Investor’s Strategy: Should You Buy Silver Coins or Bars?

When investing in precious metals, there are a variety of benefits of choosing physical bullion. If silver is your favorite, though, you may still find yourself asking whether you should buy silver bars or coins. There are advantages to both, but one might offer more advantages for you.

The most important thing to remember is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Two investors may have the exact same financial goals, but each may prefer a different type of bullion. There are also many factors that can affect which option is more convenient for you.

At Silver Gold Bull, our goal is to ensure each of our clients is as informed about their purchase as possible. When choosing between buying bullion in the form of silver bars or silver coins, the following considerations will help you make a better decision.

Silver Bars or Coins – What’s the Difference?

There are a variety of ways to invest in silver. From purchasing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to buying collectible silver items, the possibilities are nearly limitless. When you hear someone mention the word bullion, though, it’s typically regarding either bars or coins.

Since both qualify as bullion, is there really any difference between the items? Absolutely. Of course, they each share a variety of similarities as well. One of the most important areas these bullion types are alike is the guarantee they carry.

• Bullion bars: Whether it’s governments or private mints creating bullion bars, they offer a guarantee of silver content. In fact, such bars maintain a chain of integrity that makes them even more valuable before they’re sold into the public.
• Bullion coins: While it’s typically been government mints that created silver bullion coins, this has changed in recent years. Sunshine Mint silver rounds, for instance, carry no legal tender value. If your items come from the government or a reputable mint, their silver content is also guaranteed.

Other than the distinct advantages of each bullion type, they’re remarkably similar in most ways. Whether you have 10 ounces of silver bars or coins, the item is worth exactly 10 ounces. If you need help to make a decision between the two, the following benefits of each will help.

Pros of Buying Silver Coins

Many people make their decision on buying silver bars or coins based on personal preference alone. As it turns out, however, each offers distinct advantages over the other. If your investment journey centers on bullion coins, you can expect each of the following benefits.

Variety Differs for Silver Bars and Coins

When you go to purchase bullion bars, there are a few options to choose from. Even when they come from different mints and refineries, though, their appearance is typically the same. This simply isn’t the case when you invest in silver coins.

Do you have a particular love for pandas? China has silver coins featuring the bear. Did you enjoy a study abroad trip to South Africa? The silver Krugerrand is available. Does your child really love the cartoon Dumbo? Somalia makes a silver bullion coin featuring an elephant.

There are plenty of choices in bullion bars, but they don’t come close to the variety offered in coins.

Legal Tender Status

An apples-to-apples comparison of silver bars and coins is difficult. One of the biggest reasons behind this is the legal tender status of the latter. While many forms of bullion coinage are collectible, there are various examples that still serve as legal tender.

Silver Coins Might Be More Valuable

If you were to buy 10 ounces of silver in coins and a 10-ounce silver bullion bar, you might think they have similar values. Most times, you would be right. When you consider numismatic value, though, precious metal coinage can hold far more value.

Numismatic value is the worth of a currency when you include things like rarity and collectibility in the equation. Intrinsic value, on the other hand, is merely the value of the precious metal in an item. In the battle between silver bars and coins, the latter certainly takes the victory here.

Most silver bars you find will have no numismatic value at all. This means you’re getting exactly what you’re paying for. If you buy an especially rare silver coin, though, it may be far more valuable than the underlying precious metal. 

Pros of Buying Silver Bullion Bars

At this point, maybe you’re wondering how it could get better than coins. The flexibility of 1 oz coins and legal tender status alone is enough to excite many people. When you consider the following benefits of buying silver bullion bars, though, you might ignore coins for the foreseeable future.

Lower Premium

Whether you buy silver bars or coins, you’ll pay a premium over spot price. This covers costs related to mining, refining, production, and retail costs. If you opt for bullion bars instead of coinage, though, you’ll usually end up paying less per ounce.

The reason behind this is that silver coins simply cost more to produce. Labor, production, and other costs can drive up the premium. While the difference isn’t substantial, you will notice it if you buy large amounts of the precious metal.

Easier to Store

Even though you can easily store coins in rolls, they still take up more space than bullion bars. You can stack bars with no difficulty, and they don’t even need protective packaging. Stacking several solid blocks of metal is easier to deal with than a bunch of coin rolls.

Investing in Silver – and That’s It

In the debate over choosing silver bars or coins, you have to ask whether you want to invest strictly in the precious metal. If so, bullion bars are a great option. Many coins have some significance or collectible value other than silver content. Most bars you buy don’t.

Of course, governments around the world began creating their own bullion coins that have minimal numismatic value. When you consider the other benefits of bars over coinage, though, even this might not be enough to sway some investors.

Buying Silver Bars or Coins Is a Great Investment!

Regardless of which bullion type you choose, buying silver remains one of the best investments out there. Even when prices drop temporarily, this precious metal still acts as a store of value. Paper currency has become worthless many times in history, but this just isn’t the case with silver.

Now that you know a bit about each bullion type, you can make the best decision for your financial goals. And if reading this guide only piqued your interest for both silver bars and coins, there’s no harm in having both in your portfolio!

At Silver Gold Bull, our goal is to offer the best value. That’s why we have a Price Match Guarantee. Visit our Buy Silver Bullion page to see all your options, and purchase knowing that you’ll receive the best price in the industry!