At what point does “silver” become “too much silver”?

[CookieMonster]

I have a 5kg silver bar. I bought it to bring to bring my cost per oz down but now I’m trying to sell it, it seems like it isn’t that liquid. Am I just trying to sell at a poor time? Or have I bought an albatross?

Such a shame as it is a thing of beauty but is there a point where one can “max out” on one lump of silver? If that is the case, what is the “max out” point?

All (sensible) answers and opinions appreciated. 😀

[Bars]

It's a lot of capital tied up in one asset. If you had five 1kg bars on the other hand, people would be willing to spend their cash as its a lot more affordable. Also, should the price rise, you'd want to sell little bits here and there and not the whole lot. It's the same reason why I stop myself from buying a 100oz, 1kg is my max. Its a nice size, affordable and more liquid.

[HerefordBullyun]

Ive got 15.5Kg but they are in 1oz brits mind so not enough in my eyes!

[KevinFlynn]

Any institutional buyer should easily buy a 5kg bar. I can see where it would lead to problems on the private market though. Maybe not because of price, as it's just the same as about two ounces of gold which should move easily, but because of the bulky package size.

My size restriction is one kilogram with silver, one ounce with gold.

[Pete]

You should be able to get around 98% of spot selling to a bullion dealer but privately you may struggle, unless the price is very attractive to a buyer.
Personally I don't see any merit in buying such a chunk of silver unless it was a bargain not to be missed.
My max is 1kg and there are times when I think this is even too large but a kg coin that's a show stopper.

[Stacktastic]

Wait until a world/financial shiit storm & silver price at all time highs if I were you - unless you need the money. 
might never happen mind you - but timing it to a better silver price would be my main concern. 
Judging by last year thats when the panic buying sets in and someone with £5k to invest will possibly snap that up. 
Ideally you sell it for double that - now that would be nice.

Its not going anywhere and the silver price is quite low in comparison to the last year. 
Failing that a pourer might be interested on here - I cant see 5kg selling too easily to an individual ATM.

Swapping it like for like may be an option with one of the dealers - @LawrenceChardseems like a genuine and decent dealer.
Biggest amount I have is 20oz Kitcat. Quite a few 10oz though.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Stacktastic

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, Stacktastic said:

Wait until a world/financial shiit storm & silver price at all time highs if I were you - unless you need the money. 
might never happen mind you - but timing it to a better silver price would be my main concern. 
Judging by last year thats when the panic buying sets in and someone with £5k to invest will possibly snap that up. 
Ideally you sell it for double that - now that would be nice.

Its not going anywhere and the silver price is quite low in comparison to the last year. 
Failing that a pourer might be interested on here - I cant see 5kg selling too easily to an individual ATM.

Swapping it like for like may be an option with one of the dealers - @LawrenceChardseems like a genuine and decent dealer.
Biggest amount I have is 20oz Kitcat. Quite a few 10oz though.

As a straight purchase, we @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer would probably pay spot for it.

Swapping would also be possible, but might require some slight head-scratching about the VAT implications. 

The TSF members who have already commented do have a point about these larger sizes, and of course 5 x 1 kilos would be easier to post, or deal peer-to-peer.

Just before weekend, we still had about one tonne of 2021 silver Britannias available in physical stock, plus kilo bars, and plenty more besides.

Edited August 28, 2021 by LawrenceChard

[HawkHybrid]

I've never gone over 2 toz, mostly because my simple digital scales only goes up to 100g 

with pm's you can have an impressive sized item with few people to show it off to.

it's just more practical to stick to the smaller sizes of about 1 toz.

 

HH

[Coverte]

The biggest I have bought is 100 Oz, but only have one left now after a gold exchange/deal.

As some others have commented, 1Kilo bars are probably the maximim ideally, but if the price were right, I'd buy another 100 Oz, or a 5 Kg; everything sells with patience - if one wants/needs to sell of course.

[Roy]

There have been some lovely 5kg bars for sale and I've been really tempted to buy one, like you say they are a great way to bring down your cost average.

But just like 1oz gold coins, your market is smaller and usually you have to sell close to spot (so someone else can bring down their cost average!)

There will be a buyer but maybe not today. I think with bars this size, your best exit strategy is a dealer but you must also consider the shipping costs. It's a heavy and expensive lump of metal 😊

[Arganto]

Personally I'd be keeping it unless I really had to liquidate. It will likely go easy enough to a bigger player or dealer in a higher spot price scenario (where taking spot price for it beats what you originally paid including your premiums) and it would eventually sell on the regular private market even outside that scenario with patience. 

