Best quality silver

[itslikegolddust]

What would you consider to be the best quality bog standard silver bullion/bar in terms of finish, durability, finesse and value for money, excluding Proofs etc?

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

Now that Mintshield is a thing I'd vote for the humble Maple. It is often cheaper than most other 1oz bullion coins and comes from the Royal Canadian Mint which is held in high regard for its refining process. Before Mintshield I would have said something else but now that they have taken that step to prevent 2018 and newer coins from spotting I think they are tough to beat from a value for money perspective.

[AllThingsShiny]

I would say the American silver eagle. 

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, itslikegolddust said:

What would you consider to be the best quality bog standard silver bullion/bar in terms of finish, durability, finesse and value for money, excluding Proofs etc?

i like heraeus for both gold and silver.

silver i have it in 1 oz bars

gold i have argor heraeus 100g cast bars

[Norskgeld]

American Eagle or Mexican Libertad for finish and durability.

[Agpanda]

dont forgett pandas 🤔

[silenceissilver]

1 hour ago, AppleZippoandMetronome said:

Now that Mintshield is a thing I'd vote for the humble Maple. It is often cheaper than most other 1oz bullion coins and comes from the Royal Canadian Mint which is held in high regard for its refining process. Before Mintshield I would have said something else but now that they have taken that step to prevent 2018 and newer coins from spotting I think they are tough to beat from a value for money perspective.

I agree. I also like that they are 999.9 silver

 

1 hour ago, Norskgeld said:

American Eagle or Mexican Libertad for finish and durability.

I agree on that too. A matt finish is probably better for durability and also looks better. But in terms of value for money the Libertad is too expenisve. All in all still the Maple. Obviously, for tax reasonsUK coins have an advantage, in the UK. Don't like the fact that the number of minted Britannias is not made public.

[KevinG]

Pandas 

[Bimetallic]

I think he means bars too, since he said "...silver bullion/bar...".

I don't know how to assess a coin or bar's durability or "finesse", but I assume the latter was supposed to be fineness.

For coins, as others have noted that the Canadian Maple Leaf is compelling. It has lower premiums than American Eagles, but it has two advantages. It has greater fineness at 9999 vs. 999. And it has that new MintShield process or finish that prevents milk spots.

For bars, I recommend three:

1. Perth Mint kangaroo bars (swan on the front, roos on the back). They're 9999 fine, and usually a great value, especially if you get them as low as possible. In the US, SD Bullion has the best prices, but I'm not sure about UK dealers.
2. Royal Canadian Mint bars. They're simple but gorgeous and are also 9999 fine.
3. British, er, Britannias. Gorgeous bars, and perhaps the lowest premiums of the three. Only 999 fine though, but I doubt this will ever matter.

[Bullionaire]

Perth mint kooks and koalas. Small premium but way better quality than most bullion

[intelinside]

American gov mint

canadian royal mint

perth mint

british royal mint

China mint

smaller gov mints

in that order

[ZatStackz]

MintShield does not prevent spotting, though it may reduce it.

I have a 2018 incuse maple that has started to spot.

[vand]

Kooks and Koalas.. they also have the additional bonus of the protective capsule.

[Oldun]

Anything old that hasn’t spotted.............if it hasn’t spotted by now,  chances are it wont.....

[Kookaburracollector]

The worst for spotting from my experience...(All the coins are kept in the same capsules)

1. Canadian Maples - 5 out of 25

2. Royal Mint Year of the Lunar Monkey  approx 10 out of 100.

The best..

1. Kookaburras - zero out of hundreds

2. Pandas / Eagles / Buffalos / Britannia’s - zero out of hundreds.

[Poseidon]

Hello to all!!

 first Pandas and after the Libertad...

+++ to The Perth mint!!!!

The worst in my opinion is the British Royal mint..... e.g. quality of the Beasts bullions and proof, including package.

[Martlet]

May i point out at .999 the durability will be the same for all.  Asking for best quality and bog standard is contradiction, really its a compromise depending on what you value most.  The Perth mint coins are great, but your paying another 10% over cheapest bullion.  I dont think the quality of finish is noticeably different across the standard bullion coins i've seen, except the Nuie owl which is notably imperfect, Britannia's do get a few knocks on Queen.  Spotting is a lottery, though some more likely than others, so far i have minimal incidence. So really its subjective to the designs, if you want to maximise £/oz, or happy to pay more for coin/finish you prefer.  It's Brittannias or maybe Krugerrands for me. 

[TonyS]

On 20/01/2019 at 07:13, ZatStackz said:

MintShield does not prevent spotting, though it may reduce it.

I have a 2018 incuse maple that has started to spot.

Same here 

[StackinJack]

On 20/01/2019 at 10:12, Kookaburracollector said:

The worst for spotting from my experience...(All the coins are kept in the same capsules)

1. Canadian Maples - 5 out of 25

2. Royal Mint Year of the Lunar Monkey  approx 10 out of 100.

The best..

1. Kookaburras - zero out of hundreds

2. Pandas / Eagles / Buffalos / Britannia’s - zero out of hundreds.

My guess is that you don't own any Philharmonikers.

[Kookaburracollector]

1 hour ago, StackinJack said:

My guess is that you don't own any Philharmonikers.

Correct!👍

[StackinJack]

3 hours ago, Kookaburracollector said:

Correct!👍

I just checked my philharmonikers, 8 out of 10 have spots. 1 is 100% covered 😅
They're really bad, planning to make a 10oz bar of 'm somewhere in the future.

[iesilv]

2 hours ago, StackinJack said:

I just checked my philharmonikers, 8 out of 10 have spots. 1 is 100% covered 😅
They're really bad, planning to make a 10oz bar of 'm somewhere in the future.

Does melting them down to create a 10oz bar get rid of whatever causes the milk spots ?  Or is the bar likely to start spotting after some time ?

Over half my 2018 Philharmonics have started to spot already  

[RoughDog]

Guess it may solve the milk spotting once melted down if it's a chemical problem as people have suggested.

Won't really matter because you can polish a bar.

I had a badly spotted maple leaf and not being well I beat it, bad, with a hammer in between sheets of paper to not add marks.  Since then I have handled it a lot and it appear to have lost it's milk spots.  I am guessing it is because I have handled it so much.

Not being a fan of classical music I don't like the design of the Philharmonics 😁

[StackinJack]

15 hours ago, iesilv said:

Does melting them down to create a 10oz bar get rid of whatever causes the milk spots ?  Or is the bar likely to start spotting after some time ?

Over half my 2018 Philharmonics have started to spot already  

Good question, really no clue.
Dont think I ever seen a bar with milk spotting, and just like RoughDog is saying, you can polish it so thats probably why.
Or maybe only coins are affected, as far as I know the whole milk spotting phenomenon is still a bit of a mystery.

[intelinside]

2 hours ago, StackinJack said:

Good question, really no clue.
Dont think I ever seen a bar with milk spotting, and just like RoughDog is saying, you can polish it so thats probably why.
Or maybe only coins are affected, as far as I know the whole milk spotting phenomenon is still a bit of a mystery.

Doesn’t dry storage. Dessicant packages help reduce milk spots  

I have no milk spots on my coins but I would dread getting them on my purrrrty coins  

or is silica/dessicants just for tarnishing?