Fine Metals

[HSmomto4]

I know we had a gold thread but I wanted to start another one for all fine metals. There are so many of us who have never bought gold or silver before that I really think we need a thread with information on how to buy and where to buy and then any news that comes about for any fine metal.

We can also post the daily value of fine metals as the news only post gold prices.

[HSmomto4]

OK I found a local dealer for silver bullion. What do I do now? Call him and just ask if he has any in stock and if so how much it cost?

[lmenningen]

kitco.com for live-update prices, the top left tab is "All Metal Quotes"

[Abiding Patience]

Coinflation has daily updates on the current value of metal content in coins.
Silver, Nickel as well as Copper.

http://www.coinflation.com/

[FarmBoy]

OK I found a local dealer for silver bullion. What do I do now? Call him and just ask if he has any in stock and if so how much it cost?

As others have mentioned you need to be aware of the "spot price" or the going rate. A dealer will sell above that price so this is where you bargain shop. Ask them how much the particular coin/bar is above spot, the closer to spot the better.

They also buy from you below spot (discounted) again the closer to spot the better. lately some silver dealers have been buying above spot in order to bring up inventory levels. That is a good indication of how hot that market is.

fwiw - pawn shops etc. prey upon the ignorance of people and buy jewelry etc. 30-40% below spot. They then send it to a smelter who pays 1-2% below spot. Same thing with guys on Craigslist looking to buy gold jewelry.

[Janae]

I know we had a gold thread but I wanted to start another one for all fine metals. There are so many of us who have never bought gold or silver before that I really think we need a thread with information on how to buy and where to buy and then any news that comes about for any fine metal.

We can also post the daily value of fine metals as the news only post gold prices.


What a good idea! Thanks!

[Jubilee21]

You may want to research this a bit to be sure you do not get burned if its true...

http://news.silverseek.com/GoldIsMoney/1206572052.php

Since I advocate that you hold your own bullion yourself, I've wondered if the business practices of Kitco gave them a bias to rarely ever publish my articles, even though I was an advertiser for years, and my articles appeared far more regularly at gold-eagle.com and goldseek.com. I think I finally figured it out, and it's time for me to finally burn my bridge to kitco; as I don't need them anyway, and stopped advertising with them a while ago.

Kitco is a partner in a bullion certificate scheme with the Perth Mint, and also offers a pool account like Perth Mint does.
https://online.kitco.com/pmcp/

I believe, but cannnot prove, that Kitco is short of bullion owed to their own customers in their pool account, and this would explain why they publish the anti-gold articles that they do. If you own precious metal in a pool account or certificate form with anyone, Kitco, Perth, Monex, Goldline, any Major Bank or Brokerage, or anyone else, I think you would be wise to cash out, and get real silver somewhere else, even if you have to pay extra fees to do so.

[HSmomto4]

I read that article yesterday so I wanted to make sure I bought real silver that I could hold!

[HSmomto4]

I found a shop near me that sells it for $1 above spot and buys at 50 cents below spot. Is this OK or should I keep looking? He said he had a lot of rounds and some 1, 5 and 10 ounce bars. What should we be using for these times, the rounds or bars?

[Waiting2go]

I found a shop near me that sells it for $1 above spot and buys at 50 cents below spot. Is this OK or should I keep looking? He said he had a lot of rounds and some 1, 5 and 10 ounce bars. What should we be using for these times, the rounds or bars?

From all my calling around yesterday, that sounds pretty good. The norm around here is $2 above spot and I only found one place that bought at 50 cents below spot, the others were $1 below spot. I did find a jewelry store that sells them - they sell at $2 above spot and buys back at spot (which is great), but only if you bought from them. Everyone was sold out though, except for one place that had 35-40 1 ounces. Oh, how I wish I had the money to go and buy all of them, cause I'm sure he won't have them long. Still praying about if I should buy some and how much at a time.

I could be wrong, but I think the bars are the preference. I haven't heard of rounds. Are they referring to coins, by any chance? If so, someone on another thread said to steer clear of those.