Investment grade silver

[Bigmarc]

Hello.

I've just bought a couple of bits from a well known social media site beginning with f.

I am splitting hairs a bit on this question but please bare with me.

One of the bits was a 1991 American eagle. The weight is 31.1g but it's 99.93 percent silver. 0.07% copper. 

I already own quiet a few pre 2012 Brits. They are over weight and size but have the 31.1g of silver in them. This I think is classes at 958. 

So I was confused about the eagle containing copper and still weighing 1 ounce. Then I googled, why is silver 999? The answer I received was, any silver used for investment or trade must be 99.9% pure.

Does this mean any Brit before 2012 would not be classed as investment grade bullion?

 

 

[CaptCaveMan]

As I read things, they were changed in 2013 to bring them in line to the global standard of Fine rather than Britannia Silver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_standards

They're still 1 t oz of silver, hence over weight/larger.

[Bigmarc]

Thanks but should they be classed as bullion?

not massively fussed ,for some reason they seem to be fetching a higher premium.

[sixgun]

2 hours ago, Bigmarc said:

Does this mean any Brit before 2012 would not be classed as investment grade bullion?

The 999 fine silver coins are investment grade - less than that isn't investment grade.
You are investing in coins which are not investment grade so obviously the idea that 'any silver used for investment or trade must be 99.9% pure' is not true.

These are UK coins - they are CGT free - members here and buyers elsewhere will lap them up. They are different. They are in shorter supply - they have more collector value.

[Pete]

Technically a pre-2013 silver Britannia would not be classed as investment grade bullion if the definition requires the alloy to be 99.9% pure.
This terminology probably relates to banks holding hundreds of thousands of tons and just trading silver contracts.
A Britannia pre-dating 2013 is a collectible coin and has significantly more value than just an ounce of fine silver even though it contains a full ounce and that's why it is a bit heavier.
As an "investment" the earlier Brits are certainly paying handsome "dividends" now.