Silver: Technically Speaking

Is silver ready for a trading range after a virtually straight up 5 week advance? Silver has rallied from $12 to $16 since late April, and looks like it could be ready to possibly make a base up here with $14.50 as the low and $16.50 as the high. June 3^rd saw silver experience its worst day since April, dropping from an overnight Asian market high of $16.20 to $15.30 towards the end of the NY trading session hours later.

The sharp uptrend is in tact if silver holds above the $15.20 area in the next few days, and then continues an advance back towards $16, otherwise, it might be headed for a perfectly healthy basing session as it braces for its eventual march to the Mar 08 highs above $20…we think…and hope. Watch it closely these next few days for more clues.

Silver Chart, Daily, 6 Months

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tags: silver, technical analysis, trading

A Guide To Selecting Reputable Silver Bullion Dealers

With the price of silver exploding in recent years, there seems to be no lack of silver bullion dealers advertising their services online. Trying to find a reputable dealer can be a bit confusing for the novice silver coins investor. After all, there are crooks in every business – the precious metal sector being no exception. However, the following tips will help you to select a quality, online silver bullion dealer.

Older Is Better

Reputable silver bullion dealers are well-established and have been in business for a long period of time. Many reputable dealers such as Kitco and Monex have been in business for thirty years or longer.

Think Physical

A reputable silver bullion dealer will have a physical office, in addition to an online presence. Check the dealer’s website for a traceable address and phone number.

Track Records Count

Reputable dealers have a long-list of satisfied customers. Be sure to check out a potential silver dealer’s customer service track record Find out if they provide personal service Try to get a recommendation from other silver investors, when searching for a respectable silver bullion dealer.

Buy Locally

A reputable silver bullion dealer doesn’t have to be a huge conglomerate. Your local coin shop can be a great place to buy silver coins. Just make sure you apply the same rules of analyzing the business as you would an online dealer.

If you buy locally, you take delivery of the silver when you purchase it. Therefore, there’s no risk of getting swindled by a non-delivery. Another advantage to purchasing locally is that no reporting requirements are required. You can walk into the store, pay with cash and remain anonymous if you wish to do so. With the larger online silver bullion dealers, such as those listed above, you are linked to the purchase with a paper check.

Diversification Is Important

With any investment, you want to diversify to lower your risk. The same principle applies to selecting a silver bullion dealer. You don’t have to deal exclusively with one business. Even if you’ve done your homework and investigated the dealer to the best of your ability, there’s still a possibility that you could end up buying fake silver bullion coins. If you purchase your silver from various places, you will significantly lower the risk of losing money from a bad deal.

Don’t Overlook eBay

You can also bypass the silver bullion dealers altogether and safely purchase your silver bullion coins on eBay. eBay can be a great source to find terrific deals on silver coins. But, for those not familiar with the online auction format, purchasing on eBay does carry some risks. Just be sure to:

1. Carefully read the item’s description
2. Check the seller’s feedback
3. Always email the seller your concerns or questions.

Whether you buy silver coins from a huge conglomerate, a local coin shop, or an online auction site, if you follow these simple tips I’ve outlined for choosing reputable silver bullion dealers, you’ll be a safe and happy silver bullion owner!

Popularity: 10% [?]

Tags: buying silver coins, silver bullion dealers

Are Silver Rounds Just as Good as Coins?

Silver bullion rounds are simply another name for silver coins. The term round came about because the silver was shaped into coins and thus was able to be stacked into rolls. This made it convenient for the coins to be handled and shipped. You’ll often see them referred to as silver art rounds because they can be purchased inscribed with a variety of designs ranging from commemorative, religious, military, cars, holidays, weapons, animals, presidents, and even Elvis!

Specifications:

1. You can buy silver rounds in sizes ranging from one ounce to over one hundred ounces. The one ounce variety is the most popular.
2. Each silver round coin contains one full ounce of pure silver.
3. It has a purity of .999 fine silver.
4. It is not government-backed and has no legal tender status.

Varieties:

Silver bullion rounds are available in both name-brand and generic. While name-brand silver rounds include the one-ounce private mint produced A-Mark Precious Metals, Wall Street Mint and Sunshine Minting. These silver rounds will display the name or hallmark of the mint that manufactured them.

Generic silver rounds are produced by a variety of small, little-known firms as well as those produced over the years by companies that may or may not still be in business. They typically have a smaller markup than the name-brand silver rounds.

