I worry about bars being faked. Without the ability to assay the metal, you cannot be assured you have all silver. I will take 1000 oz of silver eagles over a single 1000 oz bar any day. Either way, they are easy to lose but at least with the smaller coins, it takes me numerous boating trips to lose them all. Speaking of which, I am almost completely devoid of any decent metals and wish I could actually buy some more... but I think a good geiger counter should be next on my list.