Golden State Mint, or GSM, was founded in California in 1974. Today, GSM is considered to be one of the world’s top private mints. They are known for high quality precious metal bars and rounds. Golden State offers a number of investment-grade silver rounds, many of which are prized by collectors because of their unique and historical designs.
Sizes and Designs
Golden State Mint is known for offering silver rounds with unique and beautiful designs. The size options include the most popular one-ounce silver round, as well as a smaller selection of fractional rounds in 1/10, ¼, and ½ troy ounce. Unlike many other mints, which simply mark their bullion rounds with the mint hallmark, weight, and silver purity, Golden State takes pride in offering unique rounds, often paying homage to classic coins from decades past.
The most popular Golden State Mint rounds include the Buffalo and Incuse Indian designs. The Buffalo silver round, which contains a rendition of the classic Buffalo Nickel design, has been minted since 1981. The Incuse Indian silver round, patterned after Indian Head gold coins minted between 1908 and 1929, features an Indian head against a mirror-finish background. Other options include depictions modeled after the Morgan and Standing Liberty silver dollars and Saint Gaudens $20 gold coin. Each of these is minted with one troy ounce of .999 fine silver. The Liberty and Incuse Indian rounds are also available in fractional sizes, including half, quarter, and tenth ounce rounds.
Custom Minting Techniques and Options
In addition to these designs, Golden State Mint also has the capacity to produce custom designs. With an in-house diemaker and sculptors on hand, GSM regularly produces silver rounds for a variety of corporations, financial institutions, and other clients. These frequently carry the GSM hallmark, attesting to their high quality.
What sets GSM apart from other mints is their high-tech process utilized to produce beautiful silver rounds with a high-shine finish. This specially-designed process results in very low amounts of waste, enabling GSM to offer some of the lowest per-ounce prices in the industry.
Pricing and Availability
GSM silver rounds tend to be relatively affordable due to their production process, designed to minimize waste. They are rarely more than $2 per ounce over the spot price of silver. Still, certain Golden State silver rounds are considered hard to find or carry designs which are particularly prized by collectors. As such, they command a premium over other GSM silver rounds.
When buying directly from Golden State Mint, there is a minimum purchase requirement of 100 troy ounces. Investors looking to purchase a smaller quantity of silver rounds should look for GSM silver rounds offered by coin shops and other third-party dealers. Buying from a precious metal dealer is a way around these rather high minimum purchase restrictions.
If you do opt to buy directly from the mint, all orders must be placed by phone so that a GSM representative can calculate the price based on the current spot price of silver. Golden State does publish its per-ounce premiums on its website, helping investors calculate the cost of their rounds before calling.