Fundamentals
What Is Bullion?
Metal valued by weight and purity — and how that differs from collector coins, jewelry, and paper exposure.
Read the Definition →Start Here: The Buyer’s Guide
The five-step path from curiosity to an informed first purchase.
Start the Buyer’s Guide →Pricing & premiums
What Is the Spot Price?
Where the global benchmark comes from and how to use it as your comparison baseline.
Understand Spot Price →What Is a Bullion Premium?
What you pay above spot, what drives it, and how to compare it across products and dealers.
Understand Premiums →Risk & buying skill
Bullion Risks and Limitations
Volatility, spreads, storage, liquidity, counterfeits, and opportunity cost — the honest list.
Understand the Risks →How to Evaluate a Bullion Dealer
The questions we ask of any dealer, drawn from the Vetted Standard’s fifteen dimensions.
Evaluate Dealers →How Bullion Dealers Make Money
The spread, the premium, and why unverifiable below-market pricing is a signal, not a bargain.
Understand Dealer Economics →How Bullion Dealers Fail
The non-delivery record — updated for 2026 — and the buyer protections that actually work.
Read the Failure Record →Comparisons
Gold vs. Silver
The differences that actually matter: value density, volatility, storage, and use cases.
Compare the Metals →Coins vs. Bars vs. Rounds
Three formats with different premiums, recognizability, and resale profiles.
Compare Formats →Looking for a term? The bullion glossary defines every concept used on this site. Coming soon: storage, selling, dealer economics, and metal-by-metal buying guides.