Nugget said:
Jislizard said:
I guess selling them is a little easier depending on your market, personally I would rather make one sale at 10oz than 10 individual sales at 1oz each.
I suppose they can also be used to make change or used to top up a trade but it depends on your market, when I get out I intend to make a couple of big sales, not 1000s of little sales.
Still it doesn't hurt to prepare for every eventuality, 'to da moon' and 'confiscation' are all a lot easier to manage with small sizes.
However I would say that is the only convenience and only if you are selling to the little league.
Sure, proofs or numismatic coins get sold one by one at a tidy profit, but generics, surely you just want to get rid of them in larger numbers?!
Would you expect to get the same premium for one 10oz round as for ten 1oz rounds? Not counting the Lunars of course. Less manufacturing costs should mean the premiums are lower and we generally get to see that in the prices of the larger rounds.
I think 1oz rounds are great for people getting into the hobby, or collectors. It doesn't hurt so much to pay $30+ and get a shiney coin in exchange. Dropping $300+ for a single coin is for the pros and stackers. I have not progressed to 1kg bars but I think that is where I will be eventually.
1oz coins are for collectors, 1oz rounds are for people who aren't yet willing to commit.
I feel I have to pipe in here with my two cents, for what they are worth (two cents? :lol: )
Firstly, if one were planning on getting out in one, two or maybe three big sales that's cool, I feel that it limits your potential buyers. If you get your timing wrong and other people have off loaded large stashes before you they may not be in a position or willing to buy.
Secondly, I think that you do a disservice to fellow stackers whom may not be able to, or are willing to, pony up for 10 ounce coins, by calling them hobbyists and collectors. If all they can afford is to stack one or two 1oz coins a pay that's potentially 100 ounces in a year, 100 ounces dollar cost averaged. That 100 ounces wouldn't have been burned by the $50 spike that some here are still smarting at. And whilst I'm at it. You said "Dropping $300+ for a single coin is for the pros and stackers. I have not progressed to 1kg bars but I think that is where I will be eventually.". Well, to someone who can only afford an ounce or two that's a big buy. But seriously, no 1kg bars and you're calling yourself a pro? Here's a pro sale on this very forum
http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-24268-thousands-of-ounces-of-silver-bars.html
Look. It's fine if your stacking strategy doesn't involve 1oz coins / rounds. I just happen to feel that it's counter-productive to knock the smaller stacker. We all have wealth to preserve, some just have more than others *said whilst I admire my stash of 1/2 ounce dragons (currently my favourite silver coins)*
As an aside and
all IMHO - there's nothing wrong with Buffolo's. I wouldn't make them the core of my 1oz silver. But at worst they'll go for spot
I come in peace and I take your point, this thread is all over the place, we were talking about the possibilities of dealers buying second hand silver from abroad in bulk, economies of scale and that sort of thing, not individual purchases of people scraping together enough money to buy a single ounce at a time. If that is all you can afford you probably won't be juggling the merits of importing 100s of 1oz coins against domestic 500oz lumpy bars.
I do intend to limit my potential buyers, to people who have a lot of cash to hand, not to people who want me to put a coin aside until payday. It may cut down on my customer base, but that is intentional. If GP can shift 50oz bars of gold I am not concerned about finding buyers for my silver.
I have about 300 times more money invested in properties than I have in silver, but I wouldn't say I was a pro house buyer! It is more about mentality than purchasing power, no one minds buying a 1oz coin, but few people start by buying a 1Kg bar, the kilo bar comes later once you have more confidence that you aren't making a terrible mistake. The kilo bar comes when you have built up a network and know enough people you could offload it to. The pros can do that, the beginners can't.
My stack includes everything except gold bars, I have gold, silver, platinum and copper coins (even a 1/2 oz Dragon), pre-dec coins, 1966s, silver bars and lots of numismatics, banknotes, stamps, phonecards, Star Wars figures and Magic the Gathering cards. I have been into investing/hoarding of just about everything for years, and there are premiums for everything, the idea that they will not be passed on because silver is somehow different is a little naive.
The 1oz coins appear in my stack as a hangover from my days collecting Liberty Dollars, the ones I have bought as future birthday presents for my niece (all 2011, the year she was born) and the remainder of my dragons. They are not the best way to preserve wealth as you need a lot of fiat to buy them, you lose money on each purchase. You are gambling on the price going up.
Not knocking the smaller stacker, some months I can afford 50oz, this month I have nothing spare for silver. Few people are stacking at a consistent level so we are all small stackers before payday, I just know enough now not to buy an ounce here and an ounce there, stick the money in the bank, earn a bit of interest, make one transaction, get better volume breaks, pay one lot of postage.
Your 2 cents are a lot less rabid than the others
