AaaGee

Anyone who states that silver will make a loss because of the premium and VAT is being, at best, disingenuous. No-one sells silver coins at spot. Look on any forum / dealer website or Ebay to see the actual selling prices of modern silver coins. Prices will fluctuate depending on the intrinsic value of the metal but there will always be a premium involved when buying any manufactured goods. The premium on silver is generally higher than on gold - meaning silver is not as reliant on spot price manipulation movement....
Imagine both gold and silver prices plummeted 50% tomorrow - the higher premium on silver coins would act as a buffer. The gold coins trading at spot would be worth half of what they are today.
Admittedly my attitude to gold/silver is based on a collector, rather than stacker, mentality. I never 'invest' in modern silver/gold coins unless i will actually enjoy owning them. Making an (eventual) profit is the aim but it's not my primary motivation... Knowing my luck i'll keel-over and my coins will get sold by family to a dealer for pennies with the resounding epitaph of 'there's no demand for that sort of stuff these days'......
 

....and those magic beans could become a giant plant that enables you to climb to the top and reach those golden eggs ! 🤗
But I wouldn't say to people to go all in on the magic beans ! 😁

If this was the magic bean forum I'd be saying be wary of buying magic beans. 
 
 
 

Just treat it as a hobby and learn the market you are operating in. My monthly money I allocated to PM's is very low and I am not currently buying but that Money does go somewhere and will end up as silver or gold (depending on what is best value at the time). Also please make up your own mind, don't flip so easy, this means ignoring you tubers and faceless forum posts (including me). People generally tend to be bias towards their own bags.

I started my stacking journey around 18 months ago by stacking Silver - 1, 2 or 3 coins at a time - whatever I could afford as a client paid an invoice - to use as a way of saving that meant I couldn't just use it to make a spur of the moment purchase, as turning it back in to cash would take some time & effort.
Not ideal, but that was all the available funds I had - as time has gone by and my business has picked up, I've been lucky enough to afford some Gold too, but the fact that I managed to fill a tube of Silver Brits blew me away - just a few years ago, the thought that I would be able to 'save' around £600 was unthinkable...
We all had to start somewhere (Even @Paul & @James32 😅) - and IMHO, a handful of Silver 1oz coins / bars is better than a handful of nothing... 😏
We can all offer advice to help you make the most of your available funds, but at the end of it all - you do you 👍

Most people here like silver...
But most people here don't like VAT...
Also % premiums are higher on silver, even ex VAT.

The 2x999 coins i bought are both 1/4oz.
I understand that the smaller i buy, the higher the premium. But thats due to personal finances. Maybe i should save more rather than the little and often approach. But when it comes to selling, arnt the smaller weights an easier sell?
I would have thought the average person with average earnings would struggle with buying 1oz coins/bars in a single hit even if the premium is lower.
Thanks for showing me that you are cheaper than BBP. That is something else ive not done, comparing prices.

Yep, ok point taken.
I'll buy a hand full of silver britts a year and concentrate on the gold👍
Just reading through the thread you linked to. An interesting read.

Its all down to personal choice you know and what you like, yeah we all know for investment, gold is so much better than silver but a lot of members on here love silver also, including me... I dont worry about silver that i buy as long as im happy with the price myself i will get it if i want it and have the funds to cover it..
A lot of members will keep bleating about silver Brits being CGT free etc etc but to have to pay CGT on silver you must have been selling a vault load of it unless you bought it 20 years ago..
so for a new invester/stacker for example buying 1oz non-CGT silver coins/bars at lets just say £20.00 each and selling it for £23.00 each you would need to sell 4100 coins/bars to just hit the personal threshold for paying CGT.
So in essence you would be selling £94k worth of silver to hit that threshold. So worrying about CGT free silver is not really on my agenda because my boat sank with all of my silver in it.. 
I buy silver and gold but i like silver and all the designs that come with it, it just needs a bit more care and attention and research into what you are getting yourself into... and of course you can get more for you buck if your budget is low.
Other members slate silver but seriously dont worry about it, its their opinion and always respected and if we all loved the same thing we'd never get what we were after as @James32 has more helpers than santa when listing are put on here... 
The forum is great for finding your path though no matter which way you turn....
Follow the yellow brick road!!!!!! 

