Selling Silver

Silver has been on a steady uptrend in value for some time and the question is often asked, when should one be selling silver?

It is difficult to say when or if silver will stop rising in value. Silver is currently in short supply around the world and although the use of it has dropped in photographic paper due to the prolific increase in digital photography around the world, demand from China and other Asian nations has increased markedly over the past few years and this is set to only increase.

The increasing demand for silver affects all holdings of silver from mining companies to bars and even silver coin collections.

As the value of silver rises so the value of a silver bullion in the form of bars and coins continues to increase.

It seems unlikely that the long term up trend in the price of silver will slow down or even fall any time soon.

Some experts predict the price of silver will climb to a good 30 US dollars or so an ounce, making many silver coin collectors around the world overjoyed to say the least.

In the 1980s the value of silver peaked at around 20 US dollars per ounce. This was a one off and the value dropped after that. Now it is on a slow steady increase and looks set to reach that by the end of this year and next year? Who knows?

Selling silver would seem, at this time, not to be the best option and I, for one, will be holding on to my silver for many years to come.

Scrap Silver

Scrap silver can be a profitable sideline for some people. The value of silver is increasing and as it is in short supply any silver scrap that can be obtained will be worth it’s weight in silver! Many people make a good living recycling scrap silver.

Scrap silver can be found in such things as old electronic equipment, circuit boards, transistor radios and mobile phones as well as in dental, household equipment, cameras, photographic paper and plates, old silverware, cutlery and dishes, old broken jewelry and many other things.

Also old silver coins, known as junk coins, may contain silver especially those pre 1920s when silver was used as the main component part of silver coins.

Pure silver is obviously best and will bring the best price but even silver mixed with other metals is still saleable.

Old rings and jewelry is an excellent source of silver. Ensure you remove any gems or stones before you sell the silver. If the silver is mixed with other metals (not alloyed) then separate them if you can. Some may be gold and that can be sold also as scrap.

Walk in with a handful of scrap silver and a scrap merchant will welcome you with open arms. Most cities will have scrap metal dealers. Even jewelers are very likely to accept scrap silver.

You can sell scrap silver online of course. There are heaps of scrap merchants who will be happy to purchase your scrap silver form you. Ensure it is very clear what you are selling them. Taking photos of the scrap silver before you send it off would be a good idea in case of any later dispute. Sending the scrap deal a copy of the photos with the scrap silver is also a good idea.

If you have any unused old scrap silver around the place you can turn it into cash very easily these days and maybe even get as much if not more than you paid for it!

Silver Coin Worth

What is a silver coin worth? These days the value of a pure silver coin is increasing so whatever it was worth last week, it will be different and perhaps better next week.

The overall trend of pure silver has been on an uptrend for some months and actually doing better proportionally to gold.

Silver coins are an excellent way to save assets as well as the coins, such as Canadian Maples, Silver Dollars for example, all having a beauty all their own.

When you are buying silver coins it is a good idea to seek out proof coins or at least brilliant uncirculated as they are worth much more. The condition of the coin is very important to collectors and indeed dealer as well. You would never remove a coin from its transparent bubble or packaging as even a fingerprint can remove the pristine condition of a coin and give it ‘hairlines’ as they are known. This reduces the value of a coin drastically.

One can buy what is known as junk silver which are early silver coins, early silver dollars and half dollars from some years ago. Dealers will sell these in bags at something over the current value of silver. It is an excellent way to store assets as the silver content is usually around 90 percent of the coin and the condition is not so important. As the value of silver rises, or in some peoples eyes as the value of the dollar goes down and it takes more of them to buy the same quantity of silver, then the value of your coins increases.

Silver is somewhat of a long term investment so do not expect to buy a coin one day and have it jump in value the next. However, if the value of the dollar drops considerably, you will still have your silver and that is very unlikely to drop in value!

A silver coin's worth then is something to keep an eye on with a view to improving your assets.

Royal Canadian Mint

The Royal Canadian Mint has unveiled it’s new State-of-the-Art Silver Refinery.

The Mint, well known for it’s established gold refinery is now offering in-house silver refinery services.

"The Royal Canadian Mint is proud of its international reputation as the gold standard in refinery and assay services," said Marguerite F. Nadeau, Q.C., Acting President and C.E.O. of the Royal Canadian Mint. "Our new, ultra-modern silver refinery further establishes the Mint as an industry leader."

This additional service will enable the Mint to extend its services across a wider range of products and materials to meet the customers desires.

The silver refinery will use a novel and unique process resulting in more cost effectiveness and almost zero waste giving it a yearly capacity of two to ten million troy ounces per year.

The mint is also designed to meet the stringent standard that the Royal Canadian Mint has been so well known for in its gold refinery and gold products. This was done by commissioning PRIOR, a Swiss based company that specializes in precious metal refining technology, to install the unique refinery and enable the Royal Canadian Mint to refine it’s own silver rather than buy from outside. This will give some long term savings and considerably reduce costs.

Without its own silver refinery for the last 12 years, the RCM was a significant buyer of refined silver in order to produce its world-renowned collector coins and other products. Now, by producing refined silver itself, the RCM will generate important, long-term cost savings.

The new silver refinery will also meets the Mint's most exacting standards and requirements in terms of a highly efficient, low maintenance, and environmentally-friendly silver refining process.

For more information on the RCM, its products and services, visit Royal Canadian Mint