Buy Silver Bars Locally?

[Dropkick Murphy]

Do any of you know of a location where I can buy silver bars locally (Hermitage/Nashville)? Not really fond of pawn shops, or coin shows. Any place you guys find reputable?

Thanks!

[Guest Papabear]

Just about any good coin shop will carry some bullion bars.

[Dropkick Murphy]

Thanks!

[xRUSTYx]

I wouldn't buy PM (Precious Metals) in TN unless its from an individual. LCS (Local Coin Stores) will charge you sales tax, as will pawn shops. -- That's an almost 10% premium on everything outside of the standard premium.

Some reputable online dealers (with pretty good selection)

NucleoExhange (BullionDirect.com)

Provident Metals

GainesvilleCoins

Tulving (if you can meet their minimum's)

[Dropkick Murphy]

I was looking online, but some have minimums that I wasn't willing to meet. I'll check those websites out though Rusty, thanks!

[Dropkick Murphy]

Also, most of the websites I looked at are sold out of the 1 ounce bars.

[xRUSTYx]

what kind of 1 ounce bars are you looking for Murphy?

[Dropkick Murphy]

Nothing in particular, as long as they are bars, and not too much more than spot. I'm not really into the fancy coins and such. Just want to have a little silver to trade just in case. Private mint, don't really want anything from any country as well.

[xRUSTYx]

to be honest .... government coins are more liquid, and more recognizable.

assuming you stick with private mints (NWT, Engelhard, JM, etc...) you should be fine.

Me personally, I'd look at Austrian Philharmonics. Low Premium, Beautiful Coin, and easily recognizable (they will still carry a slight premium when it comes times to sell)

just my $.02 cents. I have plenty of bars as well, but prefer coins

[xRUSTYx]

Sent you a PM if you really have your heart set on bars

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I wouldn't buy PM (Precious Metals) in TN unless its from an individual. LCS (Local Coin Stores) will charge you sales tax, as will pawn shops. -- That's an almost 10% premium on everything outside of the standard premium.

Some reputable online dealers (with pretty good selection)

NucleoExhange (BullionDirect.com)

Provident Metals

GainesvilleCoins

Tulving (if you can meet their minimum's)

Those places may be lots better than the ones I've used, though I wasn't unhappy with kitco.com and goldmastersusa.com. Only bought a few things from kitco. After comparison-shopping online usually finding the availability and price at goldmastersusa was in the ballpark of everybody else, and goldmastersusa shipping charges were very low. Some places use shipping&handling as a profit center, over and above the markup over spot price.

Might try some of your suggestions next time I buy. Haven't bought metals for more than a year because the price has risen too quickly. There were earlier metal bubbles that didn't end well. Perhaps metals will just keep rising this time. Dunno.

Metals ought to long-term track inflation, but we may be in the middle of a crazy metals bubble. In which case after it pops, everybody will look back similar to the dotcom bubble or real estate bubble and wonder, "Why didn't I see THAT coming? It was OBVIOUSLY too good to be true."

to be honest .... government coins are more liquid, and more recognizable.

assuming you stick with private mints (NWT, Engelhard, JM, etc...) you should be fine.

Me personally, I'd look at Austrian Philharmonics. Low Premium, Beautiful Coin, and easily recognizable (they will still carry a slight premium when it comes times to sell)

just my $.02 cents. I have plenty of bars as well, but prefer coins

I have some Silver Eagles which are beautiful coins, and some bulk old 90% silver USA coins. But mostly 10 and 100 oz major mint bars. And a wee bit of gold, platinum and palladium in 1 oz pamp swiss sealed serial-numbered assayed bars.

One time I got a 100 oz "grab bag" of assorted oddball 99.99% silver. Maybe it would not be as easy to sell but it was the most interesting assortment to rummage thru. Various 2, 5, and 10 oz giant coins, oddball comemorative bars, some metric-weight bullion, and a couple of interesting 5 ounce thin bars cast in the size and image of the US dollar bill (a literal "silver certificate"). Apparently goldmasters buys any pure silver at spot then occasionally accumulates enough oddball stock to sell it a little cheaper than the usual markup.

Maybe gov coins are a more-valuable investment. If things get bad and I'm selling metal, then maybe numerous other people will be in hard times selling metal. In a buyers market, the rare buyers would most likely pay the same (miserly) price per ounce regardless whether the metal is in coins, bars, vials of pure powder, or Buddha figurines. In that situation, silver eagles that were bought at a premium, might sell for the same as privately-minted coins or bars.

I'm hesitant about foreign gov bullion coins because if the situation degenerates to the barter level and yer trying to trade Bubba out of a can of beans, then Bubba might not know anything about Viennese, Mexican or Aussie coins and refuse to trade his beans for an unknown quantity that might be worthless.

That also seems a problem with old 90% silver usa coins. Even if you explain to Bubba that they are very valuable 90% silver, Bubba might believe that they are just as worthless as modern potmetal USA coins.

[Guest cruznmore]

+1 for BullionDirect/Nucleo Exchange. Excellent prices and great company to do business with.

[Guest Skully]

For US coins (unless you really do have your heart set on bars as someone else mentioned) and MAYBE bars:

I'm not in your area, so I cant help you other than to advise that you check out the small mom and pop coin stores and talk to pop. Tell him what you are looking for and ask his cash price out the door. Some of these old guys bought their silver coins when they had more numismatic value than bullion value (think $7/oz) and will sometimes sell you OTD at spot or danged close to it. Go when they arent busy, be friendly, and if you may be a future customer dont hesitate to let that out too.

Good Luck and keep hunting around. The deals are out there.

[Dropkick Murphy]

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it.