Silver to Gold: What You Need To Know About Precious Metal Investing

This guide is for the new investor, the beginner who is just starting out trading physical precious metals. It should also be of value to anyone who owns or would like to own gold and silver. It will help you understand the value of precious metals, how they are priced, how they are traded, and help you negotiate with a company salesperson or dealer.

Most people want to know what their jewelry or old coins are worth or how much they should have to pay for gold or silver items. Unfortunately, they have to rely on someone else’s opinion and estimate. This guide will give you the basic rules about gold and silver investing. It will help you understand how Spot Price, Purity, and the Troy Ounce are used to easily calculate Melt Value. Then you can estimate an item’s worth for yourself.

The products covered in this book are the ones that are most commonly found in magazine advertisements, on TV, and online. There are descriptions, tables, and photos of bullion coins, bars, and collector coins to help you identify the different types of products. This guide includes weight and price conversions using basic math that is simple to understand. It will also give you one easy formula for estimating any precious metal’s value.

The author of this guide is an investor who has been trading equities and precious metals for the last 29 years. He wrote this guide for the beginner to simplify the basics of trading physical gold and silver. In this book, he also lists his own personal rules for buying and selling precious metals. This guide will give you the information you need to shift the advantage from the dealer to you, the investor.

Table of Contents

About this Guide

Understanding Precious Metals
The Basics
What Is Spot?
Purity In Precious Metals
Weight Using the Troy Ounce
More on Purity & Weight
Understanding Composition
How Coins & Bars Are Sized
Silver Purity
Gold Purity
The Color of Gold
What Is Melt Value & Why It Is Important
How to Calculate Melt Value

What Precious Metals to Buy
Which To Buy: Silver or Gold?
Products Found in Advertisements
Bullion Coins and Bars
Collector Coins
Silver Clad & Silver Plated Coins
Silver Clad & Plated Bullion Bars
Gold Filled & Gold Plated Items
Coin Sets and Commemoratives
The Bag of Silver

Working with Dealers
Dealer’s Premium
Other Dealer Fees
Finding a Reptuable Dealer
Government Forms
Government Confiscation

Identifying the Real Thing
Counterfeit Coins & Bars
How to Build Your Own Test Kit

Buying and Selling Gold and Silver
How to Buy Gold & Silver
How to Sell Gold & Silver
My 14 Personal Rules for Buying & Selling Precious Metals

Photo Reference
Pre-1965 U.S. Silver Coins 90% Silver
U.S Gold Coins
Bullion

Tables for Reference
U.S. Silver Coins 90% & 40%
U.S. Gold Coins
U.S. Gold Bullion Coins
U.S. Silver & Platinum Bullion Coins
Common Foreign Gold Coins
Foreign Silver Bullion Coins
Foreign Gold Bullion Coins
Foreign Platinum & Palladium Bullion

Printable Resources
Inventory Log
Weight & Spot Conversions
Coin Diameters in Millimeters

Acknowledgements
References
About the Author