Monarch Precious Metals was established in 2008 in response to the increasing demand for gold and silver bullion. The gold and silver that is used to produce their bars and rounds is .999+ fine.

All of Monarch's bars and rounds are hand poured and marked the old fashioned way, which gives them a rustic look that collectors love. They are headquartered in Southern Oregon's beautiful Rogue Valley.

Monarch Precious Metals offers a large variety of silver products including rounds, bars and shot. They also offer a very small number of gold products.

To purchase precious metals from Monarch's web site, you can either select a category of product from the text menu on the left side of the homepage or you can choose from those same categories in the middle of the homepage next to a photo of the product type.

Monarch also has a link under the left side text menu to "List All Products". Monarch has a total of 30 products that can be displayed by 20 per page and sorted by "Product Name", "Price", or "Latest Products".

Under the description for each product on the listings page, Monarch will frequently display how close their price is to the spot price of silver. Monarch also lists the total number of each product in stock.

Monarch offers many different sizes of silver rounds including 1 gram, 1/10 ounce, 1/4 ounce, 1/2 ounce, and 1 ounce. The silver bars Monarch offers come in the sizes of 1 troy ounce, 2 troy ounces, 3 troy ounces, 5 troy ounces, 10 troy ounces, 25 troy ounces, kilo (32.15 troy ounces), and 50 troy ounces.

Monarch recently added a larger selection of gold products. At the time of our review update, Monarch's prices were $7.23 higher than Bullion Direct for a 1 oz American Eagle gold coin, $18.73 higher than Bullion Direct for a 1 oz Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin, and $5.87 higher than Gainesville Coins for a 1 oz South African Krugerrand. Monarch had the second lowest price for a 1 oz gold bar, which was $1.89 higher than Kitco, although it said that Monarch's gold bars are "scruffy".

At the time of our review update, Monarch's price for 1 ounce silver rounds and 1 ounce silver bars were 6.7% over the spot price of silver (compared to 6.5% over the spot price of silver at the time of our original review). However, if you purchase between 500 and 9999 1 ounce silver rounds, the price comes down to just 2.9% over the spot price of silver.

Monarch accepts either credit cards or PayPal for orders up to $10,000 and charges an additional 3% processing fee for both. Monarch also accepts money orders, cashier's checks, or cash for orders up to $10,000. For orders above $10,000, Monarch only accepts bank wire transfers. Monarch accepts bank wire transfers for payments $1,500 and above.

Monarch does not have a minimum order size. Monarch is very transparent about their shipping charges. Shipping fees range from as little as $4.95 for 0 to 5 ounces up to $27.95 for 100 to 200 ounces. These rates include insurance coverage.

Monarch ships orders on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Monarch does not ship on Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, or holidays.

Monarch is willing to buy back any of its products for 99% of the current spot price of silver. For other brands of silver rounds and bars, Monarch will usually pay 95% to 98% of the current spot price of silver. When selling back to Monarch, the transaction must be for at least 10 troy ounces of silver or 5 grams of gold.

Our order from Monarch arrived in only two business days, making it one of the fastest shipping/processing companies in our review.

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