Really like this piece. Is it worth paying the extra money for the old pieces or just stick to the lowest premium I can find? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261202033282&ssPageName=ADME:B:BODO:US:1 Seller asking $299.50
While it is a nice bar, I'd stick with low premium as you're new to stacking. You can get 2 ATB 5oz coins for that price and still have change. Look to build your core stack with low premium and then go play in the overpriced collectors market once you're more familiar with why you're stacking, where you think silver is going etc.
You can buy 10oz for that sort of money. If silver doubles you will have $600 on 10oz but only a marginal increment on a vintage 5oz. That said, will the extra $150 you are paying give you a $150 high? If so, go for it, if not double your ounces.
It's not always the right choice to get what's the lowest premium price of some chunk of metal in my view. You buy what you think is worth it to you. If I were brand new to pm stacking around the late Spring of 2011 and if I would have listened to the advice of some die hard stackers to always stay away from anything that has a premium higher than the lowest premium generic non-denom bullion, I would not have been making the smartest choices back then. For example, toward the end of April of 2011, I could have bought 3 1/2 ounces worth of low premium silver bullion bars or rounds for about $175. Today, I could sell those same bars or rounds and get about $80.00. On the other hand, were I to have purchased a high premium Perth Mint 2011 Lunar Rabbit 3 coin silver set at issue price of about $330 (no doubt these numismatic coins have a very high premium), today I could have sold it for perhaps around $500 ( see http://www.ebay.com/itm/LUNAR-2-RAB...9059714?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item53f5f99382 ). The point is, buying the lowest premium hunk of generic metal isn't always the default best way to invest. You have to look at a number of factors including what is the current economic situation in the country you live in now, what's the spot price of the type of metal you favor, what coin(s) / pm item(s) are you interested in instead of the generic low premium chunk, how hard will the item you are interested in be to get if you don't buy it now, and so forth and so on. I'm not stating that right now, right here for anyone, that it's not good advice to spend your money on the lowest premium generic bullion available....I'm just saying that it really depends. Shop around...don't limit yourself to only the lowest premium bullion. Look at a high premium US Mint 2013 American Eagle West Point Two-Coin Silver Set (incidentally, tomorrow is the very last day of sale for this set by the US Mint).
ML -- Very perceptive, very analytical, elegantly put and genuinely correct, but... You've now totally muddied the waters for a newbie who's only 3 posts into the game. Clint -- Don't start off with badly overpriced, specialty items. $300 for a 5oz bar is totally unnecessary and at best a very questionable purchase for a newbie. Start out with some ultra-safe, boringly "sensible shoes" purchases while you're still so new and spend many months knocking yourself out studying, researching and reading everything you can find about the PM stacking game. You should be devouring SS and a couple/few other forums, major vendor websites and info websites for at least the rest of this year and with luck by 1/1/14, you'll be mostly done shooting yourself in the foot (took me longer, but I'm slow). If you'd like to blow some $$ on some safe, boringly sensible-shoes stuff for a starter, check out http://www.providentmetals.com and specifically look at their present prices on Canadian silver Maples, Austrian silver Philharmonics and Mexican silver Libertads. Provident presently has those three coins about as cheap as cheap gets right now and they're a solid, reputable vendor. In the US, that's close to as good as you can do right now. Don't start out with oddball specialty stuff like that bar you were looking at. $60 per ounce is extravagant and imprudent when you can buy mainstream bullion coins for $2.50 over spot (WAY less than half of the per ounce price of the bar you were looking at). Keep it sensible. I've never heard anybody complaining and saying "Damn! I really wish I hadn't been so damned sensible when I started stacking silver. I never wasted a penny being sensible back then and now I really regret that now."
Freddy, knowledge doesn't muddy the waters, lack of knowledge does. Trust me, when I was brand new, I wish someone would have given me info like I shared here...it would have helped me, not clouded my judgement.
Copy and pasted from their shipping policies page. International Shipping - We are currently shipping to Canada, but these orders cannot be placed online. All Canadian customers must call during our regular business hours to place their orders. Acceptable payment methods are limited to wire transfers, bank drafts, cashiers checks, and money orders for international orders. At this time we may ship to other countries on a case-by-case basis depending on USPS/UPS/FedEx shipping policies. Additional costs may be incurred. Please call during normal business hours to check if shipping to your country can be done. See our FAQ page for more information on international shipping.
Yeah notice the ambiguous part. " At this time we may ship to other countries on a case-by-case basis depending on USPS/UPS/FedEx shipping policies" Before directly door knocking i thought it would be good to hear any stories or experiences from other Aussies here who have already tried ordering from this store. Anyone able to chip in? cheers in advance.
After looking at provident and what's in stock I'd go with the latest ATB 5 oz as well but then I like it, you may not.. Don't buy on impulse unless the price is right (close to spot) however don't buy what you don't like unless you know you can flip it straight away. Start your own thread numismatist, hijacking is rude.
Just did a post which I subsequently realized was an unintentional off-content semi-hijack. Deleted...
