There are several ways to invest in gold and silver bullion as a hedge against a falling dollar or inflation.

One way is to purchase gold or silver coins or bars directly from a metals dealer like Apmex.com

You can buy pure silver bars for just over the spot price as well as old silver coins which contain 60 to 90 percent silver.

Buying old silver coins is one of the cheapest ways to buy silver since it sells for just over spot price.

Many people invest in coins that have bullion as well as numismatic or coin collector value such as old US five, ten, and twenty dollar gold pieces and Morgan and Liberty silver dollars. Investing for numismatic value is more difficult since appraisals can vary so much.

Silver is attractive to many investors because it has value as an industrial metal as well as a precious metal. According to the United States Geological Survey there is only about 35 years worth of silver still left in the ground at current mining rates.

Some people worry that their gold or silver purchases are being tracked by the governemnt for future confiscation and prefer to buy through E-Bay instead of a metals broker. While there is little possibility of it happening it was once illegal to own gold in the United States.

For those not comfortable having to store physical gold or silver there are exchange traded funds, which trade like stocks that you can buy. The Ishares silver fund, SLV allows you to own silver which is stored elsewhere as does the fund GLD for gold.