( 
)Type of investments in physical silver. Part 1. March 2009.
In this article I ‘m going to talk about the type of physical silver investment available.
Ground Rule
Don’t buy any paper silver investment. Paper silver is a fraud. Buy something where you can take hold of it. Avoid any paper silver investment whether it is allocated or not.
Silver Locality
The silver you hold should be stored nearby the place you live. In the future beyond 2012 the price of fuel is very expensive in the region of USD300/- per barrel. Thus, it will be very difficult and expensive for you to retrieve your silver if it is stored in Hong Kong or Australia while you are staying in Kuala Lumpur. Unless you have some plan to migrate there in 2010 or 2011 then it’s another story.
If you have large shipment of silver coins or bullion > 500 oz, the best place to store it is Singapore. There is a GST of 7% but it worth paying because it the cheapest tax rate for silver in South East Asia. For 500 oz of silver, it cannot escape custom attention. Over here it in Malaysia the tax rate is 15.5% of the invoice amount + carriage and insurance.
The extra 8.5% which you’ve saved is sufficient to pay for the storage fee for a long time in Singapore. The storage fee for personal safe deposit box starts from SGD$99.00 per year until SGD$799.00 per year. Furthermore, CISCO CERTIS has a good reputation in security. You can never have such a secure safe deposit in Malaysia other than Bank Negara vault which not accessible to the masses public. Most of the buyer and purchasing power are in Singapore, thus it is best to store silver there if you can make the necessary arrangement. Most buyers there buy in tube of 20 or 25 coins and few big buyers buy in box of 500 oz. Over here, most of the buyers just brought about 10 oz per person. If you need some coins, you can always take a flight, bus, train and drive down to Singapore and hand carry it back to Malaysia.
For silver bar 100 oz , 1000 oz bar , there is no tax in Malaysia so you may want to consider storing them over here in Malaysia. For other countries, you may need to check it out yourself.
Type of silver investment
1.Common bullion coin such as Silver Maple Leaf, Silver Eagle, Silver Philharmonic and Silver Mexican Libertad.
2. Premium bullion coin with limited yearly mintage such as China Silver Panda, Australia Perth Mint Silver Koala, Silver Kookaburra, Silver Lunar and Silver Kangaroo.
3. Common silver round such as A-mark, NWT, Pan AM Round, Buffalo Round.
4. Silver BAR, PAN-AM, NWT bar, Perth Mint, Johnson Mathey Bar.
5. Junk silver coin such as US 90% silver coin, US 40% silver coin, Canadian 80% Silver coin and Canadian 60% Silver coin.
At this stage of time, it is still too early to know which one type of silver investment will give the best yield. Thus, one should diversify into each of these five categories to reduce the risk. Now let us look at the pro and cons of each category of physical silver investment.
Category 1. Common Bullion Coin
For those who are unfamiliar with silver investment, then start with common bullion coin first. This is the most liquid form of silver available. It is much easier to sell a Silver Maple leaf compare to a 100 oz silver bar or silver ingot.
Some of the considerations for common bullion coin are
1a) Face value of the coin
Canadian Maple Leaf has the highest face value of CAN $5.00. Perhaps, one of the reasons is that in the 1960s, Canada has 80% silver dollar coin which has a face value of CAN $1.00. Thus, a pure silver coin should have a higher face value.
No Bullion/Numismatic Silver Coin 1 oz Face Value
1 Silver Maple CAN $5.00
2 American Silver Eagle USD $1.00
3 Austrian Silver Philharmonics EUR $1.50
4 Australian Koala, kookaburra, Kangaroo, Lunar AUS $1.00
5 Mexican Libertad 1 ONZA (no face value)
6 Chinese Panda 10 YUAN
1b) The purity of the coin
Only Canadian Maple leaf has the highest silver purity of 9999 and the rest of the silver coin only has a purity of 999. Please bear in mind that since Maple Leaf has the highest purity, it is more prone to silver toning, tarnishing, oxidation and impurity in manufacturing. Thus, you really need to take care of these Maple Leaf coins by putting it in an air-tight capsule or air-tight sealed tube. Otherwise, the shining silver will be gone within 6 months to 2 years depending on the coin storage condition.
1c) The popularity of the coin.
