I'm new to stacking and have fallen hard for it. I like the simplicity of bars and bullion, but am intrigued by the coins produced by various countries throughout the world. While they seem to command a bit higher of a price I am hesitant to really get into national coins due to lack of knowledge. I keep hearing people discuss coins such as the Silver Eagle, Maple Leaf, Kookaburra, Krugerrand and Libertads yet relatively little is said of coins from elsewhere in the world. Are some coins more sought after? Why? Should I just stick with bars until I become more informed? Thanks. Always appreciate the knowledge.
Yes because bars have lower premiums. That's what I did until I became better informed. Til then go with the lowest premium and most bang for your buck is safest option.
They are all pretty much the same, same purity, same weight, same diameter more or less and the face value is merely decorative. What changes is the ease of getting hold of them. I can buy Australian coins very easily but libertads are harder to come across and cost a little more. If you like the design or have a plan to collect a variety of coins minted in a particular year then it can be fun to collect them but it is expensive and most dealers will only give you spot value regardless of what picture is on the coin. My tastes in collecting have changed a lot, from circulating coinage to silver pre decimal coinage to "semi-numi" silver bullion to collectable rounds to silver bars to gold coins to world silver junk. I now have a nice accumulation with a lot of variety. I started out interested in coins, then I got interested in a store of wealth and now I am interested in bang for buck.
I like Silver Eagles and ATB 5 oz. coins (America the Beautiful). They are very large versions of modern US Quarters. Love the Perth Mint's Koalas, Kookaburras, and Swans. You will have a higher premiums with coins over rounds/bars. However, if you find a low mintage coin, the value can appreciate over time. As far as I know, rounds and bars are always going to be close to spot price. For example, I purchased Australian Silver Swans this Spring and right now I could sell them at over twice what I have on them. My advise, buy what YOU like and also go for lower mintage coins that you believe will go up in collectibility. An example that you mentioned is the Silver Kruggerand. I did buy one. However, it was at a high premium when you consider the mintage is 1,000,000. And be careful to only buy from reputable sellers. Lots of fake coins, rounds, and bars out there. While I say this, keep your eye on what you see going on in the silver market. For example, last week when the spot price tumbled to 15.40USD, I saw it as a good time to get generic bars that were at a low premium. I also bought my first "junk" 90% silver Mercury Dimes. Right now in the US, premiums are low on junk silver. Have fun Lefty.
I like junk silver, premiums are usually pretty low but when I started collecting back in 2006 you could get the stuff for less than the melt value, this is one of the main reasons I got into stacking, I could buy a resource easily for less than it was worth. You can still get junk silver for close to spot and there is a fairly decent market for the stuff as well, not just preppers.
To the opening poster. If I lived in the US I'd be buying coins from this person at two dollars over spot. He makes these mini mintage's himself and you can see on the chart what prices they are selling for now. Forward to the 9:30 mark. It is a good youtube channel that I follow.
With the new Year of the Dog Silver coin being advertised @ $34.90 each Goldstackers still can't afford to get the purity of their coins right on that site. It is either .999 or .9999. Which is it? _JLG.
