Gold & Silver FAQ

The spot price is the current wholesale benchmark for raw metal on global commodity exchanges like COMEX and the London Bullion Market. It changes throughout the trading day based on futures contracts, currency movements, and global supply and demand. The spot price is your starting point for evaluating any purchase — but it’s not the price you’ll pay. Every dealer charges a premium above spot. Understanding that premium is the key to knowing whether you’re getting a fair deal.

The premium is the amount a dealer charges above the spot price. It covers manufacturing, refining, minting, shipping, insurance, and the dealer’s margin. Fair premiums vary by product type. Generic bullion bars and rounds typically carry premiums of 3–6% over spot for gold. Government-minted coins like American Eagles run higher — roughly 5–8% in normal market conditions. Silver premiums run higher as a percentage than gold because the per-ounce price is lower and fixed costs make up a larger share. These ranges shift with market conditions, and knowing the typical range for what you’re buying is the single best protection against overpaying.

Bullion is valued primarily by its metal content and weight — a 1 oz gold bar is worth roughly 1 oz of gold plus a modest premium. Numismatic coins are valued for rarity, condition, historical significance, and collector demand, often well above their metal value. A rare date Morgan Silver Dollar might sell for hundreds of times the value of its silver content. If your goal is to own metal, buy bullion. If you’re a collector who understands grading and mintage numbers, numismatic premiums can be justified — but understand that you’re paying for the coin, not just the metal inside it.

Either can work well. Local coin shops offer hands-on inspection — especially important for numismatic coins — plus immediate possession with no shipping risk. Online dealers typically offer wider selection and posted premiums that are easy to compare across multiple sites. The channel matters less than the premium you’re paying. A local dealer at 3% over spot is a better deal than an online dealer at 5% over spot, and vice versa. Compare at least three dealers regardless of channel.

Gold bars — especially generic or private-mint bars — typically carry lower premiums than coins because they’re cheaper to produce. Government-minted coins like Eagles, Maple Leafs, and Krugerrands carry higher premiums but are more universally recognized and generally easier to sell. There’s also a size tradeoff: larger bars have lower per-ounce premiums, but they’re less divisible. You can’t sell half a 10 oz bar. Many buyers hold a mix of coins and bars to balance cost efficiency with flexibility.

They serve different purposes. Gold stores more value in less space and weight — an ounce of gold is worth roughly 90–100 ounces of silver, making it far easier to store, transport, and liquidate in large amounts. Silver is more affordable per ounce, making it accessible for smaller budgets, but it requires significantly more storage space for equivalent value. Many buyers hold both. The gold-to-silver ratio — which tells you how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold at current prices — is one metric some buyers use to decide which metal is relatively cheaper at any given time. You can see the live ratio on our homepage ticker.

Look for a verifiable physical address — not a P.O. box. Check their Better Business Bureau rating and Google reviews, paying attention to the actual content of the reviews, not just the star count. See how long they’ve been in business. Transparent posted pricing is a good sign — if everything is “call for a quote,” that’s a negotiation setup. Avoid dealers who cold-call you, use extreme urgency tactics, or try to steer you away from the product you asked about into higher-margin items.

Most experienced buyers suggest starting with widely recognized government-minted bullion — American Gold Eagles, Silver Eagles, or Canadian Maple Leafs. These carry moderate premiums, are universally recognized by dealers worldwide, and are easy to sell anywhere. They’re a straightforward entry point while you learn how the market works. Avoid numismatic or collectible coins until you have a solid understanding of premiums, grading, and how the secondary market for rare coins operates.

It depends on your priorities. Silver coins from government mints (American Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs) are universally recognized and easy to sell, but carry premiums of 12–25% over spot. Silver bars — especially 10 oz and 100 oz bars — carry much lower premiums per ounce (3–8% for 10 oz, 1.5–5% for 100 oz), giving you more silver for the same dollars. The tradeoff is liquidity and divisibility: you can sell one coin at a time, but you can’t sell half a bar. Most experienced buyers hold a mix — coins for flexibility, bars for cost efficiency.