Most Valuable:

Engelhard Silver Prospectors is the one ounce silver round that is most sought after by collectors. It was minted by Engelhard but has not been produced since 1988. This silver round is difficult to obtain and occasionally can be purchased on the secondary market.

You can always find great deals on pure silver bullion rounds at: http://bullionbargains.com, other shops such as NWT MinT offer the Pan American Silver Bullion rounds.

Reasons to Buy:

1. Silver rounds are readily available.
2. They typically sell for a lower premium than government-backed silver bullion coins.
3. The value of the rounds is directly correlated to the current price of silver.
4. Their small size makes them perfect coins for bartering.

Conclusion:

Silver bullion rounds are affordable, easy to store, count, buy and sell. They are an excellent way for the small investor or collector to invest directly in pure silver bullion.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tags: silver rounds

Investing in Silver Using Stock Options: The Basics

Stock options are a form of leverage for advanced investors to boost returns of his or her stock portfolio. In the most basic definition, an option is a contract, the option to buy or sell a certain stock at a predetermined price.

Options are leverage; using leverage either increases investment returns or burns investor’s portfolios. Like options, guns are a form of leverage, if you’re hitting your target great–but you can also blow your foot off.

There are many reasons an investor may use stock options, hedging, lock-in gains, or as speculation. By hedging an investor reduces the risk of losing money during a price decline. Likewise, an investor would use stock options to reduce the risk of losing gains from selling options. And these advanced investors may wish to speculate on a stock price movement, therefore might use stock options to play the market.

Vocabulary of an Options Trader

We’ve already covered some of the vocabulary of options trading, but now we’ll dive in deeper to explain the difference between call and put options, then explain a few simple strategies option traders use to boost gains.

A call option is the right to buy shares at a certain price. Conversely, a put option is the right to sell shares at a certain price. Simply meaning, a call option means you expect the price of shares to rise. Whereas, buying a put option means you expect the price of shares to decline.

The strike price is know as the price which shares may be purchased or sold. This means, if you bought an option with a strike price of $50, you could buy or sell the shares of the option at $50.

But why would anyone want the option to buy or sell at $50? Well what if you had the option to buy the shares at $50, then the price rose to $51, you would’ve made $1 per share. Similarly, what if you had the option to sell the shares at $50 and the price fell to $49, then you could’ve sold the shares at $50 then bought the shares again at$49–a profit of $1 per share.

In both put and call options the purchaser has the option to exercise her purchase, while the option seller has the obligation to respond to the buyers request.

So, How Does This Help My Silver Portfolio?

Well, you know that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) is getting to lower the target interest rate, thus causing a further decline of the U.S. Dollar and increases the rise of inflation. So, you buy a call option now, and when the FOMC lowers rates you get to profit from the price increase of silver mining companies.

Or the opposite situation where you think the FOMC is getting ready to increase the target rate, so you buy put options and profit from the fall in prices of silver mining companies.

Puts, Calls, and Conclusions

Carefully consider using options to invest because of the leveraged nature of options. Options may provide opportunities to increase your portfolio, but options can also burn through your portfolio at break-neck speed.

Also consulting your tax and investment advisers will prove to be a prudent move. Options have different tax effects your tax situation. Before investing in options, it is important to thoroughly understand the potential risks and benefits–options could either help or hurt your portfolio.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tags: investing-in-silver, stock options

Pure Silver Coins: An Investor’s Delight

Be it a declining dollar, fears of inflation, collector’s ambition, or pure curiosity, pure silver coins offer an opportunity. To the investor it’s alternative to paper investments, and to the collector it’s ascetic and rare qualities. Either collector or investor pure silver coins are a selection for both. And, these coins are readily available from dealers, on the Internet, and at-or-in auctions.

As a pure silver coin, the coin needs to have 90-99% of silver. Indeed, many countries, such as U.S.A., United Kingdom, Mexico, China, and Australia produce an ounce of pure silver.

Examples of these silver coins are U.S. silver eagles, to the Canadian silver maple leaf, Chinese Panda, British sovereign and the variety issued by the Australian Mints.

More for the collector, but even coins featuring famous people are available from the late Princess Diana, Marylyn Monroe; even John Wane has a silver coin minted after him.

A quick search on the net will net you hundreds of varying types and styles and mintages but all with the same theme of purse silver but in different sizes from one troy ounce up to one-kilo coins.

If you do decide to seek out and buy pure silver coin sets, then be sure to buy from a reputable dealer–or the mint directly, if possible. Ensure the quality of the coin is near proof, proof or brilliant un-circulated. Also ensuring the coin is sealed in the original container and has a certificate to go with it will help maintain the value of the coin.

