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I am curious how many of us consider 100 oz silver bars to be "the way to go." Everyone's circumstances and reasons for accumulating precious metals are quite varied. So I can guess your answers to this will vary just as much.

So, for you, what are the pros and cons of larger ingots? What size stuff do you prefer to stack?

One small part of my opinion/experience: I recently got a 6 oz ingot. Thought this is about as big as I would want. All the rest of what I have is 1 ounce or smaller. I will get into MY reasoning more after I hear a few responses.

LET'S TALK!

Ignoring good deals (under spot, etc):

If you can put all of your stash on a wheel barrow, no.

If you need a wheel barrow to move part of your stash, might as well.

I would be afraid of them they can be bored out so easily. You know the chinese probably like to duplicate for the profit margin.

I have not been in the game for nearly as long as most of the guys here, however had i been stacking 5+ years ago I believe id have been stacking 100oz as well as other things. Now that silver bars are worth over 3000 a pop I can see the normal stacker wanting them less. For me to stack 100oz bars now I would have to be buying at least one a month if not more otherwise I would just buy smaller units. I cannot see 100oz bars ever having a premium over 1\5\10oz bars\rounds so I would rather take the time now to buy those at spot, better chance for a premium on them in the future, and they are more fun to look at

I like smaller bars 10oz or less becouse I believe they will be easier to resell/trade If the price of silver were to skyrocket.Ill use gold as an example say when gold was $50 an oz you bought 100oz bars for $5000 now they are worth $160,000 not so easy to sell/trade to your average joe.

I would avoid them but thats just me.

jasmatk wrote:not so easy to sell/trade to your average joe.

That's where I am, really. What are the pros for large silver bars? Or even for gold units over 1 oz?

uthminsta wrote:

jasmatk wrote:not so easy to sell/trade to your average joe.

That's where I am, really. What are the pros for large silver bars? Or even for gold units over 1 oz?

A lot lower premiums per ounce (normally). A bit less space required, if you have a lot.

Yes, there is a penalty - they are less convertible later. For that reason they aren't hugely popular with people that deal in less than many thousands of ounces.

Silver - 10oz bars MAX
Gold - 1 oz MAX

Easy to sell, easy to carry, easy to hide.

slickeast wrote:Silver - 10oz bars MAX

If (when) silver prices rise, at what level would you think that even 10 ounces is too much?

uthminsta wrote:

slickeast wrote:Silver - 10oz bars MAX

If (when) silver prices rise, at what level would you think that even 10 ounces is too much?

$200/ oz?

But at that price gas might be $20/ gallon, so $2000 10oz bars won't seem too bad.

Another thing to think about is the government's recent attempt to force businesses to send out 1099s for yearly purchases over $600 with any one person or vendor. It was a part of the Obamacare package that got overturned. If they manage to get that law reinstated or put another similar law in place, you'd get a 1099 when you sold it.

There's also the requirement to report over $10K in cash equivalent transactions that could trip you up if silver went to $100/oz.

While I don't encourage people to break the law or cheat on their taxes, I believe we should all pay attention to where the loopholes are and use them at every opportunity.

This topic comes up occassionally and I always feel compelled to chime in. Liquidity of large bars in NOT an issue. Or it shouldn't be, if you have a good dealer (like me!)
It all boils down to premium and order size. If you want to buy a huge (everything is relative) amount of metal, and get the most ounces for your dollar, bigger bars are the way to go.
Of course, for the majority of individuals single ounce and fractionals are the most practical and popular. But if you are looking to invest BIG don't be scared of the hefty stuff!

Mossy wrote:Ignoring good deals (under spot, etc):

If you can put all of your stash on a wheel barrow, no.

If you need a wheel barrow to move part of your stash, might as well.

AHHH... the wisdom of Realcent members! How poetically and accurately summarized! I sure hope I'm the "lookin' for a wheel barrow" guy sometime in my life!