It costs roughly the same amount to mint, package, ship, and sell a 1 oz silver coin as a 1 oz gold coin. But the gold coin is worth ~$3,200 and the silver coin is worth ~$32. Those fixed handling costs represent 3–5% of the gold coin’s value but 15–25% of the silver coin’s value. This is arithmetic, not dealer greed. The most effective way to reduce the percentage premium on silver is to buy larger formats — 10 oz bars, 100 oz bars, or monster boxes — where the fixed cost is spread across more ounces.

“Junk silver” refers to pre-1965 U.S. coins — dimes, quarters, and half dollars — that contain 90% silver. The term “junk” doesn’t mean they’re worthless. It means they have no significant numismatic or collectible value — they’re bought and sold purely for their silver content. A $1 face value bag of pre-1965 quarters contains approximately 0.715 troy ounces of pure silver. Junk silver is popular because it comes in small, divisible denominations, is widely recognized, and has a fixed supply that makes it genuinely scarce during high-demand periods.

Most online dealers charge a 2–4% surcharge for credit card purchases versus wire transfer or ACH payment. On a $3,000 purchase, that’s $60–120 in additional cost. Bank transfers save money but take longer to process and don’t offer the purchase protection that comes with a credit card. Some buyers accept the surcharge for the convenience and rewards points. There’s no wrong answer, but you should factor the payment method into your total cost comparison.

You have two main options. Sell to a local dealer for immediate cash — walk in, get a quote, walk out with payment. Or sell to an online dealer — ship your metals, receive payment after they verify the product. Local is faster and simpler. Online may offer slightly better prices on larger quantities because high-volume online buyers operate on thinner margins. In either case, check the spot price before you go, and get quotes from at least two or three buyers before committing.

Dealers typically buy at or slightly below the current spot price for commodity bullion, and at a small premium below spot for highly recognizable products like American Gold Eagles and Maple Leafs. The gap between what you paid when you bought (premium above spot) and what you receive when you sell (at or near spot) is the round-trip cost of ownership. This spread varies by product and by dealer. Always ask about buyback pricing before you make a purchase.

Start by identifying what you have. Government-minted bullion coins — Eagles, Maple Leafs, Krugerrands — are straightforward. Their value is primarily their metal content, and any reputable dealer can quote you a price. Numismatic or collectible coins are more complex. Their value may be significantly above metal content based on rarity, condition, and collector demand. For bullion, get quotes from multiple local and online dealers. For potentially valuable collectible coins, consider a professional appraisal from a PCGS or NGC authorized dealer before selling.

That’s a personal financial decision that depends on your goals, and we can’t advise on it. What we can tell you is that if you do decide to sell, the same principles apply as when buying: know the spot price, compare offers from at least two or three dealers, and understand that premiums and buyback spreads vary. Selling in a panic — whether driven by fear the price will drop or excitement that it’s risen — is rarely optimal. A calm, informed seller who compares offers will almost always get a better result than one who accepts the first quote.

Yes. The IRS classifies physical gold and silver bullion as collectibles under IRC Section 408(m). Long-term gains (metal held more than one year) are taxed at a maximum federal rate of 28% — higher than the 0/15/20% rates that apply to stocks. Short-term gains (held one year or less) are taxed at your ordinary income rate. Your gain is the sale price minus your cost basis, which includes what you originally paid the dealer plus any premium, sales tax, shipping, and insurance. Keep every purchase receipt — without documentation, the IRS can treat the entire sale proceeds as gain.

Sometimes — it depends on what and how much you sell. Dealers are required to file Form 1099-B for sales that meet specific IRS thresholds: 25 or more 1 oz gold Maple Leafs, Krugerrands, or Mexican Onzas; 1 kilogram or more of gold bars; 1,000 troy ounces or more of silver bars or rounds; and 90% silver U.S. coins with face value of $1,000 or more. Notably absent from this list are American Gold Eagles, American Silver Eagles, and American Buffalos in any quantity — these typically do not trigger 1099-B reporting. But the absence of a 1099-B does NOT mean the gain is tax-free. You are still legally required to report and pay tax on every taxable gain.

Inherited precious metals receive a stepped-up basis under current federal law. Your cost basis becomes the fair market value on the date of the original owner’s death — not the price they originally paid decades ago. This means heirs who sell soon after inheriting often owe little or no capital gains tax, even on metal held in the family for years. If you inherit gold or silver, get a written appraisal from a reputable dealer documenting the date-of-death value and keep it permanently — it establishes your basis for any future sale.

