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Which is better junk silver or generic silver bullion? I prefer the Junk Silver because it's easily recognizable. I also like that you can get them at spot price. However, is one actually better than the other or is it just preference? I searched here and could not find an answer to this question.

Its a personal prefrence. I like the .999 better then 90% but I think its good to have both on hand.

The .999 bullion is pure but more susceptible to wear/damage. It may also be more susceptible to theft or govt. confiscation, being recognizable as a precious metal. The junk silver is probably more easy to trade with after an economic crash, as long as people are knowledgeable about which coins contain silver. Junk silver is probably less likely to be stolen or confiscated by the govt. I like the idea that I can mix my junk silver into a coin jar with regular change, and hide it in plain sight - especially if you've mixed it in with 30 lbs of copper pennies, or store it in an ammo can with a big chunk of lead at the bottom, making it unlikely a thief would steal it.

I am starting to lean toward favoring junk silver.

Personal preference. I prefer .999 over 90%. I also prefer private mints over government stuff

90% can be purchased close to spot. That also means you are likely to get below spot if you sell it to a dealer. It's fractional silver with little or no premium. It is well-recognized among stackers and dealers, but less so among the general public. Since it isn't marked with weight or purity, an uneducated buyer would have to do some research on dates and weights. Some people think 90% is immune to fakes, but that's not true. There is already fake junk silver out there (usually key dates), and it isn't any harder to fake than .999 bullion. Junk silver is usually traded by face value rather than weight, so watch you don't get the short end of the stick if dealing with heavily worn coins.

natsb88 wrote:Personal preference. I prefer .999 over 90%. I also prefer private mints over government stuff

90% can be purchased close to spot. That also means you are likely to get below spot if you sell it to a dealer. It's fractional silver with little or no premium. It is well-recognized among stackers and dealers, but less so among the general public. Since it isn't marked with weight or purity, an uneducated buyer would have to do some research on dates and weights. Some people think 90% is immune to fakes, but that's not true. There is already fake junk silver out there (usually key dates), and it isn't any harder to fake than .999 bullion. Junk silver is usually traded by face value rather than weight, so watch you don't get the short end of the stick if dealing with heavily worn coins.

I didn't think about that. I worn coin has less weight.

All the above. Diversify. I have a roughly 50/50 split by toz between 90% circulating coin and .999.

The 90% is (obviously) split between halves, quarters and dimes. I don't remember the exact weight split I'm at here, but I would guess I'm at roughly 50/30/20 - all full-weight coin. (Oh, I do have some dollars in the mix, so with them maybe it's 5/50/30/15)

The .999 is split roughly 70/30 between North American government coin (something like 80% ASE, 18% Maples, 2% Libertads) and private mints, almost all of this is in 1 oz form (coin, rounds, bars), except for a couple of misc larger bars and a teeny amout of fractional.

If I could only have one form in the short-term it would be 90%, but I would quickly start adding .999 to it.

Hi there!

JMO, but there really is no definitive answer to which is better, everyone and their dog has a different opinion on which is the best buy. Both have good and bad aspects. I love both, and so does any silver buyer/seller, but my personal preference is junk 90% for a couple reasons- I hate paying a premium over spot, I like to hoard something that was actually used in everyday commerce, you can sometimes find good dates in mixed lots of junk silver, and they're certainly not making any more of it!!

You can sometimes get spot for 90% when you sell, but it is true that every dealer will give you a bit less than melt on 90% if you need to sell fast. I guarantee you'll never have a problem selling it, though!!

I like Camaro's idea of diversifying. But as long as you buy what YOU enjoy and are interested in, you cannot go wrong-

JMO!!

wags

when you look at premiums, look at it round trip. sure, dealers buy junk for below spot but maybe only 49 cents below and they sell at melt. 999 usually costs at least a buck over but dealers buy at spot. so the premiums are less on junk.

the one issue with junk is it can be worn, so you ought to weigh it. take a look at this thread about the .715 troy ounce per dollar of face value convention:

http://www.realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f ... convention

i keep this thread bookmarked so i can refer to it from time to time.

Both. I like carrying all kinds, just to diversify (90% junk, 99%, foreign & other non-govt rounds). The other person (Brian) also mentioned a nice advantage: the ability to hide 90% in plain sight, since most of the public is still clueless.

That said, there is a small side benefit of holding non-Govt-issued coinage or bullion: It is less likely to be restricted by any Government or subjected to draconian laws, limitations etc. Again, diversification is the key, as the Goobermint can't control everything (although they will certainly try!)

I like both, but I have more fun stacking older types of 90% (barbers, mercs, high end franklins, peace and morgan dollars) and modern silver dollars and other silver commemoratives like the new quarters in silver. I like the history of the old stuff, and diversity of the new stuff.

From a technical standpoint, both have benefits over the other imo. the most obvious being one is a well recognized fractional, the other is pure. So stacking some level of both even if you strongly prefer one type is probably wise.

I like .999 and my dog likes the junk silver. I love my dog.

I had a little bit of 90% some 40% and govt issued .999 and .9999. I quit stacking ASE's and went to Maples and Phiharmonics.

I do like govt rounds of .999/.9999 better than 90/40% but as everybody else says diversify.

