Silver Coins

Silver coins are preferred for small to medium size investments in this precious commodity. Investors who prefer keeping their investment at home, rather than in storage at depositories, tend to choose silver coins; while those using bank/depository storage facilities often choose silver bullion bars, gaining the most possible metal for their investment dollar. While coin investment results are nearly the same as bars, holding coins in one’s personal possession offers the advantage of selling the investment without the cost and delay of an assay. Bullion bars outside the trusted professional dealer network are suspect and when selling bars that you’ve had in your possession, an assay is required to verify its weight and fineness.

For those who appreciate how precious metals can enhance investment returns while mitigating volatility and risk in a portfolio, it is recommended that a minimum of 10% of an investment portfolio be allocated to precious metals, including silver.

However, investors often purchase more when economic or geopolitical uncertainty in the markets and around the world rises. To learn more about buying silver and silver investing, be sure to visit our "Expert Views on Silver" section.

Typically, investors are interested in silver for its potential to appreciate, and sometimes rapidly. Therefore, if you are looking for the most silver for your silver coin investment dollars, the Royal Canadian Mint's Maple Leaf coins should be the best silver coin in the marketplace. Secondarily, investors appreciate the appeal of coins and, if reasonably priced in comparison, will select coins that best meet their fancy, such as the “Made-in-America” Silver American Eagle or the impressive Canadian “SuperLeaf^™ silver maple leaf coin.

To gain a trustworthy appraisal of what a silver coin is worth, you must be an expert or take advantage of the expertise of an experienced silver coin market participant. If you know precisely what the silver coin is, and its precise condition of preservation, you may refer to pricing guides such as Monex Live Prices for the top investor grade bullion coins. Other quality one-ounce bullion coins would very likely be worth quite near those prices.

To be eligible for a self-directed IRA, precious metals bullion coins and bars must meet certain requirements. Currently, gold products must be a minimum of .995 pure, silver must be .999 pure, and platinum and palladium must be .9995 pure. Silver, gold, palladium, and platinum products must also be produced by a government mint or accredited manufacturer.

Although many silver coins are IRA-approved, the top 3:

1. American Silver Eagle bullion coins
2. Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins
3. Austrian Silver Philharmonic coins

As a general rule, if it is over 50% silver, it would be likely referred to as a “silver coin.” Even the 40% silver clad Kennedy half dollars are called silver coins, but if one-tenth of the metal is silver, likely be considered a metal alloy rather than being classified as a true silver coin. The purest silver bullion coin in the world is the Canadian Maple Leaf, a .9999 fine one ounce silver coin. The Canadian Silver Maple Leaf is a $5 legal tender coin minted and issued by the Royal Canadian Mint, which has the reputation for producing the finest bullion coins in the precious metals market.

For investment purposes, a purer bullion coin should theoretically have a higher value, especially in mass liquidation scenarios where there is a surplus of silver coins coming on the market. For durability in commerce, however, a hardening metallic alloy is added to provide strength.

The “Silver Coin Market” is comprised of two categories, each with three levels of interaction. Silver coins can be categorized as either bullion/commodity value coins or as coins traded for their numismatic collectible value. These are distinct and separate markets. Each market has their own distinct end investor or collector. Investors of bullion coins and collectors of numismatic silver coins are the foundation for economic demand in the silver coin market.

At the other end of the market activity spectrum is the source of products, which is akin to manufacturing and distribution, and constitutes the foundation for supply. For silver bullion coins, new sources come from government mints and their supply chain, while in numismatics, major supply can come from significant numismatic coin industry re-packaging suppliers or a significant collector's mass liquidation.

The level between is quite varied and the buying, selling, acquiring and liquidating is quite free and global due to the vast liquidity in both numismatic and bullion coin marketplace. The foundation for the liquidity in the marketplace and the efficiency of pricing is largely credited to active players in the coin dealer network.

Silver is a commodity, whose price fluctuates quite freely in a significant and extremely liquid global marketplace. For the most part, silver bullion coins fluctuate according to their intrinsic metal value. Truly rare silver coins fluctuate irrespective of their melt value, and follow supply/demand factors in relation to their collector popularity, scarceness and historical significance.

