Excellent, astute post ASD. And I agree, Am Eagles -gold and silver- carry a hefty premium, but as you say, you get more then spot when you sell, so it's a wash.
And actually, I suggest buying the plain 1 oz silver bars with or without the ridiculous etchings on them. And of course, the best value when buying silver is to buy one hundred oz bars!! Far, far less premium then all the 1 oz coins.
(when buying 100oz bars, just make sure to buy from reputable, well established coin dealer because from time to time there have been reports of 100 oz bars having been tooled out and were partially filled with lead. Get and save your receipt from that coin dealer) Ask on silver now at 6:15 cst $15.61
If you think Ag is going higher, you should have no compunction against the silly premia asked for AEs, because allegedly the high premia will come back on sale. But that's only if Ag rises. I don't happen to have that view and I don't think the premia come back on sale.
The metal I believe is on sale now with REAL WORLD fundamentals behind it is Palladium because Volkswagen has an appointment to become the world's largest Pd buyer to fix their smog snafu. Possibly Pt. But Pd is rather illiquid and Pt is atrocious. By "illiquid" I mean the buy/sell spreads are punitive. Can buy Cana Pd/Pt Maples. Quite frankly, I have been as neutral on metals as its possible to be for about 5 years and have not bot nor sold any other than random handfuls of coins I come across at bargain prices. Now I am leaning bearish.
The idea that Pt is $950 while gold is $1234 (+$40!) is utterly stupid. Pt is easily 10x as rare as gold.