Silver Nuggets

Silver nuggets are rare but can still be found when prospecting, usually for gold.

Silver nuggets are wriggly bits of silver prospectors may find on the surface when panning in streams or rocky outcrops. Also by metal detection. As in gold nuggets, silver nuggets are found on the surface rather than underground or open face mining. They are rare as most silver is found underground and usually combined with sulfur, arsenic and other nasties. Also in various ores such as argentite and chlorargyrite.
In May 2000 a giant silver nugget, weighing in at 165 kilograms, was discovered at the Elizabeth Hill mine near Karratha in the Pilbarra Region in Australia. This is thought to be the largest silver nugget discovered in Australia.

Silver nuggets are also lumps of silver used to create necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other ornaments. These nuggets are not those found in the ground but small pieces of silver designed for this purpose.

There is also a silver coin from Australia sometimes called the silver nugget but we don’t mean that. Silver nuggets is also a term used for silver used in the jewelery business for the creation of necklaces, earrings, pendants and so forth but we don't mean that either.

Silver nuggets are so rare though that it would be a good idea and easier to collect silver coins such as the early US silver dollars or, American silver Eagles, Morgans or Canadian Silver Maple Leaf coins and silver rounds.

Silver rounds are still easily obtainable despite the shortage of silver and can be purchased from most reputable dealers, and are usually available in one ounce coins. Most of the popular coins are 99.9 percent pure silver and, when it comers to investment in silver bullion, it is recommended to stick to silver rounds if possible as these have a low premium.

Silver nuggets can occasionally be found at eBay and other auctions as well as precious metal dealers, sometimes they can be found advertised in auctions such as eBay and other precious metal auctions. Here one needs to take care that the seller is genuine and that the product is as described. Silver nuggets are rare enough that one needs to do some due diligence before buying silver nuggets sight unseen at auctions.

If you are fortunate to come across a genuine silver nugget in your research and travels through the precious metal world it is likely you will have a interesting time with your collection and will have something interesting to show your friends.

Silver

Silver is a precious metal with the chemical symbol of AG from the Latin word Argentum.

Silver is a bright silvery colored (naturally) hard metal used in a variety of ways including industry, photography, cutlery and art as well as investment and jewelry.
Due to its excellent electrical conducting properties, silver is used in industry extensively for printed circuit boards and contacts. You will also find it used on the back of high quality mirrors as well as being applied in chemical reactions to produce other chemicals in which silver plays a part. Of course virtually everyone knows that silver is used in photography as well.

Unlike gold, silver does tarnish in the presence of certain chemicals, namely oxygen, ozone, hydrogen sulfide and air which contains sulfur. But it is easily cleaned and the tarnish rubbed off with a suitable cleaner.

Silver is even used in the health industry, such as dental and colloidal silver for its anti-bacterial for example. Hippocrates noted that silver had healing properties when correctly used.

So silver is a good all round precious metal with many uses

Of more interest to us is the investment side of silver. Because it is used in industry and other areas silver gets 'used up' and not replaced. Coupled with the small amount of silver mined means that silver is actually in short supply and this makes it an excellent investment vehicle.

Silver comes in either pure silver, such as in silver bullion bars of silver coins and rounds, or as sterling silver where the amount of silver is 92.5 and the balance is usually copper to give the silver more durability. Junk silver coins, early American dollars, dimes and quarters for example and even early British sixpences, contain a quantity of silver anywhere from around 45 percent up to ninety percent.
All these are valid forms of silver investment with the only question be, how much do you pay for them. Obviously one goes for the cheapest or the silver with the smallest premium. This would be silver rounds, junk silver and the larger silver bullion bars. Other forms have a higher premium, i.e. you pay more for the silver per ounce.

Silver, ounce for ounce, is cheaper than gold at the moment. So you can buy more for the same money. The disadvantage is that for the same amount of money you have to ship and store more silver by weight.

One of the best ways of accumulating silver which obviates these problems is using an escrow service. Here you open an account with a company that will sell you the silver at a nominal premium and store it for you. The storage is insured and you do not have the shipping and security issues.

