Guide to buying silver in Australia (resurrected)

If im not badly wrong the kooks are all individually encapsulated, whereas the buffalos arent, resulting in what some may consider a more 'premium' bullion coin. Also there is considerations about how recognisable the kook coins are compared to the buffalos, and the slight collectability that some years of the kooks and lunars from the perth mint can gain over time.

 

Kook / Lunar is an Australian legal tender coin too.

 

The capsule alone is worth more than the price difference between the AU coins and the others. The rounds should be a lot cheaper than the coins.

 

Would Sterling silver coins be worth stacking in Australia? I have been attracted to pure / fine silver coins but not sterling.

 

The Maples are sold in tubes of 25 and the Eagles & Philharmonics in tubes of 20.
That works out at $34.40 each.
The Perth coins are struck to a considerably higher quality and supplied in acrylic capsules so would naturally cost more.
In Europe the Kooks etc attract ridiculously high premiums.
Wish we could buy Aussie coins at Maple prices.

The Buffalo is a bullion round and is simply a Troy ounce of silver pressed into a coin shape.
Would have the same intrinsic value as a chopped off piece of silver from a bar weighing one ounce.
Maples can be visually crap coins ( lots of indelible spots, scuffs and machining marks ) compared to most others.
If selling there is possibly nothing to differentiate but expect the Australian coins to attract premiums like the Pandas from China.
Maples, Eagles, Philharmonics and Libertads sell on their weight mostly so equal value.
If you can buy your home grown coins for such small differencies stick with them and forget the rounds
UK Britannias for some unknown reason to me also sell at high premium compared to Maples ( and Timber Wolves )
They are a little larger ( weight 32.5g) as their silver alloy composition is 0.958, ASW 1 Toz, making them more resilient to wear & tear I guess.

Paying 5% premium for a beautiful Lunar or Kook ready capsulated compared to a mass produced round is a "no-brainer".
Only wish I could buy such coins so cheaply.

 

Mate, it is possible to do with some of the Masterpieces series going at spot prices.

For example, lets consider the Australian Masterpieces in Silver Proof Sets.
I'll use any of these sets as an example:

*1993 The Explorers I Masterpieces in Silver

*1994 The Explorers II Masterpieces in Silver

*1995 Colonial Australia Masterpieces in Silver

*1996 Shaping a National Identity Masterpieces in Silver

*1997 The Opening of the Continent Masterpieces in Silver


You'll find that the $5 silver coins in these sets contain 35.79 grams of sterling silver (Composition of the coin is .925 pure silver)

We know that one troy ounce of silver is = to 31.1034768 grams.

If we calculate how much pure silver is in each coin, it will equate to: 33.10575 grams, (That's 1.06437 ounces of pure silver in each coin),

Therefore each set, contains over 5 oz of pure silver.

If you check on auction sites, you'll often find these sets going for the spot price plus postage.

The coins will rise or fall with the silver spot price.

If you shop around, you'll find a bargain now and then; a few sets of sterling silver provide diversity to any stack.

H

 

Thanks for the information Holdfast.
I guess I didn't look at the weight factor to compensate for the less purity.
Cheers...

 

from the newbie: tks for a great article. seems to be heaps of good background in here!

 

Thanks for this info.
I only just bought my first 6oz of silver a week ago and I don't think I'll be looking back.

Anyone know of any silver dealers in Canberra? I'll be down there for a while and have no idea where I'm going to be able to get some metal.

 

I wouldn't hold high hopes for edlins... last time/first time I went there I left quite hurriedly after asking the price of a 1kg coin, which was all the silver they had in stock. Still might be worth a try though, things may have changed since then.

 

Thanks,

good reinforcement on strategic buying.

 

Fabulous post!!! Good job goldpelican... it has answered some of my question about the differences. cool stuff~

 

Hi all

Where can I buy 10oz silver bars in Adelaide?
Perth mint would be good.
I can find 1 kg, but 10 oz seems to be more difficult.

Thanks very much.

 

Thanks hobo, gave up on 10 oz.
Found 500g and 1kg options at Peter W Beck in Adelaide and went with 500g.

 

Great work GP

As a noob, what stack mix is recommended? What are others made up of??

Based on my limited reading of this forum, I'm thinking:

TYPE - 20% coins, 80% bars
SIZE - Coins(10% 1oz, 10% 1kg) Bars(60% 10-20oz, 20% 1kg)

Don't think I'd buy anything larger than 1kg at today's prices.

First purchase yesterday of 1kg kook, koala and rabbit

 

Personally, I think your 80/20 split is OK
1kg bars are fine, even if we reach $100/oz theyre only worth $3k so I wouldnt be too fussed about the 10-20oz if theyre at a premium. The smaller bars might be easier to trade however.

How much did you pay for your 1kg coins?

 

Paid $3766. Hope this was ok? :/

 

Yep sounds pretty good @$39/oz for a pm coin that not bad at all.

(I'm just cheering that i got one a week ago for $1160 retail)

 

BOOOOO!!! I'd give you $1165 for it