Silver Investing - Price Of Silver Heading To All-Time High

Silver hit an all-time high on Thursday helped by a falling dollar and indications by the Federal Reserve that it would maintain a loose monetary policy renewing inflation worries. What was surprising to me is why silver didn't finish much stronger on Friday with gold tacking on almost $30 on the day. It smacks of some powerful force(s) at work since gold and silver almost always move in tandem.

Spot silver finished at $47.94 moving into the weekend after hitting a high of $49.24 resulting in a one-day loss of $.54. Very strange. Regarding Silver American Eagles, a total of 2,819,000 were produced in April. Sans an update on Monday, this will be the final April number which is far from the record set in January.

Here are a few stories I'd like to share with you. The first is from Reuters giving more information on the silver high. It is titled "Silver hits record near $50 for first time since 1980" and you can read it here. The second article is for those who question if silver is in a bubble. It is titled "Think Silver Has Gone Parabolic? 1980 was 5 Times Faster!". You can find it here.

One last item to those interested in bags/partial bags of junk silver. At the present time, prices are based on piece count of the coins per bag or partial bag. A full bag of 90% U.S. coins is considered to contain 715 troy ounces of silver (about 8.3 ounces less than uncirculated coins). Actual ounces can vary due to the number of well-worn coins are contained in the bag/partial bag. Not a big deal when silver wasn't so pricey but now it is. Even a 10 ounce difference results in almost a $500 loss. Future sales may switch to silver junk bags being sold by weight and not today's face value. More information can be found at Junk Silver Bags.

Thanks for reading.

Silver Investing - Mid-April Silver Eagles Total

So far in April, total Silver Eagles produced stands at 2,079,500. It is slowly creeping up to March's total of 2,767,000 and February's total of 3,240,000 but nowhere near January's huge and record-setting 6,422,000.

If you have been keeping your eye on spot silver lately, you know that silver is having a nice run with a few 31 year highs. Today, silver was well into $43 and change before dropping back. The current spot price is $42.79 for a 30 day gain of $7.49 and one-year gain of $25.05 or 141.37%. Do I hear $45.00?

If you have read my previous posts, you know I am a fan of silver dimes - especially the Mercury dime. These are 90% silver thru 1964 and it takes about 14 silver dimes to make up one troy ounce of silver. Another silver coin I like and for you to consider is the Washington quarter (1932-1964). Each circulated coin contains .1788 troy ounces of silver and six quarters contain a little over one ounce of silver. You can buy them by the $10.00 (face value) roll or they have been a popular coin by the bag or partial bag. A full bag consists of $1000 face value coins which equals 4000 quarters - a little pricey in todays market. They can also be purchased in half-bags, quarter bags (1000 coins) or in lesser amounts. You can find out more about buying them by the bag at Junk Silver Bags.

Coin dealers are having a heck of a time keeping silver in stock as customers are buying most everything silver and creating shortages. Here is an article that pretty much tells the story of coin shops across the U.S. You can read it here. There is a nice picture of 100 ounce silver bars which are hugely popular and subject to backorder at this time.

My last item is an article that tells about another launch of five-ounce silver bullion coins by the U. S. Mint later this month. These will honor the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania and Glacier National Park in Montana. Let's hope this goes better than their 2010 America The Beautiful program. You can read all about it here.

Thanks for reading.

Silver Investing - Silver At $40.00 An Ounce

Silver reached the much talked about $40 per troy ounce on Friday - the highest it has been in 31 years. In fact, the spot price cruised past that figure and was knocking at $41's door, closing at $40.93 going into the weekend. As of this writing (early Monday morning CDT), silver is already up another $0.98 and stands at $41.91. Some say silver's price will not correct until it reaches $50.00.

This is good news if you already own (and have in your possession) a nice amount of physical silver but not so good if you are just starting to invest in silver. Silver is red hot now and finding a good deal is hard to locate. If you keep an eye on eBay auctions, you see some silver already being bid up to $50 per ounce and beyond. I have no recommendations on where you can buy silver cheap. Your best bet is to look for miscellaneous one-ounce silver rounds or possibly silver bars which have traditionally had a lower premium than coins.

So far in April, 750,000 Silver Eagles have been produced with the Year-To-Date total at 13,179,000.

Thanks for reading.

Silver Investing - March 2011 Totals For Silver Eagles

Production of Silver American Eagles is down again from the previous month. The March total comes in at 2,767,000 while the February total (28 days) was 3,240,000. Neither came close to January's 6,422,000! The demand remains high but the problem could be a shortage of blank silver planchets from which these silver bullion coins are made. But relief may be in sight...

An article titled "Ron Paul to Probe U.S. Mint Coin Shortage" talks about an upcoming meeting this week (April 7th) to address this very problem. It appears that he has identified another source for providing blank planchets to the U.S. Mint so this hopefully becomes a non-issue. The article also mentions: 1)The Coin Modernization, Oversight and Continuity Act of 2010 which gives the U.S. Mint more flexibility in meeting the bullion coin demand (and the demand for gold and silver numismatic pieces); and 2) The Free Competition in Currency Act of 2011 whose purpose is to repeal legal tender laws in order to prohibit taxation on gold, silver and a few other precious metals. You can read the entire article here.

Another possible cause of Silver Eagle production not keeping up with demand is not enough of the existing Mints are involved in its production. On March 23rd, a spokesman for the U.S. Mint announced that trial strikes are currently being produced at the San Francisco Mint, with full-scale, temporary production to begin sometime in May. The West Point Mint has been the sole producer of Silver American Eagles since 2001. The article can be found here.

As of this post, spot silver stands at $37.97 which amounts to a gain of $2.31 in the last 30 days and a one-year change of $20.10 (+112.42%).

Thanks for reading.