Someone explained it already.

I went through the whole scenario of a low budget buyer in details here:
Values are probably slightly off as that was 3 months ago, concepts don't change though.
I did all in Excel, feel free to have a look for yourself with the attached file, all you have to do is input the gold and silver values up top, then navigate a dealer's page and input the current sale prices. Premiums might have changed a bit, but they are more or less in the same range. Or make it even easier and navigate through Chards' website, it's got details for premium on each coin: https://www.chards.co.uk/2022-gold-sovereign-uncirculated-coin/15066 have a nose and see what you like.
Lest we forget, in the end, do whatever make sense to you, if you prefer 1/4oz to a Sovereign, dude, go to town. Do you really like Silver? Go for it. However, if your interest is lower premiums and you can't afford 1oz gold coins, go for the Sovereign.
Gold premiums.xlsx

The 2x999 coins i bought are both 1/4oz.
I understand that the smaller i buy, the higher the premium. But thats due to personal finances. Maybe i should save more rather than the little and often approach. But when it comes to selling, arnt the smaller weights an easier sell?
I would have thought the average person with average earnings would struggle with buying 1oz coins/bars in a single hit even if the premium is lower.
Thanks for showing me that you are cheaper than BBP. That is something else ive not done, comparing prices.

I guess these "Thats my lot in gold + 30 2021/22 1 0z brits." are silver, not gold or platinum, but...
... Now you're trying to get me to do all the hard work.
You could look up the gold price for the relevant days. There are lots of gold price sites online, but ours is here:
https://www.chards.co.uk/gold-price/gold-spot-price
From that you should be able to work out what percentage premium you were paying.
It is more relevant though, to know the spot gold price at the time you dealt, which is difficult in retrospect.
Another way would be to show the linke here to the sites/pages you bought from, then I am sure you will get (mainly) helpful comments.
The best sites, IMO, and I am slightly biased, but with good reason, show you the percentage premiums to make comparison easier.
I / we don't advise small sizes for investment, but here for example:
https://www.chards.co.uk/2022-gold-double-sovereign-uncirculated-coin/15698
You can see:
Quantity Premium % Price Per Item Total Est UK Delivery 1 4.5 £700.28 £700.28 £6.00 2 4.4 £699.61 £1,399.22 £6.00 5 4.1 £697.59 £3,487.95 £8.00 15 3.9 £696.25 £10,443.75 £12.00 30 3.7 £694.91 £20,847.30 £19.00 75 3.65 £694.58 £52,093.50 £45.00 150 3.5 £693.57 £104,035.50 £95.60 300+ 3.4 £692.90 £207,870.00 £164.60 So everything is easy and transparent.
There is also 
Price Comparison Against Other UK Bullion Dealers - Updated at 20-Jul-2022 16:00
Qty Chards (Excl Delivery) Chards (Inc Delivery) B* G* RM UKB 1 £701.37 £707.37 OOS OOS £727.18 £725.46 2 £700.70 £703.70 OOS OOS £723.67 £724.73 5 £698.69 £700.29 OOS OOS £720.36 £724.01 15 £697.35 £698.15 OOS OOS £718.38 £723.28 30 £696.00 £696.63 OOS OOS £716.65 £721.11 75 £695.67 £696.27 OOS OOS £714.48 £719.65 150 £694.66 £695.30 OOS OOS OOS £719.29 300 £693.99 £694.54 OOS OOS OOS £718.93 To make it even easier still.
Obviously, if you buy privately, perhaps from other TSF members, you should try to buy at better premiums / prices than above.
🙂

Thanks for showing me that. I cant decide if im happy or sad about that lol.
I just bought yesterday so going to be a while before i buy again. But brilliant to know theres cheaper than going full retail about
Thanks again 👍

