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Looked at a SAE my wife bought last December, 12.22.11 to be exact. With tax, the total was $37.12 for a 1990 SAE. Wowser. Spot price was around $29 an ounce then. I am not even sure I care to call my LCS to see what they are asking. It was nearly a $6 premium back then. I checked Ebay again tonight. Those Johnson Matthey 1 oz. bars are steadily getting upwards of $37 with shipping. I think the time has come to hope silver price plummets and those private mint bars don't dry up (how could they? ). I am getting the fever again for silver after a long pause of being neutrally interested. I have to laugh. My bank is posting on my deposit receipt an ad for the great CD rates they are offering. Yeah, 0.65% for 12 months is great . Something has to give. I am thinking that the time for precious metals to put up or shut up has come due.

buy online with no tax, and free shipping. the best price I have found is aydin. they sell on ebay, but cheaper if you buy direct.

$6 over spot for eagles, $4 over for rounds

Last December my LCS sold me ASE's for $32.
They haven't had any when I stop in since (they're more of a toy/sports card store)
They sold me a 1oz Silver Town bar for $28 last Friday

My local coin shop here in Oregon sales 2012 ASE's for $4 over spot and buys them back at $1 over spot. There is also no sales tax in Oregon so today I can pick up 2012 ASE's for $31 out the door--and I will do so!

I went to a local pawn shop yesterday. He had eagles for $42. I thought wow that is high. So I asked how much do you buy them for he said he just bought 11 the previous day for $19... Geez. Wish I was there to intercept that sale

It was September of 2010. My wife went to Denver for a few days and she toured the mint there. She picked up a SAE. I think it came in a cardboard frame. I'll have to look for it to verify... Anyway, I think she paid $32 for it. Also she picked up a P and D half dollar rolls. I think they were about the same price for the two.... Check the price for silver in September 2010. It was <$23 . The mint was getting a HUGE premium. Lately these premiums have been bothering me. The only way you can get near spot is to have a LCS that charges low or you can buy in volume from an online dealer and tie up a lot of money. That is why I am keeping an eye on the JM bars on EBay. Those suckers get a $10 premium overall. Subtract out Ebay and Paypal and silver supplier costs, there should be room to flip them to cover the cost of stacking over time? I may defer to CL for selling. I am in the preliminary stages. My thoughts are there will be an Ebay and LCS premium engorgement if silver price drops precipitously. That is when buying from an online dealer and reselling on CL or Ebay may be a good way to defray the cost basis of the silver stacking.

A year ago, there were several LCS's in my area charging $2-3 over for ASE. Now they're all charging at least $4 over. All but one have also now started charging sales tax, where before they did not. Mostly buying/trading online now, needless to say.

What am I missing? Isn't an ounce of silver an ounce of silver is an ounce of silver.

I see these Eagles sell all the time at auction sales for $45.00 - $ 50.00 At that rate you can almost own generic silver rounds 2 for 1.

Yes. People tend to overpay for things on auction. Even if u pay retail there is still the buyers premium and shipping. Ocassionaloy there are deals to be had.

I have a shop where I live that sells everything at spot price. Gold Assay in Morrisville, NC. The super-sweet lady who runs the place buys at 10% below spot, and sells at spot. I generally take everything she has in stock (usually just a few ounces). Sometimes she has nothing at all.

Any of you in the Raleigh area, go check it out. As a weekly buyer, I have bought about 20 Morgan and Peace Dollars there for spot price.

RTPMarine wrote:I have a shop where I live that sells everything at spot price. Gold Assay in Morrisville, NC. The super-sweet lady who runs the place buys at 10% below spot, and sells at spot. I generally take everything she has in stock (usually just a few ounces). Sometimes she has nothing at all.

Any of you in the Raleigh area, go check it out. As a weekly buyer, I have bought about 20 Morgan and Peace Dollars there for spot price.

I use to live out that way years ago. Has Morrisville grown quite a bit since? I remember it being more or less just RTP and some bedroom community type developments. Cary, NC was growing by leaps and bounds back then and the new beltline was added (540?). Anyway, had to leave because of humidity and heat did not do well for my wife. Otherwise, a gung-ho area for work and affordable cost of living IMHO. Maybe it has changed the last decade?

Nope, everything you said is pretty much spot on. I just moved out here from California last summer--and I will never be going back! Morrisville is pretty much an extension of RTP. It just seems like the place where all the RTP execs choose to live

I recently bought my first home in Cary and love it. The people here are so much friendlier and down-to-earth than what I grew up with in CA. And there is definitely lots of growth in Cary, Apex, Morrisville, Fuquay-Varina, etc.

