First ever coin stack & international purchase - maple or eagle?

[Rugbyplayer]

Thanks for all the replies and welcome comments.

I am still most definitely trying to find my way with my silver journey.

I really like my Scottsdale bars and have a particular soft spot for the 100g bars. In actual fact I like all their cast (If that's the right term) range.

My biggest problem is finding them at a reasonable price! And importing anything from the US just seems pointless once everything is factored in.

So that being said I think I am going to buy my first coin stack from Goldsilver.be, I am just really unsure what is best to go for between 20x1oz Silver Eagles mixed years or 20 (maybe 25 to fill a tube) 1 oz Canadian Maples 2019.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Oh and at the same time I think I am going to order a 10oz Queens Beast Griffen but that's only because I think it looks stunning!

If anyone does know how or where I should be looking for those pesky Scottsdale bars then please let me know and any advice on all of the above would be gratefully received.

[KitboyE17]

Like you I’m a huge Scottsdale fan. It’s not that easy to get them sans VAT. They do pop up every now and then on the European websites so keep an eye on them. If i’m shopping purely for weight then I tend to buy my silver in Europe and pick up a few tubes of Britts etc. Then I flip some of them. That way I justify to myself buying Scottsdale bars in the UK with VAT. 

I will be in the states a couple of times this year and I do intend to pick a small amount up and ‘confidently’ walk through US and UK immigration with them 🙂 after all, you are allowed $350 or so personal spend ... 

They do pop up for sale on the forum sometimes too, so keep a good eye on the for sale posts. 

[vanderPoot]

I think it makes more sense to stack eagle's or maple's if you were living in a non-vat on silver country.
Stacking these kind of coins is purely for melt value and you'll be 10 - 20 or 30% behind, just because you live in the UK.

Coins with a low premium but with a chance to increase in value not only based on its silver content, but also its collectability 
makes more sense to me. I think for you, stacking Britannia's would be better and I personally would go for the oriental border version.
They are beautiful and comes with a cap. Just an opinion of course.

Some info on Britannia

[shortstack68]

41 minutes ago, Rugbyplayer said:

Thanks for all the replies and welcome comments.

I am still most definitely trying to find my way with my silver journey.

I really like my Scottsdale bars and have a particular soft spot for the 100g bars. In actual fact I like all their cast (If that's the right term) range.

My biggest problem is finding them at a reasonable price! And importing anything from the US just seems pointless once everything is factored in.

So that being said I think I am going to buy my first coin stack from Goldsilver.be, I am just really unsure what is best to go for between 20x1oz Silver Eagles mixed years or 20 (maybe 25 to fill a tube) 1 oz Canadian Maples 2019.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Oh and at the same time I think I am going to order a 10oz Queens Beast Griffen but that's only because I think it looks stunning!

If anyone does know how or where I should be looking for those pesky Scottsdale bars then please let me know and any advice on all of the above would be gratefully received.

If you like milk spots on your coins then go with the Maples 😁

[vanderPoot]

3 minutes ago, shortstack68 said:

If you like milk spots on your coins then go with the Maples 😁

I do believe RCM has a new technology to prevent that since 2018, called mint shield or something

[shortstack68]

12 minutes ago, vanderPoot said:

I do believe RCM has a new technology to prevent that since 2018, called mint shield or something

Time will tell

[KevinFlynn]

I am a strong supporter of the idea of stacking national coins if there are any. Maybe go with a couple of 2 ounce Queen's Beasts and Britannias for the first coins? The former is quite liquid even outside the UK, and the last one is more popular after being available in 999 as well.

Though all in all you can not go wrong with Maples, Eagles or Philharmonics (well, maybe with Philharmonics 😏 ).

Did you think about your exit strategy? In which way would you convert these back to fiat currency when the time comes? As vanderPoot stated, melt is always the worst case scenario and factors in at about 80% of spot. Which is not bad if silver doubles in price, but becomes tricky if it only rises 25% and you already paid 20% on top.

[EdNug]

You could do a lot worse than stack up on Queen's Beasts - a tiny extra premium but it will translate into something guaranteed higher than spot when you sell on. I'd also go for Aussie Kangaroos or Brits over Maples and Eagles every time. Aside from avoiding spotted Maples tis just a question of taste though

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

I agree with the advice @vanderPoot gave you. I'd say if you are stacking in the UK with a view to selling in the UK then Britannia's should be your first choice. Maples, Silver Eagles and others are worth considering if you can get them notably cheaper than the others.

[AgCoyote]

I would get Kangaroos. They are my favorite national bullion coin.

