Btw, gold price is 1285/oz and silver is 21.45/oz now...

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This post has been edited by livina2011: Nov 14 2013, 12:50 PM

Haha.. Kk, learned smth new...

At least you admit that you talk cock .. hahaha...

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This post has been edited by livina2011: Nov 14 2013, 12:50 PM

Definitely. That's the reason we are in the market.

Yea.. Do u have special price for "silver investment discussion" members?
Any new member that comes in and ask "where to buy silver" we will only recommend silverstreet.

Sounds great and don't forget to ask them to text/call instead of browsing our web for low premium bar at least until we have new platform ready.

Wah approaching 20/oz.... can shopping liao....

Hi Seng_Kiat,
I keep all my receipt for each purchase whether from SS or BSM -- just like old generation who keep gold jewelry receipt which would be useful when sell back.... Is this practice really make sense?

Also, if we keep silver bar in original laminate or normal capsul, how long does it keep well without tarnish / milkspot issues?

Also, is it OK to keep all this bar inside sealable zip-lock bag?

For me I prefer to keep numismatic coins because I dislike my investment to float with spot. Imagine price of metals rise and fall over the years... and 10 years later gold and silver might return to $1300/$21... by then if you are still sitting on your stash you basically gained nothing.

That's just me, please do your own research and don't blame me if you lose money.


By the way Seng Kiat you mentioned that buyback prices will be affected if the metal has tarnished/milk spots. What is your recommendation on storing silver?

Currently I keep my coins in capsules, and I store my capsules in air-tight ziploc bags. I then store the ziploc bags in air-tight container dumped with loads if desiccants. then store the whole container inside a dry cabinet set to lowest moisture setting.

And as far as I know, milk spots are due to manufacturing defects... there is no way to effectively remove milk spots without damaging the coin/bar.

Tarnish occurs when silver is exposed to sulfur. It turns silver into brown/black. Best way to avoid tarnish is to seal your bar air-tight, or keep your silver with/in anti-tarnish strips/bags.

Milkspots are due to improper cleaning of the blanks prior to stamping. The cleaning agent left residues on the blanks and they were baked into the coin/bar upon stamping. Once the bar/coin was exposed to elements in our atmosphere milk spots appear on the silver surface.

Tarnish can be minimized but milkspots cannot be prevented.

U unseal all ur coins from the plastic lamination? I store mine in dry box along with my photography gears. Hope I'll help. So far, have u have milk spot on ur silver before?

Some coins come in capsules, some comes raw. I store all my coins in Air-tite capsules.
Coins do not come in plastic lamination; bars do but I recall only PAMP silver bars are factory-laminated.

I have seen milk spots on silver maples, Perth Mint bullion, and recently on my PAMP Lunar bars. The PAMP bars are sealed...

I tot u did quite a lot to prevent milk spot. Seems like it's unpreventable..

Just a stupid question: if collection coins or bars are subject to milk sports n tarnish over long periods of time. .... collection items would lost a bit value due to this unpreventable defects due to domestic storage conditions. ... does it make it higher risk to invest in collection items?

There's always 2 sides in a coin. Depends on which side u r looking at.

XtraLeoGecko, that is the standard practice tho a little inconvenience keeping those receipts. Whenever you need to claim, exchange etc at any dealer/shop/etc, official receipt is required in any business to proof your purchases. Despite the hassle of keeping those, at least you have track of buying pattern, average price, etc. I am doing the same for all purchases as record for future reference. Since we are migrating to new platform, I just worry if we cant move those sale records in our new platform. Hopefully, the team be able to do that or else, we have to keep hardcopy as well. This to ensure we match the record for buyback purpose.

Hurmmm .. this milkspot/tarnish is so subjective. There is no rules saying that your silver will be tarnish/milk spot after some period. The best is keep your silvers bar (be it in capsule or laminated plastic) in ziplock plastic bag and throw some silica gel. That is my practice and so far so good.

Yes, I have one customer who is a heavy fan of lunar series. It is a good move tho you have to pay high premium on it but the return is almost sure.

Eg:

When spot price was over 30++ in late 2012 to early 2013:
1oz Lunar Snake (perth Mint) was selling at RM115-RM135 while 1oz low premium bar/coin was selling at RM105-RM120.

When spot price drop to just slightly 20 now:
1oz Lunar snake (perth mint) is sold at RM135 and above while 1oz low premium bar/coin is RM79-RM90.

You are not losing money when sell 1oz snake today despite spot drop for over 30%. That's the beauty of this numismatic coins. I was a fan of numismatic coins too. That's why we have a lot of lunar series in our store. I would say, we are the most complete lunar series seller in Malaysia/SG or perhaps in Asia! Although not many willing to pay high premium for this lunar series, but there are still pretty good demand for this coin. Another point of lunar series is everybody will buy, either the person is in silver investment or not. 80-90% will impress with lunar series and buy at least 1 to keep as collection while 80-90% people don't give a damn about silver bar, maple, ASE if they are not interested in silver investment.

About storing, I usually throw as much as possible silica gel in my safe box and it does wonder. Or for those extreme sensitive coins like maple or wildlife series, I put silica gel inside its tube, seal it in ziplock plastic with extra silica gel. Keep them in safe box where silica gel is everywhere.

Buy a higher premium already set you a higher risk. Most people don't buy high premium coins for investment purpose although they are small group buying this for investment purpose which is a good idea really. The issue is liquidity wouldn't be as good as low premium but it guarantees you return on paper. .

People are paying high premium are expecting perfect grade coin. Milkspot, scratch, tarnish will affect your coin value. So, taking care your high premium is really important.

Even it is affecting your coin value, you might still earning handsomely! Lets see below:

High premium coins (worst case scenario) :
In 2005, spot was $10. Let set the premium for this coins back then was 35%. So, you purchase price is $13.50 * 3.60 (exchange) = RM48.60. (i doubt we can get this price back then. Sorry, I was not in the silver market in 2005. So have no idea about the actual market price)
Today, with spot slightly above $20, this coin market price is around RM300-350 for perfect coin (without milkspot, tarnish, etc).
Since yours is with circulated coin with milkspot/tarnish, your coin value definitely lower. In my opinion, RM200 (RM100 off the market price) for this coin will be selling like a hot cake! Thus, 311% profit in 8 years despite milkspot/tarnish. Imagine if your coin is perfect and sell for RM300, it is 514% profit man!
Please avoid scratch on coin at all cost. Some accept milkspot/tarnish but scratch is a big NO.

Low premium coins (best case scenario) :
In 2005, spot was $10. Let set the premium for low premium coin/bar at 5%. So, your purchase price is $10.5 * 3.60 (exchange) = RM37.80 (i doubt we can get this price back then. Sorry, I was not in the silver market in 2005. So have no idea about the actual market price)
Today, with spot slightly above $20, this low premium bar/coin are traded at RM80-95 for uncirculated coin/bar. Milkspot/tarnish will drop a few ringgit (probably RM5-10 off the market price).
Say your coin are perfect and sell for RM95. It is 151% profit. Imaging if your coin is milkspot/tarnish, the profit will be lower.

Based on above scenario, high premium coins give your better return in future. But the main concern is liquidity would not be as fast as low premium.

So, it is a high risk or low risk paying for extra premium?
It is your own call.

P/s:
above scenario is profit making case. Imagine if you enter market in 2011, where spot was above $40 while today's spot is sllightly above $20. Haaa, which will give you return? which will make you headache?