Right now I am in the middle of trying to sell some higher premium 1oz rounds so I can buy a 100 oz'er. the reason for this is the lower premium on big bars, I want to send it in to melt and get a bunch of fracs that carry the highest premium.

Normally I would stay away from big bars because if we end up in a need to barter senerio, someone will need to make change for that hundo. I expect that in a barter environment it might be hard to "get change"

All the best...Bob.

I like the way Mossy put it. As I see it there are two considerations.....(1) If you can afford it. (2) It depends on the deal you get. It would be hard for me to pay in excess of $3000 for a 100 oz ingot. This is because most of the silver I acquire is through sorting and I pay face, which is roughly $1.38 per oz. There are a few odds and ends that I paid spot for. I have a 4 oz proof with a pic of Ben F on it. I paid spot for that.

I personally cannot see a "very likely" secenario where we revert back to 1800's, start acting like a 3rd world country and use gold and silver for bartering. Well anyways, 100 oz bars are currently no problem at all to liquidate, just stick to JM/Englehard and they are very easy to move. Generic 1 oz rounds are also nice if your looking for low premiums but they're a little less liquid than brand name. If you are awaiting and preparing for a complete world callapse/relapse or holding long term then 100 ozer's don't make a whole lot of sense. The higher the price of silver the less liquid large bars become, sure there are buyers but, I can imagine the premium possibly turning negative at some point due to demand.

Scott

Hundreds are cool. I like JM poured the best. Also, get yourself a Kilo or a 50 ouncer.

Look what showed up at the Rodebaugh household today thanks to a fellow Realcenter.

I have one 100 oz'er, and it's a blast to hold...

Pretty picture Rodebaugh.

10 ounce max for me.

pros
- lowerpremium per ounce
- takes up less room - stacks better

con
-easier to counterfeit/bore
-less liquid if you plan to sell to individuals.

i buy whatever has the best value in terms of lowest premium/best liquidity. right now you can get 1 oz rounds for only 10 cents more than 100, and to me its worth it to go 100.

i would invest in the premium to create fractional silver rounds.

also, i expect to trade a lot of my silver for gold when the ratio gets in the low 20s.

Which mint would you guys use to produce your fractionals? I'm assuming the one with the least cost per coin? =)

wpd7 wrote:Which mint would you guys use to produce your fractionals? I'm assuming the one with the least cost per coin? =)

After doing the math I have changed my position on purchasing a big bar and melting it down into Fracs.

I talked to Jim at QSB and he told me (in quantities lower than 500 oz ) the charge would be 5 oz to do the job.

Even If I could get a 100 oz at spot, difficult but possible, it would be (using today's spot $33.66) $3,360. So I send it to him and get 190 1/2 oz. rounds.

$3,360 / 190 = $17.68 Ea.

If you buy more than 100 on they're website they are $18.09 Ea.

18.09- 17.86= 0.23. .23*190= $43.70 So you only save $43 after going through all that.

If I already had a 100 Oz'er it would be more feasible, but to go buy one, at spot, plus shipping does not seem worth it.

If I were to just buy the rounds, I could get them from GSM where if you buy 100 oz min (only ten more rounds) they cost $17.83 Ea. with free shipping

What I am trying to say is, If you already have 100 Oz. in any form, I would do it. But since I have FRN's now I will probably just buy them.

Well, if anything you should think about 1/4 or 1/10 rounds instead of 1/2. No real reason to get 1/2s when it's so close to 1oz really in terms of trading parity value wise.

I have exactly one bar of 100oz, JM. I just like the heft. The fact I traded 40% kens at a very small premium to get it is bonus as those kens took up a LOT of space!

68Camaro wrote:I have one 100 oz'er, and it's a blast to hold...

Did you gold plate it yet!!!!
I want to get one and use it as a door stop just to be a wise guy. Forgot where I seen that story from a garage sale buy of a big silver bar from like the 30's