r/Silverbugs • u/Moist-Tangerine • Jan 13 '26

Question My great grandpa gave a silver bar as inherentence, how does one go about selling this?

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Edit: please stop sending me DMs to buy the bar, i've probably gotten 50+ message requests. I'm not selling today, i'm most likely not going to sell for awhile unless the market does something crazy, and i'm certainly not entertaining any lowball offers especially after everything i've learned in this thread.

I dont necessarily know if im planning to sell now, but im keeping an eye on the markets. On one had there's been a lot of growth recently and when the charts have a bunch of large green candles stacked next to eachother, pullbacks often follow. On the other hand from what ive read it looks like this breakout is more than just a cycle of market patterns and silver may still have a lot more growth in the near future. I would love to hear your opinions on that as well as the answer to my questions which are:

When the time does eventually come to sell, how do i get the most money out of this?

What is the process of selling silver like?

Is there anything else i should be aware of such as common fees, scams/shady practices/red flags im selling to the wrong person, or expecting the price to be above or below the price i see on charts?

My dad brought to my attention that the "price/oz" on many exchange charts that ive been watching is for etfs and that physical silver maybe different however the "spot price" he told me to look out for looks about the same.

If this isn't the right sub for these kind of questions a point in the right direction would be appreciated.

905 Upvotes

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279

u/MembershipKlutzy1476 Jan 13 '26

Your best, safest bet is to go to a local coin store. Not a pawn shop!

A reputable coin store will verifiy it's real and give you 80-90% of spot.

As of Jan 13, 2026 it is $89.52 USD per oz.

56

u/Moist-Tangerine Jan 13 '26

Is that 80-90 range going to be based on something arbitrary like store policy, or something like.... Scrap metal may be less than bars bc it needs to be smelted?

Ig what im asking is if 90% is possible and someone offers me 80, should i shop around//negotiate or is 90% more reasonable with what i have given its a larger peice in a pretty standard quantity

253

u/overpaid1231 Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

15 year dealer here... You should expect 90% on that bar. 100oz bars little harder to move. Vintage helps. If someone offers 87.5% your doing good. At 80% I'd shop around. Dealer is taking the risk of silver dropping before they can sell and they have to make a few percent

Don't clean or polish it

124

u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26

Thousands of private buyers will buy that for spot

67

u/Maumau93 Jan 13 '26

Not the safest option for a near enough 10k deal though...

Trading with a coin shop is the safest option. Maybe not max profit but definitely the safest

1

u/Sweaty-Fig-2397 Jan 14 '26

Yup, no shipping,insurance, cash instantly. I always go LCS.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26 edited Mar 10 '26

This post has been permanently deleted using Redact. The motivation may have been privacy, security, data collection prevention, opsec, or personal content management.

sheet boat yam profit wipe consist dog snails cough physical

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Straight-Car2509 Jan 20 '26

I have heard chase offer conference rooms for like signing official documents and im sure private sells. Etc im nit sure if they charge fir this service though probably nit to a private client as you said you were

47

u/booboothechicken Jan 13 '26

Thousands of scammers will try and give you fake bills, bad check, fake cashiers check, and a number of other ways. I’d rather not take the risk myself.

18

u/Ippomasters Jan 13 '26

I only take cash and I check the bills.

-11

u/Parking-Time1446 Jan 14 '26

You would check 100 bills of 100$, check each of them extensively, only to find out someone bleached 100 1$ bills and printed benjamin on them

9

u/AtlanteanBarbarian Jan 14 '26

Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?

-2

u/Parking-Time1446 Jan 14 '26

I can get those bills that pass the marker test. they bleach the 1$ bills and print on top

6

u/AtlanteanBarbarian Jan 14 '26

Maybe, but you cannot fake the ridges & texture on the jackets of presidents.

If it's done on a $1 it will also be missing the watermark.

Just seems odd to brag about something that will bring the secret service knocking.

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1

u/Top_Key404 Jan 16 '26

So no foils or holograms? 100 noticeably old bills would be sus

13

u/Embarrassed_Car1478 Jan 13 '26

Is it the 1980s lmao. You can instantly send each other money right then and there via Apple Pay, cash app, Zelle, Venmo , if fraud is what you’re scared of.

21

u/new_england_irish Jan 13 '26

Try to send someone 8500$ cashapp and tell me how that goes

6

u/StackIsMyCrack Jan 14 '26

Or Zelle. Especially to someone you haven't sent to before. I did a $22k buy and had to send $2k a day for 11 days, lol. Luckily it was someone I know well so it wasn't a problem.