You have to consider the place/region you live in whether the people know the authenticity of these coins. In Malaysia, when people see a Maple Leaf coin, they know for sure it is an authentic. You don’t have the trouble of convincing people. Partly because Maple Leaf has been in the bullion business for a long time and its recognition is known world wide even to those uneducated people. The popularity is lesser for other bullion coin. Bear in mind popularity is specific to each region, for example Single Eagle is more popular in USA. Silver Philharmonics is well-known in Europe.
1d) The esthetic of the coin
If you compare all the coin, Maple Leaf has a very dull look. From my experience, after seeing most of the coin, people preferred to buy more Silver America Eagle than Silver Maple leaf. In my opportunity, the most beautiful common bullion coins are in the following order Mexican Libertad, Silver Eagle, Silver Philharmonic and lastly Silver Maple.
1e) Special issue
In some occasion, there will be a special issue for Silver Maple such as Olympic 2010 coin for 2008 , 2009 and 2010 (not out yet). There are also special privy/marking for some Maple coin such as Leo privy, Cancer privy, Lunar privy (PIG, SNAKE etc). These coins have a lower mintage then normal Silver Maple leaf. However, it has a higher premium than normal maple leaf coin. I am not sure about the normal practice but for Canadian Vancouver Olympic 2010 silver Maple, most of the reseller such as Kitco are restricting the sales of Maple Olympic to Canadian residents first, followed by US residents.
The unique thing about these coins is it is still recognizable as Maple Leaf coin and yet it looks a bit different from normal Maple Leaf coin. Thus, may command a numismatic value in the future. There are also some special issues of American Silver eagle coin, however I don’t have much info about it.
If you want to get hold of these coins, you must be alert when the issue is announced by the respective MINT, you should place an order soon while the MINT is still minting it. If you are not allowed to purchase it, then you can still buy it from Canadian or USA residents who have brought it early. Thus, you have to pay a slightly higher price.
1f) Numismatic Value
Each year, more than 1 million of Silver Maple, Silver eagle and Silver Philharmonic are minted. In order to have a numismatic value, it must be a popular coin and yet it is very rare. The only way to achieve these objectives is to have a low mintage of special issue silver Maple leaf coin such as Silver Maple Olympic 2010.
In additional to that, if you just want a term of reference, having a few coins is good enough. Every year, the Canadian Maple Leaf, American Silver Eagle looks the exactly same except for the printed year of the coin. Is it wise to have a complete collection of all years? I shall leave it up to you to decide. Thus, it is more to the silver content of the coin.
Category 2. Premium Bullion Coin
These coins have a lower yearly mintage and one side of the coin changes every year.
These two factors enable the mint to drive more sales from customer and charge them a higher price. The key variable for these coins are the need for esthetic coin design every year and the number of coins to mint in order to get the right premium. Buyers are keen to buy every year because every year the coin looks different.
2a) Numismatic Value
It is not a dull coin like Silver Maple, Silver eagle and Silver Philharmonic. Every year, the coin look different and after it is minted it will never be reproduced again (MINT Claim). Thus, it has a numismatic value as time goes by. Normally, older Koala, Kookaburra, Panda coin tends to command a higher price than the newer one. If you want to get hold of these coins, you must be alert when the issue is announced by the respective MINT, you should place an order soon while the MINT is still minting it. If you missed the dead line, then you can still buy it from ebay at a slight higher price. Just don’t wait too long to get it, otherwise you may need to pay a very high price.
2b) Premium
The premium is much higher than common bullion coin.
When it was initially release by Perth Mint, silver Kookaburra was selling at AUS31.90 or USD20.80 per oz when the spot silver price is averaging about USD11/=. The eagle and maple is selling at about USD15/-. USD4/- premium compared to about USD10/= premium for Perth Mint coin. Since the premium is so high, it is not wise to buy so many coins for investment but rather more for collection. In the future, I expect people will not pay much for numismatic value due to prolong global recession. I think people will be more keens to pay for the silver content in the coin.
General rule of thumb for me
First coin for own collection
Second coin for spare
Third coin and beyond are for exchange
2c) The popularity of the coin.