Prototype 

Bargains to be had here on the forum here from the right sellers,once you've found your feet 
 

Lots of good sellers here, who price to sell/make a deal, if you can beat
@James32to it ! Lol

Thanks for showing me that. I cant decide if im happy or sad about that lol.
I just bought yesterday so going to be a while before i buy again. But brilliant to know theres cheaper than going full retail about
Thanks again 👍

Thanks for showing me that. I cant decide if im happy or sad about that lol.
I just bought yesterday so going to be a while before i buy again. But brilliant to know theres cheaper than going full retail about
Thanks again 👍

Truthfully ?
Both gold and silver are volatile and are not a particularly good investment. The majority consensus seems to be to invest in gold right now because of the VAT-free status. I would wager that anyone who purchased investment gold in the last 12 months is watching the spot-price drop right now and not feeling particularly clever. It's a similar picture for silver (with, historically, more volatility - which can equate to bigger losses/profits)
My advice would be to look at buying PMs with a value over and above the intrinsic. If you can combine the value of the precious metal with a numismatic element this can off-set price changes. An example would be if you could purchase something like an Edward VII sovereign at bullion prices or earlier Britannia (.958 silver) coins. I'm not going to go into the rabbit hole of pure numismatics - that's collecting, not stacking. 
This only works if you have an exit strategy that doesn't involve selling your stack to a PM dealer. In that case spot price is everything and you'd just as well invest in coffee stocks.
The ideal scenario is to be a collector with a stacker mentality... The pleasure of owning something can mitigate changes in spot. 

As per title. A few months ago a friend of mine told me that he had started buying 1oz silver Britannia coins as an investment.
So shortly after i decided to do the same.A mid 40s average bloke with average earnings.
So far i have 30oz of brits, all 2021 & 2022.
2x 1/4oz gold, 1x 1/10 brit and a couple of 1g bars. 
The plan is to keep buying in small amounts for the next 15 to 20 odd years to help towards our retirement.
To be honest, i cant afford to buy big due to lifes expenses. Little and often works for me.
All purchased from Bullion By Post. Purely because what turns up is what ive paid for. Ive been browsing on here for a little while now and seen other vendors you use who maybe cheaper but still unsure who to trust.
Also im struggling with variety.  I dont want to buy any fakes which is keeping me down the brit path. But looking on the pictures only thread on here i see some of you really go to town on weights and variety. How do you know youve bought legitimately?
I haven't really got a set amount i buy a month. More a case of buying whilst i can and not when i cant.
Are these rarer 1oz coins with pandas and other animals etc that are more than the price for weight worth buying as an investment? 
I do like the idea of at some point buying a 500g or kilo bar of silver but with the price they cost wouldn't it be better to put that sum of money into gold?
See, total beginner lol.
As a small time collector, is it better to buy 4x 1/4s than 1ozs in gold as will be easier to sell in the future? Although the initial outlay is slightly more.
As i sead, im investing for the future just to add to the retirement pot if and when it happens.
Wont be selling any whatever the prices do untill then unless i have a real personal financial crisis.
It seems like a bullet proof plan to me but ive had many of those before.
 
Although youve probably read threads like this a million times before is like your opinions on what ive written as ive gone into this pretty blind. Only clinging onto the fact that in selling in 15 to 20 years i shouldn't loose.
 
Thanks 
AaaGee
 
 
 
 
 