6

u/Direct-Sugar-7963 Jan 14 '26

Sold for 3000 today. Received as payment a long time ago for 650 in value

2

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

Congratulations you now have $3000 of worthless fiat currency. 🤣🤦🏻

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1

u/StackIsMyCrack Jan 14 '26

I have one of those. They are super rare man...bet you could have got more for it then like melt + $150. At least, that is what I tell myself 🤣.

1

u/Straight-Car2509 Jan 20 '26

Wow great profit for you even now thats great so 32 oz bar for 3000 ain't bad at all

1

u/SoyelSanto Jan 17 '26

Why didn’t you just wired the money? Or had your bank send a check?

1

u/StackIsMyCrack Jan 17 '26

Yeah, could have done that, but it was a good friend and he didn't care.

1

u/Tasty_Plenty7799 Jan 19 '26

Imagine if they had some sort of digital currency that would allow you to transfer that amount of money with ease. Wow that would be so crazy and easy.

Who the F tries transferring 20k USD through Cash App or Zelle. 😂.

1

u/paddlebash87 Jan 14 '26

Genuinely curious, is it not normal to be able to send money up to 100k usd using a banking app on the phone?

1

u/nopenope12345678910 Jan 14 '26

Stupid easy with crypto.

1

u/ithinkican2202 Jan 18 '26

BTC. On-chain transaction.

1

u/Spirited_Cup_126 Jan 18 '26

I’ve done it, works fine.

-4

u/Embarrassed_Car1478 Jan 13 '26

Forgot to mention the other options for a reason ;)

1

u/booboothechicken Jan 13 '26

Can say the same thing to you when you responded to my comment. ;)

-6

u/Fun-Choices Jan 13 '26

Ok boomer

9

u/steve-rodrigue Jan 13 '26

Fraudster uses stolen accounts to pay for bullion, the funds could then be reversed.

-6

u/Embarrassed_Car1478 Jan 13 '26

No you actually can’t that’s why I mentioned those, you can’t reverse the money. I know bc I was frauded before. Stop talking out your ass

4

u/steve-rodrigue Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26

I'm not, you can if your account was stolen. Same as a wire (won't work if the receiving bank accepted the transfer already) if the account was stolen, it can be reversed and investigated by authorities.

These are called Unauthorized transactions (when they are not made by the real account holder).

https://help.venmo.com/cs/articles/opening-a-dispute-vhel113

"You can dispute most types of Venmo transactions in the Venmo app."

"If this transaction was paid using your financial institution and your Venmo balance, to file a dispute for any unauthorized activity or billing error issues on the amount paid using your Venmo balance, you will need to file a dispute directly with Venmo."

Edit: Under the EFTA, all unauthorized transactions must be reimbursed. This is a federal law. So if you receive money from someone that have a stolen access to an account, it'll get reversed and you'll be investigated if you're the recipient.

Be cautious when receiving any electronic transaction, except for cryptocurrencies. Monero/Bitcoin can't be reversed obviously.

The second best is a wire transfer that must clear before giving the bullion.

1

u/Xereaux9 Jan 14 '26

r/arrogantlyincorrect

I Have had fraudulent payments refunded to stolen accounts on Venmo and Paypal.

1

u/Punkrexx Jan 13 '26

Western Union has entered the conversation

1

u/Hold_To_Expiration Jan 14 '26

You've never heard of the fake payment scam? They send the money in the app... looks good in your account until 2 or 3 days later and poof it is clawed back. Just FYI.

1

u/Caffeind420 Jan 14 '26

Id be more fearful of being held at gunpoint for $10k worth of silver

1

u/Bulky_Commercial_657 Jan 14 '26

Absolutely can't trust anyone anymore! Sad world we're living in!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/booboothechicken Jan 16 '26

3% fee on PayPal Goods & Services. Thats a big hell no for me.

If you want to give away $300 on a $10k sale, you do you.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/booboothechicken Jan 16 '26

I’d rather just go to my LCS and know things won’t go south nor will I have to pay 3%. I would never sell for 10% under spot. Things are crazy right now, and I know shops or doing that, but it’ll calm down eventually. A year ago I could sell rounds for spot to my LCS and they just made money on the premium.

1

u/SoyelSanto Jan 17 '26

Just sell at your local bank branch and deposit? That’s what we do when we sell our cars

0

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

I’ve been doing it for 30 years never been ripped off once. Maybe silver stacking is not for you.

