Buy Silver Bars for Silver Bullion
100-oz Silver Bars Most Popular
One hundred-ounce .999 fine silver bullion bars are a convenient way for investors to buy silver. 100-oz silver bars are uniform in shape, which means they are easy to stack and store. Because a 100-oz silver bar weighs only 6.86 pounds on a bathroom scale, silver bars are easy to handle.
Further, 100-oz silver bars are .999 fine (essentially pure), which enables silver bullion investors to store a great amount of wealth in a relative small space. Because 100-oz silver bars are accepted trading units, they are as easily sold as they are bought.
Numerous brands of silver bars have been produced, but today four brands dominate the silver bullion market: Johnson Matthey, Engelhard, Wall Street Mint, and Sunshine Minting. The only differences among the bars are their dimensions and the methods by which they are produced, as discussed below.
How 100-oz Silver Bars Came to Be
In the early 1970s, inflation ran rampant, and investors moved to protect themselves financially by buying silver, one of two proven inflation hedges. Gold, of course, is the other, but before December 31, 1974, investors could not legally own gold bullion.
To meet the surge of silver buying, small refiners began turning out .999 fine silver products. By the mid-1970s, demand was robust and Engelhard, a major precious metals refiner, began producing .999 fine silver products. Engelhard 100-oz silver bars were an instant hit, and shortly thereafter Johnson Matthey, another prestigious precious metals refiner, began pouring 100-oz silver bullion bars.
Engelhard and Johnson Matthey Cease Silver Bar production
By the mid-1980s the Reagan administration had brought down the rate of inflation, and silver buying waned. As a result, Engelhard and Johnson Matthey ceased production of silver bullion products. However, because of the huge quantities of silver bars turned out in the 1970s and 1980s, Engelhard silver bars and Johnson Matthey silver bars usually are available today. Yet, during periods of strong silver buying, sometimes Engelhard and JM silver bars become scarce.
Although Engelhard has not made silver bullion products since the late 1980s, Johnson Matthey again began pouring 100-oz silver bars in 2002 when investor buying put premiums on 100-oz silver bars, premiums that enabled JM to produce them at a profit. When Engelhard and JM silver bars are not available, investors can buy with confidence Wall Street Mint and Sunshine Minting silver bars. And, at times, silver bars from the renowned Royal Canadian Mint are available.
Other Silver Bullion Bars
Wall Street Mint is best known for its 10-oz silver bars, which carry the skyline of New York City with the Twin Towers still standing. Wall Street Mint's 100-oz silver bars, however, are plain, with only Wall Street Mint, 100 troy ounces, and .999 fine silver stamped on them.
Because Wall Street Mint 100-oz silver bars are produced by an extrusion process, they are exactly the same dimensions, which make them ideal for stacking and securing in safe deposit boxes. In contrast, most Johnson Matthey silver bars are poured, which makes them a little less convenient to stack when putting away a large number of bars. Most Engelhard 100-oz silver bars are extruded (maybe 20% are poured) and also are ideal for storage in safe deposit boxes.
The name Sunshine is nearly synonymous with silver because of the famed Sunshine Mine, in the equally-famed Coeur d'Alene Mining District, near Kellogg, Idaho. Further illustrating Sunshine Minting's prominence in the silver industry, the U.S. Mint uses Sunshine 1-oz blanks to produce its Silver Eagles. Investors can buy Sunshine silver bars with confidence that they are buying widely recognized bars.
Buying Silver Bars for IRAs
One hundred-ounce silver bars have become quite popular for IRAs. However, for large IRA silver investments, CMIGS recommends that investors consider 1,000-oz silver bars, which nearly always are available at smaller markups over spot.
More about Buying Silver Bars
If you would like to discuss any aspect of buying 100-oz silver bars or other silver bullion products, call us. To learn more about doing business with CMI Gold & Silver Inc, visit our Doing Business with CMIGS page.