For standard non-collectible pieces: an online bullion dealer buyback program or a local coin/precious metals dealer will typically pay 75–95% of melt value. Cash-for-gold shops and pawn shops typically pay 40–60% of melt.

It generally means 90% of the melt value of the pure gold content in your item — not 90% of the total weight at spot. Multiply gram weight by karat purity, divide by 31.103 to convert to troy ounces, then multiply by current spot.

The spot price is a wholesale benchmark for raw, unformed metal on commodity exchanges. Turning that raw metal into a finished coin or bar requires mining, refining, minting, quality assurance, packaging, shipping, insuring, and retailing. Every step in that supply chain adds cost. The premium above spot covers those production and distribution costs plus the dealer’s operating margin. Premiums are a normal and unavoidable part of buying physical precious metals — the question isn’t whether you’ll pay one, but whether you’re paying a fair one.

It depends on the product. Generic gold rounds from private mints typically carry premiums of 3–6% over spot. American Gold Eagles usually run 5–8% in normal market conditions. Canadian Maple Leafs tend to fall in the 4–7% range. Specialty, proof, or limited-mintage coins carry premiums that vary widely based on collector demand and available supply. These ranges are not fixed — they shift with market conditions. Premiums tend to rise during periods of high public demand and compress during quieter markets.

Silver premiums run higher as a percentage than gold premiums. This is because the per-ounce price of silver is much lower, so fixed costs — minting, shipping, handling — represent a larger share of the total price. Generic silver rounds typically carry premiums of 8–15% over spot. American Silver Eagles can run 15–30% or more depending on market conditions and U.S. Mint supply constraints. Larger silver bars — 10 oz, 100 oz — carry lower percentage premiums and are the most cost-effective way to accumulate silver by weight.

Junk silver (pre-1965 U.S. coins with 90% silver) is priced per dollar of face value, not per coin. The silver content per dollar of face value is approximately 0.715 troy ounces. To calculate melt value: multiply face value × 0.715 × the current spot price of silver. Premiums on junk silver fluctuate more than standard bullion because supply is finite and shrinking — no new coins are being minted. During quiet markets, junk silver can trade near or even below melt value. During demand surges, premiums can spike dramatically.

The round-trip cost is the total premium you pay when buying plus the discount you receive when selling. If you buy a gold coin at 5% over spot and sell it back at 2% below spot, your round-trip cost is roughly 7%. This is the true cost of ownership — not just the premium you paid going in. Product choice affects the round trip: government-minted coins like Eagles generally command better buyback prices than generic rounds, partially offsetting their higher purchase premium. Always ask about buyback pricing before you buy.

Premiums spike when physical demand outpaces the available supply of finished products. This typically happens during financial crises, geopolitical shocks, or sudden surges in retail buying. The spot price — which reflects futures contracts — may not move much, but the cost of an actual coin or bar can jump significantly because mints, refiners, and dealers simply can’t produce and ship fast enough to meet demand. Premiums generally compress back to normal ranges once demand stabilizes, but that can take weeks or months.

The gold-to-silver ratio tells you how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold at current prices. If gold is $3,000/oz and silver is $30/oz, the ratio is 100:1. The historical average over the past several decades has generally ranged between 50:1 and 80:1, though it has spiked above 100:1 during periods of financial stress. Some buyers use this ratio as a signal — a historically high ratio (meaning silver is cheap relative to gold) might favor silver purchases, and vice versa. The ratio is not a prediction tool, but it provides context. You can see the live gold-to-silver ratio on our homepage ticker.

In normal market conditions, 3–6% over the live spot price. At gold near $5,100 an ounce, that’s roughly a $150–$310 premium per coin. Premiums above 10% on standard Eagles generally reflect either a temporary supply disruption or a dealer pricing well above the market. For a full breakdown of fair premium ranges across gold and silver bullion, see our guide on how much over spot to pay for gold.

Compare the spot price shown on a dealer’s website to an independent source — Kitco, the LBMA reference price, or a major financial news site — at the same moment. A discrepancy of more than a few dollars per ounce means the dealer is pricing against an inflated reference, and any ‘X% over spot’ claim is misleading. Reputable dealers update their spot displays in near real-time from live market feeds.

