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Local Scrap Silver / Bullion Dealer?
- Thread starter turbo89
- Start date
MisterHappy
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Pure Lab in westwood (Do a google search, they're on Washington st.)
Nothing like a few sliver bullets around Halloween to take down the warewolves
turbo89
NES Member
Update:
I stumbled upon this thread and called Greco over in Weymouth. He said his Scrap silver is $1 over spot, but that he was getting ~$4.50 over spot for bullion.
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/140823-Where-do-you-buy-your-PM?highlight=bullion
I stumbled upon this thread and called Greco over in Weymouth. He said his Scrap silver is $1 over spot, but that he was getting ~$4.50 over spot for bullion.
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/140823-Where-do-you-buy-your-PM?highlight=bullion
Im just curious, when buying gold/silver, do people prefer something with a specific name on it because you can trust it more, or are generic bullion (.999 on a silver bar) more or less equal? I was looking at some of the sites, and they have bars with various names on it (APMEX, Englehart etc) at various prices over spot, and then generic "their choice" stuff at $.99 over spot. I have some extra cash laying around and figured Id buy some PM with it. Should I go lowest cost over spot, or pay a little more for something that comes with a name/reputation attached?
ETA:
In other words, would you buy
This: http://www.apmex.com/Product/156/Generic_Silver_999_Fine___As_low_as_099_per_oz_over_spot.aspx
(Cheaper)
Or this:
http://www.apmex.com/Product/27086/1_oz_APMEX_Silver_Bar_999_Fine.aspx
(more expensive, but has a company name APMEX, Credit Suisse, etc)
ETA:
In other words, would you buy
This: http://www.apmex.com/Product/156/Generic_Silver_999_Fine___As_low_as_099_per_oz_over_spot.aspx
(Cheaper)
Or this:
http://www.apmex.com/Product/27086/1_oz_APMEX_Silver_Bar_999_Fine.aspx
(more expensive, but has a company name APMEX, Credit Suisse, etc)
Last edited:
I've been going to Gate City Coin on Main Street in Nashua. His pricing for mismatched/circulated 1 ounce rounds is about $1 over spot, and his pricing for Silver Eagles is comparable to the big online guys.
In God We Trust
NES Member
First of all, try to shop around before you buy. There are sometimes big differences between deals of how much over spot you are going to pay. Plain bars or rounds are cheapest, but I would never buy them from someone I didn't know or a reputable dealer. How do you know that it is actually silver without chemical testing? Too much trust involved. Maple leafs and Eagles can be faked also, but if you have a real one to compare with, the fakes are easily spotted. To me it is worth the premium for that reason alone.
In my experience Maple Leafs are cheaper to buy than Eagles and have the same amount of silver.
Remember when you buy "junk" silver that those coins are only 90% silver bullion. The dealer is still charging you by the ounce usually, so make sure they are priced accordingly. Only dimes and quarters minted 1964 and earlier are 90% silver. The only nickles that have any silver (as far as I know) are those made during WW2 1942-1945 and those only had 35% silver content. Stick to dimes and quarters.
Don't forget the half dollars. Pre-'64 90%, '65-'70 are 40%
Billsail
NES Member
And silver dollars as well. Those "junk" dollars that could be had 10 years ago for $9-$15 can be cashed in for a tidy profit.
I would trying to get the clerk to change out a couple dollars into quarters for you, that quarter may have had siblings
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When I worked at a Store24 in Worcester, I used to see silver-content coins come in in batches. Sometimes indian head pennies too, and occasionally a silver certificate. This indicated that someone's collection had been robbed, and the punks were spending it as money.
Late 1942 through end of 1945 US used silver and copper to produce $0.05 coins. I wish we’d still use them because they have a blinding shine to them.
