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Yes, the silver market is very manipulated. There are hundreds of paper contracts being traded for every troy ounce of silver that actually exists in COMEX. The prices of physical silver will remain low (and thus a bargain) so long as they can keep up this game, which relies mainly on their ability to print unlimited amounts of fiat currency Federal Reserve notes. We're reaching the end stages of this game, since other countries (BRICS) have already abandonned the petrodollar and are trading oil in other currencies.
But besides that, there are also taxes on physical silver in many countries. England is particularly bad about this, to the point where a lot of people just buy gold instead. In the US and EU it's not nearly as bad.
Numismatic fakes are something to watch out for, but it's pretty easy to test them with just a magnet, calipers, and precision scale. That's enough to tell silver coins from other metals. More advanced fakes that are actually made with 90% silver alloy probably exist for high-value numismatics like Morgan dollars with key dates, but you don't have to care about that if you're simply buying coins for their silver content.
However, 50% is pretty low-grade silver, and you shouldn't buy those unless you're getting them for a very low price (well below spot). If you're actually paying close to spot price or higher, don't settle for less than 80% silver. The lower grades are harder to re