This is part of a series of blog posts I wrote for a coin collecting site circa ~2015 that seems to have disappeared off the Internet. Note any prices mentioned in this series are from 2015.
Silver as an investment is starting to get some buzz again. The prices on many products at the US Mint lately have started to look very attractive. Sites like MoneyMorning.com are hinting that the market for precious metals is looking good now.
The reason is, of course, that we’ve seen the market correct itself from the heady numbers we saw during the 2008~ financial crisis. As other investments went into a freefall due to the subprime mortgage crisis, precious metals soared. The spot price of silver had jumped from $14 /ounce in 2008 to $35 /ounce in 2011. It’s now come back down to a reasonable $16 /ounce and is flirting with the $15 mark. Adjusting for natural inflation, it’s now like the great US Recession never happened at all as far as metal is concerned.
Summer is also the best time to stock up on silver for an investment. The holidays cause a price spike, whereas summer is the time most people have their minds on vacations rather than saving up a nest egg.
Here’s some US Mint offers worth considering…
America the Beautiful Quarters 2015 Silver Proof Set ($31.95)
This is the first opportunity that catches the eye. While the state quarters program got collected almost to death, the America the Beautiful quarters program has been going by with hardly a mention. As noted at MintNewsBlog, this series has been notable for being the first circulating-quality coin series issued from the San Francisco Mint since 1981.
This year’s set includes Nebraska, Louisiana, North Carolina, Delaware, and New York. The America the Beautiful series has had notably higher design qualities than the state quarters program, what with the political hassles and committee decisions that affected the state quarters program. This just goes to show how design by committee isn’t always the best idea.
50th Anniversary Kennedy 2014 Half-Dollar Silver Coin Collection ($99.95)
While the business-strike Kennedy half-dollar series hasn’t exactly set the collector’s market on its head, this set is a notable once-in-a-while issue. This set has “collector appeal” written all over it. It’s four 90% pure silver coins, in four separate finishes, issued from all four mints. How often does this happen? Sure, this set costs a cool Franklin, but at a limited run of only 225,000, they’re bound to be a notable acquisition.
Which makes it odd that they still have copies on sale from 2014. There are only so many dollars in investors’ pockets, after all, and many products competing for those dollars. The set has also had some negative reactions for being high priced while also being not as popular as other products. The fact that this set is selling so slowly might be a good reason to get it: How many people will own it in the future?
American Eagle 2015 One Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin ($39.95)
The proof and bullion issues are nice enough, but this uncirculated strike is particularly notable for being a trade-off between collector’s quality and a budget price. History has shown that collectors don’t at all mind an uncirculated issue to go along with their proofs and bullions. As a stand-alone product, there’s nothing wrong with budget collectors specializing in uncirculated Silver Eagles.
As noted above, this may be one of the lowest prices in modern times that we might see for a silver uncirculated. Now that the price of silver is recovering from the busted bubble of the 2008-2014 panic, silver prices can again stabilize and begin a long, steady grind upwards as silver continues to become more valuable due to industrial demand.
Silver Proof Set 2015 ($53.95)
There’s nothing that remarkable to say about this set, except that it’s starting to look like an amazing amount of bang for the buck. $53 is a bargain for a 14-coin proof set, full stop. While only the quarters, half-dollar, and dime are proofs, and the whole set is plain old San Francisco strikes, it’s a square deal for the dollar.
US Mint Proof sets of the14-piece variety have sometimes seen a price spike when there’s a sales cut-off. The 2012-S 14-piece set is currently at $225.00 for this reason. While a cut-off isn’t going to happen this year, it’s not like a $53 investment in 14 proof coins is going to tank anytime soon. And, as noted over at CoinNews.net, there’s been a June rally on US Mint bullion sales recently. Which could tell us something about where the smart money is beginning to flow.
Isn’t it nice to be over that bubble?