The Mexican Silver Libertad is considered the first silver bullion coin issued for investment, with over one million, one ounce pieces minted in 1982 and again in 1983. Although they were issued by the Mexican Mint, they did not bear a currency value so they are not technically legal tender coins.

Arguably, the Monex Silver Eagle was tied for first because it was struck in 1982 by Canada's government mint with the Royal Canadian Mint logo affixed and inscribed in both French and English. The first legal tender coin issued for the purpose of silver investing was the U.S. Silver Eagle in 1986, followed by the Canadian Maple Leaf in 1988.

The current value of silver coins is constantly changing. Current buy and sell values for two of the world's most popular one-ounce investment-grade silver coins are as follows:

To discover prices for all silver coins and other of our precious metals products, visit our live prices page.

United States silver dollars, which were issued as currency up to 1935, have nearly 7% per dollar greater silver content than halves, quarters and dimes. Uncirculated Morgan and Peace Dollars contain 24 grams of silver or .7734 troy ounces, which today is worth: [call_price class="total" comod="SBSPOT" amount=".7734"]

To gain a trustworthy appraisal of what a silver coin is worth, you must be an expert or take advantage of an experienced silver coin market expert. If you know precisely what the silver coin is, and its precise condition of preservation, you may refer to pricing guides such as Monex Live Prices for the top investor grade bullion coins. Other quality one ounce bullion coins would very likely be worth quite near those prices.

It is easy to confirm that Monex offers some of the best prices on silver coins by comparing our prices with those of other dealers. But what sets Monex apart is that we also feature transparent pricing. We publish both ask and bid prices on our website. That “spread” – the difference between our “ask” and “bid” prices – tends to be far less than many other dealers. We also offer lower Atlas Preferred Prices on purchases made with the Monex Atlas Account on several of our bullion and coin products. Call us today to learn more about Monex’s pricing advantages.

It is possible to buy silver coins online or with full transactional service over the phone with an experienced representative. For the inexperienced, or someone making for them a serious investment, it would be preferred to take advantage of all the resources of a full service coin dealer. For a short YouTube video on “Buying Silver Coins,” go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqMjesb6Kk&t=57s

Monex guarantees the authenticity and fineness of all of its coins. All silver bullion coins from Monex come from the most reliable sources in the industry, and they are all produced and issued by the most respected government mints. In fact, the Royal Canadian Mint has authorized Monex as one of its Bullion DNA dealers to verify the authenticity of gold Maple Leaf coins and silver Maple Leaf coins in just seconds using a laser-marking and precision radial line technology verification system. Silver bullion coins offer the advantage of being uneconomical to forge, in comparison to the other precious metals or high premium rare coins.

Almost every investment in physical metal is unique. For this reason, calculating shipping timing for a unique silver purchase is not a universal answer. The delivery of your metal is dependent on a variety of factors, including the quantity of metal, the time of your purchase, and other relevant details.

On average, physical metal will leave the shipping facility two to five days after confirmed, reliable good funds are received. Upon receipt of payment and confirmation of reliable good funds, Monex will direct one of its independent shipping facilities to package and assign it to either USPS or UPS for delivery. You will then receive an email or a telephone notification of your shipment’s tracking number.

During periods of extremely high shipping volume, you will be notified if any delays are anticipated. Call a Monex account representative to learn more about estimated shipping times for your unique investment.

Silver coins have great weight and volume for your investment dollars, which may present a storage challenge. Most people could not carry $25,000 of silver coins without a wheelbarrow, whereas that amount of gold could fit in the palm of your hand. For this reason, investors of silver coins should take into consideration where they will store their purchase, and is why investors purchasing larger quantities of silver tend to use a bank/depository storage facility. The silver coins most preferred for depository storage are the two most popular and liquid coins in the world, the U.S. Silver American Eagle and the Royal Canadian Mint's Silver Maple Leaf.

If you choose to store your silver coins in this way, we will deliver your investment with full title and ownership in your name to one of the independent bank/depository facilities that provide storage for Monex customers. When your metal is received by the bank/depository, the custodian of the facility will send you a document acknowledging the receipt and your ownership of the silver being stored in your name.

All shipments of silver products to you are insured against loss or damage in transit. If you decide to have your silver delivered to and stored by a bank/depository, the metal is fully insured in transit and also while in storage.