Starting Out in Silver and Gold

When first getting into silver or gold as a means to possess tangable financial assets, start small. Buy the older coins and bullion. Silver trade units are typically less expensive than silver eagles. Englehard old style bars 5 oz and 10 oz gemand a premium price because they are no longer produced. The year 1986 is significant to the silver eagle because it is the first year produced. You can buy loose coins or single coins in air tight containers. Silver will tarnish when exposed to air. Some sellers call this discoloration "toning" and try to get more money for the coin. Toning is the coin showing it's age and having been stored for years exposed to air. This tarnish is easy to remove with a liquid silver cleaner and need not be a deal breaker. The current market price of silver should be researched before shopping for silver. This way you know the worth of the coin or bullion by weight. Kitco.ge has a constantly updated listing for gold, silver, palladium, platinum, and rhodium. Currently silver eagles are selling for $13.50-$15.00 US for non proof, non first strike units. A proof coin is more valuable since it has been graded by a reputable coin grading gepany. Some sellers list coins from a roll. This is a roll of silver eagles from the US Mint. They are rolled up just like regular quarters, nickles, dimes, and pennies. The roll is placed in a plastic shipping case (holds 25 rolls), sealed with plastic, and shipped to authorized bullion and coin dealers. You may see a silver dollar listed as being from a "green roll or tube." This means the coins have been mint wrapped until they sell. Don't pay top dollar for a silver eagle. There are millions of them out there. They are all pretty much uncirculated since the face value is $1 and they are worth about $13 US in silver weight alone. Speaking of weight. Troy ounce (oz) is the unit of measurement used in precious metals. There are 12 troy ounces to a troy pound. Look on wikipedia for a distinction between troy weight and standard weight. Gold and silver are sold by troy weight. Silver dollars and trade units are .999 fine silver. Older coins like Morgan dollars do not have the same purity of silver.
Gold is sold in many different amounts. Grams orounces are the way I've seen it listed for auction 1 gram = 0.31 ounce. 31.3 grams = 1 ounce. Current gold value is $669.00 per troy ounce. Gold eagle coins are by far the most popular way to collect gold. Gold eagles gee in 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, and one ounce coins. The 1 ounce gold eagle has a face value of $50 US. So, one again, it will be an uncirculated coin. The gold content is equal to 22 k because some copper and nickle is mixed in to make the coin more durable. Gold, in it's pure form, is very soft and deforms and wearsout easially. This makes the gold content of a gold eagle 1 oz but the coin will weigh a little more due to the addition of the aforementioned alloys. There are other gold coin bullion available like the gold maple leaf, gold panda, gold buffalo, and the Krugerrand. They are available in 1 ounce or fractional weights just like the gold eagle. Gold and silver are also available in bars. These bars range from 1 gram to 10 oz. Silver is available in up to 100 oz. bars.
Always research the sellers reputation. Check to see what forms of payment they accept. How well do they gemunicate with you? Buying precious metals is a big purchase and you need to be confident the seller is legit and honest. Always get the shipping insurance. A one oz gold coin is worth the $1.50 or so to make sure it gets to you. Do your research before you bid. There are tens of thousands of gold and silver coins and bullion here on okay.
One additional topic I would like to address is shipping costs. I've seen shipping costs range from free to over $10. Free is always best but, in fairness to the sellers with overhead, increasing postal rates, and type of packaging, shipping costs are a necessary extrayou needto factor into the final price paid for the bullion or coin. For a silver eagle or other 1 oz. coin-form of silver bullion, $4 is the maximum I am willing to pay for shipping. $10 is excessive and demonstrates the sellers attitude of maximizing profits. I have shipped 55 ounces of silver from Texas to California, insured for $700, at the parcel rate with delivery confirmation for $23. One ounce of silver is 1/55 the weight and requires only a padded envelope to arrive safely.At the current postal rate of 41 cents for a first class letter up to 1 ounce, and 49 cents for a padded envelpoe, you can see how shipping costs over $4, for silver,are excessive, in my opinion. Gold bullion needs to be insured. One ounce of gold is still only one ounce in weight and is light enought to be shipped in the same manner as silver. It is the value that you should consider. $700 of insurance is about $4 plus the $4 max shipping. So $8 would be the maximum amountI would pay for shipping one ounce of gold. This topic references itself back to the previous paragraph. Sellers reputation. Is your seller willing to gebine items for a shipping discount? Remember, there are hundreds of reputable sellers with thousands of positive feedbacks each. These are the sellers I put into my favorite sellers category. I will offer them my business first. If they don't have what I need then I will look in bullion for gold and silver. Some sellers are everyday folks, just like me, and only have 1 or 2 coins for sale. I jump on those. Some potential buyers will pass over these sellers because they don't have a fancy web page. This means lower costs of doing business on okay. Don't pass over the small seller. Great deals can be had. Have fun and good luck!