Another advantage is that you are not restricted in the quantity of silver you buy, whether small or large, you can buy any amount and, if and when the time comes, just as easily sell it again. In fact one can take delivery of gold bullion in ones account in the form of pure 1000 gram gold bullion bars delivered to most of the western world.

The same applies to gold of course and one can have a balance of assets in both gold and silver this way.

But whatever your preference, buying silver is an excellent way to store some of your assets and preserve their value.

Silver Investment

Silver Investment is a wise choice these days with the declining stock of silver and less mining occurring.

Silver is heavily used in industry due to its excellent thermal conductivity and electrical properties and is also still heavily used in photography despite the advent of digital photography.

Less than 30 percent of all silver is used in jewelery and around 20 percent used for investment and the purchase of silver bullion. The rest is used in industry and photography and so more silver gets lost through use each year.

In addition, the return through scrap is less than five percent and the world silver stock piles are depleting faster than silver can be mined out of the ground.

Less than thirty percent of all silver mined comes from mines that produce silver exclusively. Most of the silver produced is obtained as a result of other mining activities and there are no new silver mines currently started.

So the demand for silver is not likely to decrease especially with world demand increasing.

Silver investment can take many forms including silver exchange traded funds (ETFs), stocks & shares and silver bullion.

Silver etfs (exchange traded funds)
Silver exchange traded funds are simply a fund based upon the price of silver futures. One is not actually investing in silver as one is unable to buy or sell actual silver. One is simply buying into a fund, much like any other fund. Silver etfs are supposed to be backed by silver but there have been questions about the authenticity of that claim.

Regardless of the whys and wherefores, however, it is not an actual investment in silver bullion.

Silver Stocks and Shares
Here one is investing not in the commodity but in the management of mining. Most silver mining companies actually mine other products and silver is largely a by-product of that mining. Many mining companies also diversify into other areas, buying and setting assets, mining claims and even other mining companies. So the value of your stock in such companies is dependent more upon the management of that company than the actual silver value mined, if any, from the ground.

Investing in stock and shares of mining companies may be an interesting exercise, but it is not actually investing in silver.

Silver Bullion
Here we are looking at Silver investment in actual silver. One can buy silver coins, such as US Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs or even Chinese Pandas and many other silver coins. This is actual investment in silver. Of the actual silver investments, this is probably the most expensive. Such silver coins have a high production cost resulting in a high premium and which is inevitably passed to the buyer. Silver rounds and bullion bars present a better buy as the premium is lower due to less manufacturing costs involved.

Silver in Account
This is possibly the best and easiest way to invest in silver. Here there are no problems of shipping and storage or insurance or security issues to worry about. One simply opens an account at GoldMoney and then funds the account on a regular basis. For a nominal premium and storage fee, one can have silver deposited into ones account. The actual silver resides in bank vaults in either London or Zurich and is insured by Lloyds of London. It is also audited on a regular basis. Here the silver in your account is not represented by anything but is actually silver bullion in your name and legally owned by you. It is also possible to redeem silver from your account although this would probably defeat the ongoing benefits of having the account. the same applies to gold incidentally. One can also take delivery of ones gold in 1000 gold bullion bars if required.

Last Word on Silver Investment
Whatever method of silver investment you decide will depend on the benefits of each type of investment and whether you just want to play with the price of silver or are seriously investing for the long term.

In any event, silver investment is sure to be beneficial in the coming future years.

Investing in Silver

There are a number of ways of investing in silver.

One can invest in silver bullion, Silver coins, Silver stocks, such as mining companies, silver ETFs (exchange traded funds) to name but a few. The question is, which silver investment vehicle is the best? Taking them in reverse order.

Silver etfs (exchange traded funds)
This is probably the most precarious way of investing in silver. Indeed, it is considered by some experts that one is not investing in silver at all but merely investing in the price of silver when one invests in silver exchange traded funds.

A silver exchange traded fund is simply a fund that uses silver to some degree, as a collateral for the shares one buys. These shares are called exchange traded funds as one can simply buy and sell them, much as one can with stocks and shares. The silver represented cannot be redeemed but one simply buys in or sells out according to how one considers the price of silver is going to move.

