What’s the Best Silver to Buy? 2022’s Hottest Silver Coins & Bars
Posted on March 17, 2022
By Paul Vanguard, for BullionMax.com
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve shipped more ounces of silver than we did during any six-month period last year. We’ve been getting a ton of customer inquiries, asking, “What’s the best silver to buy?”
The honest answer is, we don’t know. Instead of giving you silver investing advice, today we’re going to pull back the curtain and tell you which silver coins and bars are the most popular among our customers. We’ll let the wisdom of crowds answer this question for us!
Note: Due to an absolute pile of non-disclosure agreements my desire not to get sued, I'm not allowed to reveal precise sales volume. This "top secret" information has been redacted.
#8: 2022 1 oz Australian Koala Silver Coin (redacted oz)
This year’s Australian silver koala coin is a recent addition to our line-up. Pretty much as soon as we started unpacking them, they started flying out the door.
Why? Well, they’re just unbelievably cute, for one thing. Perth Mint has a world-class coin designer, Ing Ing Jong, who really outdid herself this time. You can’t see the sleepy koala dozing on the eucalyptus branch without wanting to give the little critter a hug. (Fun fact: apparently, the lazy buggers sleep 20 hours a day!)
Perth Mint’s silver koala coins have an annually-updated reverse design. This 2022 koala is the 16th in the series, and it’s proven to be quite the favorite among our customers.
Check availability and pricing on the 2022 Australian silver koala here.
#7: 1 oz SilverTowne Buffalo Silver Bar (redacted oz)
A staple of silver stacks nationwide, the 1 oz SilverTowne buffalo silver bar features a design inspired by James Earle Fraser’s iconic buffalo nickel engravings.
At just 2” x 1 1/4", these are the smallest silver bars we sell. They make great gifts and conversation pieces, they’re affordable, and you can carry them around in your pocket without worrying too much about lowering their resale value. They’re also priced at a lower premium over spot than most silver coins.
Stackers and preppers love the smaller size because it’s handy “small change” in a barter situation. Beginners like these small silver bars because they allow you to dip your toes into the water, to try out precious metals buying for the first time and see how you like it without risking much money. All things considered, they’re a great first purchase for many of our customers.
Check availability and pricing on the 1 oz SilverTowne buffalo silver bar here.
#6: 2022 1 oz Canadian Maple Leaf Silver Coin (redacted oz)
Just edging out the buffalo silver bar, the latest Canadian maple leaf silver coin from the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) packs a ton of features into a single ounce of silver.
The RCM is a globally-respected mint, and they bring all their technological advances to bear on the silver maple leaf. You want anti-counterfeiting features? This coin incorporates microlaser-engraved radial lines to drive counterfeiters to tears. And a microscopic mintmark. And patented Bullion DNA™ authentication that lets dealers verify authenticity in a few seconds. Oh, yeah, and they figured out a special coating to prevent milk spots and other blemishes from developing in storage.
RCM calls the silver maple leaf “the world’s most secure silver bullion coin.” You’d be hard-pressed to argue with them…
Check availability and pricing on the 2022 1 oz Canadian maple leaf silver coin here.
#5: 1 oz British Britannia Silver Coin, Random Year (redacted oz)
Thanks to our well-established relationship with the UK’s Royal Mint, we secured a significant supply of 1 oz British Britannia silver coins from a variety of years (mostly from 2012-2021).
Recent Britannia mintages incorporate some really interesting anti-counterfeiting features, arguably more appealing to the eye than those of the Canadian maple leaf. Specifically, I’m thinking of the reverse background pattern of waves – when you tilt the coin, it actually looks like the waves are in motion. It’s quite appealing! You wouldn’t believe how many hours I’ve spent just staring at my 2021 Britannia, making the tide go in and out…
Note: Despite the considerable variety of designs over the last two decades, most of our on-hand stock consists of Philip Nathan’s classic Standing Britannia design. We fulfill your order from the coins we have in stock. This hasn’t stopped silver stackers from making the silver Britannia one of our most popular silver coins so far this year.
