Buy Gold, Silver, Platinum & Palladium Bullion in Ohio

One of the most common areas of confusion for new precious metals buyers is that there are two distinct prices for gold, silver, and other investment-grade metals: the "paper" price and the "physical" price.

The paper price, often referred to as the "spot price," is the current price of a precious metal as determined by world commodity futures markets. These markets facilitate the trade of paper contracts to buy/sell large amounts of commodity metals like gold or silver. 

Rarely does actual metal change hands with these transactions. Instead, commodity traders are betting on price fluctuations by exchanging contractual paper claims on the precious metal, not the metal itself. 

As demand for the underlying commodity rises or falls, so does the price for the corresponding contract. This spot price is what you see when you check gold or silver prices on financial news networks or pricing websites.

The "physical" price of precious metals is the price one pays for actual, physical metal in the form of coins, bars, and rounds. The paper price of precious metals is always lower than the physical price; refiners, mints, wholesalers, and retailers pay a premium to bring the precious metal to the consumer market—manufacturing costs, delivery costs, insurance, and more. 

This difference between the paper price and the physical price is known as the "premium."

Premiums vary substantially due to market conditions, but are mainly determined by supply and consumer demand for precious metal products. In times of strong demand and limited supply, premiums are often significantly higher than the spot price.

Bullion is produced by both sovereign mints (governments) and private mints.

Sovereign mints, such as the United States Mint, the Royal Canadian Mint, or the Perth Mint, generally produce bullion in the form of legal tender coins, although there are exceptions. 

Bullion coins are not produced for commerce like regular circulating coins. Even though bullion coins have a face value representing an amount of that sovereign country's currency, that face value is almost always considerably less than the underlying value of the metal itself.

Since sovereign bullion coins are produced to the strict legal standards of the issuing government and they're often more difficult to counterfeit, they generally cost more than bullion products issued by private mints. 

Government-minted coins also tend to be more recognizable and liquid—easier to sell when the time comes.

Private mints and refiners, such as Johnson Matthey, PAMP Suisse, and Sunshine Mint, produce bullion in the form of bars and rounds. These products are not backed by any government; they are only backed by the quality and reputation of the mint itself. 

Fortunately, the private mints doing the most business in the global bullion market have stellar reputations and have earned the trust of their customers.

The cost of private mint generic bullion is almost always less than sovereign mint bullion. This can be appealing to customers who seek to maximize the amount of bullion they wish to purchase, given their budget. 

Generic bullion is an excellent way to accumulate precious metals at lower premiums over spot.