ASE's and Maples (IMO ALL CM product) are asset classes within the world of silver investment WORTH STEERING CLEAR OF.. especially in Australia where the premuims paid are on par with the lunar or kooks yet there is very little chance of a increase in premium in spot give there copius quantites minted. Maples are doubley bad.. they get milk spots, are mass produced and only sell for a bit over spot even if you have one from 20 years back.. if the past has any correlation to the future then ASE's and Maples are two of the worst forms of bullion to buy. IMO only the silver fern is worse (no date stamp so mintage is irrelavant yet hefty premiums.) or the Pamp bars. I wouldnt pay a premium for wildlife series as they are ugly (just my op) but the pop will be culled by the nasty milk spots killing any collectability. Get current year Panda, Lunars, kooks, even koalas are better than ASE's and Maples.. Philharmonics are just as bad as are liberatd (although i love the design on these.) Another poor investment is the pamp bars.. way over spot yet no real chance of a premium increase. If you want cheap bullion just buy the Buffalos or Scotsia.. They are way cheaper than maples and ases but sell for just as much in Australia. If you like the legal tender aspect and the fact ASE's and Maples are easily indentifyable you may be able to overlook they are common as dirt and not worth there initial outlay but as i am no longer a newbie i wont be spending another cent on ANY CM product or ASES. Addtionallly.. the real mug game is paying 3.6 x spot for a perth mint one ounce proof coin... IMO this is a terrible strategy and a real trap for many investors who got into silver for silver.. not $85 for a cert and a coloured sticker STAY ON TARGET, STAY ON TARGET.. Wedge.. a new hope.
Agreed, but the OP is American, so the ASEs can be picked up for very little premium over spot. I steer clear of ASEs myself while in Australia (as you say, the premium is basically the same as the much more interesting, limited-mintage Perth Mint coins like Lunars and Kooks, so you'd be mad to take ASEs over those). However, I'm currently in the US on holiday so picked myself up a roll of 20 ASEs last week for just a few bucks over spot (~$4/oz less than any price you can find in Oz, comparable with generic rounds/buffalos). Thought about Maples but yeah, I prefer the design of ASE (QEII artwork looks weird to me on the Maple), and lack of milk spots. Basically it depends on your aversion to non-government backed bullion. I don't really like generic rounds (no real reason, just a gut feel - they are kinda ugly and I like the 'official' feel that comes with coins with legal tender status). So I stick to legal tender bullion coins, or if I just want max oz per dollar, bars. As for ASE vs. Maple, there's not much in it (if you don't care about milkspots). Maybe just get some of both. Consider any Perth Mint stuff you come across at low premium too (though that's hard in the US!) Sometimes I think I should bring over all my Australian bullion and sell it in the US (they pay stupid amounts for Lunars and even Kooks here), then just go back to Australia and repurchase what I had.
You probably could pull it off. As long as the number of ounces you hold doesn't change I can't see you losing. Although there is the risk involved in actually carrying them through Gestapo checkpoints
I prefer ASE any day over maple leaf because the quality is better, milk spots etc. Availability is better, and resale prices are so, so much better. Last week to compare 3 x pcgs slabbed 2006 PR eagles sold for over $3000 the lot. US$1070 each per round. The best a comparable maple could do was $116. And many people globally simply hate the maple leaf because of the Queens effigy on the obverse.