It is less popular than Silver Maple, Silver eagle but it is more popular than silver bars and silver round. Since Perth mint has been in business for quite some time, most educated people will not dispute the purity of Perth Mint coin and authentic Chinese Panda coin. Bear in mind, Chinese people may have more preferences to China Silver Panda coin.
Category 3 common silver round such as A-mark, NWT, Pan AM Round, Buffalo Round.
These coins are privately minted and do not have any face value on it. It ‘s also does not have the government endorsement symbol on the coin such as United States of America, CANADA and AUSTRALIA. It is priced from USD 1 to USD 3 /- above the silver spot price. Let said the silver spot price is USD10/-, these silver round will cost above USD12/- per oz in large quantity. There are also silver round for OBAMA the first black president for USA. Most private minting company will only mint silver round when you have 5000 oz or more silver to mint.
There are so many type lot of silver round available in USA. Personally, I will value these silver rounds only by its silver content and nothing else.
3a) Popularity
Most of these silver rounds are not popular and people may have doubt whether the round is a 999 silver round or something else. Some silver mining and minting company such as A-mark, Pan AM and NWT mint do produce/mint their own silver round. The popularity of these silver rounds will depend on the popularity of the mining or minting company.
3b) Liquidity
It is more liquid than 100 oz bar.
Category 4. Invest in silver BAR, PAN-AM, NWT bar, Johnson Mathey Bar.
Silver bar comes in 1oz, 2oz, 5oz, 10oz, 20oz, kilobar, 100oz and 1000 oz. Make sure the silver bar has a vendor hall-mark with it such as Perth Mint, Johnson Mathey, PAN-AM, EngelHard etc. If the silver bar does not have a popular hall-mark then people may doubt the silver content of the silver bar. The only way to verify the silver content is to melt it down. Some assaying services are available for some charges. Thus, these are some of the additional charges you need to pay when you dispose off some unknown silver bar. Given the choice, I will choose the following
4a) PAN-Am 1 oz bar, 5 oz bar.
Hold it for about 2 -3 years, resell it back to other silver investor when they realize the potential in silver.
4b) Kilobar and 100 oz bar
Hold if for about 4- 8 years, resell it back to factory which need silver for their manufacturing process. These bars are very illiquid, in one year maybe there are only few interested buyer in Malaysia.
4c) Esthetic
PAN-AM and NWT looks the best for 1oz, 5 oz and 10 oz bar. For 100oz bar it looks like a small brick. Perth mint silver bar does not look as good as PAN-AM bar.
4d) Pricing
PAN-AM and NWT are among the cheapest form of silver bar available by the silver mining company. However, the delivery time for these bars are ranging from 12 – 20 weeks from the day the payment is done. You may be able to buy these bars as low as USD0.90 per oz above silver spot value for 5000 oz order. Minimum order is 50 oz with a price of USD1.40 per oz above silver spot price. You can check the price at nwtmint silver website . You need to be aware that if there is any crisis break up in USA before the delivery of your goods, you will be in big trouble.
You may be able to get other silver bar at a cheaper rate from other mining, minting or silver assaying company. However, most of them will sell in large quantity with a minimum order of 5000oz. Perth mint also sells silver bar, however their price is not so attractive. Perth mint sells 10 oz bar at above 20% premium above silver spot, kilobar and 100 oz bar at 17% premium above silver spot. Freight and insurance excluded. As I last recall, the delivery from Perth Mint is about 1 month.
4e) Weight
Some of the bars especially the big one does not have the exact weight. For 1000oz bar, it may weight anywhere 930 oz or 1080 oz. However, the buyer will pay the exact price for the exact weight. Some 10 oz bar may weight slight more than 10 oz such as 10.2 oz.
4f) Size
Silver bars are easily stackable. A 100 oz bar takes up 1/5 the space of a 100 oz silver coin. Thus, silver in form of 100oz bar is in excellent storage form.
TO BE CONTINUE PART2.................
Please continue reading for part 2. Because ebay limits the number of character to 20,000 per guide.
Thanks for reading, if you have anything please feel free to message at my ebay id: silvermalaysia, do visit my store at My ebay link
Disclaimer: I shall not be liable for anything if you follow any of my advice. Please do your own due homework first before you invest your money in anything. If you lose money by buying silver don’t blame me ok.
