Education, scam alerts, and market analysis for precious metals buyers. We summarize and synthesize — we never advocate or opine.
Gold IRAs are legitimate but aggressively marketed. Learn the real fee structure, common scams like numismatic upselling and inflated markups, and how to evaluate providers before signing.
Market timing requires forecasting inflation, central bank policy, and sentiment simultaneously. Dollar-cost averaging eliminates the timing decision and produces comparable results for most buyers.
The ratio tells you which metal offers more per dollar relative to historical norms. Learn the 80/60 rule, how industrial demand shifts the ratio, and how ratio traders accumulate ounces over time.
Reputable dealers pay 90–97% of melt value for generic bullion. Learn how quantities, product types, and dealer overhead affect your sell-back price and exit strategy.
The same silver dollar can trade from $25 to $1,200+ depending on rarity and grade. Learn when numismatic premiums reflect real value and when they’re dealer markups disguised as collectibility.
$1 face value of pre-1965 silver coins contains 0.715 troy ounces of pure silver. Learn how to calculate fair prices, typical premiums, and when junk silver offers better value than modern bullion.
“Self-storage” and “checkbook LLC” gold IRA pitches sound like a clever way to keep your retirement metals at home. The IRS calls it a prohibited transaction — and the penalty can wipe out the entire account.
Counterfeit American Eagles, Maple Leafs, and Krugerrands are circulating in larger numbers than most buyers realize. Here are seven simple tests you can run before you ever pay for a coin.
Gold and silver are taxed as collectibles — with a top federal rate of 28%, separate 1099-B reporting rules, and a maze of state sales tax exemptions. Here’s exactly how it works.
The ratio tells you how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold. Ratio traders use it to time swaps between the two metals — compounding total ounces without adding new dollars.
That “We Buy Gold” sign in the strip mall? They’re paying 30–50% of melt value. Here’s how to know what your gold is actually worth before you walk in the door.
Every one-ounce gold coin holds the same gold, but premiums differ by coin and move by month. What the recent record shows for Eagles, Maples and Buffaloes, why they differ, and how to judge a quote against each coin’s own range.
Should you buy gold and silver online or from a local coin shop? The answer is simpler than you think — here’s what actually determines whether you get a fair deal.
Silver premiums run higher than gold as a percentage and shift dramatically depending on what form you buy. Here’s the math most buyers don’t see.
Pre-1965 U.S. coins contain 90% silver and are priced differently from bullion. Here’s how constitutional silver works and when it’s the smartest buy.
Every major conflict since 1900 has moved the gold price. Here’s what actually happened — from the gold standard era through two world wars, the Cold War, and the modern age of sanctions and central bank buying.
Physical metals have no automatic custodian. Home storage, bank safe deposit boxes, and private vaults each have real tradeoffs in cost, insurance, and access. Here’s what each option actually looks like.
Gold doubled. Bitcoin dropped 47% from its high. Both were supposed to be safe havens. The 2026 divergence is the data point worth examining — here’s what the crisis performance data actually shows.
Premiums move, so a fixed “fair” number goes stale. Where premiums start (the Mint’s own charge), what the recent record shows for Eagles, Maples, Buffaloes and bars, how to read today’s quote against that range, and the padded-spot trick.
Legitimate gold IRAs are a real retirement option. The sales tactics around them are, disproportionately, how retirees get scammed. A federal enforcement-backed guide to the red flags — including the $50M Red Rock Secured SEC case, the McNulty home-storage ruling, and what actually constitutes IRA-eligible precious metals.
Cash-for-gold storefronts typically pay 40–60% of melt value. Local coin dealers pay 75–90%. Online bullion dealer buybacks pay 85–95%. A practical guide to calculating melt value, avoiding the sales tactics that expand the spread, and choosing the right channel.
The precious metals industry has legitimate dealers at every level — and a persistent predatory fringe pushing products at 50 to 100% above market value. Six specific red flags to check before you send a wire.