Indeed, it can be heaps of fun collecting a pure silver coin or set of coins or profitable for investors. Regardless of investor or collector these pure silver coins will shine into the future.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Tags: 90% silver bags, pure silver coins, silver investing

Silver Coin Value

Silver coin value depends on the investor or the collector. For the collector, the rarity, grade, and demand of the coin give its value. But for an investor, a silver coin value depends on supply, content, grade, and demand; or, simply put, an investor wants to know how many coins were minted and how many are left, the percentage of silver, the quality of the coin, and the popularity of the coin.

Obviously, the investor is looking at some of the same factors as the collector, but the collector usually doesn’t use the silver content as a measure of value. To the collector, grade and rarity are much more important than any other factor. The collector will be buying the coin for her collection, not necessarily for profit’s sake–like the investor will.

For the investor, the amount of substitutes increase the value of the coin. That’s why the investor cares about the silver content more than the rarity. The silver content means, if the investor wanted, the coin could be melted down and have the silver cast into a new form of silver. For this example, a 1,000 ounce silver bar could be created from the coins. The coins have a different use, a substitute, showing the investor a second measure of value.

However, regardless of investor or collector, valuing a silver coin can be simplified to four factors: rarity, grade, supply, demand, and content.

With rarity giving coins huge price tags, many investors can be confused by believing rarity automatically means value. And speaking as an investor, rarity does not mean value. However, highly sophisticated investors will find value within rare coins. So, unless your a highly skilled investor, rare coins should be viewed solely as a collector’s item. Not an investment.

But in-defense of the collector, rare coins do fetch the highest prices. Indeed, these high prices are due to the limited number of coins: limited from the original minting or limited in circulation. For example both are rare coins a Quarter originally minted only 100, and a Dime originally minted thousands yet only 100 remain. These coins are rare because of the supply; they’re rare because of a limited number on the market and will fetch higher prices.

Similar to rarity, grade also determines the value of silver coins because high quality coins are far fewer than plain junk silver coins. Unlike junk silver, higher graded coins represent coins with higher quality. As junk silver is for investors, high graded coins are for collectors. Basically, collectors are looking for rare coins, and highly graded coins are rare.

Think of graded coins a subcategory of rare coins. Or think about a rare coin, then think about the same rare coin but with a scratch. Each coin is rare, but the first coin is much more rare without the scratch. The scratch would grade the coin lower, thus less rare. As such, the closer the coin is to un-circulated the higher grade the coin will have. Higher grade means rare means collectors will bid up the price.

Switching gears to demand, even coins face popularity contests, (at least its not as pointless as class president). More for collectors, popularity contests for coins stem from a historical significance, or ascetic beauty. Certain coins are demanded because of a special place in history, or because a coin has a beautiful design.

Now that we’ve covered most of a collector’s valuation, we’ll dive into what else an investor uses to value a silver coin. An investor will use rarity, grading and demand to determine value, but far more important is the silver content of the coin. Certain coins will have a certain percentage of silver the coin is made of.

For example the American Silver Eagle is 99.9% silver, while the 1964 Washington Quarter is 40% silver. Obviously, the silver eagle is more valuable to the investor than the quarter.

Which brings us to the conclusion, investors and collectors have different goals. Profit and a collection. And these goals give each person different factors for determining the value of a coin.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Tags: pure silver coins, silver coin value, silver coins

The Investor Allure of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

It’s no secret: ETFs are hot. And with Wall Street pushing ETFs as the newest investment vehicle for all, it’s hard not to ignore the idea of using an ETF. It’s the low costs, liquidity, lower taxes, transparency, and specialization offered by ETFs that is making investors switch to ETFs.

Basically these ETFs are a liquid, low cost mutual fund, holding a pool of stocks within a specialized sector of the economy. For an example of such a specialized fund, think about an ETF of silver mining companies. This fund would be a holding–based on a certain percentage–of each major metal mining company. However, when compared to a classic mutual fund, the cost advantages of ETFs are huge.

Unlike ETFs, the costs run in the billions for mutual funds to hire analysis, accountants, and marketing firms. And a few of those billions could be money in your account. So, an ETF is an alluring alternative to a mutual fund. It’s the strong point of an ETF: lower fees and costs mean more money flowing to investors.