In this article I ‘m going to talk about the type of physical silver investment available.
Ground Rule
Don’t buy any paper silver investment. Paper silver is a fraud. Buy something where you can take hold of it. Avoid any paper silver investment whether it is allocated or not.
Silver Locality
The silver you hold should be stored nearby the place you live. In the future beyond 2012 the price of fuel is very expensive in the region of USD300/- per barrel. Thus, it will be very difficult and expensive for you to retrieve your silver if it is stored in Hong Kong or Australia while you are staying in Kuala Lumpur. Unless you have some plan to migrate there in 2010 or 2011 then it’s another story.
If you have large shipment of silver coins or bullion > 500 oz, the best place to store it is Singapore. There is a GST of 7% but it worth paying because it the cheapest tax rate for silver in South East Asia. For 500 oz of silver, it cannot escape custom attention. Over here it in Malaysia the tax rate is 15.5% of the invoice amount + carriage and insurance.
The extra 8.5% which you’ve saved is sufficient to pay for the storage fee for a long time in Singapore. The storage fee for personal safe deposit box starts from SGD$99.00 per year until SGD$799.00 per year. Furthermore, CISCO CERTIS has a good reputation in security. You can never have such a secure safe deposit in Malaysia other than Bank Negara vault which not accessible to the masses public. Most of the buyer and purchasing power are in Singapore, thus it is best to store silver there if you can make the necessary arrangement. Most buyers there buy in tube of 20 or 25 coins and few big buyers buy in box of 500 oz. Over here, most of the buyers just brought about 10 oz per person. If you need some coins, you can always take a flight, bus, train and drive down to Singapore and hand carry it back to Malaysia.
For silver bar 100 oz , 1000 oz bar , there is no tax in Malaysia so you may want to consider storing them over here in Malaysia. For other countries, you may need to check it out yourself.
Type of silver investment
1.Common bullion coin such as Silver Maple Leaf, Silver Eagle, Silver Philharmonic and Silver Mexican Libertad.
2. Premium bullion coin with limited yearly mintage such as China Silver Panda, Australia Perth Mint Silver Koala, Silver Kookaburra, Silver Lunar and Silver Kangaroo.
3. Common silver round such as A-mark, NWT, Pan AM Round, Buffalo Round.
4. Silver BAR, PAN-AM, NWT bar, Perth Mint, Johnson Mathey Bar.
5. Junk silver coin such as US 90% silver coin, US 40% silver coin, Canadian 80% Silver coin and Canadian 60% Silver coin.
At this stage of time, it is still too early to know which one type of silver investment will give the best yield. Thus, one should diversify into each of these five categories to reduce the risk. Now let us look at the pro and cons of each category of physical silver investment.
Category 1. Common Bullion Coin
For those who are unfamiliar with silver investment, then start with common bullion coin first. This is the most liquid form of silver available. It is much easier to sell a Silver Maple leaf compare to a 100 oz silver bar or silver ingot.
Some of the considerations for common bullion coin are
1a) Face value of the coin
Canadian Maple Leaf has the highest face value of CAN $5.00. Perhaps, one of the reasons is that in the 1960s, Canada has 80% silver dollar coin which has a face value of CAN $1.00. Thus, a pure silver coin should have a higher face value.
No Bullion/Numismatic Silver Coin 1 oz Face Value
1 Silver Maple CAN $5.00
2 American Silver Eagle USD $1.00
3 Austrian Silver Philharmonics EUR $1.50
4 Australian Koala, kookaburra, Kangaroo, Lunar AUS $1.00
5 Mexican Libertad 1 ONZA (no face value)
6 Chinese Panda 10 YUAN
1b) The purity of the coin
Only Canadian Maple leaf has the highest silver purity of 9999 and the rest of the silver coin only has a purity of 999. Please bear in mind that since Maple Leaf has the highest purity, it is more prone to silver toning, tarnishing, oxidation and impurity in manufacturing. Thus, you really need to take care of these Maple Leaf coins by putting it in an air-tight capsule or air-tight sealed tube. Otherwise, the shining silver will be gone within 6 months to 2 years depending on the coin storage condition.
1c) The popularity of the coin.
