Hello, new here. Just started buying silver eagles. Addicting but fun. I am buying for $3 above spot. (I'm ok with that.) My question is, does that change? Has that margin changed in the past? I was reviewing spot prices in the past and was wondering if that means spot was $8, then each ASE was $11 each back then?
The ASE premium was increased in 2011. And it's a percent of the price, so if a zero/less premium coin was $11 in 2008, a premium on an ASE of 2% would add $0,22. There is a spot price. There is a Mint premium. There is a dealer premium. The ASE premium applies to the Mint stage.
I think you misunderstand. I'll rephrase. When the demand for physical bullion (which includes the ASE) spikes in relation to available supply, it has been observed that bullion products trade at a higher premium. Make sense? Also, if I may correct you, ASE's are numismatics as they are currency. They're just a very common numismatic.
in the fall of '08, supply was very tight. Spot went to $9-$12oz. Premiums were $6-$8/per, if you could find them. I have seen old ads from the 90's that show the price of silver and the price of SAE's, they were $2.xx over spot when silver was in the $4-$5 range also.
So your focus wasn't ASE but delivered silver/coins in general? So a silver shortage? Here in Europe I don't see any indications of such situation. I rather see the opposite at dealers. Plenty new various coins/sets, due to customers selling it back (the price dropped for a reason...). Which ones do you see over there? Last year in april I saw every day a post that claimed shortage, and couple weeks later the price tumbled from $50 to $32 due to massive oversupply. We had 3 months $27-28 this summer 2012. Seen shortages? I didn't. I bought most of my 2012 silver then. The proof of NON shortage sits in my safe. So I wonder what makes you think there is a shortage now? The premium is %-wise the same as it was this summer, early 2012, and in the 2011 occasions. Only early 2011 the premium was lower because the US Mint increased it then. All this happened thus regardless spot. The same applies to Maples, Philharmonikers and others. ASE considered numismatic because they are currency? I thought numismatic ment extra value due to limited/lowmintages/collectors interest/etc? Why does the US Mint flag the ASE as 'bullion' instead of 'numismatic', and doesn't sell them directly to customers but only to large dealers (so called 'primary dealers'? I have several monsterboxes ASE, and I'm just a silver saver, numismatics for speculation don't interest me at all.
Coins will have a fixed premium over bullion plus a percentage minimum margin. If spot rises then this difference as a percentage of the total will decrease. Dealers like Apmex regularly have offers where their margin is reduced for a few days. Just be pleased you don't have to add 20% tax as we do in the UK.
During my silver interest time so far, and in my EU region, spot price varied between $26 and $50 but dealers always asked the same % above that spot price. Actually, their pricing is even automatic on their sites. I've read about fall '08 tight supply but I've read last year about tight supplies too, and I saw tight supplies myself in may 2011; I had to wait 5-6 weeks instead of 1-2. Guess what solved the tightness of the supply? Time. Not price. There is a conclusion to draw from this.
Exactly. I was talking about all bullion in general, in physical form. No. What I meant was "IF" there was to be a shortage then you would see higher premiums, not that there is a shortage now. Yes, that is the very definition of numismatic. But they are also bullion because of their purity. While they are technically numismatic coins they currently have almost no numismatic VALUE due them not being scarce and therefore trade as bullion. It is commonly understood that numismatic means "collectable" and therefore scarce, but technically it simply means that it is currency. This is only a minor technical point however and is not really important. I'm the same. However I do favour coins because then I get the best of both worlds. Hope that makes sense now.
http://goldsilver.com/news/us-mint-sold-out-of-2013-silver-eagle-coins/ "Premiums are moving higher and silver eagle bullion coin availability will decline in the coming days." So, yeah.
US MINT SUSPENDS SILVER EAGLE SALES http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-17/us-mint-out-silver-coins-suspends-sales
Pirocco, ASE premiums are not a percentage of the price, and aside from temporary supply dislocations, the premiums are based upon minting cost. AEL Steve researched this a couple of years ago. AGE premiums are a percentage of the price.
I get back to my archive and found 2 purchases of silver eagles one from 2008 Dear ep.op, Congratulations on winning this item. Please arrange to pay the seller now. 2005 EAGLE 1oz FINE SILVER Sale price: 11.51 Shipping & Handling: Royal Mail 1st Class Standard 1.25
and one from 2009 4 1oz Unc American Eagle Coins (1986,1987,1988,1989)$57.00 3 1oz Unc American Eagle Coins (2000,2001,2002) 1 $52.25 Subtotal: US $109.25 Postage and packaging via Standard Int'l Flat Rate Shipping: US $10.00 Total US $119.25