Silver Bullion

When buying silver bullion, just as for buying gold bullion, remember coins are a great form of a precious metal to own.  Their purity is guaranteed by the government that issued them, so they are very liquid.  No assay is required to sell coins.  And, regardless of which country issued the coins, they are in a sense international in value.

                 Like gold, not all silver coins are equal.  Even if they contain 1 ounce of silver, the silver, like gold, is never completely pure.  Silver is also too soft of a metal to be coined in a completely pure state.  So some minor impurity must always be present.  So most bullion coins are 0.999 fine silver.  Canada is the exception.  They make 0.9999 pure coins, and while there is no practical value of the slightly more pure metal, people will often pay a premium for the extra nine.  And what someone else is willing to pay is what really determines the value of a coin.

                 A quick ranking of coin prices at the time of writing is American Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, Austrian Philharmonic, and the Mexican Libertad.  Of the less abundant, the Britannia is perhaps the leader, the Australian kangaroo, the Australian Kookaburra, the Australian Lunar, and the Australian Koala.  South African makes a silver Kruggerand, but this coin appears so rarely in Online auctions that it is difficult to place a value.  Australia mints numerous quality silver coins which vary from year to year, and some, like the Lunar Dragon may bring more than a Britannia.  Coins like the Britannia and all of the Australian coins are frequently changed, so they command a numismatic value over the intrinsic value of the silver.

                 Australia and Canada often enhance their coins with privy marks, small icons that honor someone or something.  These privy marks generally add to the value, since they are minted in smaller quantities than the coins without them.

                 Silver coins come in many sizes, the more common being half ounce, one ounce, and two ounce.  However, for the serious investor, Australia makes ten kilogram silver coins.

This article is being made available from Black Spaniel Gallery at http://blackspanielgallery.comby the author.  Links to major English speaking mints are available at Black Spaniel Gallery.