If you're in the market for gold a trade with someone could be a way out. Even if you didn't want the gold you will have an easier time selling it for currency once swapped. The problem is postage with a lump like that. 

[sixgun]

It depends on the price as to whether a 5kg will sell.

At spot 5kg would be a little north of £2800. i have looked at this size before. What has put me off was the premium sellers were asking and that they are not liquid.
arshimo2012 had a bunch of 5kg bars on offer at £2800 on 25th June 2020 when spot was £14.09 / oz. The bars at spot would be around £2236. The sale was marked as completed. The price of silver rose sharply in the couple of weeks after these bars were posted. The value of the bars peaked at £3493 on the 10th of August 2020 - at which point they would have been a bargain. 

5kg is a big chunk - many don't want a piece that big. Many cannot afford to spend so much on one bar. There is a much bigger audience for 1kg bars. i know i would struggle to sell 5kg at other than a price nearer spot. 

If 5kg appeared at around spot i would pay close attention. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by sixgun

[modofantasma]

It depends on a, the price and b, the amount of silver someone already has perhaps c the exit strategy. 

If I would save a few quid per kg then not that interested over kg bars but if it was very low premium well priced I'd be interested. 

If it's somebodies only piece of silver then it's not ideal as it isn't divisible... If sitting on 30+ kg of silver then having 5kg in one lump wouldn't bother me

Finally the exit... If I wanted to cash out my stack or needed some money quickly selling little bits and pieces is more time consuming to bring in a significant amount of money. 

[Jvw]

I think it is difficult to answer your question. Esthetically I would love to own a couple 5kg bars. They look brilliant. One day I will make the leap and buy one. Place it as a doorstop in my house or just enjoy the looks of it. I could always sell such a bar in 5 years time for some profit.

Investment-wise these bars aren't there for a quick flip. And your best bet would be a swap or a straight sale for little under spot (pick the right time!) with a dealer to move them on in a quick, easy and trouble-free transaction (Like @LawrenceChard also explained above). Like many wrote already, less heavy weight is easier to move and sell. At this moment I don't own any bars above 1kg investment-wise to answer your question.

In fact; i would not buy bars at all now, I love a box of 1oz coins way more. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by Jvw

[LawrenceChard]

2 hours ago, Jvw said:

I think it is difficult to answer your question. Esthetically I would love to own a couple 5kg bars. They look brilliant. One day I will make the leap and buy one. Place it as a doorstop in my house or just enjoy the looks of it. I could always sell such a bar in 5 years time for some profit.

Investment-wise these bars aren't there for a quick flip. And your best bet would be a swap or a straight sale for little under spot (pick the right time!) with a dealer to move them on in a quick, easy and trouble-free transaction (Like @LawrenceChard also explained above). Like many wrote already, less heavy weight is easier to move and sell. At this moment I don't own any bars above 1kg investment-wise to answer your question.

In fact; i would not buy bars at all now, I love a box of 1oz coins way more. 

Doorstops are a great, and under-rated use for silver bars, although if you had 5 x one kilo bars, you would have 5 doostops instead of 1.

We used to have a customer who had a 400 ounce London Good Delivery gold bar which he used as a doorstop. Very exclusive! 

[Jvw]

19 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

Doorstops are a great, and under-rated use for silver bars, although if you had 5 x one kilo bars, you would have 5 doostops instead of 1. 

We have pretty heavy doors in the Netherlands. And due the lack of mountains also fierce winds. 5kg doorstops are mandatory to prevent door-slamming accidents. 😉

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, Jvw said:

We have pretty heavy doors in the Netherlands. And due the lack of mountains also fierce winds. 5kg doorstops are mandatory to prevent door-slamming accidents. 😉

Gouden dag!

Yes, one kilo bars are possibly slightly marginal for doorstops, but a good argumant for trial and error.

Your doors are possibly heavier because you are, statistically, so tall.

Even the biggest heaviest doors should stay open if using a 12.5 kilo gold bar, though.🙂

[zxtm99]

A 5kg bar attracting bids on eBay. Currently about £20/ozt being bid (including P&P), so basically a little over spot for the seller once eBay have had their pound of flesh. Seller not quite 100% rep, apparently seeling an un-hallmarked bit of gold as hallmarked.

 

5 kilo 5000 gram 999 silver Umicore bar

 

There are a couple of kite flying Buy It Nows asking well in excess of £4k, but i would agree, compared to 1 oz coins, not a very liquid market.

