Is the purchase of said items tracked by govt?
I have (on TV) that bars appear to have a serial number on them.
If so can you verify a private purchase sale before you buy?
I sometimes see bars/coins listed online on a local basis but I"m clueless on the concept of buying.

Uncle Sugar doesn't care so much about when/what you buy; selling things for profit is when it pays to be thoughtful.

As far as I know, nothing under $10k gets any special paperwork for taxes when you sell metals. I could be wrong, no hard feelings if fact checking proves it so.

Serial numbers do add to credibility, but I've never relied on them or refused a good deal if there weren't any. Sunshine Mint uses anti-counterfeiting imaging on their stuff that requires a lens supplied by them to verify. It's pretty slick really, and for me, they are a local business, so feel free to support them as much as you like.
There are chemical kits available for checking legitimacy of metals, or you could even use a metal detector I suppose, but as long as you are getting them from a reputable dealer it's their business on the line if they trade in fakes.

For online purchases I've never had any negative experiences from:

https://www.apmex.com/

https://sdbullion.com/

https://www.jmbullion.com/

https://www.providentmetals.com/

Shop around frequently for the lowest premium deals, but usually it's SD Bullion for the win.

With prices so high, I'd ask the folks selling them if they are also a buyer at these prices. I know a few months ago there were some people saying dealers were unwilling to buy at current prices.

If you call someone, pretend to be a seller and see what they say.

From what I understand, bars less than 1 oz in general have no serial numbers. And of course, Gold American Eagles of all weights do not have serial numbers.

The purchase isn't tracked per se, but the transaction may well be reported by your bank. First of all there is the $10k threshold. Then there is the appearance of avoiding the $10k threshold by making regular lesser transactions. e..g making three $9k transactions each week at the same shop. There are ways to avoid that, such as paying by check iirc. Cash and wire transfers iirc do trigger the $10k reporting.

The report doesn't say what you purchased but is there in a system somewhere which might become relevant if you are investigated.

As far as serial numbers or any such thing, no there is no tracking by the government.

There are some important tax details depending on what exactly you purchased. Bars, currency, shares in an etf, shares in a foreign etf. When you sell them there are different tax rates and different reporting requirements.

If you buy/sell within an IRA or 401k, there is no immediate tax issue when you sell because you are taxed when you withdraw from the account. But if you buy within a brokerage account or just buy and hold physical metal yourself, then when you sell there will be tax issues.

Note if you buy a foreign based etf such as PSLV or PHYS (other than in a retirement account) you need to file form 8261 with your tax return each and every year in order to get normal tax treatment. Failure to do so results in a big tax penalty.

There seems to be a significant problem with counterfeit silver and gold bars and coins. I would not buy from a private seller. A good local coin shop or one of the major online sellers would seem to be a much lower risk of counterfeit.

You can buy metals three different ways. One is to buy the physical metal and store it yourself. You will pay a premium above spot price to buy it, and when you sell it you will get probably a little bit less than spot. So while this is the best shtf way to own metals, it is the least profit efficient. If you want to buy physical, think about why you want it and then which format is best. Small 1/4 oz coins? 1000 oz bars? Very mainstream coins such as American Eagles?

A second way to buy metals is to buy purely paper. Something like SLV and GLD. Beware that these are derivatives and highly watered down. As long as things go smoothly, these are easy ways to buy something that tracks the spot prices and not deal with premiums or that annoying form 8261. But, you really don't own a claim on anything, and there is a looming issue with insufficient physical silver to honor delivery contracts. If a default happens, SLV and GLD may become worthless. For me, I see a lot of risk with them.

A third way is to buy shares in a fund that holds 100% physical silver in a vault, with your share having a true claim on metal. So there is no premium involved when you buy or sell. But PSLV and PHYS are foreign funds and you do need to pay attention to the form 8261. Imho, this is the best way to get the maximum profit benefits for the least risk.

Capital gains taxes will apply when you sell, whichever way you've purchased. Private sales of course are not tracked. Selling to a local shop or online dealer would create a transaction record, and if over $10k be reported to the government.

You will want to keep really good records of what you paid when you purchased and what you got when you sold.

Gareth Soloway has a great channel on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@verifiedinvesting where he frequently discusses silver and gold. He is a trader who uses charts to guide his decisions. He shows exactly how he interprets the charts and what he believes they are indicating the prices will do.

His show is put out every morning, and is very educational even when he isn't specifically talking about metals. Learning to understand the charts can help in deciding buy and sell prices. Right now, silver is looking to most likely drop again to the low 70's, and if it breaks below $70 it will probably keep going down perhaps to the low $50's.

The long term trends look good, so ultimately I still own a lot of gold and silver.

This is big topic, kinda like saying someone is into guns. Well, what kind of guns Single Action Army revolvers, 1911s, Glocks, AR15s, Winchester lever actions, Italian double barrel shotguns? Silver stacking is a hobby that can go in a bunch of different directions.

For me the entry point is your local coin shop and buying physical silver, US Mint American Silver Eagles. They are marked as $1 US currency but the "spot" market today is $83. Then you may have to pay a premium over spot, today it looks like $100 per coin on Apmex.

American Gold Eagles are marked as $50 US Currency with spot price at $5,122 per oz and the premium from Apmex at $5,377. It's a little bizarre to hold that little 1 oz coin in your hand and realize it is $5,000.

These are the easiest to buy and hold if you have a safe at home. I just went into the local coin shop, paid cash and stuck a few in my gun safe at home, there's nothing to track. They are also the easiest and fastest to sell. The big benefit to me is, as tax laws are changing, the sale of bullion/bars are being taxed in some states. Eagles are American money and I don't see American money ever being taxed. As a hobby I could see getting into collecting other countries silver coins but those may some day be taxed.

Once you leave that realm it gets into other countries, silver and gold coins or into bullion. I got to talking about this with a friend recently that grew up in the middle east. She said not in a bragging way, that she had kilos of silver ($3k today's prices). It's just her mindset that having that around could get you out of a jam and the value has been going up.

I'm lucky Apmex is in my town and the local coin shops have everything supplied from them. I don't store a bunch but if the electric grid went down for a week or two I would have a few silver coins to trade for what I need.

I occasionally watch this channel about Harry's coin shop in Oregon. He is now getting a lot of customers driving down from Washington state, as WA is taxing the sale of bullion. I really like this guy Harry, he's been around the block.



As mentioned above you can buy paper shares of silver and gold. I haven't gone that route but I have bought stock shares in silver and gold miners. I think silver mining stocks are going to go up.

Yea Harry knows his stuff, been watching him for awhile.