As most readers know there is a shortage of silver in the physicals market, and the dearth extends to all products. Major wholesalers, which for decades stood ready to sell “junk” silver coins by the hundreds of bags, have none, and rarely are junk silver coins sold by investors. Actually, investors now rarely sell any form of silver.
One hundred ounce bars cannot be had as their production has been sold months in advance. [Note, Thursday, April 9, 2009: 100-oz silver bars are now available.] The popular Engelhard 1-oz Prospectors, which were last minted in 1988 but often surfaced in the secondary market, have disappeared. Sunshine Minting silver rounds, like 100-oz silver bars, are months behind in production. Ten ounce silver bars seem to be as extinct as the dodo.
Silver Eagles, despite the U.S. Mint producing some 1.8 million a month for the last few months, are next to impossible to get, and when they are available they sell at ridiculously high premiums. In a normal market, Silver Eagles would be available at about $1.80 each over spot. When available nowadays, they carry premiums of $4.00 each in 500-coin Mint-sealed boxes. For a while, the Royal Canadian Mint filled the breach with their 1-oz Silver Maple Leafs but they are not now available.
In short, the vaults of precious metals dealers have been emptied by silver buyers. The marketplace, however, has responded.
The Royal Canadian Mint, producer of the Gold Maple Leaf and the Silver Maple Leaf coins, is now pouring 850-oz .9995+ silver bars. The uniqueness is not so much the .9995+ fineness but the weights and the dimensions of the bars.
The bars do not weigh exactly 850 ounces but range from 760 to a high as 890 ounces. Making exact-weight silver products adds to the cost, so by pouring approximate-weight bars, the RCM lowered the cost of production. Further, the bars’ weights, on the light side at about 48 pounds (avoirdupois) to about 60 pounds (again, avoirdupois) make them manageable. By comparison, a $1,000 bag of junk silver coins weighs right at 55 pounds.
Of further importance, these new bars are of sizes that enable them to be shipped in the U.S. Postal Service’s Flat Rate boxes, which means that the bars can be delivered economically. Each bar is stamped with its weight, is serial numbered and bears the RCM hallmark.
A limited number of these bars have been made available to CMI Gold & Silver Inc., and we are selling them at premiums as low as $.70/oz. That’s a delivered price. Orders for multiple bars may result in lower premiums. Bars are available for immediate shipment after good funds are verified.
At CMI Gold & Silver Inc., we think that these new bars are ideal for the time. Silver is trading at ridiculously low prices, and these bars have low premiums relative to other silver products. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, call us at 800-528-1380. We take calls 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.
If you have not yet done business with CMI Gold & Silver Inc., click here for information about doing business with us.