![[shocked]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/007.gif "Shocked [shocked]")
Aside from the shine and year they have a mint letter on the back so it’s easy to distinguish them from regular nickels. Silver nickels (aka war nickels) probably be most useful barter item in hyperinflationary economy. 1) they are easily identifiable; 2) very low to non-existent profit margin in counterfeiting them; and 3) small value of each coin enables trading flexibility. In today’s dollars each coin is worth about $1.5-2, so buying a can of tuna is relatively simple. Try that with 1 oz of APMEX silver. You are likely to have difficulty dealing with counterparts. If your silver is fake they stand to lose $35-40. Thus, they’ll need more proof it is real silver prior to trading. Also, in most trades you’ll be losing some value because almost no trade will be equal to the precise value of oz of silver. Testing silver is not easy. A very high quality counterfeit may not be identified without cutting and chemically checking the parts of the cut coin. This brings me to why only eagles and junk. Eagles are most recognizable bullion in US. It’s stamped with English words. It states it’s made by US gov. It states weight and quality of silver on the coin and the measure is in oz, which people are familiar with. Hence, there is a higher probability people will take an eagle than any other 1 oz silver bullion. Maple has similar qualities and second best. Likely, ALL other mints will be traded at major discount. Larger sizes probably won’t be traded without sample testing so if you are buying 10oz or 100oz bullion – it probably does not matter which mint produced that bullion. The logic behind silver quarters vs. other 90% silver is similar to nickels. Easy to identify, easy to trust and small value per coin.
Like others, I prefer eagles and leafs, or pre-65 coins. I do have some Engelhard ingots from years ago, but I tell you, you hand someone a shiny maple leaf or silver eagle and their face lights up. You hand them an ingot, and their response is, 'yeah, that's cool I guess'. Like OPM says, you want something recognizable, and desirable.
Unfortunately, the premiums are high now because of market volatility. That may not change for some time so you have to pick your spots.
Does anyone know who is actually buying those $1,000 face bags of pre-65 coins for $36,000 online? Rich people who just read Lights Out? Do they pick them up in their own Brinks truck?
Unfortunately, the premiums are high now because of market volatility. That may not change for some time so you have to pick your spots.
Does anyone know who is actually buying those $1,000 face bags of pre-65 coins for $36,000 online? Rich people who just read Lights Out? Do they pick them up in their own Brinks truck?
Rob Boudrie
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Late 1942 through end of 1945 US used silver and copper to produce $0.05 coins. I wish we’d still use them because they have a blinding shine to them.
Other years have mint letters as well (one mind may have been letterless), but it's in a different location - the mint letter for a silver nickle is above the Monticello dome. The one you see today tend not to have a shine, but a rather soapy feel - making them VERY easy to pick out from the crown without checking for the big letter.
Although lower in silver content, of the common pre-65 coines, they have the greatest "silver to face value" ratio due to the low value and relatively large size of the coin.
Horrible
NES Member
So, Silver Buffalos, Sunshine Mint Eagles and Silver Bars aren't as desirable as eagles and leafs?
Same with gold coins? Aussies Kangeroos not as desirables as Eagles?
Wish I would have known that prior to purchasing fine gold and silver.
Rob Boudrie
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The legal tender coins (Buffaloes, Kangaroos, etc.) will have a very liquid secondary market, with US, Canadian, South African Kruggerand and possibly the Austrian Philharmonic being the most liquid. If you try to sell your "Sunshine Eagles" to a vendor other than Sunshine, you'll probably find that the buy/sell spread increases as you are trading a less liquid commodity. Nobody investor is going to pay a secondary trader the same for an assortment of proprietary rounds from various other vendors as they are for a "single vendor set" from the vendor who makes the market, or for legal tender, broadly traded coins. Just imagine you reaction if you call Sunshine, Monex or Apmex to buy silver and they offer to sell you an assortment of third-party proprietary rounds from various brokerage houses - you'd either take a pass in favor of a consistent known commodity, or insist on a price break.
It also depends on quantity. If you're buying small quantities as a retail purchaser, or buying investment quantities (say 10oz or more gold, or 100oz or more silver). Once you get into "investment quantities" it's all about being able to liquidate easily at minimal spread - not SHTF fantasy scenarios.
Thanks for responding Rob. Sorry Horrible, I'm not as much an expert on this as Rob and OPM, so I was hoping one of them would reply before I had to cobble together something and risk further confusing the issue.
Thanks for the answers. Next question, I don't have a TON of $ to throw at this, but might want to take some of my extra cash as it comes in and put it towards PM's (i.e. the travel $ I received last week around $150.) Use it for a small order here and there, or pack it away and wait until I can place a larger order? Seems to me larger orders are less over spot per oz, and the shipping would work out to be less.
In God We Trust
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