Silver Investing Guide - Beware Of This Deal

In a recent catalog I received, there was an offer to purchase an 1800s Morgan Silver Dollar (in brilliant uncirculated condition) for only $79.99, marked down from $99.99. The description went on to say that many millions had been melted down in 1918 (true) and due to this event plus more meltings throughout the years, relatively few Morgan dollars remain (not true).

Just three years after the big 1918 meltdown of 270,232,722 Morgan dollars, 86,730,000 Morgans were minted with the 1921 date. It is estimated the approximately 17% of all Morgans minted are still in existance. That is still a lot of these silver dollars floating around. Being brilliant uncirculated is a plus but the coins could still end up with some bad bag marks. Another point worth mentioning is the coins have been certified by a grading company I have never heard of.

Uncirculated Morgan silver dollars contain .77344 troy ounces of silver. That would result in a silver price per troy ounce of $103.42. Today's spot price of silver is $15.69 per troy ounce. Without knowing the year and mint mark, I would say this is definitely one deal to stay away from. Common date Morgans in MS 60 grade (Mint State 60 is an uncirculated grade) can be purchased for less than $30.00.

If you are ever tempted by deals such as these, do your research first. This is an awful lot of money to pay for one Morgan dollar. If your objective is to get the most silver for your money, you must shop around and watch out for deals like this.

Silver American Eagles - Year End Totals

Silver American Eagles continue to be in high demand. The total number of Silver American Eagles struck in 2009 was 28,766,500. Compare that with 2008's total of 19,583,500 and 2007's total of 9,887,000 and you can see the only way this market is going is up, up, up.

This up trend has been confirmed so far in 2010 with January's total of 3,592,500 Silver Eagles being minted. If this keeps up, 2010 will be another record-setting year for this popular silver coin. Before you buy, make sure to shop around as the premiums charged for Silver American Eagles can vary by quite a bit among various dealers.

Silver Investing Guide - Welcome Message

Hello and welcome to the Silver Investing Guide blog. I hope you will come to consider this a valuable resource for practical and useful silver investing tips and information.

My interest in silver (and gold) bullion/coin investing led me to take a sales position with a large precious metals dealer in the midwest some years back. Luckily for me, this company was (and is) one of the "good guys" in the business and I learned a great deal. The company is still going strong but I have since retired.

Sharing what I know about silver investing is the purpose of this blog and I am glad you are here. If you are interested in learning more about silver investing insights and strategies, come back often as many more posts to this blog are planned.

Again, welcome and stay tuned for much more...