Silver ETFs and physical silver bars both track silver’s price. But the ownership structure, counterparty risk, tax treatment, and behavior under market stress are fundamentally different. The distinction that matters most when markets are stressed.
Northwest Territorial Mint’s 2016 bankruptcy left customers out millions. Bullion Direct closed in 2015 with unfilled orders. Whether you recover your metal depends almost entirely on how it was held before the failure.
Pawn shops sell gold. Some of it is priced well. Most of it isn’t. Understanding the economics of how pawn shops acquire and price gold-bearing inventory is the filter you need.
Silver’s price behavior differs from gold’s in ways that matter for investors — primarily because of silver’s significant industrial role. Understanding what drives it clarifies why silver is more volatile.
Where you sell your precious metals matters as much as where you buy them. Dealer buyback programs vary significantly in their terms, pricing, and reliability.
Gold reached $5,589/oz in January 2026 — roughly triple the price from five years earlier. Several concurrent forces drove this extraordinary run. Understanding them matters for evaluating current prices.
Gold bug proponents say as much as possible. Mainstream advisors often say none. Neither is useful. Here’s an honest framework based on institutional research and your actual financial situation.
Costco sells hundreds of millions in gold monthly. The products are legitimate. Whether the price is competitive depends on the day. Here’s how to evaluate a retail chain purchase against alternatives.
Central banks have been consistent net buyers of gold since 2010, with purchases in 2022–2025 at historically elevated levels. Here’s why emerging market central banks are buying — and what it means for individual buyers.
The silver market has been in a structural supply deficit for six consecutive years. The deficit is real. Whether it drives dramatically higher prices depends on several factors that aren’t guaranteed to align.
High gold prices create a barrier-to-entry perception, but the market offers legitimate options at multiple price points. Here’s how to think about a first purchase at $500 or under.
Gold IRA companies advertising free silver with your rollover aren’t giving you anything. Here’s where the cost is actually hidden.
Gold has rebounded to $4,500 after falling from January’s $5,598 peak. Here’s what’s driving the price, what the data says, and how to think about your position.
Counterfeit gold bars are more sophisticated than ever. Here’s how fakes are made, how to spot them, and what verification methods actually work.
Silver dropped nearly 4% in a single session in September 2026 while gold fell less than 3%. Here’s why silver is structurally more volatile and what that means for buyers.
You’ve bought physical gold. Now where does it go? Here’s what each storage option actually involves — the costs, the risks, and the questions to ask.
Buying and selling precious metals is entirely legal — and mostly untriggered by any federal reporting. But two federal forms and one felony statute govern the transactions that do get reported, and confusing them is how ordinary buyers accidentally commit crimes.
Why platinum trades below gold, why palladium is struggling, and where PGMs actually belong in a precious metals allocation. Plus the dealer diversification pitches to be careful of, and what to buy if you decide they make sense.
For genuinely rare numismatic coins, third-party grading is legitimate authentication that unlocks real value. For modern bullion, the same services often become the mechanism by which commodity metal gets sold at 8-to-20 times its underlying worth.
Eight jurisdictions apply sales tax to precious metals in 2026 — including Maryland (added 2025), Washington (added 2026), and Virginia (added 2026). A state-by-state guide to sales tax on bullion, the use-tax obligation that follows cross-state purchases, and how online dealers handle it.
Inherited precious metals receive a step-up in basis to fair market value at the decedent's date of death — often eliminating decades of accumulated capital gains for tax purposes. A guide to what heirs owe, when, and what documentation matters.
Six recurring mistakes first-time buyers make, the four product categories that cover 95% of what makes sense, reasonable premium expectations in 2026, and where to actually buy. Updated companion to our 2024-era starter guide.