You have to consider the place/region you live in whether the people know the authenticity of these coins. In Malaysia, when people see a Maple Leaf coin, they know for sure it is an authentic. You don’t have the trouble of convincing people. Partly because Maple Leaf has been in the bullion business for a long time and its recognition is known world wide even to those uneducated people. The popularity is lesser for other bullion coin. Bear in mind popularity is specific to each region, for example Single Eagle is more popular in USA. Silver Philharmonics is well-known in Europe.
1d) The esthetic of the coin
If you compare all the coin, Maple Leaf has a very dull look. From my experience, after seeing most of the coin, people preferred to buy more Silver America Eagle than Silver Maple leaf. In my opportunity, the most beautiful common bullion coins are in the following order Mexican Libertad, Silver Eagle, Silver Philharmonic and lastly Silver Maple.
1e) Special issue
In some occasion, there will be a special issue for Silver Maple such as Olympic 2010 coin for 2008 , 2009 and 2010 (not out yet). There are also special privy/marking for some Maple coin such as Leo privy, Cancer privy, Lunar privy (PIG, SNAKE etc). These coins have a lower mintage then normal Silver Maple leaf. However, it has a higher premium than normal maple leaf coin. I am not sure about the normal practice but for Canadian Vancouver Olympic 2010 silver Maple, most of the reseller such as Kitco are restricting the sales of Maple Olympic to Canadian residents first, followed by US residents.
The unique thing about these coins is it is still recognizable as Maple Leaf coin and yet it looks a bit different from normal Maple Leaf coin. Thus, may command a numismatic value in the future. There are also some special issues of American Silver eagle coin, however I don’t have much info about it.
If you want to get hold of these coins, you must be alert when the issue is announced by the respective MINT, you should place an order soon while the MINT is still minting it. If you are not allowed to purchase it, then you can still buy it from Canadian or USA residents who have brought it early. Thus, you have to pay a slightly higher price.
1f) Numismatic Value
Each year, more than 1 million of Silver Maple, Silver eagle and Silver Philharmonic are minted. In order to have a numismatic value, it must be a popular coin and yet it is very rare. The only way to achieve these objectives is to have a low mintage of special issue silver Maple leaf coin such as Silver Maple Olympic 2010.
In additional to that, if you just want a term of reference, having a few coins is good enough. Every year, the Canadian Maple Leaf, American Silver Eagle looks the exactly same except for the printed year of the coin. Is it wise to have a complete collection of all years? I shall leave it up to you to decide. Thus, it is more to the silver content of the coin.
Category 2. Premium Bullion Coin
These coins have a lower yearly mintage and one side of the coin changes every year.
These two factors enable the mint to drive more sales from customer and charge them a higher price. The key variable for these coins are the need for esthetic coin design every year and the number of coins to mint in order to get the right premium. Buyers are keen to buy every year because every year the coin looks different.
2a) Numismatic Value
It is not a dull coin like Silver Maple, Silver eagle and Silver Philharmonic. Every year, the coin look different and after it is minted it will never be reproduced again (MINT Claim). Thus, it has a numismatic value as time goes by. Normally, older Koala, Kookaburra, Panda coin tends to command a higher price than the newer one. If you want to get hold of these coins, you must be alert when the issue is announced by the respective MINT, you should place an order soon while the MINT is still minting it. If you missed the dead line, then you can still buy it from ebay at a slight higher price. Just don’t wait too long to get it, otherwise you may need to pay a very high price.
2b) Premium
The premium is much higher than common bullion coin.
When it was initially release by Perth Mint, silver Kookaburra was selling at AUS31.90 or USD20.80 per oz when the spot silver price is averaging about USD11/=. The eagle and maple is selling at about USD15/-. USD4/- premium compared to about USD10/= premium for Perth Mint coin. Since the premium is so high, it is not wise to buy so many coins for investment but rather more for collection. In the future, I expect people will not pay much for numismatic value due to prolong global recession. I think people will be more keens to pay for the silver content in the coin.
General rule of thumb for me
First coin for own collection
Second coin for spare
Third coin and beyond are for exchange
2c) The popularity of the coin.
