Buy Silver Bars

If you are looking to invest in precious metal, silver is a good option. This is more affordable than gold and is a valuable metal that has always been a strong player in the stock market.

There are however several factors that you should first look into prior to buying silver. First of all, what type of silver do you want to start your investment with? You basically have two general options for this, as a first-time investor: silver bars and silver coins.

Forms of Silver Bars

If you wish to buy silver bars, there are once again several options for this. Usually, silver bars start at one troy ounce and are called silver wafers up to one thousand troy-ounce silver bars often also called silver pricks.

However, for investment purposes, you should consider buying silver bars that are at least worth ten troy ounces, especially if you are buying silver bars online because shipping costs plus the dealer’s mark-up may be higher than the actual cost of the silver bar.

The smaller one-ounce bars are actually more for collection purposes and are better purchased directly from a land-based dealer than over the internet.

There are also silver nuggets which are quite rare and very hard to find which add to the value of the nuggets.

However, it takes an experienced eye to detect an authentic silver nugget so unless you personally know the dealer and are sure about their reputation, you may want to look at other forms of silver bars before going for this rare silver nugget.

Identifying Marks on Authentic Silver Bars

Silver bars are manufactured in mints as well as refineries and for every silver bar, wafer, ingot or nugget produced; the name of the minting company is embossed. This allows you, the buyer, to see who manufactured the silver bars to give you an idea if the minting company is of reputable background.

The bars should also include the silver content of the bar. For investment purposes, always check if the silver bar you are buying is 99.9% pure silver or .999 fine quality.

Finally, the size or the weight of the silver bar is also indicated on the bar, whether it’s 1 troy ounce or otherwise.

These are identifying marks of an authentic silver bar. However, you should be aware that there are counterfeit bars being sold to unwitting buyers, especially first-time buyers so it is advisable to always check the background of the dealer or supplier plus the minting company.

It is also recommended that you seek the help of a professional when buying silver bars – someone who is an expert at recognizing authentic silver as well as knowledgeable about different suppliers, dealers, minting companies and refineries.