As per title. A few months ago a friend of mine told me that he had started buying 1oz silver Britannia coins as an investment.
So shortly after i decided to do the same.A mid 40s average bloke with average earnings.
So far i have 30oz of brits, all 2021 & 2022.
2x 1/4oz gold, 1x 1/10 brit and a couple of 1g bars. 
The plan is to keep buying in small amounts for the next 15 to 20 odd years to help towards our retirement.
To be honest, i cant afford to buy big due to lifes expenses. Little and often works for me.
All purchased from Bullion By Post. Purely because what turns up is what ive paid for. Ive been browsing on here for a little while now and seen other vendors you use who maybe cheaper but still unsure who to trust.
Also im struggling with variety.  I dont want to buy any fakes which is keeping me down the brit path. But looking on the pictures only thread on here i see some of you really go to town on weights and variety. How do you know youve bought legitimately?
I haven't really got a set amount i buy a month. More a case of buying whilst i can and not when i cant.
Are these rarer 1oz coins with pandas and other animals etc that are more than the price for weight worth buying as an investment? 
I do like the idea of at some point buying a 500g or kilo bar of silver but with the price they cost wouldn't it be better to put that sum of money into gold?
See, total beginner lol.
As a small time collector, is it better to buy 4x 1/4s than 1ozs in gold as will be easier to sell in the future? Although the initial outlay is slightly more.
As i sead, im investing for the future just to add to the retirement pot if and when it happens.
Wont be selling any whatever the prices do untill then unless i have a real personal financial crisis.
It seems like a bullet proof plan to me but ive had many of those before.
 
Although youve probably read threads like this a million times before is like your opinions on what ive written as ive gone into this pretty blind. Only clinging onto the fact that in selling in 15 to 20 years i shouldn't loose.
 
Thanks 
AaaGee
 
 
 
 
 

As per title. A few months ago a friend of mine told me that he had started buying 1oz silver Britannia coins as an investment.
So shortly after i decided to do the same.A mid 40s average bloke with average earnings.
So far i have 30oz of brits, all 2021 & 2022.
2x 1/4oz gold, 1x 1/10 brit and a couple of 1g bars. 
The plan is to keep buying in small amounts for the next 15 to 20 odd years to help towards our retirement.
To be honest, i cant afford to buy big due to lifes expenses. Little and often works for me.
All purchased from Bullion By Post. Purely because what turns up is what ive paid for. Ive been browsing on here for a little while now and seen other vendors you use who maybe cheaper but still unsure who to trust.
Also im struggling with variety.  I dont want to buy any fakes which is keeping me down the brit path. But looking on the pictures only thread on here i see some of you really go to town on weights and variety. How do you know youve bought legitimately?
I haven't really got a set amount i buy a month. More a case of buying whilst i can and not when i cant.
Are these rarer 1oz coins with pandas and other animals etc that are more than the price for weight worth buying as an investment? 
I do like the idea of at some point buying a 500g or kilo bar of silver but with the price they cost wouldn't it be better to put that sum of money into gold?
See, total beginner lol.
As a small time collector, is it better to buy 4x 1/4s than 1ozs in gold as will be easier to sell in the future? Although the initial outlay is slightly more.
As i sead, im investing for the future just to add to the retirement pot if and when it happens.
Wont be selling any whatever the prices do untill then unless i have a real personal financial crisis.
It seems like a bullet proof plan to me but ive had many of those before.
 
Although youve probably read threads like this a million times before is like your opinions on what ive written as ive gone into this pretty blind. Only clinging onto the fact that in selling in 15 to 20 years i shouldn't loose.
 
Thanks 
AaaGee
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks again everyone.
Been looking around the forum and the choices are infinate (well other than how much money i/we have to spend).
Ive got lots to learn and a bit of time to do so before i make my next purchase as i ordered a coin yesterday.
@scootermuppet just folowed your link, thanks👍
Will look into becoming a premium member too.
AaaGee
 
Lemmy why avoid .999?

Lots of good advice, I'm similar in that I'm looking to hold long term, so if it's in the budget any gold coins I can get at spot that I like I scoop I'm only currently buying silver I like all my 1oz.silver coins and bars are different with a few exceptions ie Dragon coins from Perth mint I've the complete run to date and I have a soft spot for Kookaburra coins, otherwise it's hand poured stuff from BYB, Silver Angel,.MOX, Liquid Metals and St Bees, that's the collector urge in me.
I collect most fractional gold coins from Iranian to 1/10th Brits and 1/4 sovereigns.
All that said if I was purely stacking for a pension with no urge to collect them would be sovereigns all the way.