Gold jewelry value for resale is based on its metal content — weight multiplied by purity — not what you paid at a jewelry store. Check the karat stamp on the piece: 10K is 41.7% pure gold, 14K is 58.3%, 18K is 75%, and 24K is 99.9% pure. Weigh the piece in grams, multiply by the purity percentage, then multiply by the current gold price per gram. That calculation gives you the melt value. Most buyers will offer 70–90% of melt value, with the discount covering their assay and refining costs.

Approach with caution. Some cash-for-gold operations offer fair prices. Others offer 50% or less of the actual melt value, relying on the seller not knowing what their gold is worth. Protect yourself: calculate the melt value yourself before walking in (weight × purity × current gold price per gram). Get quotes from at least three buyers, including local coin dealers — many of them buy gold jewelry for melt and may offer better prices than dedicated cash-for-gold shops. Never accept the first offer without comparing.

Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver. Its melt value depends on weight and the current silver spot price. Because silver is much less valuable per ounce than gold, silver jewelry and flatware have lower melt value than most people expect. A sterling silver fork might contain $15–30 worth of silver at current spot prices. Whether selling is worthwhile depends on the total quantity you have and whether any of the pieces have collectible or antique value beyond their metal content.

Gold-plated items have a microscopically thin layer of gold over a base metal. The actual gold content is negligible, and most dealers won’t buy them for melt. Gold-filled items — often stamped “GF” or marked with a fraction like “1/20 12K GF” — contain more gold than plated items but still far less than solid gold. Some refiners accept gold-filled items in bulk, but individual pieces aren’t typically worth selling for their gold content. If you’re unsure whether a piece is solid gold, plated, or filled, a reputable local jeweler or coin dealer can help you identify it.

If you store precious metals at home, use a quality safe that is both fireproof and securely anchored — bolted to the floor or wall. Keep your holdings private. Discussing what you own, how much you have, or where you store it creates unnecessary risk. Consider splitting your holdings across multiple locations to reduce the impact of any single loss. And check your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy carefully — standard policies often have surprisingly low coverage limits for precious metals, sometimes as little as $200. You may need a scheduled rider or separate policy.

Safe deposit boxes offer strong physical security, but they have limitations worth understanding. Their contents are not FDIC insured — if items are lost, damaged, or stolen, the bank’s liability is typically very limited. Access is restricted to bank hours, which means you can’t reach your metals on weekends, holidays, or outside business hours. During banking crises, legal disputes, or certain government actions, access can be frozen. Some buyers use safe deposit boxes for a portion of their holdings while keeping some accessible at home.

Gold IRAs exist and are legal, but the industry around them is one of the most aggressively marketed and fee-heavy corners of the precious metals world. Setup fees, annual custodian fees, storage fees, and transaction fees can significantly erode returns over time. Many gold IRA companies spend heavily on advertising — celebrity endorsements, free gold promotions, fear-based marketing — and those costs are ultimately passed on to the customer through higher premiums and fees. If you’re considering a gold IRA, research the full fee structure thoroughly and compare the total cost to simply buying physical gold yourself and storing it independently. Consult a fee-only financial advisor who doesn’t earn a commission from the sale.

The concept is legitimate. A self-directed IRA can legally hold IRS-approved gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, and the structure is recognized by the IRS. What gets retirees in trouble is not the concept — it’s the sales tactics and pricing of specific dealers, which the SEC, CFTC, and FTC have repeatedly pursued in enforcement actions.

No. The IRS requires precious metals held in an IRA to be stored by an approved depository. The U.S. Tax Court confirmed this in McNulty v. Commissioner (2021), ruling that home storage constituted a taxable distribution — triggering income tax on the full value plus a 10% early withdrawal penalty for taxpayers under age 59½.

Gold held in an IRA must be at least 99.5% pure (with the American Gold Eagle as a statutory exception). Approved products include American Gold Eagles, American Gold Buffalos, Canadian Gold Maple Leafs, Austrian Gold Philharmonics, and gold bars from refiners on accredited lists.

