bullion silver coins?

3 Responses to “bullion silver coins?”

1. Aron R says:

   September 28, 2009 at 10:19 pm

   This coin simultaneously has two, entirely separate values:

   * The value of 1 Troy ounce of .999 fine silver, plus or minus whatever premium or discount might apply when selling it to a particular buyer.

   * $5 in Canadian currency, its legal tender value in Canada.

   That also happens to be its floor value; it’ll always be worth that, even if (hypothetically) the price of silver were to plummet to levels last seen a decade ago.

   Those two values are *either/or*, not added together. So the coin is worth about US $17 (the approximate value of a Troy ounce of silver today) - plus any premiums or minus any discounts from spot silver you might encounter when selling it - *or* 5 Canadian Dollars as legal tender when spent in Canada (also coincidentally worth about $5 US at current exchange rates).

   As another example, Canada issued a set of Olympic commemorative coins in 1973-76, for the Montreal Olympics of 1976. Those .925 Sterling Silver coins are legal tender at their face values of $5 and $10 Canadian, respectively, and contain about .72 and 1.44 Troy ounces of silver respectively. Those coins have the closest correspondence between face value and silver value - among high purity American and Canadian silver coins - that I know of. They also used to be available at huge discounts to spot on eBay, but no longer .

   Finally, as alcan52 astutely points out, you shouldn’t have to pay $23-$25 (if that price doesn’t include tax and/or shipping and insurance) for the Canadian $5 silver Maple Leaf bullion coins; they are widely available for prices closer to the silver spot price. In addition to Monex, I checked another dealer, Kitco, and their price was $19.14 on a day when the silver spot price was $16.89.
2. what? says:

   September 28, 2009 at 10:19 pm

   well, you can’t cash it in after you melt it, so it won’t be worth the face value PLUS the value of the silver.

   but I doubt that the coin is pure silver, or people would have started melting them down when they were worth $6.

   the coin is probably just nickel coated with silver.
3. alcan52 says:

   September 28, 2009 at 10:19 pm

   I just bought 100 Canada maple Leafs in silver for exactly the reason you state. However they do not trade at that price. I paid $18.66 a piece for the coins I got and they are currently trading for $18.61 at Monex where i bought mine. They are the purest silver in the world at 99.99%. The American coins are less pure and trade for a higher price with a face value of 20% of the Canada Maple Leaf Coins. It makes no sence to buy the American coins that are of lesser purity and smaller face value. In a dollar collapse the preimium and your concept in your example of adding the $5 face value to the coin in survival situation/dollar collapse would be done. I think the market would demand that especially because fiat currencies will still be used. So you logic would be used in that fashion for these coins. Also I live in Alaska and we do not border the Lower 48 but we do border Canada. Alaska would have to rely on Canada for trading purposes in a dollar collapse. They have a more stabe government and economy and they pay down thier national debt. In the future Canada currency and Canada Maple Leafs will trade at a higher rate. Go with the Maple Leafs.