[StackerNoob]

I’m going to go against the tide here and say maples. I have a mixed tube of maples that I collected over a year. Maples change from time to time and so are more interesting in my opinion. And they are a good looking coin. But I would also agree with many of the folks here, Brits might be a good way to go right now.

[silenceissilver]

2 hours ago, AgCoyote said:

I would get Kangaroos. They are my favorite national bullion coin.

I'm strongly considering making them the base of my stack. They are 4 9 fine like the Maple but from what I understand, they have fewer milkspots. (I don't look at my coins every day, the last time I did, I didn't notice any milks spots on any of my coins, maybe I should have a more thorough look the next time, though.) Also, with the Kangaroos, I like the little A inside one of the As as additional security feature. I live in the UK, but I'm not sure if I will live in the UK or on the continent when being old, thus I don't consider the Britannia an option. It's too unclear how liquid they really are on the continent. The Royal Mint not publishing the mint figures really puts me off them. Will a dealer on the continent take it, when I drop off a bunch of 500er boxes? I'm sure that is the case for the Maple, the Eagle, the Philharmonic and most likely for the new silver Krugerrand and the new Australian Kangaroo (250er boxes). Koalas, Kookaburras, Libertads and Pandas are too expensive for being the base of my stack. If if wasn't for their high premium, it might be the Libertad. I like their design. If I hadn't made the decision to go for a 999.9er coin, it might be the American Eagle. I like their matt finish. If it was not for their milk spotting, so often mentioned here, it might be the Philharmonic, they must be bigger on the European continent than elsewhere in the world and are one of the big coins on a world wide level, so they must be more liquid there than any other coin. With their new mint shield technology and being a 999.9 er coin, I'm still considering the Maple as well. Maybe I will split the base between them and the Kangaroos. The reason I don't consider the Beast Series as base is, a series is too complicated as base. Although, maybe getting a few monster boxes of just one of them, would make me the world wide specialist for them, after a few years, lol.

[blackadder]

9 hours ago, shortstack68 said:

If you like milk spots on your coins then go with the Maples 😁

I was thinking about just going for them cheap 1oz owls from now on hehe.As most of the higher cost stuff has milk spots etc.Which has most likely wiped out all the extra money.

them or bars and use gold buys to satisfy my collector side

10 hours ago, Rugbyplayer said:

20x1oz Silver Eagles mixed years or 20 (maybe 25 to fill a tube) 1 oz Canadian Maples 2019.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Why not silver brits? the standard ones are normally cheaper too.

[Bullionaire]

Britannia's. Better looking than maples or eagles imo. 

[KevinG]

Mapless or eagles both are a good choice. But there is so much choice.

[Rugbyplayer]

First of all I just want to say a massive thank you for everyone's comments and advice. 

Now don't be telling my wife but for once I actually listened! 

The general concensus was that Maples and Eagles were a reasonable choice but most people were encouraging me to look a little closer to home too.

I've already began to learn so much in the short period of time I've been on TSF........I'm like proverbial sponge at the moment! 

Anyhoo.......after much deliberation I actually made my first 'proper' silver purchase and it wasn't from abroad, it was right here on TSF! 

25x20th anniversary Beautiful Britannias found their to my door within 24 hours of purchase. 

Huge thanks again for the positive replies I had to my first post/question and thanks to @fiveshotdon for a smooth and pain free transaction.

Thanks also to @Stackernoob for some sound advice and guidance

.......I can now continue to stumble around The Silver Forum as I tentatively  find my way around this wonderful world of silver 😁

[SilverSkoobz]

Someone gave me advice that I took and it really helped.  Go to your local coin shop (or the one closest to you ) and spend a little bit of time in there asking about what they sell for over spot, what they buy back, what they won't buy back etc.  See how they are and go from there.  Unless you go wild online selling your silver in the future unloading a large amount at once will surely happen at your LCS so its good to know ahead of time a reasonable estimate of what they will do.

For example my LCS will buy back almost anything except large bars so I stay away from them because who would I sell it to you know?  All things being equal and to answer your question, I'd ask what they buy and sell Maples & Eagles for.  If one is a better deal then go with that one but that's just my input.  

Happy stacking!

 

[RacerCool]

As others have stated, if you live in the UK and plan to potentially sell them there, then Brittanias would be the logical choice.  Other than those, get what you can find at the most reasonable price (meaning: with a reasonable premium), if you're using them as stacking bullion.  

Tangent: I live literally just down the road from Scottsdale, and don't have anything from the Scottsdale mint.  Just never really thought too much about it since other coins and rounds are higher on my to-get list. However, I do like their 100 ounce bars.  Those look like excellent stacking bars.