Silver metal prices

Head to your local coin store. You can buy 1 ounce "silver rounds", which are .999+ fine, for a dollar or less over spot, which at the moment is $13.51 per ounce. If you want 90% silver, US coinage before

1965 (dimes, quarters, halves, dollars) will do that for you; it's a much harder alloy than the .999+ fine that you'll get in the rounds or ingots.

Either way, that's undoubtedly the lowest premium you'll have to pay for rounds. If you tell them you're using it as a raw material, maybe they have some scratched or ugly or unpopular designs they'd sell for slightly less, but generally the pretty ones are at such a low premium that you might not get far with that question. Worth asking though.

A few years ago, I bought silver in form of six 100 oz bars from Kitco. For 5.72 an ounce, which was not very much above the spot price then, I think that it was 5.55 or some such. They handled this purchase professionally and delivered the bars via postal mail, with a modest shipping charge.

So, I can recommend them for bar purchases. Kitco.com.

(for wannabe robbers, even though I still keep the bars, I do not have these bars at home, they are in a bank's safe deposit box. The most valuable commodity that I have at home is ammunition)

You can buy silver at sensible prices (in relation to spot price) on ebay also, with the attendant risks.

Silver is a metal that is used in numerous industries and is often a necessary ingredient whose cost is only a fraction of the cost of the entire product. Examples include silver contacts, silver plated components, etc.

As a result of this, industrial demand for silver is relatively inelastic and does not go down a great deal with increases in price of silver.

Silver is a byproduct of mining other metals and supply of silver is also relatively inelastic (barely goes up with increased price).

There is more silver consumed in these industries every year than is produced every year.

Therefore, as the existing supply of above ground silver is limited, a new equilibrium would need to be established at a higher price, and it could be considerably higher than the prices that previously prevailed.

Silver has enjoyed a decent increase in price recently, but it does not appear that the imbalance between its use and production has changed considerably.

i

Good timing.

I use their charts and if I ever do buy in quantity, I'll probably order from there. Good to know someone I know and trust has dealt with them directly, thank you.

Excellent...

That's what I'm hoping for. Not betting grocery money on it, but a little here, a little there, pretty soon it adds up. (note to robbers, mine is in a vault as well so don't bother here either).

Exactly. Also, from what I understand, China is buying quite a bit of it because their demand far outstrips domestic supply. Unless you expect China's industrial ramp-up to reverse any time soon, I think it's safe to think it'll keep going up.

It was not great, it went down to about $4.70 per ounce afterwards, and stayed there.

Thank you. They were good, no complaints from me.

I agree. I would be a little more cautious about investing in silver at current prices, but I am not yet selling.

i

Be careful setting your prices as silver is climbing rapidly.

Demand exceeds supply, China is using more all the time and there is also a great deal of speculation.

Kitco has charts giving live silver prices as well.

Tom

They also have a toolbar program for windows that displays live silver prices.

i

Iggy, if you do want to sell one of those bars at some point, let me know - if I can swing it, I'll pay spot for it, where a dealer would give you 5% less or so (and charge me 5% more). I think it's my turn to feed _you_.

Dave, yes, I will absolutely keep you in mind, it would be great to cut out the middleman.

i