Unless you have actually been in a coma for the past couple of years you must have heard all the hype on TV and in the newspapers about buying gold. Everyone is flipping out for gold due to the economy in the United States and the failures of economies around the world. While most people are concentrating on gold, now may be a great time to look at silver as an alternative. Silver is more affordable than gold even though it is one of the precious metals that historically has it’s value rise when regular currency is unstable.
If you are considering investing in silver you will find several choices of what to purchase. You can buy silver bullion bars or silver bullion coins. I will quickly summarize each option in this article.
Silver bullion bars are a very prominent way to buy silver. They are reasonably sized, can easily be all the exact same size and quickly traded for cash. Bars are usually 99.9 % pure, the standard for investors. You can easily buy silver bars in numerous weights ranging from little one ounce bars all the way up to one thousand ounce bars. The most common are undoubtedly the ten ounce silver bars, which strike a good balance between size and price.
To purchase silver coins there are numerous things that you need to understand and recognize. First there are junk silver coins. These are regular UNITED STATES coins minted prior to 1965 and have actually been in the general circulation. These usually consist of about 90 % pure silver. Due to dents and dings in the coins they will really lose some value over the years due to their weight being less. These coins are normally bagged up and weighed to reach a value. One thing to think about when buying bags of junk silver coins is that the bags are large and hefty, so storage space is something to think about.
Junk silver coins minted after 1964 contain only 40% silver so a bag of these coins will be valued less than coins from before that year.
Junk silver coin bags are sold in amounts equal to the face value of the currency. So you can purchase bags as low as $50 all the way up to $1,000. This amount is the face value of all the coins contained in the bag.
Yet another silver coin that you might purchase is the Morgan Silver Dollar. These coins were minted from 1878 to 1904 when the USA silver reserve was depleted. Manufacturing of the Morgan Dollar started up once more in 1921 however just for a short time as the Peace Dollar replaced it later on that year. On the face of the coin is the head of Lady Liberty. On the back of the coin is a bald eagle. The coin consists of.77344 ounces of pure silver.
The silver Peace Dollar was created to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty between the United States and Germany at the end of World War I. It also features Lady Liberty on the front and an eagle on the back. When these coins were first minted in 1921 they were made in high relief style which means the features on the coin stick out more than usual. In 1922 they changed to normal relief style and were produced until the Great Depression hit in 1929. They were also produced from 1934 to 1935.
Several other coins made from silver bullion are popular with collectors and investors alike. There is an American Eagle coin that began in 1986. It is made from 99.9% silver. And silver coins aren’t just made in America either! The Canadian Maple Leaf coin started being produced in 1988. It weighs 1 ounce and contains 99.99% pure silver. There is also the Austrian Philharmonic silver coin that was introduced in 2008. it also weighs one ounce and is made from 99.9 % silver.
Whenever you buy silver coins you have to bear in mind that there are many types of value on these coins. First there is the face value of the actual money. 2nd there is the pure metal value (if you were to melt down the coins to get at the silver content), depending on the weight and purity of the silver. Thirdly there is the collector value. Some coins are worth more as a collector piece. The most vital aspects for a collector might be condition and rarity.
As you can easily see, there are many options for buying silver. You actually have to understand your stuff prior to making your investment, but if you study the couple of things discussed here in this write-up then you will certainly be well on your way to becoming a well informed silver capitalist.
Before you choose where to put your hard earned money, check out SilverAssetsToday to learn ways to invest in silver.