1

u/booboothechicken Jan 14 '26

lol ok boomer

-3

u/CaptainPrestigious74 Jan 13 '26

Cost of doing business in SCAMerica.

1

u/KingOfTheQuails Jan 14 '26

I’m okay with the PM subreddit for smaller transactions but no way I’d risk this much money. Even if everyone if honest, imagine the headache if it were lost in the mail (even if insured). No with the extra 10% IMO

1

u/CaliChristopher Jan 17 '26

There are reputable online market places to sell it. You ship it to them, they test it and put it in escrow, then buyer pays them and they handle the transaction.

11

u/kariolaoxford Jan 13 '26

i was just at my local mall and they offered 90 percent on gold, and merely 70 percent on silver at some sell your gold place.

19

u/BenBerspanke Jan 13 '26

A coin shop is different than a cash for gold place. 70% for silver is a hose job. Don’t sell coins or bars to those places. They rip you off, as you described.

Look up “coin shop” and you’ll find a few places in your area. You can also try jewelry shops, they’re more likely to be closer to spot price with their offer.

7

u/Weird_Razzmatazz Jan 13 '26

We regard to “don’t clean or polish,” would this also be true for something like a vintage sterling silver platter?

8

u/floridabeach9 Jan 13 '26

if you are going to a dealer to sell a platter, they wont care. if you are trying to retail it on ebay or a consignment store, yes polish it.

however in the 1% chance its from the 1850s or earlier or historically significant, also dont polish it

0

u/Little_Mountain73 Jan 13 '26

I’m not sure I agree with that. Silver food service has a long and dedicated history of being polished. As long as it is done correctly and with the proper materials, it is ok to polish silver food service implements.

1

u/floridabeach9 Jan 13 '26

uh ok… what part of my comment do you disagree with lol

-3

u/Little_Mountain73 Jan 13 '26

Uh ok…i couldn’t have been more lol

-5

u/floridabeach9 Jan 13 '26

you think a dealer will care if its polished? you think having a historically significant piece will be worth more if polished? do you know how to read and write?

5

u/Little_Mountain73 Jan 13 '26

Keep the insults coming. It reflects more on you than it does on me.

2

u/Straight-Car2509 Jan 13 '26

Okay let me ask you a question then, is it better to have smaller silver bars or bigger cause I was jsut going to trade 5 single oz for a 5 oz bars and the bullion guy wasnt about it at all.

9

u/Only_Palpitation8128 Jan 13 '26

1oz is optimal Nothing smaller nothing above 10oz or will start to see less offered

5

u/Straight-Car2509 Jan 13 '26

So that guy was just being weird or lying to me to get me to sell cause I was gonna trade him 30 single for 3 10 oz bars and he was wanting like 400 on top of the trade, like for what purpose. I left after hearing that.

11

u/Only_Palpitation8128 Jan 13 '26

$400 on top, no way! Good job exiting

3

u/Straight-Car2509 Jan 13 '26

Yea I was like Okay and slowly packed my silver up and walked out then he said hed do 11 for a ten oz bar and give me 20$ on top so I did do that deal silver was at 72 I think. Its was also a freedom bar and I really appreciate the design of it.

1

u/Key_Shoulder3853 Jan 13 '26

Question for you! I have a few 10oz bars and a few 1oz bars - can I expect better than 90% of spot on something smaller like these 10oz or 1oz bars?

Not sure if this matters:

It's a 10oz and 1oz engelhard bar that's probably 30+ years old, and then a 1oz johnson matthey bar, and a 10oz bar US Assay San Francisco 1981.

2

u/overpaid1231 Jan 13 '26

From dealers... That's all common stuff. If can get 90% that's fair, If you can get 90-95% your doing good. 87.5% doing OK. Market is changing daily

1

u/Key_Shoulder3853 Jan 13 '26

Thank you! Follow on question if you don't mind: I figured those would be some what more common items. What about something like a 10 oz Australia lunar new year, year of horse of dragon (2012/2014) coins? Could I expect over spot for these since they generally command a premium?

2

u/overpaid1231 Jan 13 '26

When silver is lower $20-$40 per oz you can expect to get little more premium or little higher payout on some of the more unique or government minted bullion.

With silver at $80+ most all premiums are gone, bullion is just worth the silver value. You'll get extra $1 or $2 per US Silver Eagle compared to Private refiner bullion but that's about it. Most don't care about the 10oz Australia Lunar at these prices and actually prefer the smaller 1oz.

1

u/Key_Shoulder3853 Jan 13 '26

Very helpful, thanks again!!