Check availability and pricing on 1 oz Britannia silver coins here.
#4: 1 oz SilverTowne Buffalo Silver Round (redacted oz)
Why do we sell twice as many buffalo rounds than buffalo bars? Honestly, I’m not sure! I have a few ideas, though…
James Earle Fraser’s iconic buffalo nickel design is used on both (not the original, mind you, but a replica). However, the buffalo round presents the design in a more familiar way, using a round surface as a canvas. I think maybe our customers prefer the rounds simply because that’s the way they think a silver buffalo should look.
Honestly, I’m just guessing. Buffalo silver rounds are incredibly popular (far more so than our generic silver rounds) even though they’re priced at a slightly higher premium. There’s a reason they’re so popular, even if I can’t quite put my finger on what it is… Silver stackers and preppers have made the buffalo round ubiquitous. You’ll see them at nearly every pawn shop, gun show and farmer’s market across the U.S.
Check availability and pricing on 1 oz SilverTowne buffalo silver rounds here.
#3 overall and #2 in bars: 100 oz Britannia Silver Bar (redacted oz)
Unfortunately, these bars are out of stock at the moment. When we had ‘em, though, they were priced right – well below our generic 100 oz silver bar. And boy, did our customers notice!
A lot of times, you’ll hear that silver is “the poor man’s gold.” The popularity of the 100 oz Britannia silver bar pretty much proves that’s nonsense. While I’m typing these words, a 100 oz silver bar sells for 45% more money than a 1 oz gold bar.
Our customers who cleared out our entire stock of 100 oz Britannia silver bars could afford gold if they wanted to. They chose silver instead.
Check availability and pricing on 100 oz Britannia silver bars here.
#2 overall and #1 silver coin: 1 oz American Eagle Silver Coin (redacted oz)
Okay, look, I fudged a little bit. We merged, then split some SKUs during the first quarter, so this count combines our 2021, 2022 and random year silver eagle sales.
Even so, it’s not surprising to see the American silver eagle is the top-selling coin. After all, most years the U.S. Mint produces anywhere from 15 to 30 times as many silver eagles as all weights of gold eagles combined. That should give you an idea of how popular they are!
For decades, silver eagles have been a go-to gift for big events: graduations, weddings, births and birthdays – they’re a classic. When the recipient unwraps the gift and sees what’s inside, their eyes just light up.
Beyond gift-giving, though, the American silver eagle has a well-established place among patriotic silver stackers and preppers. They’re a great balance of size, value and beauty.
In other words, I think there’s a really good reason America’s only official silver bullion coin is our top-seller in its category.
Check availability and pricing on 1 oz American eagle silver coins here.
#1: 10 oz Britannia silver bar (redacted oz)
We’ve sold 6x more 10 oz Britannia silver bars than our generic 10 oz silver bars, even though the Royal Mint’s gorgeous Britannias command a noticeably higher premium. Clearly our customers weren’t price-sensitive!
They’re works of art. They’re substantial and beautiful, and cost about the same as a 1/10 oz gold coin. (Once again, “silver is the poor man’s gold” is proven to be nonsense!)
Take a look and see if you can figure out why the 10 oz Britannia silver bar has been our top seller so far this year.
Check availability and pricing on 10 oz Britannia silver bars here.
Honorable mention: 2022 5 oz Silver Starter Kit
For those of you who want to get started with precious metals but are suffering from analysis paralysis, we just put together our 2022 Silver Starter Kit. You’ll note it prominently features top-selling products from the list above. (In other words, we aren’t trying to dump our slow-moving products on you!)
We did our best to take the guesswork out of your purchase. It’s a good deal – in fact, the best we can afford to offer and stay in business!
If you’ve been looking for an easy way to get started building your very own silver stack, you should check it out.
Check availability and pricing on the 2022 5 oz silver starter kit here.
Paul Vanguard is a lifelong precious metals enthusiast and a proud member of the BullionMax team.