Ninja edit: For reference, my mortgage in Cary, NC (an excellent house in an excellent neighborhood, only great schools nearby) costs me half what I would pay in rent to live in the ghetto in California.

My LCS asks $2.75 over spot for an ASE. They will drop to $2.50 over if you buy a bunch.

I believe they buy at spot or even $1 over for ASEs. I'm not 100% sure on this because I'm not in the business of selling, just buying/collecting.

I've always attributed the premium for ASEs over generic rounds to the guarantee of the silver content. While other round producers may have a reputation for making 100% guaranteed product, I'm not sufficently educated or equiped to discern the real from the fake (beyond look and sound). So I stick with government issued stuff (including Maple Leafs as I live near the border). I don't want to be stuck with stuff people aren't too sure about. But I won't pay crazy premiums for ASEs.

My LCS is $4.50 over on ASEs, not sure what he buys for, Ive never sold . Silver rounds and bars are divided into a $2.50 over box and a $1.75 over box. Bars over an ounce as usually $1.50 over.

Just got back from my LCS and picked up an eagle(spot +3) and a maple(spot +2.50). Eagles don't sit on the shelves too long there and I hardly ever see any other govt. coins like a Maple, so I snatched them up.

SilverJack-welcome to the forum! Please head on over to the Member Introductions page and say hello so we can get to know you better

The place I was buying from regularly (before they started charging sales tax, that is) regularly treated anything other than a Maple or ASE as bullion. I could pick up other govt. minted rounds (Libs, Phils, etc) and premium .999 (Engelhard, A-Mark Chunkies, etc., etc.). Those trips were fun too!

ASE are spot plus $3, Maple Leafs are $2.50. I did pick up 4 1996 ASE for $3 over spot. I asked the guy about a premium on the 96's and he said he doesn't charge one anymore. He did on the 1st one I bought a few years ago.

Dave wrote:ASE are spot plus $3, Maple Leafs are $2.50. I did pick up 4 1996 ASE for $3 over spot. I asked the guy about a premium on the 96's and he said he doesn't charge one anymore. He did on the 1st one I bought a few years ago.

Nice pickup! Still puzzled as to why he doesn't think the 96's are worth any premium?

NDFarmer wrote:What am I missing? Isn't an ounce of silver an ounce of silver is an ounce of silver.

I see these Eagles sell all the time at auction sales for $45.00 - $ 50.00 At that rate you can almost own generic silver rounds 2 for 1.

Exactly what I am wondering. Why pay the premium for the SEs when generic rounds which are the same silver content are more reasonable? Silver is silver is silver is silver, isn't it. I must be missing something too.

The nominal cost of rounds will always be 1-2$ more than spot just due to production and overhead. ASEs will be a Buck more than that because they have to charge the seinorage of the $1 face value on top. So $3 over spot is a reasonable price for them. More is too much.

Sheba wrote:

NDFarmer wrote:What am I missing? Isn't an ounce of silver an ounce of silver is an ounce of silver.

I see these Eagles sell all the time at auction sales for $45.00 - $ 50.00 At that rate you can almost own generic silver rounds 2 for 1.

Exactly what I am wondering. Why pay the premium for the SEs when generic rounds which are the same silver content are more reasonable? Silver is silver is silver is silver, isn't it. I must be missing something too.

ASEs and other government bullion have a higher demand than generic rounds. They are priced above spot for the same reason that metals are valued via a spot price at all--because that is what someone is willing to pay.

In another thread I was told that when silver was around $10/oz, government bullion sold for $15/oz. That's a 50% premium! So, I think that government bullion is a great buy as its implied premium protects you from drops in the metal value.

It's more a matter of a fixed delta above spot than a percentage. $3-5 over spot is typical for ASEs. When spot is $10 and the premium is $5, that's 50%. When spot is 30 and the premium is $3, that's 10%. Sounds like 5x as much, but it's not a fixed percentage, it's a fixed difference.

68Camaro wrote:It's more a matter of a fixed delta above spot than a percentage. $3-5 over spot is typical for ASEs. When spot is $10 and the premium is $5, that's 50%. When spot is 30 and the premium is $3, that's 10%. Sounds like 5x as much, but it's not a fixed percentage, it's a fixed difference.

I'm sure the exact function can't be represented by either a constant delta or a percentage. Your example of ASEs is perfectly valid and might be correct, but if you look at something that trades at $20 or more over spot, like Lunar Series 1 coins, I'm sure their premium will change if spot price went to $10 or $100. It really just comes down to what people are willing to pay, right?

Context of this thread is ASEs, not some other series, and of the norm for pricing readily attainable, not some jackass price that a fool pays.