Thoughts on world/foreign silver now??

[wagsthadog]

Hi all!

There's currently a lot of buzz around US90% silver and I've read all the info on here and on coin sites. I've always been sympathetic to world/foreign silver coins and I was wondering, from ebay buyers to the big time dealers on here, if there has been any sea change in the mentality about foreign silver coins? (not ounce bullion)

Probably the only country with significant amounts of investible non-government bullion silver is Canadian 80% silver. But I do know that there are a lot of others like British, French, Swiss, Mexico, etc...

So, whats going on out there? I'm especially interestd to hear from the big boys on here. I dont know if much can happen in a few weeks, but hey- around January 3rd of 2013, 90% was *yawn*....now its *yeah!* Has this trickled down to other stuff??

wags

[Hawkeye]

I've always been a fan of foreign silver, especially 80% Canadian. Something I've been noticing lately on ebay is the price of one of my favorite coins. Don't ask me why, but I've always liked the '64-'68 Finnish 1 Markka. They're only 35% silver and the ASW is only .072 oz, so they're only worth about $2.23 each right now, but I like them. I used to be able to pick up one or two on ebay every week or two for something around spot. I haven't been able to get one for a few months now. It seems like almost every one that gets put up is going for double spot, at least. It's weird. I'm curious to see what other people have to say about this subject.

[Robarons]

Foreign Silver is great and remains unaffected by premium runs for the most part. Savvy investors can buy foreign silver from dealers under spot in most cases if you know purity and weight from UN-educated dealers. I have a dealer who keeps a box for me of foreign for me and always sells it under spot, 10-20% under in most cases.

But foreign silver as a category is weak and spotty. In terms of availability and quantity its dead last in my opinion- .999 Govt, .999 generic, 90%, 40%, 35%, 80%, and last foreign silver. If you have $1000 or $5000 in cash and need to buy silver your more likely to get a an order like that filled in 40% or 35% silver before foreign silver.

Also foreign silver must be kept track and studied when buying/selling. This can be tricky to get every year, purity, and ASW. Europe and Mexico are fine but Guatemala 1907 or an Iran 2 Rials takes time to learn and research.

[currencydebasement]

I agree with Robarons - you just can't find foreign silver in quantity so it is hard to determine what is really going on with the prices. The foreign silver lots are often smallish, or mixed up with various countries, weights, purities and base metal coins. I used the be able to get larger lots of of foreign Silver at nice discounts (swiss, dutch, venezuelan) but over the past two years I have noticed the discounts thin or disappear. With some coins, like swiss silver and panama balboas I don't even bother anymore.

If you have the time you can find silver at dramatic discounts but only [usually] in Mickey Mouse quantities and you really have to scour. I have also found you can sell foreign coins well above melt, but again, not in any quantity, just a coin or two at a time.

[Thogey]

A Krause Catalog is a must! It doesn't have to be current. The old catalogs still reflect composition and rarity. You just have to ignore the price lists.

My only advise to anyone stacking foreign is to make sure you know what you are selling. Don't give away a possibly VERY valuable coin.

Also, sort your coins as you acquire them or flip them quick. I learned this the hard way by collecting foreign coins(in Mickey Mouse Quantities) over a few years. I eventually had a huge bag, like a one gallon freezer bag, packed with mostly teeny weenie foreign coins of varying purity.

Sorting them by purity and selling them was a nightmare. I let them go when silver was north of $40 bucks, thank goodness.

Just pack and store them so they are easy to sell when you want to cash out.

Collecting foreign coins has been very good to me, mostly because of the knowlege I attained. Once you know what you are doing you can find some really cheap silver in almost any junk bin or pile o' coins. I was able to convert my foreign silver into quite a few rolls of ASEs Maples Englehards etc. Those rolls are very liquid. Also, I found some semi-numismatics that sold for a great premium

As far as stacking..I just use them as a vehicle to get to better PMs.

Plus foreign coins in general are a lot of fun IMHO

[SilverDragon72]

I consider foreign silver to be a good thing! I really like the Canadian Maples, Mexican Libertads, Australian Kookaburras and the silver Britannias! These are my favorite types!

[theo]

I consider foreign silver to be a good thing! I really like the Canadian Maples, Mexican Libertads, Australian Kookaburras and the silver Britannias! These are my favorite types!

I just bought my first Britannia. Very nice. Also, don't forget the Austrian Philharmonic.

[Robarons]

Whoa calm down there folks- .999 Foreign silver is NOT included in this discussion.

