Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Investing in 1 Oz Silver Coins

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.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Silver Bullions and the Numismatics Affair

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.

Monday, February 28, 2011

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

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.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

What are American silver eagle coins?

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.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tips in Buying Silver Bullion

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

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.

Friday, January 14, 2011

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

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.