So investing in silver exchange traded funds is as far removed from investing in silver as it is possible to get and still retain the word silver in the same sentence.

Silver Stocks
Silver stocks are another way of not investing in silver. Here one is investing in the company that, usually, mines silver. The problem is that mining companies diversify and will mine other minerals so you are not only dependent upon the company’s ability to get silver out of the earth but other minerals also. Not only that but the management of the company resulting in the profit and loss ratio as well as other non silver activities all affect the price of the stock one is investing in. So investing in companies mining in silver or even companies that invest or hold a stake in silver mining companies is still removed from an actual silver investment.

Silver Coins
Investing in silver coins is much closer to an investing in silver. There are many different types of silver coins one can invest in. American Eagles, Canadian Maples, junk silver coins, rounds. Each are different. But the most notable difference is in the price to value ratio.

The premium on silver eagles and maples leafs is higher than say that of junk silver. Junk silver is another name for bags of US silver coins struck prior to 1964. These silver coins had a silver purity of 90 percent. The balance of metal used being copper and other metals included to assist in the durability of the coin. One can buy bags of silver coins consisting of dimes, quarters or half dollars.

Silver rounds are another good buy. Silver rounds are silver coins manufactured by private mints. Such as, Northwest Territorial Mint, Sunshine Silver, and monex for example. Silver rounds are still silver coins but have no status as legal tender. They are simply pieces of silver in coin form. Hence the premium on them is a lot less than say American Silver Eagles, or the Canadian Silver Maple leaf.

They are an excellent way of investing in silver.

Silver Bullion
Here we have the crème de la crème of silver investment. This is how most silver investors invest their funds. Here we have silver in the form of ingots and bars. These can be in ounces or kilograms. The premium or mark up is less and the silver content is usually .999 percent fine with no additional minerals or impurities.

However, compared to gold and platinum the value of silver is low and to amass large quantities of silver means that one can have a transport and storage issue for the larger amounts. One way around this is to buy silver from GoldMoney. Here one can open a account free and buy silver (or gold for that matter, which one cal also take delivery of in 1000 gram gold bullion bars) as a reasonable fee and have it stored for you in Switzerland or London in a bank vault. The precious metal is fully insured and audited on a regular basis and the big advantage here is that you can buy and even sell any amount with no minimum or maximum. Ideal for a regular savings plan.

With silver in chronic short supply and being more heavily used in industry than ever before, investing in silver is a wise move.

Buy a Bag of Silver Coins

An excellent way to buy silver is to buy a bag of silver coins. Especially the old US silver coins prior to 1964.

Sometimes called 'junk silver' these are actually a very good way of buying silver since the value of silver has increased over the years. These coins now have a significant value and, as there is a limited supply, the demand has shot up.
The silver content in these coins is around forty to ninety percent so a bag of these silver coins can be worth almost their weight in ... silver!

For example. A dollar (face value) of silver dimes weight in the same as one dollar in silver quarters with the same silver content. It also weighs the same as one dollar in silver half dollars. Ten dimes, four quarters or 2 halves, then, all have the same weight and are composed of 90 percent silver. A typical silver dollar face value coin contains around 71 percent of pure silver. So the coin, regardless of condition, is worth more for the silver content than for the face value.

These coins, by the way, are also still legal tender and still have purchasing power.

So buying bags of silver coins can be a great investment. Besides, if the value of silver did drop, unlikely given the severe shortage, then the proportionate loss of value of the bag would be less. In other words, your coins would still have the legal tender value.

You can still buy bags of silver coins to a face value of one thousand dollars. Sometimes smaller bags are available also. In fact it is possible, with some patient research, to buy bags down to 200, 100 and even 50 dollars face value per bag. A fifty dollar face value bag, including the mark up or premium, would likely cost around 400-500 dollars and in that bag would be a mixed variety of pre 1964 silver coins with a silver content of around 90 percent.

If you get such a bag it would be worth while checking each coin as it is still possible to find a valuable silver Morgan in the bag.

Regardless of the movement of paper currency, the stability of silver ensures that one’s asset is more secure when you buy a bag of silver coins.