Hi everyone, I am new to the forums and new to silver stacking as an investment/hobby. I am trying to figure the best methods for storing my silver rounds. I will be purchasing this from APMEX: https://www.apmex.com/product/15341/sure-safe-silver-coin-container but I wanted to figure out what container I should be putting these containers in. I have read that air is the enemy of silver, so I was thinking of putting these sure safe containers inside of this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VJ7C2E/ref=twister_B079SK655L?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 Basically they are airtight storage containers. I did research and these containers are free of PVC and BPA and a bunch of other stuff. Do you think this is overkill? What containers do you all put your silver in? I dont feel like investing in the individual silver air-tite clips because I am not really a collector, but I do want to keep my investment from getting tarnished in the long term. I also thought about a pelican case or an ammo can. Any information, opinions, or help is appreciated!
Welcome to the forum! If you're stacking bars, then this is overkill - its not worth the hassle because bars won't keep a premium when it comes time to sell it. If it's coins then it probably won't matter either as they have a nasty habit of developing milk spots, but to be on the safe side keep them in plastic capsules and keep your fingers crossed. If you're getting ASE's or Maples then keep them in their original tubes and you shouldn't have any hassles. Good luck!
How are coins put into air-tight capsules? Does the mint use a vacuum chamber for that or do they just fill the airspace in the capsules with a better brand of air than we have access to? I never understood the benefit of keeping the outside air separate from the inside air, if it exists.
Outside air is full of sulphur from burning fossil fuels, the more industrial the area you live in, the worse the silver coins tarnish. Sulphur causes the issues, new air brings new sulphur to react with the silver in the coin if it is not in a capsule. The air in the capsules doesn't change much so it does slow it down. But they are not airtight and you will notice toning, usually around the edges. Generic Rounds; tarnish doesn't matter when it comes to price. Obviously if you get offered two rounds at the same price and one is tarnished and the other isn't, then you would pick the most attractive one. Proof coins, generally already in capsules, you might want to put them in a ziplock bag with a desiccant for extra protection but the bags don't stack and they slide around. For the expensive rounds, toning is sort of expected in silver and some people even like it. It does not detract a massive amount in the value, not like a finger print or a scratch. I would use capsules to keep finger prints, scuffs and dents from happening but air, not so much. You can over spend on this sort of thing. If you are concerned about losing value then you can get bars instead, they will hold their value even after being dropped many times and you just polish them to get them shiny again. Or junk silver, they come ready tarnished, require no expense to store and don't deteriorate. I keep my coins in a moconna coffee jar. It is glass so no issues with PVC etc. It does have plastic in the lid but it is food safe so shouldn't be an issue. They are heavy and will break if dropped but you do get to see the coins you spent all that money on and I was going to chuck the jars anyway. I was thinking of getting the tubes you linked to, but I worked out how many I would need and what that would cost over time, do I want to buy tubes or silver? I went with silver in the end and never tried them out. Good luck and happy stacking.
Would it be fair to say that if you buy $2000 of poured bars and $2000 of high quality minted 1oz coins and then sold them in 10 years that they both lots would attract similar growth in price?
Depends on what you paid for the high quality minted 1oz coins. If you check many of the price guides you will see that numismatic offerings are often valued below the initial sale price. If you buy them at retail full price then there is a good chance you will lose money on them over time. I would only buy coins I liked for my collection, not as an investment. Bars are good for that.
Jislizard, I would agree. Bigger bars of silver or 1oz au seem to have far less premium added, even for new ones. Re-couping that initial premium is hard unless you luck out and buy something that becomes very popular. I made the mistake of buying two sets of those 2 Oz Goddesses of Olympus rounds issued a while back (3 coins @ 179.00 x 2 sets) and I can't sell them. There are some items that seem to trade well here. Those round 50c are popular and seem to sit at around 2 to 5% premium (Eg current silver value is 7.36 per coin and price here is about 7.50-7.70 in the last couple of weeks.)
Those round 50 cent coins used to be $1 over spot regardless of where spot was. They were really popular. They are still popular. Wait until silver starts rising again and see how popular they become! there is some one down the market trying to sell them for $12. He sells one or two but nothing in bulk. I might go through mine looking for the "Double Bar" variety in good condition and stick them in a 2x2 holder, that always makes them look a bit special! Government issued, deterrent to counterfeiters 3 to a troy ounce, easy maths! Easily recognised, single design, unlike the designs which change each year Low premium compared to 999 silver Readily available, 35 million made, most never circulated No confusion between 50% and 92.5% as you get with some pre decimal coins 50 cent stop loss! even if silver drops to $0 you still have 50 cents!!! I like them, have several hundred of them, still buying them! I missed out on the redback spiders etc. I did buy some of the second series Lunar Dragons at issue price, they have not done anything exciting but they have held their value at least. I remember the hype around the Gods coins you have. I think you have to flip them quickly while the hype is still there. I can never turn them around quick enough so I don't even try.
My theory is buy kilo cast bars for investments. If you buy coins, buy them bulk in the tubes, even though coins have an extra premium you can usually sell them a bit more than spot so you would make the premium back. I buy coins for bartering purposes if we end up like Venezuela or Zimbabwe
I bought airtight waterproof plastic mobile phone bags off ebay for $1 and keep my silver in an ammo tin .
I do these foam ring air tite capsules and tubes for my ASE, Brit, and other govt rounds... costs less than 50c per coin (when you buy the foam ring capsules and tubes separately): https://www.amazon.com/Capsule-Air-...=1539277604&sr=8-5&keywords=airtite+40mm+tube ...in the end, it's silver... it tarnishes. I don't do numismatic stuff. Still, it is worth taking care of your coins, and these will keep them looking pretty nice in the longer term. The better look and obvious care of capsule coins will also likely be a deciding factor between someone or some shop buying your coins and another random loose set. GL
I throw everything into my SDB and don't worry about tarnish, scratches, ect. But my stack is mostly low premium.
Thanks for the link. I've seen those coin capsules. I got the vacuum pack idea from Chinese coin dealers. My collection is very varied, odd size coins, kilos, 2oz, etc, and 10oz, 100oz bars of various dimensions so vacuum packing sounds like a solution. Silver tarnishes but there are also pre-2000s silver coins, such as those in pcgs MS65 and above graded slabs look almost new, so it's possible to prevent tarnishing?
I've found that Ziploc bags work perfectly well at preventing tarnish of pure silver rounds and bars. When I had my first silver batch in the original flips in a sock drawer, they tarnished after a few months (as you know, flips are completely open on one end). Ziploc solves that problem. I recommend the snack bags, which are smaller and less floppy than the sandwich bags for this application. If you ever have to deal with tarnish, I recommend the aluminum foil and baking soda method. I've refined that method a bit. Message me if you're interested in the details.