Unfortunately my entire stash was abducted by aliens in a Pleiadean Galactic Cruiser. Their drive system uses silver in the hyperspace jump.

rickygee wrote:I had a little bit of 90% some 40% and govt issued .999 and .9999. I quit stacking ASE's and went to Maples and Phiharmonics.

I do like govt rounds of .999/.9999 better than 90/40% but as everybody else says diversify.

Unfortunately my entire stash was abducted by aliens in a Pleiadean Galactic Cruiser. Their drive system uses silver in the hyperspace jump.

So that's why silver is now rarer than gold. Someone could have just said so

I agree with most posters that diversification is important. I like the 90% because of acquisition costs and fractionality (is that even a word ). Lately I've been trying to maintain 25% generic .999, 25%- 90% silver, 25% govt. issued .999, and 25% semi premium govt. Issue .999. I admit it's probably more like 30-30-30-10%, but thats because I'm too cheap for my own good.

Some advocate a pyramid shaped stacking structure, with 90% and generic at the bottom and numismatics at the top. To each his own, but the concept of a strong foundation at the bottom is pretty solid advice.

Father Rosado, as time goes by, you will get opportunities to buy/collect all kinds of silver. Some times the .9999 bullion will be the best buy, other times it's the 90% coins. You may even find a terrific deal on Sterling silver flatware! Just educate yourself on the different weights and measures for each form of silver. Never pass up an opportunity to buy when you find a good deal.

What constitutes a good deal? Not too many years ago (10), I just knew I was being ripped off by a LCS when I paid $9.00 for US ASE's (.999). Don't you wish we could buy ASE's for $9.00 each now? Silver is silver.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:Father Rasado, as time goes by, you will get opportunities to buy/collect all kinds of silver. Some times the .9999 bullion will be the best buy, other times it's the 90% coins. You may even find a terrific deal on Sterling silver flatware! Just educate yourself on the different weights and measures for each form of silver. Never pass up an opportunity to buy when you find a good deal.

What constitutes a good deal? Not too many years ago (10), I just knew I was being ripped off by a LCS when I paid $9.00 for US ASE's (.999). Don't you wish we could buy ASE's for $9.00 each now? Silver is silver.

Yes! I do wish we could go back to that buying price! I would stack like a fiend with if that were the case....

SilverDragon72 wrote:

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:Father Rasado, as time goes by, you will get opportunities to buy/collect all kinds of silver. Some times the .9999 bullion will be the best buy, other times it's the 90% coins. You may even find a terrific deal on Sterling silver flatware! Just educate yourself on the different weights and measures for each form of silver. Never pass up an opportunity to buy when you find a good deal.

What constitutes a good deal? Not too many years ago (10), I just knew I was being ripped off by a LCS when I paid $9.00 for US ASE's (.999). Don't you wish we could buy ASE's for $9.00 each now? Silver is silver.

Yes! I do wish we could go back to that buying price! I would stack like a fiend with if that were the case....

At the time it was a bad deal! Silver was going for $4.75 (or something like that) just a year- year & an half before!

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:Father Rosado, as time goes by, you will get opportunities to buy/collect all kinds of silver. Some times the .9999 bullion will be the best buy, other times it's the 90% coins. You may even find a terrific deal on Sterling silver flatware! Just educate yourself on the different weights and measures for each form of silver. Never pass up an opportunity to buy when you find a good deal.

What constitutes a good deal? Not too many years ago (10), I just knew I was being ripped off by a LCS when I paid $9.00 for US ASE's (.999). Don't you wish we could buy ASE's for $9.00 each now? Silver is silver.

This is how I am looking at things. I am relatively new to silver acquisition but have been purchasing whatever comes along as a good deal. I have about 60% .999 and 40% 90%.

I like .817

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote:I like .817

Okay, I'm stumped. What is .817?

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote:I like .817

Okay, I'm stumped. What is .817?

believe some european silver is .850, never heard of .817 tho

however I believe hcbtt is going for just stack what comes along, if its a good enough deal you can convert it into other forms once you have it .

mflugher wrote:

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote:I like .817

Okay, I'm stumped. What is .817?

believe some european silver is .850, never heard of .817 tho

however I believe hcbtt is going for just stack what comes along, if its a good enough deal you can convert it into other forms once you have it .

I bought an old French 5 franc coin that was about 70% silver. I sent it to my mom. She likes old coins.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote:I like .817

Okay, I'm stumped. What is .817?

This is all I could find:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/8492720

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:as time goes by, you will get opportunities to buy/collect all kinds of silver. Some times the .9999 bullion will be the best buy, other times it's the 90% coins. Never pass up an opportunity to buy when you find a good deal.

sounds good.

question to anyone: let's say i had an opportunity to buy some 90% silver at spot or some ASEs. what price would the ASEs need to be for it to be a better deal than the 90% silver halves/quarters/dimes? $1 over spot $2 over spot?

how about mapleleafs and libertads?

thx

ASEs usually go for $2-4 over spot. Maples usually on lower end of that. Libertads at upper end of that. Quantity usually takes something off those prices.

I consider high quality cicrculated 90% at spot and ASEs at $2.75 over to be about equivalent value.