Divmad

OIC. Just checked with Chards and Atkinsons, who are large UK online dealers. Their 2020 1oz Britannias go for £24.82 each, versus spot Silver of £14. So a 70%+ premium. And that's before adding 20% VAT!!!

Horse, where can I buy Silver today at a 10% premium, here in the UK?

OK, I'm new to this stacking thing, but am drawn to it because I truly believe that Silver (and Gold) are in a secular ascent against all fiat currencies. I want real protection of my long term savings, with low risk. Equities don't cut it.

So why, in that case, are these so called Silver "bullion coins" trading at ridiculously high premiums to the underlying? Even for current issue 2020 Sovereigns, excluding VAT, I have to pay upwards of £22. That a 40%+ premium for something that is intrinsically only worth £14.5 today. With Gold sovereigns through a dealer, the premium over spot is 7-8%. Much more reasonable.

It is this sky high premium that is stopping me from stacking Silver bullion coins. And let's not go towards numismatic coins, especially the gazillion of different country modern era issues, series, collections etc that are minted to tempt a gullible collector base with seemingly "low" mintage numbers but which, in reality, have never seen the light of day outside the Mint in question to the collector, certainly never been used in circulation as REAL coins. I contrast these modern era coins with the highly circulated, real coins of yesteryear.

Anyway, I would just like to understand better how the system operates like this. Are 40% premiums simply a product of excess demand for "poor man's Gold"? Because I don't get it, especially when you consider a multi-year underperformance of Silver to Gold (from 40:1 to 120:1) which in itself suggests that the premium should be with Gold coins, not the other way round.

This is an honest post, not knocking the collecting hobby. I WANT to stack. But only if I can do so without paying up unnecessarily for the privilege, and then, in a real emergency, suffering a 30% haircut on my "net worth" in Silver bullion from spot dealers.3