Investors have a range of options when it comes to investing in silver coins, with weights typically ranging from the tiny 1/10 oz to 5 oz hand-filling coins. When choosing the type of coins you’d like to buy, it’s essential to consider your own needs regarding storage, premiums over spot prices, mints, designs, considerations of collectibility, and general aesthetic qualities.
Let’s examine the benefits of 1 oz silver coins to learn why this is the most popular size for silver investors worldwide.
Why Choose 1 oz Silver Coins?
The 1 oz coin is the most common weight for silver coins for good reasons. A single troy ounce of silver is a satisfying weight to hold in your hand: an ideal balance between heft and size. In addition, each 1 oz coin represents a greater value of silver than fractional silver coins. A single 1 oz coin usually commands a lower premium over the spot price of silver than the same weight of smaller coins.
Today’s 1 oz silver coins offer investors a less expensive entry point to the physical precious metals market than more expensive metals. Historically, silver has always been lower-priced than gold simply because more silver exists. Because silver has a much greater industrial demand than gold, silver provides an opportunity for diversification.
There are more varieties of 1 oz silver coins on the market than any other weight, usually with variations in price due to market demand. Buying 1 oz coins rather than less common heavier coins allows investors to select a more diverse collection of coins. A varied collection of coins opens up a broader range of designs and mints, cultures and places, each with its own rich and diverse history.
These coins are also a convenient size for storage, and many investors simply prefer opting for the 1-oz coin as the “standard” size. Silver 1-oz coins are appropriate for those who feel they’ve found a sweet spot in terms of the ideal price, premium, storage, and diversification options. That’s probably why so many mints worldwide issue them in vast numbers.
Types of 1 oz Silver Coins and Issuing Mints
You can buy 1 oz silver coins from mints around the world. The 1 oz silver American eagle is one of the most popular choices worldwide, a single troy ounce of silver struck in 0.999 purity issued by the U.S. Mint’s West Point facility. These coins feature sculptor Adolph Weinman’s Walking Liberty design on the obverse side, showing Lady Liberty striding forth draped in an American flag as the sun rises behind her. The obverse side displays John Mercanti’s Eagle and Shield design, complete with 13 stars representing the original 13 colonies of the United States.
Coins with higher silver content are also available. The Royal Canadian Mint (RCM’s) 1 oz silver maple leaf is struck with 0.9999 fine silver, complete with cutting-edge anti-counterfeiting measures and all the quality for which the RCM is famous. The coin features Susanna Blunt’s Queen Elizabeth II portrait on the obverse side and the iconic maple leaf design by Walter Ott on the reverse, along with hypnotic radial lines that mesmerize the holder while offering an added layer of security against counterfeiting.
Other examples include:
- 1 oz silver kangaroo by the Perth Mint in Australia
- 1 oz silver libertad by the La Casa de Moneda de México (the national mint of Mexico)
- 1 oz silver Krugerrand proof coin by the South African Mint
Benefits of Buying Physical Silver
Silver as a physical asset is distinct from the digital or “paper-based” investments offered on commodities or stock markets, different even from physically-backed silver ETFs. When you invest in physical silver, you are the legal owner of the metal itself. Your assets cannot be hacked or erased on a computer system, nor are they vulnerable to the other pitfalls of modern banking, such as “tracking errors” (when a gap appears between the price of paper silver and spot silver prices).
There’s really no comparison to holding your wealth in your own hands and knowing that you, alone, are in command of your finances. You can choose to store your silver personally if you wish (for added privacy, availability, and control) or have your silver professionally stored, guarded, and insured in a vault. It’s worth noting that physical coins are made with the utmost care by mints and manufacturers, and it shows. These coins are often gorgeous items that you may wish to keep or display as showpieces regardless of your original intentions. Once you’ve held your coins, you may find it difficult to hide them away in a vault.
Many silver coins are also eligible for investment into a precious metal IRA, allowing you to save for retirement while diversifying with physical silver.
Silver vs. Gold
Silver and gold are the two most traded assets in the precious metal markets since both are often used to hedge against cash inflation by everyone, from hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds to everyday folks like you and me. The global cash supply increased by unprecedented levels in 2021, leading to absolutely historic demand for inflation hedges, especially physical gold and silver.
However, the two metals behave in different ways. Silver prices are typically more volatile than gold, making more pronounced movements relative to gold. With a smaller market size than gold, silver’s price is more susceptible to market-moving events. Silver also has many industrial uses, far more than gold does. Silver is used in electronics, automobiles, solar panels, batteries, medical technology, and many more industries. Increased or decreased demand in those industries can and does affect the price of silver.
What does this mean for savers? Here are our observations, based on working in the precious metals industry: those interested in capitalizing on short-term price swings (day trader style) tend to favor silver, while gold appeals more to investors interested in slow, stable price movements (buy and hold style). Of course, many investors opt for a diverse portfolio of gold, silver, and other non-correlated financial assets for a balanced portfolio.
Silver’s lower price per ounce makes silver coins more affordable than other precious metals. This offers an excellent entry point of the market for anyone interested in investing in a real, tangible asset that has been used as money for thousands of years. Even if you only have a few bucks to spend, you’re likely to find a silver coin you can afford.
