Silver Coins

Investing In Silver Coins

Silver Coin Values

United States silver coins are a great way to own a piece of American history. They not only have value as a collector's item, but also have the added value of being made from a precious metal. Silver dollars are an especially good way to own silver coins due to their size and beauty. Many people have never seen a real silver dollar from this era. And few people know that the United States currently mints a beautiful real silver dollar for collectors known as the Silver Eagle. While past price appreciation never guarantees future growth, these silver dollar values have consistently trended upward over time.

The proof editions of silver eagles coins are manufactured by the United States Mint. The "Walking Liberty" design by Adolph A. Weinman has inspired the carving on the American Silver Eagle Coins (front side). Originally the coin was used as the United States half dollar coin. The reverse of the silver coins has the carving of heraldic eagle designed by John Mercanti. Silver eagle coins are released through a chain of wholesalers, brokerage companies and independent coin dealers such as precious metal firms. People generally get confused with the other silver bullion/rounds manufactured by some private mints.

Silver Coins

The American Eagle Silver coins are among the most popular and widely collected coin in the history of America. Its design is unique and beautiful. These silver eagle dollars are GEM Brilliant specimens made directly from original mint tubes with gloved hands and positioned in shielding coin casings or souvenir cases. The coins are transported in a padded mailer for utmost fortification. All the editions of these coins from 1986 to 2006 are now available.

Silver coins often tracks the gold price due to store of value demands, although the ratio can vary. The gold/silver ratio is often analyzed by traders and investors. Over most of the 19th century, the gold/silver ratio was fixed by law in Europe and the United States at 1:15.5, which meant that one troy ounce of gold would buy 15.5 ounces of silver. The average gold/silver ratio during the 20th century, however, was 1:47.0.

Many factors determine the value of a silver coin, such as its rarity, age, condition and the number originally minted. Silver coins coveted by collectors include the Denarius and Miliarense.

Platinum coins are eligible for your IRA as well. American Eagle platinum bullion coins, including proof versions, are most commonly used in IRAs. Also acceptable are minimum .9995 fine platinum legal tender bullion coins such as the Australian Koala, Canadian Maple Leaf, Isle of Man Cat, and Isle of Man Noble. Platinum bars that are minimum .9995 fine and fabricated by refiners approved by The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) are acceptable as well.

The best forms of silver for survival purposes are pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver coins and 1-oz silver rounds. The most useful forms of gold would be fractional-ounce gold coins, such as the 1/10-oz Gold Eagles, the 1/10-oz Krugerrands, the .1-oz Gold Eagles and the .1-oz Krugerrands. That is because hundreds of web pages promote numismatic and collector coins, as well as foreign coins.

Different coin types attract different personalities. Ancient Greek coins fascinate collectors drawn to their artistic merit, while among ancient Roman coins, early Imperial issues attract those prizing realistic and imposing portraits of emperors and their families. Ancient Persian coins have special meaning to collectors interested in the history, culture and religion of Iran. Further east, the successors of Alexander struck unusual and attractive Indo-Greek coins in Southwest Asia. Ancient coins were issued in many metals: gold, silver, electrum (a natural gold-silver alloy), brass, bronze, billon (debased silver), potin, lead and even nickel. Ancient gold can be expensive, although some issues (notably those of the Byzantine Empire) are very reasonably priced. Ancient silver coins are normally well preserved, on the other hand bronze coins often circulated for long periods and many examples show considerable wear, as well as the effects of chemical changes.

Bags of U.S. circulating legal tender coins (dimes, quarters, half-dollars) containing 90% silver or 40% silver are traded based on silver weight. All bags contain $1,000 face value of the coins and a "90% bag" may contain 10,000 dimes, 4,000 quarters or 2,000 half-dollars or a mixture of dimes, quarters or halves that total $1,000 face value. All "90% coins" are pre-1965 because prior to 1965, all U.S. dimes, quarters and half-dollars were struck from an alloy containing 90% silver and 10% copper. In 1965, at the direction of Congress, the U.S. Mint removed all silver from dimes and quarters. Silver content in half-dollars was reduced to 40%.

If you ever need to use your silver and gold to buy goods and services, you will want silver coins and small gold coins. Additionally, those coins should have certain characteristics to ensure they are readily accepted. First, survival coins should be stamped in English. Most Americans do not read foreign languages.