These terms describe how a depository holds your metals. Segregated storage means your items are physically separated from all other clients’ holdings in a dedicated space — you get back the exact bars or coins you deposited. Allocated storage means your metals are identified and assigned to your account but may share vault space with others’ holdings. Unallocated storage means you own a claim to a quantity of metal, but no specific items are assigned to you — the depository holds a pool and owes you your share. Unallocated is cheapest but carries the most counterparty risk: in a bankruptcy, unallocated metal may be treated as a general asset of the company, not as your property. For most individual buyers, allocated or segregated is the appropriate choice.

Barely. Standard homeowner’s insurance policies typically cover only $200 to $500 in precious metals — a sublimit buried in the policy that most people don’t discover until after a loss. If you store any meaningful quantity at home, you almost certainly need a scheduled personal property rider (also called a floater). Rider costs typically run $1 to $2 per $100 of insured value per year. For $20,000 in metals, expect $200–$400 annually. The rider usually requires documentation of what you own — purchase receipts, photographs, or an appraisal.

The most common red flags: unsolicited phone calls pushing precious metals, extreme urgency or “limited time” pricing, steering from the bullion you asked about into high-premium numismatic coins, promises of guaranteed returns, refusal to post prices publicly (everything is “call for a quote”), and businesses with no verifiable physical address. Legitimate precious metals transactions are not high-pressure events. If something feels like a hard sell, it probably is. Trust that instinct. The FTC’s consumer guidance on investment scams (consumer.ftc.gov) and the CFTC’s precious metals advisory (cftc.gov) are both worth reading before making any purchase.

Promoters market “home storage” or “checkbook LLC” gold IRAs as a way to hold IRA-owned coins in your own safe, supposedly avoiding depository fees. The IRS treats this as a prohibited transaction or a full distribution of the entire account. The 2021 U.S. Tax Court decision McNulty v. Commissioner ruled directly against this structure — the McNultys owed income tax on the full distributed amount plus penalties. IRA-owned bullion must be held by an IRS-approved trustee or non-bank custodian at an approved depository. There is no legitimate way to store IRA-owned metal at home.

Counterfeit American Eagles, Maple Leafs, and Krugerrands circulate in larger numbers than most buyers realize. The most reliable defense is buying from reputable dealers with verifiable track records and asking for verification on the spot. For self-verification, run multiple tests: a magnet test (real precious metals are non-magnetic), a precise weight and dimension check against published mint specs, a ping test (real silver and gold ring with a long sustained tone), and for serious buyers, a Sigma Metalytics verifier. Any single test can be fooled, so always run several. For high-premium numismatic coins, only buy slabs authenticated by PCGS, NGC, ANACS, or ICG.

Some are. Many operate in a gray area where aggressive marketing and high fees border on predatory, even if they’re technically legal. The gold IRA space has attracted companies that spend enormous sums on advertising — television commercials, celebrity spokespeople, “free gold” promotions — which should raise the question of where that marketing budget comes from. Watch for opaque or layered fee structures, pressure to roll over retirement accounts quickly, and claims about gold being “confiscation-proof” or “IRA-approved” that are either misleading or meaningless. Research independently, and consult a fee-only financial advisor. The CFTC warns that gold is not a guaranteed safe investment at cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect.

Not always, but the business model is built on information asymmetry — the buyer knows the melt value of your gold, and most sellers don’t. That imbalance creates opportunities for lowball offers. Protect yourself by calculating the melt value before you walk in (weight × purity × current gold price per gram). Get quotes from at least three buyers. Be willing to leave if the offer isn’t close to what your calculation says the metal is worth. The best defense is simply knowing what your gold is worth before anyone makes you an offer.

“Confiscation-proof” is a marketing term frequently used by gold IRA companies and high-premium coin dealers to justify steering buyers toward expensive numismatic coins. The claim is usually that collectible coins were exempt from Executive Order 6102 in 1933, when the U.S. government required citizens to turn in gold holdings. While there was a narrow exemption for coins with recognized collector value in 1933, the circumstances of that era — the gold standard, fixed gold prices, a specific economic emergency — bear no resemblance to today’s monetary system. No modern U.S. law or executive order has suggested gold confiscation, and no serious analysis treats it as a realistic near-term scenario. When a dealer uses confiscation fears to sell you a high-premium product, they’re selling fear, not protection.