Also unlike mutual funds, ETFs can be more liquid. Many investors see mutual funds as a place to park money for a period of time, thus theses mutual funds aren’t nearly traded as ETFs. Because ETFs are bought and sold just like stocks, ETFs create trading opportunities that mutual funds just don’t offer. It’s this liquidity that draws many investors to ETFs over the traditional mutual fund.

What investor doesn’t like lower taxes? Exactly. These lower taxes provided by ETFs are also a big attraction for investors. Because ETFs don’t have trigger-happy managers running the ETF, the investor doesn’t have additional taxes to worry about. So far, taxes for ETFs are capital gains tax if you sell and some funds–but not all–have dividends.

It’s also the transparency drawing many investors into these funds because at any time you can see exactly what the fund is comprised of. The fund will usually have a set percentage in each investment. This kind of transparency is hardly found in either mutual funds or on Wall Street—that’s why investors are running to ETFs: complete transparency.

ETFs provide investors specialized segment of an industry. In this case well stick to precious metals. The iShare Silver ETF (SLV) holds a certain amount of bullion and prices closely follow the price of silver. On the other hand, streetTRACKS Gold Shares (GLD) is a fund of gold mining companies. Still, both funds are investments into the precious metals market.

On a side note, investors interested in leveraging returns will be glad to know that ETFs can be bought on margin, and options are available on ETFs. As cliché as this saying is, it is important to remember leverage is a double-edge sword: cutting out huge returns, as well as, cutting out the ignorant investors.

While ETFs are pushed by Wall Street and as other investors brag about her double digit returns, prudent investors remember: some investments–just aren’t made for everyone. So the dive into ETFs will depend on your investing personality and investment goals. So be sure to follow some sound advice: Eight Rules for Exchange Traded Funds.

Some investors will want the ease of investing in a specialized sector without having to sit down and pick the companies within that specialized sector. While other investors will want to research for hours and pick the best company within that sector, it depends on the investor weather ETFs are the right investment.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tags: etf, silver ETF, silver investing

Silver Mutual Funds Offer Another Option for Investors

There are numerous ways to invest in precious metals these days. Bullion and rare coins have always been investment options, and they’re still good ones. Gold and silver certificates and privately minted coins are some other choices. And there are also mutual funds that can offer you exposure to the precious-metals sector.

There are about thirty mutual funds which invest in both gold and silver. But as you will see, the investment styles and strategies of these funds vary greatly. Some invest primarily in mining stocks, while others hold bullion or coins. Still others offer a balanced approach. And finally, there are the exchange-traded index funds tied directly to the bullion price of gold and silver. One thing is for sure—it’s never been easier to invest in precious metals.

Two of the Best Precious-Metals Funds

Two of the best precious-metals mutual funds are Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining (ticker: VGPMX) and Permanent Portfolio (PRPFX). Both of these funds received five-star ratings from Morningstar, and yet they are quite different.

The Vanguard Fund is heavily stock-based mutual fund. As of July 31, 2007, 97% of its $4 billion in assets were invested in equities, with its largest holdings Lonmin (LMI), Impala Platinum (IMPUY), Anglo Platinum (AGPPY), and Aber Diamond Corporation (ABZ). All four of these stocks are foreign and can only be purchased by U.S. investors through ADRs—buying the fund is much easier.

As of July 31, 2007, Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining had a one-year annualized return of 22.29%. Its three-year return was even better, at 39.88%. And its five-year return was 34.01%. An investment of $10,000 five years ago would be worth $43,220 today.

Another amazing feature about the Vanguard Fund is its incredible Sharpe Ratio of 1.41 (five-year return over risk). In fact, based on the fund’s three-year, five-year, and ten-year data, Morningstar assigned it a return designation of “high,” and a risk designation of “low.”

Permanent Portfolio (PRPFX) didn’t fare quite as well. Its three-year, five-year, and ten-year returns are designated as “high,” but it’s risk is also “high” or “above average.” What’s more, its returns haven’t been as high as Vanguard’s—just 8.1%, 11.75%, and 13.06% for one, three, and five years, respectively.

But Permanent stands out when you look at its worst returns. In its history as a fund, the worst three-month period it has ever experienced is -5.58%. By comparison, Vanguard shareholders would have suffered a -29.8% three-month period if they held the fund long enough.

Remember, the Vanguard Fund is 97% stocks. Permanent Portfolio, by stark contrast, is much more well balanced. As of July 31, 2007, it was 23% in cash, 32% in stocks, 21% in bonds, and 24% in “other”—which, as you might guess, means mostly precious metals. In fact, its four largest holdings are U.S. Golden Eagles, Gold Canadian Maple Leafs, COMEX Gold, and COMEX Silver.

