What is spot price?
Spot is the current market price for one troy ounce of raw metal, set by global wholesale trading (futures exchanges and the London market), quoted continuously while markets are open. It's the number in the market strip at the top of this site. Spot is the reference for everything — but it is a price forpaper claims on warehouse metal in thousand-ounce lots, not for a coin in your hand. That difference is the premium.
Why you always pay a premium
A one-ounce silver coin costs more than one ounce of spot silver because someone had to refine the metal, mint the coin, distribute it, hold inventory, and take the other side of your small trade. That markup is the premium, usually quoted in dollars or a percent over spot. Premiums differ by product (government coins cost more than generic bars), by size (small pieces carry more premium per ounce), and by market stress — in shortages, premiums on popular products have historically spiked far above normal even when spot barely moved. Premium is the number to compare across dealers, which is what our Deal Desk is being built to do.
Troy ounce ≠ ounce
Precious metals trade in troy ounces: 31.1035 grams, about 10% heavier than the kitchen ounce (28.35 g). All spot prices, coin specifications, and this site's calculators use troy ounces — abbreviated oz t or just oz in metals context. A "1 oz Silver Eagle" is one troy ounce of silver. Converting between grams, troy ounces and pennyweights is what the weight converter is for.
Bullion vs numismatic
Bullion is metal valued for its metal: bars, rounds, and modern coins like Eagles and Maples that trade near melt value plus a premium. Numismatic coins are valued for rarity and condition — a1893-S Morgan dollar contains about ¾ oz of silver but is worth thousands of times its melt value. The two markets behave completely differently: bullion tracks spot; numismatics track collector demand. Most expensive beginner mistakes involve paying numismatic prices for bullion-grade coins. When in doubt, compute the melt value first, then ask why the price is higher.
Gold vs silver, practically
Same idea, different physics. Gold packs enormous value into small space (a house's value fits in a coat pocket), carries lower percentage premiums, and stores easily. Silver buys roughly 60–90× more ounces per dollar (see the live gold/silver ratio), is bulky to store in size, carries higher premiums — and is half industrial commodity, which makes it more volatile in both directions. Neither is "better"; they are different tools. Our research desk covers the silver market structure in depth in The Silver Bottleneck.
How dealers actually price metal
Dealers quote two prices: their ask (what you pay) and their bid (what they pay you). Both float on spot; the gap is the spread. Practical rules that survive contact with reality: wire/check prices beat credit-card prices by roughly 3–4%; shipping thresholds can erase a "cheap" premium on small orders; recognizable products (Eagles, Maples) sell back faster and closer to spot than obscure ones; and quantity breaks matter. A dealer bidding 95–99% of melt for 90% silver bags is normal — a "we buy gold" shop offering 60% is not a market price, it's a hope you don't check.
What "junk silver" means
Pre-1965 US dimes, quarters and halves are 90% silver and trade in bulk by face value — "junk" only means no collector premium. It's one of the most popular ways to hold silver in small divisible units. The junk silver calculator turns a pile of change into ounces and dollars in seconds, and explains the trade's 0.715 oz-per-dollar convention.
The mistakes to skip
- Buying "rare" coins from TV/telemarketers — graded modern coins at 5–10× melt are the industry's most reliable wealth destroyer.
- Ignoring premium — two dealers, same coin, same day can differ by several percent.
- Small-lot fractional stacking without noticing that 1/10 oz products can carry 20–40% premiums.
- Leverage and unallocated schemes — if you wanted paper exposure, futures and ETFs are cheaper; if you wanted metal, hold metal.
- Storage as an afterthought — decide where metal lives before it arrives.
Where to go next
Watch the live silver and gold market pages, price a hypothetical stack with the tools, and when you're ready to compare real dealer premiums, the Deal Desk is where that will live.