The bigger the buy, the lower the premium. 1000oz bars (~$25K) are only $1-$2 over spot, compared to 100oz bars that are usually $2.50-$4.00 per oz. over spot. 10oz bars are roughly $3-$5 over spot. 1oz silver rounds (not made by a sovereign national mint) are the cheapest way to buy smaller amounts. They're typically in the $3-$5 over spot range as well. But the more you buy, the lower you pay over spot.

The smaller the denomination, the easier to use/trade/sell later. It's worth being aware of this.

For decades, the best buy was Constitutional "Junk silver", which is pre-1964 US coins - dimes, quarters, half dollars, silver dollars produced by the US Mint that are 90% silver content. Unfortunately, Constitutional silver has become so popular, the premiums on it have soared in the past year. Even still, I always recommend picking up some Roosevelt or Mercury dimes before you get anything else. In a pinch, the dimes, which are 1/14th of an ounce of silver, would be the most liquid, usable form of payment you could use for gas, bread, milk, etc. For instance, say silver goes to $100/oz. It would suck to have to use a 1oz silver round to pay for something that was worth say $10 if the seller couldn't "make change". However, each dime would be worth $7.14 so it would be easier to part with just two of these (1/7th of an ounce).

American Silver Eagles (ASEs) are the "gold standard" (pun intended) around the world. Unfortunately, ASE premiums have been offensive for the better part of two years now, in the neighborhood of +$10 per ounce. So if silver spot price is $23.50 today, the ASEs go for $33.50+ each. Not a great deal....

Other sovereign mint coins (Canadian Maple Leafs, British Brittanias, Australian Kangaroos, Austrian Philharmonics, South African Krugurands, etc.) are also over-priced in comparison to everything else but ASEs. I don't recommend these unless you're really into diversifying. But of course, if you live in the country of their origin, I recommend these over American constitutional silver and ASEs.

In the end, it all comes down to how much you have to spend and what your main goal is. For pure wealth preservation, the big bars are the way to go. For easy liquidity, the Constitutional silver is far and away the best. For the most bang for your buck in smaller dollar amounts, silver rounds are the way to go.

If I were you, assuming you have $5000 or less to invest, I'd get a 45%/45% ratio of Constitutional and rounds and use the remaining 10% on some ASEs. If you've got $5k-$10k, maybe mix in a few 10oz bars or a 100oz bar. If you've got over $10k, replace the silver rounds with 100oz bars as they are basically at or near the same premiums. The problem with silver rounds is that they're easiest to counterfeit and not a lot of people recognize them.

If you've got less than $2,500, I'd recommend a 50/50% mix of rounds and Constitutional.

Good luck and welcome on board the train! Hopefully you've joined reddit.com/wallstreetsilver/ ...if not, stop on by and join up. There are over 180,000 people there who will happily answer all your questions. This is where the party is at, about to get a lot bigger too!

BTW, the best prices out there are typically from SD Bullion. They're amongst the most reputable bullion dealers who typically have the best prices. And they don't short the market to hedge their customer purchases (like APMEX & JM Bullion and all the rest for the most part). I've been buying from them for years and never had a problem.