It’s easy enough to look at these two funds and say Vanguard is superior, but it really depends on what you want as an investor. Do you want a well-managed mining-company fund, or do you want a mutual fund that gives you real exposure to gold and silver? If the answer is the latter, than Permanent Portfolio is your best bet.

One Not-So-Good Fund

Of the thirty gold and silver funds, only two received a five-star rating. Three others received four stars, and all the rest but one were either given three stars or weren’t rated. There was just one two-star fund: RiverSource Precious Metals & Mining.

Like the Vanguard Fund, RiverSource is predominantly stock-based. As of July 31, it had 96% of its $120 million invested in equities, more than half of which were foreign securities. Unfortunately, its selections haven’t panned out as well as Vanguard’s, with only a 7.06% year-to-date return.

Another negative aspect of RiverSource is its ultra-high expense ratio of 2.15%. By comparison, Vanguard has an expense ratio of just 0.35% and Permanent Portfolio’s is just 1.11%. Both of the five-star funds are no-load, whereas RiverSource has a 1% back-end load. All of these fees and expenses can really take a bite out of your returns, especially when the fund’s performance isn’t all that hot to begin with!

Exchange-Traded Funds

Finally, there are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that allow investors a more direct access-point to gold and silver. For gold, there is streetTRACKS Gold (ticker: GLD), and for silver, there is iShares Silver Trust (SLV). Both of these funds are tied directly to the price of their corresponding precious metal, and invest in nothing other than gold and silver, respectively.

For example, streetTRACKS Gold is priced so that one share of the fund is equal to 1/10 an ounce of gold. The iShares Silver Trust is priced so that one share equals ten ounces of silver. However, these ratios don’t always hold up—GLD recently traded for $66.57 a share while gold was $670 an ounce; and SLV traded at $127.65 while silver was priced at $12.79. Nevertheless, these ETFs do give investors an easy way to own gold or silver, at least on paper.

It’s As Easy as Point and Click

So what is the best way to invest in precious metals? It’s really up to you—your preferences and investment goals. The only thing you must be sure of is if your strategy matches your investment objectives. For example, if you want real exposure to gold and silver, it’s much better to purchase Permanent Portfolio than the Vanguard Fund—but even better yet to buy GLD and/or SLV.

But if maximum exposure isn’t your goal, the Vanguard Fund could be a great investment. The best news is there are dozens of options which simply didn’t exist ten or twenty years ago. Now, with nothing more than a few hundred dollars and Internet access, anyone can hedge with and profit from precious metals.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Tags: Permanent Portfolio, silver investing, silver mutual funds, Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining

Silver Certificates, Past and Present

Throughout history, regardless of what governments have said, precious metals have been viewed by the people as real money. Even in today’s global dot-com economy, studies show allocating between 7 and 16 percent of your assets in gold, silver, and platinum maximizes gains while minimizing risk. But many investors feel gold has already had its major bull run, and thus silver is the precious metal of choice.

There are numerous bullish signs for silver. It is more rare and in greater demand for industrial use today than at any time in history. There is a large concentrated short position in the futures market. Silver leasing, which artificially suppressed the price of silver for nearly a decade, is a thing of the past. And the historical silver-to-gold ratio is near all-time highs, meaning it takes more silver to buy an ounce of gold today than almost any other time in history—and many experts think we’re due for a correction.

But the main drawback for individual investors who want to own real silver is the storage costs. Historically, this problem has been answered with silver certificates, which are paper notes entitling the bearer to a specified weight of silver. Many U.S. dollars were once silver certificates, and these old notes continue to trade as collectibles. But there are also privately issued, redeemable silver certificates in circulation today, offering a more portable alternative for people who want to own silver.

Early U.S. Silver Certificates

Upon inception as a nation, the United States was on the bimetallic, gold and silver, standard, and this monetary system was orchestrated by the nation’s first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. However, because the market values of gold and silver fluctuate independently of one another, this system was not very stable. In fact, by the end of the Civil War, silver had depreciated versus gold to such an extent that the bimetallic standard had essentially given way to a monometallic, silver standard. Gold’s market value was higher than the government tried to dictate, and thus, citizens took it out of monetary circulation.