Central banks hold gold as a reserve asset for several reasons: it has no counterparty risk (unlike bonds or foreign currency deposits, gold cannot default), it cannot be frozen by sanctions or seized by another government, it maintains purchasing power over long periods, and it provides diversification away from dollar-denominated reserves. Since 2022, central bank gold buying has surged to over 1,000 tonnes per year — roughly triple the decade prior’s average — driven largely by the freezing of Russia’s $300 billion in Western-held reserves, which demonstrated that dollar reserves can be weaponized.

China has been the largest buyer, growing official reserves from roughly 1,054 tonnes in 2015 to over 2,260 tonnes by late 2025 (with actual holdings likely higher). Poland has added over 130 tonnes since 2018 and publicly targets 20% of reserves in gold. India added over 70 tonnes in 2024 alone. Turkey, Singapore, Czech Republic, Qatar, Iraq, and Uzbekistan have also been consistent buyers. The trend is concentrated among emerging market and non-aligned nations diversifying away from dollar reserves.

Central banks now absorb nearly a third of all newly mined gold each year. This gold goes into sovereign vaults and typically stays there for decades, effectively removing it from the market. This creates persistent upward pressure on prices by reducing available supply for all other buyers — retail investors, jewelers, ETFs, and institutions. Central banks also tend to buy on dips rather than chase momentum, which establishes a structural price floor. When the most conservative, longest-horizon financial institutions in the world are aggressively accumulating an asset, it also sends a signal to other market participants.

The historical pattern is more nuanced than “gold goes up during wars.” Gold sometimes spikes at the onset of a conflict, but the larger and more persistent price moves come from the monetary consequences of war — deficit spending, money printing, currency debasement, and inflation. Vietnam-era spending led to the end of the gold standard and a 2,300% gold rally over the following decade. The War on Terror and the 2008 financial crisis drove gold from $271 to $1,895. The 2022 Ukraine conflict triggered the sanctions-driven central bank buying surge that has pushed gold above $3,000. The mechanism is consistent: wars are expensive, governments finance them by debasing currencies, and gold benefits as the alternative.

De-dollarization refers to the gradual shift by nations away from holding U.S. dollars as their primary reserve currency. The dollar’s share of global foreign exchange reserves has declined from roughly 72% in 2000 to approximately 58% by 2025, according to IMF data. As central banks diversify out of dollars, gold is the primary beneficiary because it is the only reserve asset that carries no counterparty risk and no political alignment. The trend has accelerated since 2022, when Western sanctions demonstrated that dollar reserves can be frozen. This structural shift is one of the key drivers of sustained gold demand at the sovereign level.

This is a personal financial decision that depends on your goals, risk tolerance, and overall portfolio. We don’t provide investment advice. What we can share is that most financial advisors who recommend gold suggest a 5–15% allocation as portfolio insurance — not a speculative position. The goal is typically to own an asset that holds its value during periods when stocks, bonds, and currencies decline simultaneously. Gold does not pay dividends or generate earnings, so it functions as insurance rather than a growth investment. Consult a fee-only financial advisor for guidance specific to your situation.

Silver crossed $100/oz in 2026 driven by structural industrial demand outpacing supply. Solar panel manufacturing now consumes over 230 million ounces annually (up from 140 million in 2020). AI data centers, electric vehicles, and 5G infrastructure are all growing sources of silver demand. Meanwhile, 72% of silver is mined as a byproduct of copper, zinc, lead, and gold — meaning silver supply cannot respond quickly to price increases. 2026 marks the sixth consecutive year where global demand has exceeded supply. The price reflects real scarcity, not speculation.

The data so far does not support that label during crises. In every major stress event since bitcoin’s creation — the 2020 COVID crash (down 35% in one day), the 2022 crypto crash (down 77%), and the 2026 market stress (down 47% from its all-time high) — bitcoin has fallen alongside equities, often more sharply. During those same periods, gold held value or rose. Bitcoin has performed as a risk-on asset correlated with tech stocks, not as a safe haven. This could change as the asset matures and its holder base shifts, but the current evidence points to bitcoin as a growth asset, not a crisis hedge. Both assets can have a place in a portfolio — they just solve different problems.