Duh. I keep seeing punters asking this question.

What you don't realise is that the market for silver has de-coupled. The spot price refers to what you can expect to pay for ETFs. Physical has a premium, but that is actually the market value for physical.

There will be no sane bullion dealer who sells physical silver at spot. The best you can do, if you want a super good deal, is to get your calculator out and buy junk silver. The reason you need a calculator is that junk silver has some copper content and it varies, depending on the year of mintage. So you also need to google the year the coin was minted.

Any .999 or .9999 ounces or bars will have a premium. That premium used to be explained as minting cost. But these days everyone knows that it is the REAL price of physical silver.

Another way around is to buy 10 oz, or larger, bars that look generic, no fancy art work, just the weight and purity stamped on them.

The advantage is that when you come to sell, you can also charge basically most of the premium, depending on where and how you sell. My advice is to sell privately and charge say a dollar less than the others, so that it looks attractive. If you sell t a bullion dealer, they will try and pay you spot, especially if they perceive that you are a noob, and prescribe to the spot myth.