Frequently Asked Questions

That depends entirely on what you mean by 'good' and what role you want it to play. Silver is a legitimate store of value with a 4,000-year track record as money, meaningful industrial demand, and a finite supply. It's also volatile, pays no income, and has long periods of flat or declining purchasing power. Most people who hold silver treat it as a hedge — against inflation, currency debasement, or financial system instability — rather than as a growth asset. Whether that hedge makes sense for you depends on your overall financial situation, goals, and risk tolerance. This site provides information, not financial advice. See our disclaimer.

Bullion silver is valued primarily for its metal content — it trades close to the spot price plus a modest premium. Examples: Silver Eagles, Maple Leafs, generic silver rounds, silver bars. Numismatic silver is valued based on rarity, historical significance, and condition — factors entirely separate from the metal's weight. A rare 1794 Flowing Hair dollar might be worth tens of thousands of dollars despite containing less than an ounce of silver. For investors focused on silver exposure, bullion is almost always the right choice. Numismatics is a separate hobby with its own expertise requirements, pricing complexity, and illiquidity risk.

Buy from established, reputable dealers — APMEX, JM Bullion, SD Bullion, Provident Metals, or your national mint directly. Pay by check or bank transfer rather than credit card where possible (avoids credit card surcharges, which can add 3-4%). Stick to government-minted coins or well-known private mint products from the major players. Avoid eBay for significant purchases unless you're very experienced at authentication. When your silver arrives, verify it: weight it, check dimensions, and consider a basic sigma metalytics or XRF verification for larger purchases. Store it securely — see our piece on storage options.

Silver's dual identity as both a monetary metal and an industrial commodity means it responds to two different sets of signals simultaneously. Gold is nearly 100% monetary — its price moves on sentiment, central bank policy, and the dollar. Silver does all that too, but it also responds to economic conditions that drive industrial demand. In a risk-off environment where investors flee to safe havens, gold often outperforms silver because industrial demand falls at exactly the moment monetary demand rises, partially canceling each other out. When the economy is booming and industrial demand is strong, silver can outperform gold significantly. This is why the gold/silver ratio fluctuates so widely over time.

Several methods, from simple to thorough: (1) Weight and dimensions — every legitimate bullion product has published specifications; a coin that's the wrong weight or diameter is suspect. (2) The 'ping' test — silver has a distinctive high-pitched ring when tapped; a dull thud suggests a fake. (3) Magnet test — silver is not magnetic; if a coin sticks to a strong magnet, it's not silver (though this doesn't rule out silver-plated base metals). (4) Ice test — silver has high thermal conductivity; place an ice cube on the coin and it melts faster than on most metals. (5) Electronic testing — a Sigma Metalytics or XRF (X-ray fluorescence) device gives a reliable read through the coin, not just the surface. For large purchases, professional assaying is worth the cost.

The gold/silver ratio is the number of ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. Divide the gold price by the silver price and you have it. Historically, under bimetallic monetary systems, the ratio was legally fixed around 15:1. In the modern free-floating era it's ranged from about 15:1 (silver very expensive relative to gold) to over 125:1 (silver historically cheap relative to gold). Some investors use an extreme ratio — above 80:1 or 90:1 — as a signal to rotate from gold into silver on the thesis that the ratio will revert toward historical norms. It can work as a timing tool, but the ratio has no obligation to revert on any particular schedule, and it has stayed 'extreme' for years at a time.

In the United States: dealers are required to file a Form 8300 with the IRS if you pay $10,000 or more in cash in a single transaction (or related transactions). This is a dealer obligation, not a buyer obligation per se — but it means large all-cash purchases are reported. Dealers also file 1099-B forms when you sell certain bullion products back to them (the thresholds vary by product type). Owning silver is not inherently reportable. When you sell silver at a profit, you owe capital gains tax — silver is taxed as a collectible at a maximum 28% long-term rate. Rules vary internationally. This is not tax advice; consult a tax professional for your specific situation.

Both are legitimate, and the right choice depends on your goals. ETFs (SLV, PSLV) offer instant liquidity, no storage hassle, and easy integration into retirement accounts — at the cost of counterparty risk and an annual expense ratio. Physical silver eliminates counterparty risk and exists outside the financial system, but carries premiums on the way in, dealer discounts on the way out, and requires real storage and insurance. Tax treatment is the same — both are collectibles in the U.S., taxed at a max 28% long-term rate. Many people hold both. See our full comparison for detail: Silver ETFs vs. Physical Silver.

Because premiums and spot price are driven by different supply chains. The spot price reflects the wholesale professional market — COMEX and LBMA, where large institutions trade standardized contracts. The retail premium reflects the physical supply chain: mint capacity, dealer inventory, shipping logistics, and retail demand. When retail demand surges suddenly — as happened during COVID in 2020 and during the Silver Squeeze in early 2021 — mints can't instantly scale production, dealer inventories get depleted, and premiums spike even if the underlying spot price barely moves. The professional wholesale market and the retail physical market are connected but not identical.

Historically, yes — silver was the dominant monetary metal for most of recorded human history, and remained in U.S. coins until 1964. Legally, in most jurisdictions today, no — silver is not legal tender for the settlement of debts. Practically, it occupies a middle ground: it's not money in the sense that you can't pay your electricity bill with it, but it retains properties associated with money (durability, divisibility, portability, scarcity) and has historically returned to monetary use in periods of currency instability. Whether it 'is' money is ultimately a definitional question; whether it functions as a store of value and a hedge against currency debasement is a more useful question, and the answer is: it has, over long historical periods, though with significant volatility.

The main options: (1) At home in a quality safe — bolted to the structure, fire-rated, large enough for your expected stack. Good for accessibility and direct control; requires insurance. (2) Bank safe deposit box — cheap, off-premises, but not insured by the FDIC and not accessible outside bank hours. (3) Third-party vault storage — allocated storage at a specialist vault (Brinks, Loomis, Delaware Depository). Costs 0.5–1.5% annually; provides insurance and professional security. (4) Allocated storage through a dealer or precious metals IRA custodian. For most stackers, a home safe for working-quantity holdings and a vault for larger amounts is a sensible split. The cardinal rule: don't tell people you own silver. See our full storage guide for details.

We don't publish price targets — and you should be skeptical of anyone who does with confidence. Silver's price depends on industrial demand growth (solar, EVs, semiconductors, antimicrobials), investment demand (which is sentiment-driven and highly variable), supply trends (dominated by by-product mining and recycling), and macro factors (dollar strength, real interest rates, inflation expectations). Scenarios that could produce significantly higher prices are plausible. Scenarios where silver stays range-bound or falls are also plausible. Anyone claiming certainty about silver's price trajectory is selling something. What we can say: silver has historically held value over very long time horizons, and its current industrial demand profile is structurally stronger than at any point in the last 50 years.