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AndyC wrote:Now up to $18.18 /oz ...

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I should have bought more, while it was down. To what do we attribute the spike, since the stock market is doing well?

AndyC wrote:The Swiss panic - they dropped their ceiling cap on the Swiss Franc v. the Euro and everyone lost their minds, looking for safe havens.

The Swiss move was a factor along with:
Bearish investors are leaving the market. The Commodity Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) reported that speculators are holding 99.4 million ounces of silver short. That's the lowest level of short interest in silver since August, when prices were around $20. Speculators had shorted as much as 258.6 million ounces by late October.

Silver prices move with gold prices. As conditions draw folks to gold as either a hedge or haven, silver gets some residual interest. Gold prices are up about 8% this year, gold mining stocks are also up.

Now that the Fed has ended QE and Euro Banks are beginning their QE-lite we'll see a surge in the Dollar's value. Maybe a 1 to 1, $ to €.
Silver prices will fall, as it's price is tied to the Dollar.

And finally, small investors(Us) moved into the market and created demand for bullion that had not existed at the $20 mark.

The 2015 coins arrived a lot sooner than expected.

Why are the Molon Labe rounds at such a high premium?

Spot is $18.29 at the moment
Prospector rounds are $19.14 (~4.6% premium to spot)
Molon Labe rounds are $23.36 (27.7% premium) to as low as $21.36 (16.8%)

AndyC wrote:Economies of scale combined with the law of supply & demand = some rounds are more expensive.

In other words, there are fewer folks who will buy a Molon Labe type round, so the price is higher due to economies of scale.

Yeah... I can understand a slightly larger premium for the ML rounds.. but that's a big step.
I'd assume they use the same dies to strike the copper rounds as well, and the copper ML rounds are priced at the low end of the markup range.

Still curious.

Cool stuff though... I may order a few as gifts...

Thanks for the tip.

RoyGBiv wrote:

AndyC wrote:Economies of scale combined with the law of supply & demand = some rounds are more expensive.

In other words, there are fewer folks who will buy a Molon Labe type round, so the price is higher due to economies of scale.

Yeah... I can understand a slightly larger premium for the ML rounds.. but that's a big step.
I'd assume they use the same dies to strike the copper rounds as well, and the copper ML rounds are priced at the low end of the markup range.

Still curious.

Cool stuff though... I may order a few as gifts...

Thanks for the tip.

Another reason might be that the Molon Labe Rounds are Providents most popular product.
There is a lot of interest in the round due to the design. Not only hedge metal buyers, preppers and such, but 2A supporters are interested, folks with an interest in Sparta, the "300" film/graphic novel franchise, Texas history, AR & AK enthusiasts, "Street Jewelers" who are creating pendants. Heck even guys who like EoTech sights have an oar in the water on this one.
Resellers are all over the place, on Ebay and Etsy, other Bullion sales and exchange firms. Pinterest posts, Youtube videos, Infowars blurbs all are creating a much larger interest in and market for the round.
Provident is selling them at a premium. in my opinion, simply because they can.

edit for verbosity.

AndyC wrote:Silver has been below $16 this past week - buying more.

I was just looking at it yesterday and saw that.

Andy I am sending you a subpoena to testify in my divorce case as to the reason for my money problems.