 2012, representing a 150% increase.

3. Demand for Silver is in the Emerging Markets

Every investor wants a piece of the pie in New York or London, but any economist will tell you to keep an eye out for emerging markets, like those in China, India, and Brazil – where, it so happens, a demand exists for silver, and not for the reasons you might think.

Apart from the reputation it enjoys as a precious metal, silver is also an industrial metal. For instance, China is importing or mining copious amounts of raw silver to fill a baseline need in the creation of solar panels and other alternative energy needs. With climate change on the rise, and many countries on the brink trying to curtail the worst effects, investors anticipate that silver will continue to rise in demand.

That creates a two-pronged demand for silver bars, bullion and coins, allowing room to breathe for the investor who remains wary about the caprice of market demand for silver as a precious metal.

Armed with these facts, any investor can see that now might be the best time to mount the horse and ride into a silvery sunset.

Coin collecting as an investment

2010-10-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

In this hobby, every once in awhile you hear something that is just plain earth shattering. Sometimes those are the moments that make it the most worth it. Well the other day was one of those moments for me. A long time friend of mine came to me for investment advice. Nothing out of the usual about that until he told me it was his broker that told him to do so.

“He said I should invest 10% of my portfolio in coins.”

Wow. He continues,

“I don't know anybody else to get good advice from and I want to try to get the most value. It's a hedge against volatility.”

Gold and silver prices have been rallying in the month of September, and already many predictions are being made that gold will continue to rise to $1500 an ounce.

Precious metals do well in these turbulent times, that's no secret. And there is another contingent of investors predicting inflation which also helps to bump the price up. So it's only natural that the demand for gold and silver coins will naturally rise as well.

But coin collecting throws even more scarcity into the mix. We're not just collecting little heaps of metals we pull from the ground. Coin collecting is collecting a piece of history. One of my most prized possessions is an old Phoenician temple tax silver coin of Tyre from roughly 25 B.C. What a turbulent time in history, and the stories that coin could tell as it passed from hand to hand!

And it's amazing that even 2000 years ago men were collecting silver and gold to hedge against their own troubled times. How little things change.

So is coin collecting a good investment to make now? Well here is the advice I told my friend.

Yes, gold and silver prices are high. But coin collecting isn't just about buying at point A and selling at point B. Some of my most prized coins aren't even the most scarce or even the most valuable. There is so much to learn about numismatics, the subtle nuances in form, condition, value, and collection themes that makes it much more difficult to appraise than standard equities.

It's very common for the average lay person to end up getting swindled by quick talking sales firms, especially during these times of incredible hype. Usually they end up over paying and under selling their coins. Since their reputation as a reputable dealer is non-existent, their ability to find knowledgeable buyers is much less. Often times they have to go right back to the firms that sold them their investment and find out their coins were incredibly over-valued, or weren't told about hidden fees that reduce their purchasing power by 20% or more.

But there is still more to coin investing than doing your research and staying away from shady firms. Who is to say that prices will remain high in the long term. Buying up gold and silver coins now may end up looking like a fools errand in a few years if the stock market rallies again and gold comes crashing down. Then all you'll be left with is the memories and history of those coins, which is where the real value of coin collecting derives regardless of where the price of gold and silver stands on a particular day.

So if you are going to invest in coins: invest in coins. Not the particular chemical element or compound that it happens to be composed of. Coins stand the test of time, and not just a few years of boom-bust market memories, but literally hundreds and thousands of years. Coins watch entire Civilizations rise and fall.

Even in the roaring 90s when precious metals were crashing I was hunting rare coins and flipping them at 1000% of the price. So gold and silver coins that have value will hold their own in the long run and are a great defense against inflation and volatility. Be on the lookout for that, for many of the silver coin editions being stamped out now for the price of metals alone, may only wind up as a nice conversation piece on your mantle in a few years.

Some Important Information about Ancient Roman Coins

2010-08-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

Nobody can ignore the fact that the Roman Empire was one of the most advanced empires of its time. The kind of the monetary system that the Roman Empire has is more than enough to show that it was well advanced. As we know, it was in the middle of the third century BC this empire was able to find its root. It later continued to grow until the middle of the third century AD. However, speaking about the main values of this empire, they were like gold coins called ‘aureus’, the silver coins known as ‘denarius’, bronze coins known as ‘sestertius’ or ‘dupondius’ and at last the copper coins called the ‘As’.

Since all the Roman coins were carrying an intrinsic value, they had many differences compared to coins of other Empires. In fact, these coins appealed more than what they actual deserved for the precious metal content used to make these coins. Getting to know the exact value of these coins was impossible for any archeologist so far. However, most of the archeologists have come up with their own estimates. For instance, some of the estimation reports by popular archaeologists are suggesting that the value of the denarius may be 1.6 to 2.85 times with respect to the metal content i.e. silver, used to make these coins. This value will be equal to 13 US dollars during that time. Of course, silver bullion coins have enjoyed a great popularity throughout the Roman era.

