Each year I buy silver 1-ounce American Eagles and give one to each senior on local football team at Varsity Banquet. I have done this for 5 years now and now it is a tradition. Some years 30 seniors and some years 20 or so.

My question regards the Premium over the price of silver. Today I bought 20 coins for $874.00 at my usual local coin shop.
The price of silver today was a bit over $21/ounce. The listed Premium was $18 per coin plus tax. Plain silver rounds were only $6 Premium. Are American Eagles in short supply or what? Who would ever buy these for investment with $18 Premium?

quote:

Originally posted by k4carbon:
Are American Eagles in short supply or what?

Yes. US Mint shortages combined with increased demand are driving up the premium price of their silver bullion products. Attached is a short article from Money Metals Exchange outlining the shortage.

https://www.moneymetals.com/ne...d-high-demand-002604

quote:

Who would ever buy these for investment with $18 Premium?

Investors paying $39 for $21 worth of metal?

Some questions answer themselves.

Premium has always been higher on Silver Eagles than on other silver coins, and especially higher than non-governmental bullion.

But premium on silver has been crazy for the past couple years, which has raised the premium on silver in general to ridiculous levels, and the premium on Silver Eagles in particular to outrageous levels.

Even though spot price has fallen, demand is still high, and apparently there are enough people who are willing to pay the exaggerated premiums. Personally, I've stopped buying silver. I might resume when/if the premium returns to normal.

Might consider switching to Canadian Maple Leafs. Premium is higher than it used to be, but more like $10 instead of $18. Still the same amount of pure silver.

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Might consider switching to Canadian Maple Leafs.

Great Britain also mints some really awesome silver coins, which not only look better than Silver Eagles (IMO), but also should be available at a slightly lower premium (though still high currently).

In addition to my Silver Eagles and Maple Leaves, I have some Britannias, Valiants, and Queen's Beasts, bought before the premiums went wonky.

Britannia:


Queen's Beast (there are a number of other heraldric creatures too)


Valiant:

Numismatic value is always worth more than just plain material value to some.

Ask your LCS gow much they're buying them back for. That may give you a good indication how much they value your business. However, even SD Bullion is selling at 14 over spot for random years. 2022s may become unobtanium due to the fact the mint has to pay spot for the blanks.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Might consider switching to Canadian Maple Leafs.

Great Britain also mints some really awesome silver coins, which not only look better than Silver Eagles (IMO), but also should be available at a slightly lower premium (though still high currently).

In addition to my Silver Eagles and Maple Leaves, I have some Brittanias, Valiants, and Queen's Beasts, bought before the premiums went wonky.

Brittania:


Queen's Beast (there are a number of other heraldric creatures too)


Valiant:

Nationalism plays an important part in the silver buying market.

The right pawn shop will sell for spot.

I just loaded up on gold for spot and when silver was at $12, I bought several pounds.

What kind of silver/gold?

Because while you may be able to find non-governmental bullion rounds/bars at around spot fairly easily, most folks would be unlikely to find a shop willing to sell higher demand coins like Gold Eagles/Silver Eagles at spot price.

The only people who make money on silver are the dealers. WHen you're a buyer the premium is justified as demand. However, turn around and try to sell your silver to a dealer and they'll low ball you. The bid-ask spread is ridiculous.

I have two silver eagles of every year. Started collecting in 2014 so I had a lot of catching up to do at first. They've always been over priced IMO, but holy smokes $18 premium for current coins?!

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
The right pawn shop will sell for spot.

I just loaded up on gold for spot and when silver was at $12, I bought several pounds.

Well, except for a BRIEF, BRIEF couple of days in 2020, it's been over 5 years since silver has touched $12/ounce. Markets have dramatically changed since then, for sure. 90% silver "junk" coins will usually be bought at scrap or 16x face value of the coins around here. For example if you have common worn Morgans, you will get an offer of $16-18 a piece and those dealers will sell for 20-25 each.

As mentioned the spread on Silver ZEagles is ridiculous. Last time I bought a mint roll, I paid about $345 for a roll of 20, when spot was about $15. Now, spot is around $20, and last coin show I was at you couldn't find a dealer that would sell one for under $38. They can choke on them at that price. Offer price though was up too......they were buying at the show for $35. I sold two 10-oz IGR bars for $230 each when spot was at 16-17/oz to a dealer at the show and he was glad to buy them, as he had sold out about a dozen 10-oz bars earlier at that show.

I also sold a half-ounce gold eagle and got my premium on it same as when I bought it and paid a premium. At that time gold was $1730-1740/oz. I got $910 for my 1/2 ounce as the dealer was already flipping it to a regular customer for $940.

Look up BlueVaultSecure. They are in Mission Valley and somewhere in Orange County.

They seem to have the lowest premiums in San Diego County.

https://www.bluevaultsecure.com/

As of today, with 7.5% tax, 20 Silver Eagles would be just under $810 from Blue Vault.

I checked www.apmex.com and the cost is about $829 which includes shipping so what you paid isn't far off for a local buy.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
What kind of silver/gold?

I bought an ounce of combined 1/10th and 1/25th Philharmonics back when gold was around $1300 in 2018 right at spot. I bought the sliver back in 2009, and it was Maples and Australians.

I sold some when it reached $40 to finance one of my watches.

A few weeks ago I came across some more Austrians and bought them at spot when gold was $1577, however it was only a 1/10th and a 1/25th and it didn't set me back much.

I just comb the pawn shops and make an offer on what the premium of the day is. Sometimes they take it, sometimes they don't. Depends on what they paid for it.

FWIW I've referred to Coinflation Link for many years for a quick idea of prices. IMO it's a pretty good resource for prices.

Best wishes to all y'all.
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Buying a current year ASE for yourself is one thing but buying 20-30 is going to be increasingly difficult as time goes on. Who knows, the mint may be producing Eagles and just holding them back. It doesn't take that long to switch over to 2023 dies and if the mint is closing then something is afoot.

Passing out generic bullion rounds may be a more affordable alternative but stock up while you can since there's no guarantee of future supply these days

stay tuned to hear David Morgan on the topic

quote:

stock up while you can since there's no guarantee of future supply these days

Fort Knox had a finite amount. Looks like they've finally sold it all.