This physical silver guide explains how to buy silver, where to buy it and the best physical silver coins and bars for most silver bullion buyers. You will also learn how to determine the best price from silver dealers. We will provide a description of the products chosen most by experienced investors and discuss silver investment pricing from online dealers in a simple, easy to understand manner, then provide immediately actionable recommendations for making a first purchase.

If you’ve been holding off on buying physical silver bullion because it seems too complex, relax. Buying silver is more simple than investment forums and precious metals dealers make it out to be. By the end of this guide, you will know what the best silver to buy will be for you. Let’s start by looking at the following table.

Silver Price · 10S · 1M · 10M · H · D · W | Multi-Time-Frame | Kitco Silver Chart | Silver ETFs | 2012 Silver American Eagle Physical Silver
Image Type of Silver Physical Silver Bullion Product Description Price at Gainesville
2012 Silver American Eagle 1 Oz Coin Silver American Eagle Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) 2012 $31.81
2012 Silver Canadian Maple Leaf 1 Oz Coin Silver Canadian Maple Leaf Brilliant Uncirculated (BU) 2012 $31.31
2012 Silver Canadian Maple Leaf 1 Oz Coin Silver Austrian Philharmonic BU 2012, .999 Fine Silver $31.31
Johnson Matthey Silver Bar 1 Oz Bar Johnson Matthey Silver Bar Johnson Matthey .999 Fine $30.71
Generic Pure Silver Bar 1 Oz Bar Generic Silver Bar Random, Private Mint .999 Fine
Buffalo Design Silver Round 1 Oz Round Buffalo Design Silver Round Specific Private Mint, .999 Fine $30.21
Generic Fine Silver Round 1 Oz Round Generic Silver Round Random, Private Mint .999 Fine $29.51

Prices in the table above are updated every 10 minutes.

The price for each bullion product has been linked to the specific product page on the Gainesville Coins web site, which will have a more detailed description and current pricing. Higher volume equals lower price almost everywhere. You will need to visit the Gainesville Coins web site to see what kind of discount you can expect to receive on the purchase of a 20 Eagle Mint Tube or 500 Maple Leaf Monster Box, versus the individual coins in the table above.

Get the Best Price When Buying Silver: Compare Premium Over Spot

There is only one way to get the best price for silver and that is to compare dealer prices. Silver is generally priced as a premium over the current spot price. The easiest way to understand how much you are paying is to look at the current silver price per ounce as it trades on the major exchanges, then compare that to what you are paying for an ounce of physical silver under consideration for purchase. The difference is the premium over spot that a dealer is charging.

Current Spot Silver Price Charts

Reputable silver dealers will tell you right up front how much premium over spot you are paying. They will also tell you how much they are currently paying customers who are selling the same product back to them. Depending on the product in question, you can pay anywhere from less than a $1.00 over spot, to many times that for more rare or in-demand products, or coins with a particular numismatic (collector’s) value. Of course, like most things, higher volume purchases can occur with a much lower markup or premium. Further, if you pay with a credit card, you can expect to pay more as well.

In some cases, a lower premium over spot may come at a different kind of cost. Poor service, slow delivery, incomplete or incorrect orders and other types of hassles (or loss) may be the cost of doing business with a less trusted or less reputable dealer or individual. Convenience, confidence, service and selection should all be factors in what you are willing to pay.

Like any other commodity, you will likely pay more for a local silver dealer, but you may avoid shipping charges or develop a relationship with that dealer. Ultimately, market conditions will dictate the general price trend and how much you pay. However, like cars, computers and other goods and services, each dealer has different costs and target margins. Some prefer high volume and lower margins while others may charge a heavy premium, especially for a lower quantity purchase.

Where to Buy Physical Silver Online: Compare Silver Dealers

Where does one buy silver online? Bullion dealers include APMEX (American Precious Metals Exchange), Gainesville Coins, Morgan, US Gold Bureau, Liberty Coin, Kitco, Golden Eagle Coin, American Bullion, Pinnacle, Monex, Blanchard, Northwest Territorial Mint, Scottsdale and many others. Many advertise on this site. While dealer comparisons may demonstrate the relative difference in price for a variety of silver investments, they do not necessarily take into consideration other factors like shipping or credit card charges, wire transfer discounts and minimum order sizes.

Dealer comparisons invariably leave out important details that impact the final price, so what appears to be best on the surface may very well not be the case. Ultimately, there shouldn’t be much difference between the better dealers and it may come down to personal preference. Some dealers do indeed charge excessive premiums over spot price, so don’t assume all dealers are priced the same.

You will need to visit multiple sites to truly compare the total acquisition cost for a given purchase, but you will soon narrow your choices down to a few favored sites. The best way to get a feel for any given dealer is to start a shopping cart on each dealer site for an identical product. This will give you a feel for ordering and allow you to see the final price, with shipping charges, as well as any surprises that may present themselves before you actually confirm a purchase.

