So I recently went to a local coin and stamp show with the goal of adding some silver to my growing pile.
The show went from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, and I attended on Friday evening. The entrance fee was $5, but if you bought $10 worth of raffle tickets, you got in free. I purchased the raffle tickets and did not win, so essentially it cost me $10 to get in.
I am not sure exactly how many vendors there were at the show, but if filled up a good sized ballroom to full capacity. I saw on their website that the exhibitors had to pay $250 each to have a booth, so that may give you a frame of reference.
I went looking for silver bullion near spot, and, after perusing the tables and talking with the dealers, found the best deal I could get was $1.00 over spot on generic silver bullion. Well, that is OK, but certainly no steal, so I ended up only buying a few things.
First, I picked up a 5 ounce Sunshine Mint bar:
I purchased 1 generic silver round, the USS Constitution ship, from the same guy:
Lastly, I picked up a couple of cubes by Yeager's Poured Silver, weighing 1 ounce each:
The silver cubes were $20 each, but that is about the price that Yeager's sells them, so I was willing to pay a little more than spot. They also pour a little heavy in general, so they came out to 2.215 ounces total, so really the actual price per ounce is lower than what you pay.
All in all, I had a good time looking at things but most of it was not up my wheelhouse, as it was mostly rare and stabbed coins. I am stacking silver bullion primarily, as I do not know enough about rare coins and their value to make informed purchases. I also like to keep the end in mind, and it sure seems difficult to sell your silver at spot these days, as most dealers, local coin shops, pawn shops, etc expect a discount to spot when they buy them from you (of course, that is their business to buy low and sell high). Alternatively, selling online directly to other buyers involves more risk and shipping costs, which hurts your margins even if you did get a premium - all that to say, I just am sticking to the lowest priced silver I can find as I believe the price to be going higher over the long term (as part of a larger asset allocation).
There you go, that was my trip to the coin and stamp show, which yielded 8 ounces of new silver.
Thanks for reading, and take care,
Brian