We all love .999 maples, libertads, etc. But we are taking foreign silver used in circulation or not 999 pure for the most part

[SilverDragon72]

I consider foreign silver to be a good thing! I really like the Canadian Maples, Mexican Libertads, Australian Kookaburras and the silver Britannias! These are my favorite types!

I just bought my first Britannia. Very nice. Also, don't forget the Austrian Philharmonic.

But of course!

[scyther]

Reading this, I really want to buy some foreign silver. I'll ask my coin shop what they have next time I buy. And if they don't have anything, maybe I'll finally order something from Provident Metals...

[Hawkeye]

I've mostly tried to concentrate on a few countries/coins so as not to have just a massive pile of completely random foreign silver (mostly Scandinavian and Dutch for me). I used to be able to pick up a coin or two about every week for spot or under. Now, it's probably been 3 or 4 months since I've got a good deal. Last week I picked up a Dutch 1 guilder but I had to go right up to spot for it. If I don't start getting a score or two, I think I'm going to be done searching ebay for foreign silver. It's too much work for not enough profit at this point for me.

[uthminsta]

I like this thread. I have always had a thing for world coins, which I hope is obvious to most of you.

My local coin shop buys a lot of collections. They do all the work on the US stuff, then have me go through the large piles of world coins, and attribute them all. There is a LOT of silver out there in a LOT of different purities, and a lot of the stuff is not worth their time (or their money, paying me) to package up and stack in box after box and spend years to try to sell to numismatic buyers.

So they now have eight boxes with (I think) 925, 900, 835, 800, 750, 720, 640, and 500 written on them. Over time, when I've attributed all the stuff they send home with me, I bring it back in and the average stuff gets dumped loose into one of those boxes, or for the lower end stuff, an envelope with 400, 300, 100 or whatever else written on it.

They sell the stuff in those boxes at a discount to spot. I think that discount will vary depending on the quality of the stuff. All the coins are loose in those boxes so they can sell it easily by weight. Those boxes aren't huge, but the stuff IS actually starting to build up, so you might be able to get a quantity of stuff. I would think people would want the 925 and 900 stuff more, but it's not right out in the open, so I don't think they push it much. I suppose if they went several days without any US 90% and had people asking, they would start dipping into it.

I know my shop is not a typical example - not every place will have quantities of 720 or 640 fine silver ready to be weighed and purchased - but I wanted it to be known that, in some cases, there IS a quantity of world silver out there.

I wonder if they might ship it off to a refiner if the 900 and 999 stuff gets scarce, and these boxes get full enough?!?!

[m21221]

Always remember your exit strategy. I buy a lot of Canadian 80% at or below spot but unless things change, and I hope they do, that's all I will get when selling. As the general public experience/education level increases in all things silver there should be a natural balancing of the premiums but for now foreign flies under the radar. My .02 of course.

[wagsthadog]

Always remember your exit strategy. I buy a lot of Canadian 80% at or below spot but unless things change, and I hope they do, that's all I will get when selling. As the general public experience/education level increases in all things silver there should be a natural balancing of the premiums but for now foreign flies under the radar. My .02 of course.

Hi there!

well said- and great responses from everyone else-

I usually try to diversify, and I like the idea of having a bit of bug out silver from all over- It seems as though Canadian 80% (the foreign silver I'm most familiar with) is actually creeping towards selling for spot, and not the usual 5-10% under melt that it usually does. I would think Mexican .720 will be following suit soon?

wags

[frugi]

I always buy those Mexican $10 soccer proofs whenever I see them, i think they are 90%.
I also like modern pre-Euro silver French Francs, and most silver German coins as well.
I also buy silver Swiss Francs, and any Netherlands silver also.

[SilverEye]

I buy foreign stuff for fun, always below spot. I get a kick out of sorting through it all, appreciating the designs, looking up who the portraits are.

For stacking, tops are the 80% Canadian dollars and any of the Mexican stuff that has the weight and purity on it. No need to consult a book when it comes time to sell.

[fansubs_ca]

Oddly 80% Canadian coins sell at enough of a premium up here (and in my province
have sales tax) that I'm better to buy them in the U.S. The few times I've asked
my usual dealer in North Dakota was out except for one time he had a few Canadian
Silver Dollars. So I usually bought mostly U.S. 90%, whcih for me is "foreign silver"
since I'm Canadian.

Haven't bought any physical silver since 2008 (though unfortunately not in late 2008),
haven't sold any either. Just kinda holding even as my income seems to just cover
my living expenses since then. Any in/out trading has been within my RRSP, too
much hassle/transaction cost to try trading in or out of physical so that stays put.