Edited August 29, 2021 by zxtm99
typo

[Coverte]

11 minutes ago, zxtm99 said:

A 5kg bar attracting bids on eBay. Currently about £20/ozt being bid (including P&P), so basically a little over spot for the seller once eBay have had their pound of flesh. Seller not quite 100% rep, apparently seeling an un-hallmarked bit of gold as hallmarked.

 

5 kilo 5000 gram 999 silver Umicore bar

 

There are a couple of kite flying Buy It Nows asking well in excess of £4k, but i would agree, compared to 1 oz coins, not a very liquid market.

Sometimes, moreso at weekends, there is a last minute flurry of bids, or a higher snipe, I would not be surprised to see this go higher in the closing minutes/seconds and maybe end closer to £3500; of course, getting paid and no claim/s is another story .........

Do ebay have a promotion this weekend, one of my children sells on there and the former £1 weekends are now 80% or 90% off fees during promotions.

[HillWalkerDundee]

21 hours ago, HawkHybrid said:

 

you can have an impressive sized item with few people to show it off to.

 

I know that feeling so well 🙂

Tacky school boy humour. Some lads just never grow up 🙂

[iodio]

i think have some big bars is important. it stays close to spot price and buying 1oz coins and selling with a premium can be tough. I never done it and i would love to learn lol. Also if price of silver sky rockets for a short term. Good have it. When it went to 40Cad last year. dumped some coins and bought bars for that purpose. 

[Stacktastic]

On 28/08/2021 at 20:42, HawkHybrid said:

I've never gone over 2 toz, mostly because my simple digital scales only goes up to 100g 

Love it. I really love my 20oz Scottsdale kit kat it is a lot smaller than my 10oz queens beasts and solid as. A real beauty. 
I think thats the only 20oz I have honestly I have lost the plot on what I have bought this year as I just get my little collection of gold out instead. 

19 hours ago, sixgun said:

if 5kg appeared at around spot i would pay close attention. 

Especially at the moment as its possibly bottomed recently before a move higher. 
A great trading opportunity if you can walk into a big dealer in person. 

If not just wait as it will easily hit £30 an ounce possibly £50 at some point in the near future. 

11 hours ago, zxtm99 said:

Seller not quite 100% rep, apparently seeling an un-hallmarked bit of gold as hallmarked.

Id buy from him - sells a lot of metals.  EDIT - He has just ended the item early - maybe not then. 
I would want to collect that in person though - no chance he is fobbing me off with special delivery or Hermes.  it was ended at £604 per kg and Bairds sells the 1kg at £730 per kg - so thats a £126 per kg (£630) discount assuming the dealer does not charge VAT & if that sold at that price. 

This is where buying often on dips in smaller amounts really shows its strength especially if you save and buy more when its really low like at £10 an ounce last year. I unfortunately got into this at £14 an ounce, but went crazy and bought everything I could, especially QB sets. £20 brits were my standard, but I am not sure I shall see that again anytime soon with the premium hikes & people needing to liquidate too. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Stacktastic

[LawrenceChard]

On 29/08/2021 at 11:08, Jvw said:

We have pretty heavy doors in the Netherlands. And due the lack of mountains also fierce winds. 5kg doorstops are mandatory to prevent door-slamming accidents. 😉

I just thought...

I have been up quite a few mountains, mainly relatively small ones with ski lifts on them, so nothing more than 4,000 metres, and I can assure you there are often some very fierce winds at higher altitides. 

Our showroom is in Blackpool, and we live in Cleveleys, both on the Fylde Coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fylde

Our local mountain is about 50 metres high, and we have numerous windmills in the area, so I also have experience of low altitudes.

We could use quernstones.

 

[Jvw]

1 hour ago, LawrenceChard said:

I just thought...

I have been up quite a few mountains, mainly relatively small ones with ski lifts on them, so nothing more than 4,000 metres, and I can assure you there are often some very fierce winds at higher altitides. 

Our showroom is in Blackpool, and we live in Cleveleys, both on the Fylde Coast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fylde

Our local mountain is about 50 metres high, and we have numerous windmills in the area, so I also have experience of low altitudes.

We could use quernstones.

 

Best try one of them 400 ounce London Good Delivery gold bars  

[CollectorNo1]

I would take up @LawrenceChard offer..dont think you will get better....Always nice to have a big chunk of silver....but you always have to have an exit strategy when buying something like a 5kg bar..

regards