Hey forum, would you consider buying 925 bars? now before this gets shot down in a ball of flames, lets remember that Krugerrands & eagles are alloyed, and at the end of the day its the silver that we want. so a bar that is, say 5.5oz of 925, contains over 5oz of silver. lets say for arguments sake that an acid test has been preformed and you are guaranteed that it is in fact 925. What would you be willing to pay for a 5.5oz sterling bar as finished above? (if anything) lets say it contains 5oz of silver and paying 100% would be at spot for those 5oz. paying 110% would be paying a 10% premium and 90% would be paying 90% of spot. now ill try and add a poll...im sure there was a poll option around here somewhere..... thanks for your input.
I probably would not buy a bar such as these due to the questions i would face when it came to onsell it. I don't want the hassle of having to prove that it is what it is.
Well, I'd say it's not the purity, but the providence of the bar that makes it harder to shift. I'm sure if PAMP made Sterling investment bars, they would be accepted. As long as a 1kg bar weighed the extra required to have the full kg of pure silver.
'Im with CK on this one. I wouldn't have a problem with .925 if it was from a reputable source. The reason '66 are liked is not because they are 0.8, but because they are easily recognizable and tradeable. The state coins move fairly easily also for a similar price to 0.9999. (silver content) I do think 0.925 would be the lower end though. Im not sure if pamp or Perth mint came out with a 75% silver bar that it would be as popular. Sterling is to silver as what 22 carat is to gold. I am fond of the $200 aus gold coins and they are not 999, as with the state series aforementioned
This. Recognition is the problem. If it was manufactured by a known refinery or a new commercial refinery, it would be less of a problem, but if it's grandma's spoons and teapot hit with the oxy torch poured into an graphite mold off eBay in the back shed then it's a trust issue on resale. Polls were removed in December - the old polls weren't compatible with the new software, and I reckon I had to edit two out of every three for people anyway because it was a crap mod to start with.
ahh, thought i was losing my mind do you guys think the credibility is the only hurdle? because ive seen hand poured 999 bars from unheard of mints going for close to spot. so no one so far would even pay 10% of spot for a bar?
Going from 925 to 999 is just 075. For a mere 7.5 percent change we introduce a whole bunch of questions - at both end of the transaction. Silver is slippery enough already - why complicate things further? (Good question though!)
If you could make them at 925 ( 5.5 oz worth ) and then were to send it to the XRF ( the tester would be paid ) and he could than onsell it easier. If all the bars were to go thru the WJ dealer ( one of our sponsors ) and the assayer could write something ( and of course be compensated for it ) than you could probably easily get 92.5 % of spot for your silver ( ASW ) If a large number were to start selling here on the forum or on eBay i believe that the premium of 92.5 % of spot ( 7.5 % discount ) would grow over time and after having sold 300 oz to more than 10 members here the premium would increase and reach spot and possibly go above. However at least initially this may not be viable for the producer ( to send 5 oz to Melb to get it tested with XRF and pay for that ). The assayer could provide a quote. I am not against selling recycled silver - whoever in this business were to be found of selling something that is not silver or gold or Pd & Pt and claimed it as that, and sold plated silver products or sold 0.600 Ag and had it stamped as 0.925 Repercussions could be large with larger purchases.
I don't see the point of making such a bar. Silver has to be alloyed with another metal to make sterling in the first place. So if the producer already has the pure silver to mix, why not just make a pure 5 oz bar instead of a 5.5oz sterling bar that requires more labor and will likely be harder to sell. Seems counterproductive to me, but that is just my opinion. Sterling is great for silverware, etc, but if I want to invest in silver I am buying .999 or better.
The source of the metal is likely silverware and sterling coins being melted in their existing alloyed stated.
Imagine you were buying a new car and the dealer told you that the manufacturer had made a few 'savings' on the car of around 7.5%..... Wouldn't you run a mile if the dealer said "It's a real bargain Sir, it just doesn't have any brakes" or "This is a very economical model Sir, but it only has one wheel". 925 just isn't the full deal IMO.
If you can get them professionally assayed by a reputable company, there would be a market - initially under spot tho
The work required to go from 925 source to 999 finished is not that complex anyway. If someone is going to the trouble of obtaining and consolidating 925, might as well go the rest of the way and produce 999. The other question is why alloy bars? It's not as though they see wear. The only reason I see to do it that way is to save conversion to 999. 925 for coins makes sense. Bars - not so much. Maybe for a jeweler?
925 is readily available (in the form of jewelery & flatware) and can be found relatively easily well under spot. Wouldn't the same (selling) problems apply if an unknown refiner melted 999+ bars? Or does alloyed silver (apart from coins) have this overwhelming stigma attached to it? Ok,before I get harassed,, I'm not saying it's as good as 999+ (or anywhere near it) I'm just wondering, what ever happened to "silver is silver"? Does it not apply to 92.5%? I seem to get the feeling that people who would buy from an unknown refiner would prefer 999, even if 925 was half the price (full assays included ofcorse) (I know not everyone would, and please reframe from chocking up this thread with rants about how you would never buy from an unknown refiner 999+ or otherwise. I'm sure we all know the inherent risks involved)
