Posted on 11/30/2010 4:23:48 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
NEW YORK, (Reuters) - The U.S. Mint's American Eagle silver coins sales are set to rise to a record above 4 million ounces in November, as a European sovereign debt crisis and economic uncertainty prompted individual investors to bet on silver and gold as safe havens.
Total sales of the popular one-ounce silver American Eagles rose to 4.2 million coins in November, the highest monthly sales since their introduction in 1986. In October 3.2 million one-ounce Eagles were sold, the Mint's web site showed on Tuesday.
The figure does not include sales from Nov. 30 but is already well above the monthly average of about 3 million coins this year.
Year-to-date sales of the 99.9-percent pure silver Eagles totaled 33 million coins, an all-time high, surpassing the 29 million in the entire year of 2009.
"The underlying, basic reasons for the silver market's rise are really gold-oriented, but the speculative element of silver continues to be a big driver," said Bill O'Neill, partner of New Jersey-based commodities firm LOGIC Advisors.
O'Neill said that a well-established retail coin-dealer network helped increase sales of the silver Eagles. He called silver a "speculative playground" and does not recommend trading it due to high volatility.
Silver, gold and platinum group metals have benefited from the fiscal crises in Greece, Ireland that could also spread to other European nations, lingering worries about economic growth and inflation concerns.
Year to date, silver was up nearly 70 percent and gold was almost 30 percent higher. On Tuesday, silver rose 4 percent to $28.20 an ounce and gold climbed over 1 percent to $1,385.
In May, precious metals coin and bar dealers reported that investors were turning to gold and silver coins to protect their nest eggs from market turmoil.
For gold American Eagles, November sales to date totaled 112,500 ounces, slightly below the levels in October and September and this year's monthly average of about 140,000 ounces.
November's volume was sharply below a 2010 high of 452,000 ounces set in June.
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I am not a coin dealer, nor do I play one on TV. You pays you money and you takes your choice.
I do agree with you on a business level, but I just got another 16 oz. of silver in the mail today, and it already is worth more than the shipping, markup and taxes from the spot price last week.
Hard currency is there more for a backstop if the Federal Reserve notes become worthless.
I have a few old silver coins that I have had for many years.
I picked them out of change at face value.
Is now the time to for me to sell?
Other than that I would just leave them for my grand kids.
Will Silver ever be higher?
Keep the silver. It is a better question to ask if silver will ever be lower, not higher.
I am no financial adviser, but would ask the question, what would you do with the money if you did?
Other than that I would just leave them for my grand kids.
Why would this ever be a bad thing?
Will Silver ever be higher?
Ask yourself -- will the dollar ever be lower?
No, you're paying a premium over the value of silver because of the usefulness of pure silver ounces whose purity is guaranteed by the US government.
Again, my highly inexpert recommendation is to buy junk silver (pre-1964) coins if possible. There you're paying only a little bit over the value of the silver content.
But if you sell, you are receiving between 40-75 percent of the silver value. According to coinflation, $1 junk silver (not silver dollar) is worth $20.33 in silver. Most places buying that I'm aware of offer $8-15/1 when you sell. By contrast American eagles bring more than the value of silver when they are sold. (I've been offered 50 cents over spot.)
You are both right.
Thanks.
None of these silver rounds/coins are of any greater value to collectors save that a government issued them and certified the content of silver at 99.999%. The shape of this form of silver is a convenience for transport/use as “currency” after the fall of western economy (paper money no longer useful).
Bump
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