Investing in gold used to be entirely straightforward. You put down your money and got gold in your hand. However, in this day and age, there is an entire scope of options available for you. One of those options is the gold exchange-traded fund, or gold ETF. A gold ETF allows you to buy a…
If you’ve been studying precious metals for a bit, you likely have encountered mentions of both sovereign and private mints. Both are producers of precious metals products, and there is some overlap between the two, but sovereign mints and private mints are two very distinct institutions. Key Differences From Government vs. Private Dimension Private Mints…
Ah, gold. It has been a valued commodity for thousands of years. Credible records exist that show the use of gold as jewelry and currency at least as far back as 1500 B.C. There’s no sign of its popularity and reliability waning anytime soon. In fact, gold may actually be more popular than ever because…
Silver is rising in investment portfolios more than ever before. Rising inflation rates and economic instability are prodding people to seek a safe haven. There’s no doubt that interest in silver as a portfolio diversifier is nothing new. It does beg the question – is silver truly a good investment? Let’s dive into that question a…
Using sterling as a descriptor for silver has a long history. While it may have existed earlier, the term officially entered the vernacular in 1300. In that year, King Edward I of England issued a royal decree that all silver pieces must be minted to a specific level of purity. This standard was declared to…
There’s no denying that investing in gold is a good idea. It’s a great way to diversify your portfolio, and it provides a comfortable safe haven against inflation and economic distress. However, you may have noticed that there are a few different formats for buying gold online. So, this page is going to help…
Buying a gold bar is exciting, but there’s a practical issue to consider. Gold is heavy, and you need to know how much the bar you just ordered will weigh. The most common size for gold bars is 1 troy ounce. A troy ounce weighs just under 0.07 pounds, which doesn’t sound like much, but…
As trustworthy as most people in the precious metals game are, there are some bad actors out there. Some people may try to pass silver to you that isn’t up to snuff. So, it’s important to be able to spot fake silver when you’re considering a deal. Unfortunately, counterfeit silver is relatively common in the…
Not all that glitters is gold – even gold. Some pieces that you’ll see may appear to be gold, but are only plated in it. As its name implies, a gold-plated item is an object made from a different metal, but covered in a thin layer of gold. The underlying metal can vary, but it…
Since 2006, there have been two gold bullion coins produced by the government of the United States of America. The US Mint has offered the Gold Eagle since 1986, but chose to add the Gold Buffalo after the Eagle had enjoyed a 20-year monopoly, so to speak. Both coins have been immensely popular…
According to economic experts, we are currently experiencing a shortage in silver. Experts predict that the demand for silver will outpace the supply in 2024 by 176 million ounces. This deficit accounts for a decrease to the deficit from 2023 (194 million ounces), but still represents large-scale shortages in the need for silver. However,…
When dealing with silver, precision matters. While most everyday items use standard ounces equal to 28.35 grams, silver follows a different path. The precious metals industry uses troy ounces, an ancient measurement system that sets an ounce of silver at 31.1034786 grams. This seemingly small difference of about 3 grams can significantly impact your silver…
President John F. Kennedy is on the current version of the half dollar. It has featured the 35th President since March 1964, only a few months after his assassination. The half dollar itself, however, has been a minted coin in the US since 1794. In fact, it is one of the original coins designated by…
One of the hidden challenges associated with trading in precious metals is dealing with the different measures associated with calculating the weight of gold. However, it is important to understand how the different methods interact with each other. Some dealers may only offer gold or buy gold in terms of ounces or pounds. Others might…
The value of a silver dollar might seem straightforward, but it’s rarely so simple. Most silver dollars today are collectors’ items, often worth much more than their face value. Excluding the modern “golden dollars” produced post-2000, silver dollars range in value from around $27 to nearly $10,000. In fact, the most expensive silver dollar sold…
Gold and silver have been traded as precious metals for thousands of years. Anyone who has held these metals has likely noticed a difference in weight—gold is noticeably heavier. This difference goes beyond weight alone. Gold and silver have distinct densities, rooted at the atomic level. Here’s a look at how density affects their weights…
Hey there, you made it! Welcome. Chances are high; you have already done this multiple times. For beginners especially, the standard start goes something like this… You likely visited Google.com, Bing, YouTube (or perhaps another large internet search engine) and you entered in search terms like “silver investing” or “best gold dealer”. Maybe you searched…
Gold and silver have been used as currencies for thousands of years. The Egyptians began producing their gold-bearing shekels around 1500 B.C., and silver coins started appearing in the same areas roughly 700 years later. In other words, gold and silver have been part of the human experience for most of recorded history. Though both…
Wars have been fought over gold, love is often expressed with it, entire cultures and peoples have been massacred for it, and civilizations and world history have been dramatically shaped by it. Gold is perhaps mankind’s most memorable metal. Precious and useful, gold conducts electricity but it does not tarnish. Gold alloys with many other…
Gold is used in jewelry, which accounts for approximately 50% of the yellow metal’s demand. India and China are the biggest markets for gold jewelry. These two large eastern countries combine to account for about sixty percent of global gold jewelry sales in 2013. When people speak of how in our day and age gold…
It is estimated that all the gold mined ever would fit inside a cube of 20 meters. The world’s aboveground gold stock grows on average by 1 to 2% per year. Although the gold market is very opaque, experts generally estimates all time above ground gold stocks stand at about 170,000 tonnes of gold, approximately…
Gold is getting harder and harder to find and dig up out of the ground. Peak gold is a term used to define the date at which human beings reach the maximum rate of yearly global gold extraction, after which the rate of production enters declines. Source: Visual Capitalist The chart above examines the world’s…
Historically the money of human day-to-day commerce, silver coinage has had a role in nearly every ancient and modern culture. From ancient Greece’s drachma, which contained 1/8th of an ounce of silver to the Roman denarius and the British pound sterling (both designated a specific weight amount of the white metal), silver has been a…
In 2013, total world physical silver demand stood at a record 1,081,000 troy ounces. Jewelry & Silverware Demand Accounting for approximately 25% of annual silver demand, silver jewelry and eating utensils have long been prized for their brilliant luster and easy workability. A rising gold price and growing markets for mid-priced jewelry have led many…
It is estimated that throughout human history approximately 1.5 million tonnes of silver have been mined able to fit into a 52-meter cube. Unlike gold, which is almost all entirely with us still today, most silver has been used and thrown away without being recycled. Expert sliver researchers state that 90% of all silver mined…