Then in 1873, Congress passed the Fourth Coinage Act, taking the U.S. off the nominal bimetallic standard and instituting our first gold standard. Unfortunately for some folks, this led to a major contraction of the money supply, which was particularly painful for debtors, most of who were subsistence farmers. This led to the Populist Revolt—the first, and to this date, only, broad political movement based on monetary theory. In fact, the politics of the post-Civil War, pre-World War I era were largely dominated by monetary policy debates pitting goldbugs vs. bimetallic or silver enthusiasts.

Eventually, a compromise was reached. The silver advocates did not get the “free and unlimited coinage of silver” they wanted, but they did get silver certificates. U.S. government silver certificates were issued from 1878 through 1957, and remained in circulation until 1968. That year, all silver redemptions were halted, and thus, surviving silver certificates issued by the U.S. Treasury are no longer convertible into silver—although the certificates do have collectible value.

Modern Silver Certificates

Silver certificates are still issued and circulated by various private banks and investment companies. Although these certificates may not be legal tender, they do legally entitle their bearers to a stated amount of silver, which is stored in a secure location, and is usually redeemable on demand.

The benefits of these silver certificates are obvious: First of all, they outsource the task of storing and protecting the underlying silver bullion or coinage. If you were to own a substantial amount of silver bullion that you stored yourself, you alone would be responsible for keeping it secure. You would probably have to buy a safe and take out additional insurance against potential theft. With silver certificates, the holding company takes care of these tasks for you. Secondly, there is the issue of actually procuring the silver in the first place. Silver is heavy and thus expensive to transport. Silver certificates are much more easily traded among investors.

The drawback of silver certificates versus bullion or coinage is the certificates are only as good as the issuer. If the private bank or institution issues silver certificates went bankrupt, holders of the certificates probably will not receive the full face value of his or her notes.

There is, however, one government-backed series of silver certificates still being issued: The Perth Mint Certificate Program (PMCP). The PMCP is owned by Gold Corporation, a precious-metals refining, minting, and trading company, which is wholly owned by the government of Western Australia (the equivalent of a state government). The PMCP also issues gold certificates, and today, these gold and silver certificates are the only government-guaranteed precious-metals certificates in the world.

The Liberty Dollar

The most notable private currency issued in the United States is the Liberty Dollar. Liberty Dollars are issued in both gold and silver, and in coinage and certificate form. For example, Liberty Services, Inc.—the issuer of Liberty Dollars—produces a “twenty dollar” silver certificate equal to one ounce of silver. The silver is stored by the Sunshine Mint in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

One immediate problem with these silver certificates is the arbitrary price. Currently, Liberty Dollar silver certificates are marked with a $20 face value, but are redeemable for only one ounce of silver. Since the current price of silver is roughly $13 an ounce, this means Liberty Dollar silver certificates come with a $7 premium, which is subject to change with the price of silver. For example, if silver jumped to $15 an ounce, then the Liberty Dollar silver certificate would have just a $5 premium. If silver fell to $8 an ounce, then the premium would be $12.

It is this dollar-denomination that many hard-money enthusiasts take issue with. Since the purpose of precious metals is to hedge against inflation, and the U.S. dollar is inherently inflationary, a disconnect between the face value of Liberty Dollars and the value of the underlying gold or silver will always exist. In fact, when Liberty Services, Inc. first issued silver Liberty Dollars, they were valued at $10 an ounce, rather than $20.

Final Thoughts

Silver certificates are an excellent method of investing in silver without the encumbrances of actually holding it. But whereas coins and even old silver certificates may have numismatic value, newly issued silver certificates do not, so you should not pay a significant premium for them. Also, keep in mind that certificates carry their own risk with them and are only as good as the issuer. For this reason, Perth Mint silver certificates should be given preference over those of other issuers, but if practical, real silver in coin or bullion form is the safest, most secure way to invest in silver.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags: Silver Certificates

1932 – 1964 Silver Quarter: 90% silver

1932 – 1964 Silver Quarter is 90% silver. Use the Silver Melt Value calculator to see the value of silver in this coin. This quarter is classified as “junk silver“, read more about junk silver as an investment. You can also invest in silver using a Silver ETF.

Listed below are the mintage numbers for each year. The year column lists the year and mint mark on the coin where, D is for Denver, S is for San Francisco, and P is for Philadelphia. Also, a coin without a mint mark means the coin was minted in Philadelphia.

The Mintage column is the number of coins struck and released by the U.S. Mint.

The Numismatic Value Range column represents what people typically pay for that type of coin (usually a very wide price range depending on the condition and demand of the coin).

Popularity: 100% [?]

Tags: 90% silver bags, junk silver, silver investing, silver quarters