Be sure to consider estimated delivery time, dealer reputation and your overall comfort with the site and broker before buying.

Finally, check prices with your local coin or bullion shop, as many buyers report the ability to acquire silver bullion at a reasonable price without having to pay for shipping, and they like not having to worry about privacy issues or leaving a paper trail.

The Best Silver to Buy: Silver Coins, Bullion Bars & Rounds

Our first physical silver buying tip: Keep it simple! Stick with basic silver coins, rounds and bullion bars! When it comes time to cash in on your silver investment you want to be holding the most common, liquid, easy to understand silver products. If you are buying silver because you believe silver prices are set to surge due to supply shortages, skyrocketing inflation or the continued debasement of the U.S. dollar, then what you are looking for is simply ounces of pure silver at the best price. Don’t worry though, you can still buy beautiful coins and rounds that are fun to accumulate and still achieve your investment objective, without overpaying or acquiring an encyclopedia of knowledge.

Our silver table allows you to see the differences in price for various silver bullion coins, rounds and bars which can help you determine which silver investment is best for your particular case. Below, we provide a basic description of each type of silver product and the advantages to owning each.

This guide lists specific physical silver products that most silver investors own. We believe that there is no need to make things complicated. By no means is this an exhaustive list of options, but it is a good starting point for a new silver investor that would like to begin stacking physical silver quickly.

The most popular physical silver products bought by experienced investors can guide the first-time physical silver buyer well. While there are many subjective factors that determine the best silver for you, our intent here is to keep things simple so that you can get started quickly. Generally, the best silver to buy is that which gets you the most pure silver for your dollar. To achieve this, you must minimize the premium that you will pay over spot silver prices, regardless of how or where you purchase your silver.

Silver Coins

Silver coins are produced by the mints of sovereign nations. Government issued silver coins command the greatest confidence amongst silver investors and are quite liquid for this reason. Silver coins are always a great place to start. Due to their popularity and the confidence they invoke, silver coins get a higher premium price over spot than silver bullion or privately minted silver rounds, but they make a very good starting point for the novice silver buyer.

Brilliant, Uncirculated Condition (BU) silver coins provide a high level of confidence and security for the first-time silver buyer and will likely command a higher premium when selling than more generic silver rounds. The most popular silver coins include American Silver Eagles and Canadian Silver Maple Leafs, at 99.99% purity. Silver coins minted by governments around the world and popular with collectors include Austrian Silver Philharmonics, Chinese Silver Pandas, Australian Silver Kukaburras and Mexican Silver Libertads.

The beautiful Silver Eagle is the most recognized and trusted silver bullion investment and gets the highest bid prices for silver bullion in North America. Buy tubes of 20 Silver Eagles to minimize premiums and to receive the best prices. Silver Eagles can be purchased individually, mint tubes of 20 coins or even sealed green “monster boxes” from the mint, which will contain 500 coins in 20-coin mint tubes. The higher quantity purchases will reduce the cost of your silver investment.

Silver Bullion Bars

Silver bullion bars allow you to buy pure, physical silver in a format that can be conveniently stacked in a safe. For the first-time silver buyer, we suggest narrowing your choices to keep things simple. Common sizes for retail silver investors include 1 oz, 5 oz, 10 oz, 1 kilogram (32.15 oz) and 100 oz troy bars. Trustworthy brands for silver bars include Johnson Matthey, Engelhard and Sunshine Minting. It is also possible to buy generic silver bullion bars at a lower premium, but if you watch the bigger dealers, you can often buy better known brands or bars at special prices, leaving little reason from an investment perspective to buy lesser known (or unknown at the time of purchase) generic silver bars. While you can often fine good deals on secondary 10 oz silver bars, which may be a more convenient and cost-efficient way to store wealth, but 1 oz. bars may be easier to sell (or use for barter).

Silver Rounds

Silver rounds are also a a good way to buy silver at a lower cost. It is only minimally more complicated, provided you purchase rounds from a well-known mint and a trusted dealer. Silver rounds are issued by a myriad of private mints and look like coins, but they are not legal tender. Rounds come with a wide variety of designs, each unique to the mints that produce them. Think of rounds as a hybrid between coins and bars. Their purity is .999 fine silver and they can be found in weights ranging from 1 troy oz. to 100 troy ounces. Rounds, like bars, provide more silver for your investment dollar. 1 troy ounce rounds are the most common, but 5 oz. rounds may be more convenient for some. Trustworthy, well-known brands include Sunshine Minting, U.S. Assay, A-Mark, Silvertowne, Engelhard and Johnson Matthey. There are countless other mints that produce generic silver rounds, many that are no longer in existence. The premiums on silver rounds should be small since they have little in the way of numismatic or collectors value.