Not every silver coin qualifies for a self-directed IRA. IRC § 408(m) sets the purity floor at .999 for silver bullion, names a handful of coin exceptions, and requires storage with a qualified depository — never at home. Here is what actually counts, which depositories most custodians use in 2026, and the McNulty case that made home storage a bright-line prohibition.
On January 30, 2026, the IRS posted a correction removing an example about a single gold coin from the 2025 and 2026 Form 1099-B instructions. The example itself said a single-coin sale is not reportable, and the underlying rule did not change. Here is what the correction did and did not settle, what still triggers reporting, and how the separate Form 8300 cash-transaction rule fits.
Utah started in 2011. Wyoming and Oklahoma followed. Texas built a state depository and passed HB 1056 in 2025 to authorize electronic payment mechanisms. Florida’s HB 999, effective July 1, 2026, added the largest state yet. Here is what state legal tender status actually does — and what it does not — for a small silver buyer.
India’s securities regulator has made allegations against the parent company of Swiss refiner Valcambi. Here is what that does and does not mean for the bar in your safe, and how refiner names, hallmarks, assay cards, and LBMA accreditation actually work.
USPS, UPS, and FedEx treat bullion very differently, and a lost package can mean a $15 claim instead of full value if you pick the wrong service. Here are the actual carrier rules, who bears the loss in transit, and a checklist before you ship.
PAX Gold and Tether Gold each claim one fine troy ounce of vaulted gold per token. Here is what that claim means in practice: who holds the metal, who can redeem it, who can freeze it, and how it compares with a coin you hold or an ETF share.
A gift of coins or bars is simple to hand over and easy to get wrong on paper. Here is how the 2026 gift tax exclusion works, why the recipient inherits your cost basis, and what records to pass along with the metal.
Silver sales pitches lean hard on solar panels, AI data centers, and electric vehicles. The 2026 World Silver Survey tells a more complicated story: solar demand is forecast to fall sharply, AI demand is real but unquantified, and total industrial demand is expected to shrink. Here is what the numbers say, and what they mean for someone buying coins and bars.
An American Silver Eagle and a generic silver round can hold the same ounce of silver and still sell at very different prices. Here is how an Eagle's price is built, what the US Mint's 2026 pricing notice actually covered, what Mint sales data shows, and when the extra premium buys you something real.
In the gold-bar courier scam, the dealer is real and the gold is genuine. The 'federal agent' who sends a courier to collect it is not. Here is how the scheme unfolds, the red flags, what dealers and family members can do, and where to report it.
When a dealer receives more than $10,000 in cash from you, federal law requires a Form 8300. Here is what counts as cash in a coin or bullion purchase, how related payments add up, what the dealer must tell you, and why breaking a purchase into smaller pieces to avoid the report is a federal crime.
Between the day you pay and the day metal arrives, you don't own gold. You hold a promise. Here is how prepaid orders and buyback promises fail, what one 2026 bankruptcy filing shows about the mechanics, and the practical steps that protect you before you pay and after a dealer stops shipping.
The U.S. Mint's Semiquincentennial program includes a November silver dollar set and a one-ounce 24K gold proof, and lookalike tokens are already in circulation. Here are the Mint's published facts, the federal “COPY” marking rule for replicas, and seven checks that separate an official coin from a souvenir.
With gold well off its 2026 high, many owners hold metal worth less than they paid. Here is when a bullion loss is deductible, how the collectibles rules net it, why the wash-sale statute doesn't name physical metal (and where ETFs differ), and why dealer spreads can erase the benefit.
If you hold metal in a traditional IRA and you’re 73 or older, your 2026 RMD is due by Dec. 31. How the RMD is figured for metal, why you may be able to take it from another IRA, and the tax and practical differences between selling inside the IRA and taking coins in kind.
U.S. Mint proof and collector gold isn’t priced like bullion. How the Mint’s weekly pricing grid works, what a 1-ounce proof Eagle costs at today’s gold price, and why its dollar premium stays fixed while the percentage shrinks.