Just had a conversation with a "real" silver investor.

[red89]

A buddy of mine invests in silver (ie pays spot price for bullion bars/coins), he and I were having a discussion on who invests smarter.

His points:
- He gets bullion wich is .99 or .999 and is more "pure" than regular U.S. minted coins
- He doesn't have to "waste" time searching thousands of coins for a small pay off
- He can buy more when ever he wants and doesn't have to worry about skunk streaks

My points:
- I buy it at a fraction of what he does...just face value of the coin
- Silver is silver no matter how pure, and with something like US coins, it's a standard percentage just like bullion bars or coins.
- This is a hell of a lot more fun than going one of those gold and silver stores and just buying a bar for the spot price
-Even if the silver prices crash, which they wont, I can still get back what I paid for the coin and he just has a bar of metal.

I am pretty sure I won the debate haha.

 

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[fistfulladirt]

Everyone has an opionion on investing. The problem that I have is, that I can obtain no where near the quantity of silver that I desire strickly through roll hunting. Yeah, a little here, a little there, but I need to stockpile pounds every year. Roll hunting alone is not going to cut it.

 

[coolpix9]

Hey Red, tell your buddy everytime he buys Eagles or bull yon, he is leaving pecker tracks with invoices from dealers. My banks have never asked for ID and they don't care what I do with the coins. All they ask is for me to dump them somewhere else so they don't have to keep schlepping them around. I like getting silver at face value. JP

 

[Dok Holliday]

Hey Red, tell your buddy everytime he buys Eagles or bull yon, he is leaving pecker tracks with invoices from dealers. My banks have never asked for ID and they don't care what I do with the coins. All they ask is for me to dump them somewhere else so they don't have to keep schlepping them around. I like getting silver at face value. JP

The paper trail point, alone, wins the debate. If somehow I am found out, I lost all of my silver in a boating accident...

 

[minkybodl]

I do both. I find that the coin shop in town will pay more, closer to spot, for a 10 oz bar than he will for coins. I bought a bit between 8 and 16 dollars and have been selling those off when I need cash instead of my CRH finds. I also like some of the different coins out there such as Eagles, Pandas, and the Canadian Wildlife. I didn't think of it as a matter of one or the other being better, having as much silver as possible is the best. When I make a good CRH find, even without selling any, I figure I can spend a little more on the stuff that I can't find out in the wild. My coin shop will usually buy and sell small amounts with cash so there is no paper trail.

 

[frankendime]

I consider the numismatic value of old coins as a + as well.

 

[madwest]

I would refuse to do business with a coin shop if they wanted to put me in a database of any sort. When I buy at any of the LCSs, all they do is ring it up and hand me a register rcpt that says "coins." It says "coins" even if it was rounds or bars. I pay with cash (I sometimes pay with clad halves if it is a small purchase). There is no record that could tie the purchase to me.

I have had a number of boating accidents in my day. I've lost all of my guns, ammunition, precious metals, and even those register rcpts that the LCS hands out.

 

[red89]

I consider the numismatic value of old coins as a + as well.

Thats another point I forgot to make. I make books of coins for friends if I know they collect, or sometimes they tell me a year/mint mark they need and 9 times out of 10 I'll find it before they do. Collecting coins is a lot more fun than collecting silver bars IMO.
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[MIhunter]

The better way to invest in silver depends on how much silver you find crhing per unit of time vs what you could be earning by working (getting paid and buying silver). If you are well paid in your job or your silver yield in CRhing is low you may be better off buy silver.

For me, I would be much better off working a extra few hours and buying my silver, but I am a collector and I love the treasure hunt. (I found a pawn shop that sells 90% silver US coins for 10% below spot.)