The Fabulous Four Silver Bullion Coins

'twas the month of December
and all through the land
precious metals were stirring
again starting to look grand

I see promising signs in the price of metals and this time it looks more encouraging. Traffic is up on my silver web sites plus I have a new one to tell you about... but more on that later.

I have included pictures of the fabulous four silver bullion coins, reportedly the best selling silver bullion coins in the world. They are:  the American silver eagle of which 42,675,000 were sold last year and that number has already been overtaken with just a few days of production left to go in 2014; the Canadian silver maple leaf of which 28,200,000 were sold last year with that number already have been overtaken for 2014; the Austrian silver Philharmonic  of which 14,536,400 were sold last year (current year estimates unknown) and the Chinese silver panda of which a reported 8,000,000 were sold last year with 2014 numbers unknown.

Yes there other government issued silver bullion coins and numerous silver rounds, some more popular (and more attractive ) than others. But these are the top dogs and if you can get your hands on any of them at reasonable premiums, you will be in good shape for the coming explosion in silver prices. 

Here are the totals for American Eagles thus far in 2014...

Platinum Eagles=16,900 one-ounce coins thus far
(don't look for more of these in 2014 or 2015 due to low demand)

Gold Eagles = 414,500 one-ounce coins
                        46,000 half-ounce coins
                      118,000 quarter-ounce coins
                      560,000 tenth-ounce coins
total ounces of Eagles gold = 523,000
2015 Gold Eagles will be available 1/5/2015

Silver Eagles = 43,051,000 one-ounce coins
top three months of production
   October = 5,790,000
   march = - 5,354,000
   January = 4,775,000
2015 Silver Eagles will be available 1/12/2015

and here is the total for the...

American Buffalo (thus far in 2014) = 175,500 one-ounce 24k gold coins
2015 Buffaloes will be available 1/5/2015

As mentioned above, I have a new silver web site dedicated to a very unique silver coin - the Maria Theresa Thaler. This silver coin has a rich history (several decades old) and, in terms of popularity and acceptability, is almost unmatched. You can read more about this thaler (or taler) at M.T. Thaler.

If you have the time, also stop by my other silver web sites at SilverInvestingSimplified and SilverGuide to see what's new.

Thanks for reading and keep the faith. 


 

  

Beware Of These Morgan Silver Dollar "Deals"

Let me first say that the Morgan Silver Dollar is one of my favorite silver coins. But I want to clear up some of the dis-information and half-truths in some of the ads I have seen for these historic coins. There is no shortage of Morgan dollars despite the fact that 270,232,722 were melted down in 1918 by the U.S. Government to replenish their silver stockpile. Every coin show I have been to, including the latest one mentioned in my Gold Blog, has had a surplus of Morgans for sale in many different grades. So if you are shopping around for some Morgan dollars beware of misleading ads such as these...

One ad was promoting 1921 Morgans, stating this was the last year they were struck (true) and implied they had special value because of it (false). The truth is Morgan dollars were minted for the first 11 months of 1921 - a total of 86,730,000 between the three U.S. Mints. Not exactly a small number and far from scarce (the 1921 Peace dollar has a higher value as only 1,000,473 were minted). So don't go paying a high premium for circulated or uncirculated 1921 Morgans. And be VERY careful if you are interested in Mint State 1921 Morgans that are graded and slabbed. Even some of the higher grades are not that scarce and counterfeit Morgans in these grades are not unheard of. If you want truly special Morgan Silver Dollars, look for Carson City Morgans in the higher uncirculated grades and shop around.

Another ad states you can buy Morgan (or Peace) Silver Dollars at a very low premium over the spot silver price. So if spot silver is at $30 and you can get each silver dollar for $32 it sounds like an okay deal. They are hoping the buyer doesn't know the actual silver content or just assumes that these 90% silver dollars contain an ounce of silver. They DON'T. An uncirculated Morgan and Peace silver dollar contain .7734 troy ounces of silver and at $30 spot their intrinsic or melt value is $23.20. A very good deal for the seller but a very bad deal for the buyer. The silver price would have to go up another $11 just to break even on this deal. And if the silver dollar is lightly circulated, it is considered to contain .7650 taking in account the wear factor. If you are not sure of how good some of these deals are, ask any reputable dealer and they will tell you.

After a strong showing for Silver Eagles in January, the numbers kind of dropped off a cliff in February - from 6,107,000 to 1,490,000. So far in March the number is at 1,065,000. Gold Eagles are down in numbers too. After going through 127,000 ounces of gold for all the Gold Eagles produced in January, only 21,000 ounces of gold were used for February's Gold Eagles and 21,000 so far in March. Let's hope they "spring ahead" in numbers in the coming months.

Thanks for reading.

Silver Investing - Silver Eagles For June

The totals are in for Silver American Eagle production for the month of June. The U.S. Mint reports a total of 3,001,000 Silver Eagles for June. Down from the May totals by about 635,500 but still a decent number. Year-to-date Silver Eagles = 18,168,500. It is stated that the large number of silver ounces used by the Silver Eagle program through June is essentially all of the silver mined in the U.S. so far in 2010. How long can that keep up?

Gold is doing quite well also. 24-K Gold Buffaloes are at 33,500 for June and 160,500 YTD. American Gold Eagles are at 151,500 ounces (in various sizes) for June and 673,000 ounces YTD.

Happy investing.

Silver Investing Guide - Got American Silver Eagles?

According to the latest U.S. Mint figures, Silver Eagles are showing no let-up in popularity. Total Silver Eagles produced for March came in at 3,381,000. Add to that January's total of 3,592,500 and February's total of 2,050,000 and you have a first quarter 2010 total of 9,023,500 (total Gold Eagles for the first quarter are 271,000). Those are huge numbers.

The Silver Eagle program was started in November of 1986, so it's not that far away from the 25 year anniversary. The first quarter 2010 Silver Eagle total is the best single quarter in the history of the program so far. It will be interesting to see what the second quarter brings.

With that many Silver Eagles floating around, you would think the premium over the spot price of silver wouldn't be that high. But it is. In checking with a major precious metals dealer, the current quoted price per Silver Eagle is 17% over spot! So if you want to invest in American Silver Eagles, it pays to shop around among several dealers to get the best price.