As the Roman Empire grew, a split was witnessed in authorities allotted for minting coins making use of varieties of precious metals. Unfortunately, the local authorities were not authorized to mint the silver and gold coins, as those coins were restricted from going out of Rome. Hence, the local authorities were able to mint only copper and bronze coins.

It is in the Egypt’s dry climate, where you will be able to find maximum information about the roman coins including the bullion coins. The information will be in the written form of papyri. The reports collected so far also suggests that there were also some other coins existing during the Roman Era, which were made by some inexpensive materials. In fact, it has been said that these were the coins that the people used for their routine purchase. There was also a dichotomy witnessed between the intrinsic value coins and the token value coins. The inadequate and infrequent production of the coins made up of bronze reflects this fact. The negative aspect of the Roman coins is that the workmanship was of low quality and very crude in some cases.

The silver coins, which we are able to find today, are representing most of the aspects that were discovered with regard to the coin system of the Roman Empire. Of course, today in most of the currencies, we will find the image of the great leaders and then the intrinsic value. Obviously, this is a major fact, which suggests that the Roman Empire was quite advanced when it comes to coin system and culture as well.

How Ancient Coins Were Made

2010-02-23T00:11:00.000-08:00

A typical coin production process from the ancient world.

Ancient Roman Coins

2010-02-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

image source

It's well known that the Roman Empire was very advanced for its time. One of the many ways we can see this is in their monetary system. The Roman system started off in the middle third century BC and continued on to the middle third century AD. The main values were the gold coins known as aureus, the silver coins called the denarius, bronze coins called sestertius as well as dupondius, and the copper coins referred to as the As.

The Roman coins were different because they carried intrinsic value. While all were made from precious metal, they were worth more then their metal content. It's hard for archeologist to know the exact value of these coins, but they have come up with some estimates of what they were. For example: the denarius is estimated to be from 1.6 to 2.85 times its metal content value. This comes to about $13 US during the early years of the Roman Empire and increased to around $25 US by the end.

As the Roman Empire progressed, there was a split in authority for minting coins of certain metals. The silver and gold coins were only permitted to be struck in Rome itself while the bronze and copper coins could be minted by local authorities. Dio Cassius once wrote, “None of the cities should be allowed to have its own separate coinage or a system of weights and measures; they should all be required to use ares.” This is interesting, as that is the exact system we use today.

Roman imagery on their coinage fell the the committee of tresviri monetales (trio of money men), typically these were statesmen who were striving to become a senator. In the early years, symbols and other control marks were used to dictated who was responsible for coming up with the coins image. In later years, the Roman Empire changed its process and began using images of the current emperor designed to show their power and authority.

Many aspects of the Roman Coin system we have discovered from the past can be seen in our own silver coins today. To this day we still use the image of our great leaders on our coinage and intrinsic value is common in most modern coin system. Of course, this is just one area where the Romans have proven to be far more advanced then other cultures of the era.

Silver Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, 336-323 BCE

2010-02-09T23:53:00.001-08:00

The reverse coin depicts Zeus enthroned, holding a scepter and an eagle reflecting the cult statue sculpted by Pheidias in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and race torch at left.

Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum. Credits: Barbara McManus, 2006

Silver Bars the Best Investment

2010-02-06T04:10:00.000-08:00

How does one make a bullion silver bar? It has to undergo two processes known as extrusion and pouring. For the extrusion silver is melted and forced into a mold or a die and allowed to cool to get the desired shape. The end product is extremely good to look at and the best investment for the stock market.

With the rising prices of precious metals like gold and silver it is the best and the right moment to invest in silver, especially in the stock market trade. Investing in silver is a unique and rare opportunity to obtain reliable returns on one’s investment.

Silver Bars’ weights

If one is question which is the most economic and versatile piece of metal, it is none other than the silver bar. It is uniform in size, purity and quality as well. Owing to these exclusive factors silver bars are very easy for sale and the bullion bars for trade and investment.
The weight of a silver bar varies in its denomination starting from 100 ounces weighing less than seven pounds. Since its size is uniform it is easy to store and stack anywhere for later use, hence it becomes the most desirable unit for investors in this trade.

Unlike silver coins, silver bars are unique

Silver coins have a higher premium and are priced normally above their spot price. There are possibilities of scarcity according to its availability in the market. But silver bars have low premiums but are beneficial to investors because of their market value that does not actually depend on scarcity or demand among the people trading in it.

The best brand of silver bars

Though there are different brands of bullion silver bars Johnson Matthey bars are the most sought after because of its outstanding quality. It is not easy to attain these bars since they are rarely seen in the market. Next to this are the Engelhard bullion silver bars that have gained popularity since the 1980s. Like Johnson Matthey silver bars, Engelhard bars are also scarce in the market and find a place only when the rate is high.

Silver bars make the best investment today not only for trade but also for the stock market that pays much attention to the quality and brand of silver bullion bars. The composition and the making of a single silver bar add to its high quality and value in the market. Similarly the variety and the size of silver bars invariably add to their increase in investment options and popularity today and in the years to come.