anyone ever buy silver bars or coins?

[hutch]

I was thinking about starting to buy some silver bars and coins for my kids down the road.  Anyone have any luck in this area.  How do you pull it off and not take a hair cut on shipping costs?

[Slowpoke]

I have never bought bars but have bought silver coins for a long time.
what kind of coins are you looking to buy?
makes a difference on where the best place to buy.

[hutch]

nothing from a collector stand point. Just something thats 90% or better silver.

[Slowpoke]

For what they call junk silver (worn coins with little collector value, just silver value)
a good local coin dealer will treat you right
or one of the mail order stores if you are buying a large quanity
might be cheaper on price even with shipping.
you can find the mail order ones in ads in Cions or Coin prices magizines.
just would stay away from the ones with the huge color ads ( they have big overheads)

[bordin34]

My grandpa bought about 5 100oz silver bars in the mid- 80's, with the inflation of money they are worth about the same today. Silver is worth $13.50 as of yesterday. One time my grandpa got robbed and the guy took a lot of his coin collection, but left a 100oz silver bar that was wrapped in paper and said paper weight on it.

[Plumcrazy]

You might want to look into silver proof coins from the US mint.

http://www.usmint.gov/index.cfm?flash=yes

[41husk]

I have a complete Buffalo Nickel collection and an extensive Morgan Dollar collection with a spackling of other coins.  I think coins are a verry risky investment.  Back in the late 80s coins went crazy, I bought mine a few years ago and had many passed down.  Prices seem to be going up, but like muscle cars, prices will fluctuate.