What the spot price is and what it isn’t

Spot is the global wholesale price for one troy ounce of pure silver, set continuously by trading in centres like London, New York and Tokyo, and quoted for near-immediate settlement rather than future delivery. It’s the benchmark every dealer, including our North York showroom, prices from. 

As of July 31, 2026, silver in Canadian dollars sits near $82 per ounce, up from around $51 at the same time last year, a reminder of how quickly this market can move in both directions.

What spot is not: a price at which you can transact. Spot describes 1,000 oz wholesale bars changing hands between institutions. Turning that raw metal into a one-ounce Silver Maple Leaf in your hand involves refining, minting, distribution, and a dealer keeping the lights on, and every step adds cost.

Why you never pay spot: what a premium actually covers

The premium is everything above spot in the retail price. Some of it is charged before the coin ever reaches us: the Royal Canadian Mint and other refiners charge fabrication fees, and wholesalers add distribution costs. The remainder is dealer margin, ours included. We’d rather say that plainly than pretend premiums are someone else’s fault; the margin is what pays for secure inventory, showroom staff, and the ability to buy your silver back when you sell.

Premiums are also not fixed. When retail demand spikes, as it has during several stretches of this bull run, one-ounce product can get scarce even while wholesale silver is plentiful, and premiums widen. When demand cools, they compress. That’s why comparing today’s all-in price matters more than remembering what a Maple cost last spring.

Coins vs bars vs rounds: the premium hierarchy

On a per-ounce basis, smaller and more finished products carry higher premiums. The general ordering most buyers will see:

• Government coins (RCM Silver Maple Leaf, American Eagle, Britannia): highest premiums in the 1 oz category; you’re paying for legal-tender status, security features, and the most liquid resale market in Canada. We stock RCM Maples, and they remain our most-asked-for 1 oz product.
• 1 oz bars and generic rounds: lower premiums for the same .999+ silver, with slightly less universal recognition on resale. We carry 1 oz bars from recognised refiners as well.
• Larger bars (10 oz, 100 oz, kilo): the lowest premium per ounce, at the cost of flexibility; you can’t sell a third of a 100 oz bar.

None of these is “correct.” A first-time buyer who values easy resale often does well starting with Maples; a stacker optimising cost per ounce usually drifts toward bars.

Quantity pricing: how the tiers work

Buying in quantity is the simplest lever you have for lowering your cost per ounce. Our pricing on 1 oz Silver Maple Leafs steps down through four tiers — 1–9, 10–19, 20–49 and 100+ coins. Therefore, the premium you pay per coin shrinks as your order grows, even though the underlying spot price is identical for everyone. The saving isn’t a promotion; it reflects real economics, since a hundred coins cost us little more to handle, insure, and process than ten.

What that means in practice: a stacker buying twenty Maples pays measurably less per coin than someone buying two, and a 100-coin order sharpens the price again. The exact premium at each tier moves with the market, so check the live figures on our product pages or call the showroom, and we’ll quote each tier against spot while you’re on the line rather than relying on any number frozen into an article.

One more variable belongs in this section: payment. Cash, Interac, and wire pricing is typically the sharpest across the industry, while credit cards often carry a processing surcharge. Compare dealers on the final all-in figure for your payment method, not the headline price.

Taxes: the good news on pure silver

Investment-grade silver of 99.9% purity or higher, which includes Silver Maple Leafs and standard bullion bars, is exempt from GST/HST in Canada. That’s a meaningful advantage over lower-purity or collectible items, which can attract tax. It’s one reason we steer new buyers toward recognised .999+ bullion rather than novelty or numismatic pieces, where premiums are higher, and the tax treatment can differ. (Provincial rules on non-bullion items vary; when in doubt, ask before you buy.)

What’s a fair premium to pay right now?

There’s no single “correct” premium, but there is a sound process. Pull the live 1 oz silver price in Canada from a spot feed, then compare the all-in, delivered (or picked-up) price per ounce across two or three dealers for the same product on the same day. Be wary of anyone advertising “no premium” silver legitimate dealers can’t sell at or below spot sustainably, and offers that look that way usually recover the money through shipping, surcharges, or bait-and-switch stock.

Also check the other side of the trade before you buy: what a dealer pays when you sell back. A fair buy premium paired with a fair sell-back price matters more over your holding period than shaving fifty cents off the purchase.

The takeaway:

The spot price is just your starting point; the premium, taxes avoided, payment method, and spread you’ll earn when you sell it will determine what the ounce really costs you when you buy it. For the latest 1 oz premiums, visit our silver category online or visit our showroom in North York (1060 Sheppard Ave W) or call/WhatsApp 416-928-0707 to get live pricing on the phone.