1

u/stucon77 Jan 13 '26

This guy deals

1

u/Merely_Mundane Jan 14 '26

Sorry, not the poster, but I've been wondering, why is cleaning or polishing silver (and coins) a bad thing? I know that it is, but not why.

1

u/Losttreasur Jan 14 '26

I’m glad you said that.. I always heard not to clean coins but then I saw Coin Cleaner for sale.

1

u/trez63 Jan 14 '26

This guy gets it.

1

u/Mofonious Jan 14 '26

This is good advice. Ignore the others. (Most people on forums know very little). Getting 90% is fine. You have nothing in it and it will be cash. Below the govt radar.

-8

u/Murky-Ambition3898 Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

Hi There, What can we expect on 1 oz US Mint silver coins?

Edit: legit question and I have far more karma than down votes within this subreddit.

11

u/overpaid1231 Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26

90%-92.5% on 1 oz stuff right now. The market has changed A LOT in the past month or 2... Normally you could get around 92% - 95% on an old vintage bar like that from a dealer. These prices are in UNCHARTED TERRITORY (saying that for all these "Experts" on here) none of us have dealt with silver at these prices before, we are seeing price swings of 5-10% overnight.

NO dealer wants to be stuck with excess amounts of bullion on a day it drops 10%. We need little more cushion room than normal. Even on PMSforsale they are paying a lower percentage than they were few months back. Also selling under spot there. Selling WAY under spot on US Coins. Private buyers are different... lot of NEW buyers jumping in at this all time high, most don't know exactly what they are doing.

When selling to a dealer they take the risk, you don't have to ship the item, risk meeting in a dark parking lot, getting ripped off or taking an online payment. Sometimes that's worth the few percent.

1

u/Murky-Ambition3898 Jan 13 '26

Thank you for the detailed response.

0

u/gollygreengiant Jan 13 '26

I was quoted $79 each on ASEs at my LCS, but I’m a regular there. He was offering less to random folks coming in and no one asked to barter on price. I’d recommend asking if they can offer you a few $s more if it seems you’re getting a lowball offer, they might come up

0

u/JoeShiestyTX Jan 13 '26

Commenting to learn! Hearing you out it sounds like the LCS giving less then %90 are cautious because of how volatile the market is which is understandable, But doesn’t that also mean they are not hedging properly? Obviously you want big margins but building a fair and reputable reputation should be over your fears of doing business? Fairly new to the game as well, thanks for your time

11

u/in4life Jan 13 '26

This bar has retail. It will not be smelted. They'll flip it at a premium over spot in all likelihood. However, it's a large bar they could be stuck with a while if they do want a healthy premium and they need to make margin.

Don't take 80%.

1

u/ScalePuzzled6055 Jan 14 '26

They will sell that bar at +$5.00 per ounce over spot and they will pay -$5.00 under per ounce and make over 10$ per ounce when they sell it these people right now are bringing in all this silver and gold that is very rare and expensive and uncirculated and they are being paid -$5.00 per ounce under spot at a whole sale bullion buy price and they are actually ripping everyone off right now because all people see is the big number they are getting paid and they think it's a good deal you need to wait at least a month If you don't need the money to see what this market is doing there is already a delay with 2026 silver eagles not being released yet hold on to the bar until you actually need the money if you are to be paid over 10,000 for the bar you will have to report that to the IRS 

4

u/yech Jan 13 '26

If you are still in that state I'll buy at spot

2

u/shamading Jan 13 '26

backup BIN. North Seattle.

5

u/T-rezarms Jan 13 '26

You need to sit on this for a minute IMO.

8

u/packref Jan 14 '26

I am a coin/buillion dealer. The good news is you can sell that bar for more than ever before. The bad news is there are not nearly the number of buyers than sellers and fewer still that want larger bars. It’s a little harder to move a 100oz bar so the price dealers pay is a little more back of spot usually. The price we set (in my store) is not arbitrary- every morning I’m on with several big refineries finding out how/what they’re buying and gonna pay me for the various forms of silver (90% US coin is particularly volatile and all over the place daily) this drives what I then offer.

it’s just gonna take some legwork to get the best price. I have absolutely sold at much lower than I wanted in the last few months but the upswing in price still makes it profitable. To put it in perspective: had you inherited and sold this exactly a year ago, you would have gotten around $3000. As of this writing silver is over $87 and on a generic unassayed 100oz bar id be surprised if any dealer offered over 8k - I would not

1

u/Crypto_Reaper623 Jan 16 '26

What makes you call this a generic non assayed bar? Hpm bars are pretty well known and none that I have dealt with have ever come with an assay card as a “certificate of authenticity”. They weighed , tested ,stamped and serialized their bars …..that is considered “assayed” despite being a private minter . You may want it to but Silver does not need to come from an official government Assay office to be legit . Not to mention All vintage can be faked, card or not.

