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In addition to my penny and nickel hoarding....what do people think about stacking small denominations of silver? The smallest .999 silver size I've seen is 1/10th of an ounce from APMEX. Premiums are a bit high...but still seems like a good idea. Or maybe 1/4 or 1/2 ounce sizes would be better? Thoughts

US dimes

I agree on the Dimes an usually very close to melt
paid only $99.75 two weeks ago now available at $111.50 for $5.00 face.

Another vote for dimes here.

1/10 fractional .999 seems to go for almost double spot, but you can easily pick up dimes for half the price per ounce.

I've been stacking both 90% and fractional .999, including 1/10, 1/4 and 1/2 oz rounds. You may buy the .999 stuff at a premium but it carries that premium when its time t sell or trade, more so than 90%.

Matt B wrote:I've been stacking both 90% and fractional .999, including 1/10, 1/4 and 1/2 oz rounds. You may buy the .999 stuff at a premium but it carries that premium when its time t sell or trade, more so than 90%.

True, but a hypothetical $2/round premium doesn't change with spot. If you buy at $20, and sell at $30, a dime would catch the entire upside. With the same money invested in rounds, you'd only have half the ounces to catch the upside while the minting premium would stay fairly constant.

In that respect, small fracs would be a good short play.

I'll take any .999 fracs I can get at minimal premium, but prefer dimes.

A .999 option, slightly painful due to the typical multi-month delivery wait, is to order NWT Stagecoach ("for when you have to get out fo Dodge") ounces (either bars or rounds), which are divided into quarters, but have only a moderate premium. bonitacar bought some in May, just arrived. I traded lydian lions for some of his. The wait from NWT is seemingly ridiculous, but the end product is very nice.

dimes...

http://www.providentmetals.com/1-10-oz- ... ndian.html

These are the cheapest fractionals around, they have 1/4s and 1/2s as well. For larger orders and more selections in designs go directly to golden state mint for a bit better prices. (I think you need 100 ounce minimum for golden state mint orders)

Im sure provident beats apmex though

Yeah, I would definitely not be buying 1/10 fracs at $2 over each. They can be had for much less in bulk through Provident or Quality Silver Bullion, among others. Still not as cheap as dimes. There will always be the "prefer 90%" and "prefer .999" crowds, but I like both and buy/trade for both when the price is right.

Incidentally, QSB makes a nice divisible (into 1/4's) round that they sell for same price as their regular rounds. You can also easily track down their monthly "free shipping" code. They aren't as speedy as Provident, but nowhere as glacial as NWTM.

I buy all my "fractionals" for about $30 UNDER spot price, tax-free and shipping-free, plus some time and effort for sorting/driving.

I haven't produced anything since march or April, and hope to remedy that soon now that some things have settled down, but I am a huge fan of fractionals and classify it differently than dimes or other currency.

I like it better because not everyone knows dimes can be 50%, 80%, or 90% depending on origin and years. Plus a lot of folks find the math harder to calculate that difference. .999 is much easier. Also as a learning tool, small fractionals for children or small budgets are great and make wonderfull "indroductory" types gifts to raise awareness of hard money and the fiat decline in value.

I like to give it to children for birthdays and such, because you might not want to give a full ounce to kids to start off with. 1/10 fracs are 3.1 grams but I make smaller, again because not everyone knows the difference between Troy and Common ounces. When in production I make 1 and 5 gram bars which still sell on ebay even now at MUCH more premium than what I asked. Many have made a bit of coin buying here and reselling.

And if we ever get hard money laws again, such as Utah has passed, they will be really nice as a small unit recognized currency.

Just my .02

While I love the small .999 bars, there is, of course, a good reason that all circulating gold or silver (regardless of period of history or country of origin) are made of alloy and are not pure. I think we know this, but it's easy to forget. It's because alloy wears reasonably well and can tolerate the abuse. Alloy hardens the metal. Bullion cannot do this. Bullion silver sub-ounce pieces (even 1 oz-ers) are largely show-pieces and/or need to be protected. As real circulating currency they would be disastrous.

you just can't beat a dime that you find when you sort bags.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I only have ONE silver dime...that was given to me by a fellow collector for a birthday present! But I really want to stack adding more .999 fine in addition to my other coinage I have. I will shop around and see what I can find.

68Camaro wrote:While I love the small .999 bars, there is, of course, a good reason that all circulating gold or silver (regardless of period of history or country of origin) are made of alloy and are not pure. I think we know this, but it's easy to forget. It's because alloy wears reasonably well and can tolerate the abuse. Alloy hardens the metal. Bullion cannot do this. Bullion silver sub-ounce pieces (even 1 oz-ers) are largely show-pieces and/or need to be protected. As real circulating currency they would be disastrous.

+1

a dollar of 90% silver has .715 troy ounces. a dime - one tenth of a dollar - has .0715 troy oz of silver.

i think its foolish to pay a premium for fractional .999 silver when fractional .900 is available without a premium.

with gold, it makes some sense because not everyone can accept $1700 at one time.

Treetop wrote:http://www.providentmetals.com/1-10-oz-999-silver-round-incuse-indian.html

These are the cheapest fractionals around, they have 1/4s and 1/2s as well. For larger orders and more selections in designs go directly to golden state mint for a bit better prices. (I think you need 100 ounce minimum for golden state mint orders)

Im sure provident beats apmex though

Yes, Provident does beat APMEX as far as pricing is concerned. I checked it out for myself. I really like the look of some of the fractional .999 silvers. Still contemplating though....