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Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:42 pm
by PADFH
So far I've only been searching rolls but I'm ready to make the plunge and buy some silver. I want to spend $1000 and probably buying 90% US silver. Do people have any different recommendations? What should I be looking to pay? eBay prices are insane but I have local places here I can get at 25x FV as of today. Is that a decent price? Is there normally a premium on dollars and half dollars as compared to quarters and dimes?

Still a bit new to this and I want to make the most informed decision I can.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:22 pm
by kidman232
id avoid ebay unless you can snag under melt or so. 25x face is not horrible for face to face buy, especially if no tax? . peace/morgan dollars will tend to carry a premium as opposed to halves/dimes/qtrs. if the coins are brilliant uncirculated, people normally try to get more for it. i personally dont like to pay a premium for those, if its a little beat up, but the weight is good, i could care less.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:04 pm
by dakota1955
I have been buying silver on ebay this past week. Everything that I got was anywhere from 10- 30 % below melt. Just take your time or buy from anyone here who might be selling silver. You could get it a bit below melt. It a depents on how fast you want to spent your $1000.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:16 pm
by Thogey
The ASEs and the generics rounds on this post are a good buy. I had to refrain myself.

He's also got a mess of halves at 25X

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12381

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:36 pm
by dan53
Do you frequent a lot of banks? If so, I recommend putting out feelers to let it be known that you are interested in buying silver coins. There is almost always tellers that have been hoarding silver coins and occasionally, you can run across one who wants to sell what they have. Here's a recent post of mine describing a purchase I made...

I rarely buy silver. This is because I get most of what I acquire through sorting and its hard to beat the price! I made an exception today. I bought some coins from a teller I know. We met at the Burger King to make the transaction. Here's a list of what I bought and what I paid:


Dollars...3

1. 3 Peace dollars .. $50.00

Halves..48.......$425.50

1. 23 Franklins. Various dates
2. 22 Walkers. Various dates
3. 2 Kennedys (90%)
4. 1 Kennedy (40%)

Quarters....$4.00

1. 1 quarter 1951-d

Dimes..48.....$75.00

1. 41 Roos
2. 7 Mercs



PS: I have only given a cursory check for key dates. Will follow up on that.
PPS: I got approx 23.13 ounces silver for approx $23.95 per ounce. I figure I did ok.
PPPS: Don't be in a hurry.
PPPPS: If you are in the market for non-bullion (numismatic value), a good online auction house is GreatCollections.com. I have bought many coins there almost all of which were under wholesale bid prices in the grey sheets.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:49 pm
by jtlee321
Also don't forget to check your local pawn shops. I just snagged (43) Philippines 20 Centavos (75% silver each and minted in the U.S.) and (65) Silver Roosie's which is about 8.85 toz. all for $240.00 yesterday, that's about $27.11 per ounce. That was at the time about a 20% discount to spot. Don't be afraid to make an offer on the ticketed price. The sticker prices all added up to $265.00 which would still have been a good deal.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:54 pm
by bookshelf
90% quarters and dimes at 25x face is good in my neighborhood. You will probably end up with a variety of bullion rounds and Morgan/Peace dollars along with the 90% coinage.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:31 am
by mbailey1234
Thogey wrote:The ASEs and the generics rounds on this post are a good buy. I had to refrain myself.

He's also got a mess of halves at 25X

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12381


Yes they were a good price and that's why I loaded up! :D

I like the idea of ASE's for the 1 oz and the 90% for smaller sizes rather than fractional's.

You may already know this but just in case you don't here is what I usually go by.

Usually ASE's go for around spot + up to $2.50 premium.

To figure value of 90% I use spot price x .723 x face value of coins.
I can usually find 90% for spot or under on here.

I highly recommend posting a Want to Buy under the BUY IT NOW section if you know what you are looking for.

I have snagged quite a bit off of Ray (screen name beauanderos) and I bet if you sent him a PM he would fill your order.

I have found much better deals on this site dealing one on one than anything online except maybe tulving, but their minimum order is 500 ASE's :D

If you don't know, just ask! I haven't been doing this that long and that's what I did!

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:39 am
by mbailey1234
I assume you know about http://coinflation.com/??? If not, it's very helpful.

Re: Looking to make first silver purchase.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 2:28 am
by Engineer
My 2 cents is to figure out what you really want before you buy it.

Bullion is nice, but its also scary because of all the Chinese fakes. They may not be a huge problem now, but if you're planning to hold them for a decade you have to ask yourself how big of a problem they'll be down the road. I like 90% coins with a little wear and grime because they're hard to copy without actually putting them into circulation, and they're easily recognizable. If you decide to go with 90%, you should think about the mix you want and whether you want newer and heavier coins or more collectable older coins with a little less silver due to wear.

If you want to buy it all in one shot, you might want to consider putting something in the want to trade section here asking for offers of silver for your dollars (a reverse auction of sorts). When somebody puts up a deal you like, jump on it.