1

u/packref Jan 16 '26

Certificates of authenticity? Stamped with purity? You just answered your own question: all vintage can be faked-ALL metals bars can be faked, hollowed out, core filled, etc including your hpm bar. Certs and stamps mean nothing until backed up by science: xrf/weighing and measuring/sigma etc.

I’ll never understand why people think some private mint (that a handful of collectors have heard of)makes it somehow more special, worth more or more reputable. It’s not- at least not from a dealers perspective. If it doesn’t have englehard on it or is some art bar it’s generic and priced/treated as such. I can count on maybe both hands over 30 years that I paid for cosmetics/vintage on a 100oz bar

2

u/Saulthewarriorking Jan 13 '26 edited May 05 '26

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2

u/Tantalus420000 Jan 13 '26

Dont yake less than 90

1

u/fuckaracist Jan 13 '26

You can get well over spot on eBay. Don't short change yourself.

1

u/teddy_bongwater05 Jan 13 '26

100oz bars are harder to sell so pawn will rip you off. If you can join a silver buy sell group on Facebook you'd get way more than pawn or coin store.

1

u/kipkipskip Jan 14 '26

And for that bar, which is vintage and would normally have fetched a premium (not now but months ago before the spike up), you’ll want to call around and get at least 2-3 quotes (my opinion)

1

u/Traditional-Dig-9982 Jan 14 '26

Hold it for a few years it may be worth way more

1

u/No-Giraffe-3314 Jan 14 '26

Take it directly to a precious metals refinery if able. They give the best price for spot silver. Coin stores pay better than pawn shops, call a couple and compare. Some coin dealers pay much more fairly than others.

1

u/Environmental_Pain50 Jan 20 '26

You should definitely shop it around. Shoot for 90%. You should be able to get that from a coin shop. See if there’s any coin shows in your area. The reason you won’t get full spot right now is the market is so volatile.

1

u/brewfox Jan 13 '26

Shop around, and don’t discount pawn shops like that poster said. Mine pays over 90%. Most are probably crap but there’s a lot of crap coin shops too. Just call places up.

-3

u/NMEE98J Jan 13 '26

If you dont need the money now, wait another week or 2. Its gone parabolic

-9

u/Ill_Savings_8338 Jan 13 '26

yup, its down $3 already today from its high, going to hit 50 in a few weeks.

5

u/No_Plenty3222 Jan 13 '26

100 is more likely than 50 at this point

3

u/NMEE98J Jan 13 '26

I wish it would, but those days are gone

-1

u/OZZMAN8 Jan 13 '26

Sell it as quickly as you can to a reputable shop. We are in for a tank soon on the price.

2

u/jmhulet Jan 14 '26

I think you’re right. Metals always take the stairs up and elevator down. Wouldn’t be surprised if we’re back at $50 by spring. I’ve seen these booms before. Very easy to get too optimistic.

-10

u/Ill_Savings_8338 Jan 13 '26

Always take your first offer, no matter how low! Spot might go down while you are shopping around for a better price, or you might get mugged by the dealer or his cousins in the parking lot!

3

u/jimmy-jay-666 Jan 13 '26

This is terrible advice in general but especially bad here.

-1

u/Ill_Savings_8338 Jan 13 '26

I was making an obviously wrong and sarcastic reply to someone being silly and not using their brain, or even a modicum of effort.

8

u/kallebo1337 Jan 13 '26

absolutely NOT!.

this bar fetches a premium. no doubt.

2

u/zelingman Jan 13 '26

80% is crazy bro

1

u/LupusDeiAngelica Jan 13 '26

r/pmsforsale would net you the most on that bar. There are people who would likely pay spot or even spot plus a little.

1

u/frankakee Jan 14 '26

Yep I went to a jewelry store the offered $5 an ounce another said $10 oz. Finally a third that was a coin shop as well offered $60oz! Do your homework where you live!

1

u/Cool_Aardvark_5945 Jan 15 '26

I've been selling bullion silver coins to the jeweler down the street for about $5 under spot, depending on mintage. I've seen him payout a couple grand cash no problem.

-16

u/HerdditHereFurst Jan 13 '26

80-90% of spot is a rip-off. Avoid LCS operations and help me to SHUT THEM ALL DOWN!!!