Sunshine Silver Eagle


Sunshine Silver Eagles are the coins that were manufactured by private mints as opposed to official versions that have been produced by the United States Mint, such as American Eagles. There are many reputable companies who mint these beautiful coin-like rounds. While they are indeed actual coins, they have no true value as official legal tender. Essentially, these coins are silver bullion coins minted in the form of coins instead of bars or ingots.
Sunshine Silver Eagle (Rounds) are manufactured in a number of different sizes and each company will feature its own trademark or design on the coin. The sizes can vary from under an ounce to much larger sizes, but the industry accepted standard is the one-ounce version. The one ounce coin usually consists of one full ounce of 99.9% pure silver with often a small amount of copper alloy added to the minted process to give the finished product a more durable and scratch resistant surface.
The benefit of purchasing these sunshine silver eagle (coin rounds) over the better known official products like American Eagles or from Canada, basically comes down to the price that you are paying for the amount of the precious metal that is contained in the coin itself. The official bullion versions that carry a guarantee by that the Mint almost always come with high premiums over the actual spot price of the amount of silver that is contained in the coin. These premiums can greatly diminish the value of your purchase as they often bring the price of the coin up to 2X the value of the actual physical silver content. While the premiums may seem insignificant at first, these extra costs end up making it that much harder to get back, or to even achieve a profit from the investment.
This is where Silver Round Coins stand out as a pure investment. With premiums that are usually just slightly over spot price, it allows you to purchase more actual physical silver, as none of the "frills" associated with the official versions are attached to these unofficial products. While many numismatics may choose to focus on American Eagles or Morgan Dollar coins for the purpose of building a collection of quality coins, investors that are strictly looking to add precious metals to their portfolios often see the benefits and savings that are associated with these coin-like rounds instead. In my experience, I often have found them to be the best method of obtaining bullion coins, as I also focus primarily on the one-ounce silver rounds. These are the most universally accepted denominations and can easily liquidated should the need arise.
Another category of the coin rounds that tend to be included in the category of coins known as generic rounds. This is the term that includes the rounds manufactured during the past 30 years by companies that are no longer in operation. This category also may include the one-ounce rounds produced by lesser known refineries that are still currently in business, but may not be as established as some of the older companies.
If you are an investor who is looking for a cost effective way of adding precious metals to a diversified portfolio, then sunshine silver eagle or round coins may be a smart way to reach your investment goals.