Second, the coins should have their gold or silver contents stamped on them; except for the modern bullion coins, most do not. In an emergency, having the gold content stamped on a coin could go a long way toward causing someone to accept it.

Junk Silver: The government stopped making 90% silver coins after 1964. These commonly circulated (not rare) coins can still be bought from coin dealers by the bag or half bag. A bag contains pre-1965 dimes, quarters and halves with $1,000 face value, weighs about 55 pounds, and the coins contain 715 to 725 ounces of silver. As this is written, a bag costs a bit more than $12,000 and half a bag is about $6,000. The coin industry calls this "junk silver." They are "circulated," have no numismatic (rarity) value, and you will not pay the face value of the coins, but the current value of the silver in the bag, plus a small premium. Many of them are being scrounged out of circulation and melted down into bullion bars; soon there may be a rising premium.

Numismatic metals tone in different ways. Silver coins as a whole tone more beautifully than those made of other metals. Silver, exposed to the right environmental influences -- to small amounts of hydrogen sulfur in the air or larger amounts in albums, envelopes, canvas bags, paper rolls, leather wallets or purses, rubber bands, and some glues and paints -- can naturally turn subtle or sometimes brilliant shades of yellow, magenta, turquoise, and other colors before eventually turning black. The toning on silver is typically silver sulfide.

For survival purposes, avoid arcane foreign gold coins. Despite more British Sovereigns having been minted than any other coin, Sovereigns are not well known in the U.S.) Simply buy the popular modern bullion coins. Krugerrands are the cheapest and best known. American Eagle gold coins are also readily recognized in the U.S., but carry higher premiums (markups over spot) than Krugerrands.

The toning of silver coins is partly a factor of the other metals the silver is alloyed with, particularly copper. Ninety percent silver coins (most circulating U.S. coins) tone differently than sterling silver (British coins), triple nine-fine silver (American Silver Eagles), ancient silver coins, and most world silver coins. Silver coins can turn green from the copper they're typically alloyed with, the green resulting from copper carbonate or copper chloride, though this happens more frequently with world and ancient coins that have a higher copper content than U.S. coins.

Another plus for Krugerrands and Gold Eagles is that both are basic bullion coins and sell at small mark-ups over the value of their gold content. Generally, however, Krugerrands carry lower premiums than Gold Eagles, but both Krugerrands and Gold Eagles carry smaller premiums than foreign coins of comparable sizes. And certainly, Krugerrands and Gold Eagles are cheaper than old U.S. gold coins.

You can still get gold and silver coins from the U.S. Mint (as well as the Canadian Mint).  U.S. American Gold Eagles are 0.9167 gold and the balance is a mix of silver and copper (according to this source). Canadian gold coins are .9999 gold. U.S. silver coins appear to be listed as 99.9% pure, whereas the Canadian silver Maple Leafs have .9999 stamped on them. The problem with the gold coins currently produced is that even the smallest size is still way too valuable for many everyday purchases. The silver coins are better, but they only seem to be readily available in 1 oz sizes. That's still too valuable for really small purchases.

Buying silver coins is another popular method of physically holding silver. One example is the 99.999% pure Canadian Silver Maple Leaf. Coins may be minted as either fine silver or junk silver, the latter being older coins with a smaller percentage of silver. U.S. pre-1965 half-dollars, dimes, and quarters are 25 grams per dollar of face value and 90% silver (22 g silver per dollar).

Junk silver coins are also available as sterling silver coins, which were officially minted until 1919 in the United Kingdom and Canada and 1945 in Australia. These coins are 92.5% silver and are in the form of (in decreasing weight) Crowns, Half-crowns, Florins, Shillings, Sixpences, and three pence. Canada produced silver coins with 80% silver content from 1920 to 1967.

At current prices, an investment in silver results about fifty times the bulk and weight than if the same investment were made in gold. Therefore, large investments in silver create storage and handling challenges for some people. If storage and handling is a problem for you, then go exclusively with 1/10-oz Krugerrands or 1/10-oz Gold Eagles for the first $10,000 or so. Still, try to have some silver coins on hand.

  Barber Silver Quarter