It is less popular than Silver Maple, Silver eagle but it is more popular than silver bars and silver round. Since Perth mint has been in business for quite some time, most educated people will not dispute the purity of Perth Mint coin and authentic Chinese Panda coin. Bear in mind, Chinese people may have more preferences to China Silver Panda coin.
Category 3 common silver round such as A-mark, NWT, Pan AM Round, Buffalo Round.
These coins are privately minted and do not have any face value on it. It ‘s also does not have the government endorsement symbol on the coin such as United States of America, CANADA and AUSTRALIA. It is priced from USD 1 to USD 3 /- above the silver spot price. Let said the silver spot price is USD10/-, these silver round will cost above USD12/- per oz in large quantity. There are also silver round for OBAMA the first black president for USA. Most private minting company will only mint silver round when you have 5000 oz or more silver to mint.
There are so many type lot of silver round available in USA. Personally, I will value these silver rounds only by its silver content and nothing else.
3a) Popularity
Most of these silver rounds are not popular and people may have doubt whether the round is a 999 silver round or something else. Some silver mining and minting company such as A-mark, Pan AM and NWT mint do produce/mint their own silver round. The popularity of these silver rounds will depend on the popularity of the mining or minting company.
3b) Liquidity
It is more liquid than 100 oz bar.
Category 4. Invest in silver BAR, PAN-AM, NWT bar, Johnson Mathey Bar.
Silver bar comes in 1oz, 2oz, 5oz, 10oz, 20oz, kilobar, 100oz and 1000 oz. Make sure the silver bar has a vendor hall-mark with it such as Perth Mint, Johnson Mathey, PAN-AM, EngelHard etc. If the silver bar does not have a popular hall-mark then people may doubt the silver content of the silver bar. The only way to verify the silver content is to melt it down. Some assaying services are available for some charges. Thus, these are some of the additional charges you need to pay when you dispose off some unknown silver bar. Given the choice, I will choose the following
4a) PAN-Am 1 oz bar, 5 oz bar.
Hold it for about 2 -3 years, resell it back to other silver investor when they realize the potential in silver.
4b) Kilobar and 100 oz bar
Hold if for about 4- 8 years, resell it back to factory which need silver for their manufacturing process. These bars are very illiquid, in one year maybe there are only few interested buyer in Malaysia.
4c) Esthetic
PAN-AM and NWT looks the best for 1oz, 5 oz and 10 oz bar. For 100oz bar it looks like a small brick. Perth mint silver bar does not look as good as PAN-AM bar.
4d) Pricing
PAN-AM and NWT are among the cheapest form of silver bar available by the silver mining company. However, the delivery time for these bars are ranging from 12 – 20 weeks from the day the payment is done. You may be able to buy these bars as low as USD0.90 per oz above silver spot value for 5000 oz order. Minimum order is 50 oz with a price of USD1.40 per oz above silver spot price. You can check the price at nwtmint silver website . You need to be aware that if there is any crisis break up in USA before the delivery of your goods, you will be in big trouble.
You may be able to get other silver bar at a cheaper rate from other mining, minting or silver assaying company. However, most of them will sell in large quantity with a minimum order of 5000oz. Perth mint also sells silver bar, however their price is not so attractive. Perth mint sells 10 oz bar at above 20% premium above silver spot, kilobar and 100 oz bar at 17% premium above silver spot. Freight and insurance excluded. As I last recall, the delivery from Perth Mint is about 1 month.
4e) Weight
Some of the bars especially the big one does not have the exact weight. For 1000oz bar, it may weight anywhere 930 oz or 1080 oz. However, the buyer will pay the exact price for the exact weight. Some 10 oz bar may weight slight more than 10 oz such as 10.2 oz.
4f) Size
Silver bars are easily stackable. A 100 oz bar takes up 1/5 the space of a 100 oz silver coin. Thus, silver in form of 100oz bar is in excellent storage form.
TO BE CONTINUE PART2.................
Please continue reading for part 2. Because ebay limits the number of character to 20,000 per guide.
Thanks for reading, if you have anything please feel free to message at my ebay id: silvermalaysia, do visit my store at My ebay link
Disclaimer: I shall not be liable for anything if you follow any of my advice. Please do your own due homework first before you invest your money in anything. If you lose money by buying silver don’t blame me ok.
Guide created: 03/02/09 (updated 06/19/09)
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