# where to start with silver coins



## Anonymous (Aug 29, 2008)

I have 12 pounds of (90%) silver coins i am new at this and would like to know where to start.


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## Noxx (Aug 29, 2008)

What is your objective ?


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## Oz (Aug 30, 2008)

9 times out of 10 your coins will be worth more unrefined. As a coin you can prove their content, once dissolved it is anyone’s guess. Unless you have a specific objective like Noxx asked, sell them as is.


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## whitesid (Aug 30, 2008)

what kind of coins are they? i am a coin collector and can tell you if they are anything more as a coin or just worth the silver content.


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## Anonymous (Aug 30, 2008)

they are "mercury dimes" a few morgans some quarters and halves none of them are very valueable a shop told me he would only give $8.00on evry dollar = not very much but when you do the math on the amount of silver at 90% of 12 LBS. not a fair swap my intentions are to make silver bars (1 oz. bars) where then the shop said he would pay 10 to 12 an oz. depending on the market at the time.


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## qst42know (Aug 30, 2008)

Unless they are marked bars from a known refiner an assay will be required. Your buyer likely will not pay that price for bars you made. Kitco is paying $8.65 per dollar face value. Your buyers offer is pretty fair, they have to make a little as well. You will not gain anything by adding to your costs.


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## Gr33nday43 (Aug 30, 2008)

I may be interested in buying some from you, if thats OK with you. I'll offer for the mercs, and 11x face for the morgans.
It would save you a lot of time.
Taylor


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 30, 2008)

What ever you do, don't refine them.


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## Oz (Aug 30, 2008)

Unless you need cash now they are a good investment even in just the silver value. Many use these as a hedge against inflation as their purity is known. They are typically sold for spot price of the silver they contain to silver investers by the bag. In addition silver has little room to go down in value right now but there is a good deal of room for it to go up. 

GSP summed it up “What ever you do, don't refine them”.


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## Anonymous (Aug 30, 2008)

I understand that every body has to get there share but why wont any one in the feild get closerer to the value of the silver content of the coins and correct that 12LBS.= 192 oz. less the 10% copper contents of the coins= 172.8 oz.and at market value =$2246.00 the shop offered me $416.00 is it really cost that much ($1830.00) maybe i am new at this and dont fully understand the way yet. but that seems to be a lot of profit on his end. or are my calcualtions wrong. thanks for the imput i have alot of .
respect for the comments and sugestions from all of


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## Anonymous (Aug 30, 2008)

I think there is only 14 oz in a troy lb or something like that. So you really do not have 192 oz.

Of course, I am getting up there in years and may have a short circuit in the wiring, if ya know what I mean.

I get that to be 151 or so ounces(silver content). You are still right though the offer you have is low.

10 dimes = $1.00 face = your 8.00 offer. 10 dimes about 22.5 grams of silver, = purchase price of 11.00 ish per troy oz = 151 * 11.00 = 1661 is what I get your $8.00 per dollar face to be.

this link actually shows the calculated silver and total metal value of coins
http://www.coinflation.com/

jim


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## qst42know (Aug 30, 2008)

If you have the time consign them to a live coin auction. I have been to many live auctions and $20 average each for silver dollars is not uncommon. Collectors will pay plenty to have what they want. Top dollar, live auction, fast buck scrap price. Save refining for unrecognized alloys for fun or profit.


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## eagle2 (Aug 31, 2008)

Cheez, my math says 12lb av. is 5443 gms. A dollars worth of coin weight is about 25 gms. So you have around $215 face value. Times 8 = $1720 that the dealer would pay you. The Silver melt value with spot at $13.50 is $2120. The difference compares to about $400. 

Since you are recovering about 157 troy oz. silver, the refiner would charge you around $1 per troy ounce, for a cost of $157. You are only losing about $243 by selling to the dealer. There are better dealers and you already have better offers from the members here on the forum. 

And I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT SILVER is going to over $100 in my lifetime.    

Al


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## eagle2 (Aug 31, 2008)

PS, I might add too that I`m an old fogie of 75.


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## Harold_V (Aug 31, 2008)

12 pounds! 

What kind of pound? 

Avoirdupois pounds contain 7,000 grains..

Troy pounds contain 5,760 grains. 

A troy ounce equals 480 grains. 

Typical US silver coinage was struck @ $1.29/oz troy silver, and is 90% silver, 10% copper. 

Assuming you have 12 pounds Av., you have 175 troy ounces of silver coins, which, @ 90% silver, contain 157.5 ounces of pure silver. 

Silver, on today's market, is worth $13.59/ troy ounce. 

Your coins are worth, in scrap value, $2,140. It is unlikely you could sell them for that price, but you should be able to get close. 

The offer of $416.00 is nothing short of an insult.. Do NOT do business with such people. If they're smart enough to know to buy them, they're smart enough to know their true value. 

Harold


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## qst42know (Aug 31, 2008)

What is the face value of the coins you have? 
Working backwards $416 @ $8 would be $52 face value. 
52 x 25g= 1300g or 41.8 troy oz. 
41.8 x 90% = 37.62 pure
$13.59 x 37.62 = $511.25

How did you come up with 12lb.?


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## Anonymous (Aug 31, 2008)

sorry a newbie mistake i thought there where 16 oz. to a pound the coins on the scale is 12 LBS but i did not know that an oz is 28.gramsand a troy oz is 31.1 grams but now i know lol... so is this correct 12 lbs. = 5376 grams divide by 31.1= 172.8 troy oz. minus 10% for copper content=155.5 troy oz.and if this is correct it is a long way from the dealers offer of $416.00 a markets value the value of silver content would be $2113.00 that stands that the dealer would make a huge profit. or am i mistaking.


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## Lou (Aug 31, 2008)

No you're right.

I was in a similar situation as you several years back---I had purchased at a great price some sterling silverware, about 180 ounces worth. I still have the silver floating around--I used it for inquarts (see photos in the gallery section) on gold.


Lou


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## eagle2 (Aug 31, 2008)

You have around $215 face value. You also said he would pay you 8 times. That adds up to $1720 that he offered you. Where does this $416 keep coming from? The dealer may not be all that bad.

Al


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## qst42know (Aug 31, 2008)

Count your coins at face value and please tell me you are not working off a bathroom scale.


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## goldsilverpro (Aug 31, 2008)

At present market price, for unworn coins, one dollar face contains $9.93 worth of silver - .723 tr.oz @ $13.74/tr.oz. This will probably be reduced by 2% or 3%, due to wear. One thing about 90% junk silver, unlike sterling, is that there never is any reason to refine it. A reason is that it's easily identifiable as is. Everybody knows what it contains. The government made it and it's absolutely 90% silver. If one never has to go to the expense of refining it, it should be worth very close to silver value. US 90% junk silver coins are about the only form of impure silver that is worth very close to the silver value.

However, everyone has to make a buck. So, what is a fair price for a buyer to pay for your 12 pounds? That's about 220 dollars face. Quite a bit. A large buyer will sell the coins for a little over spot. An excellent price for a buyer to pay, today, would be about 9 X face. 8 X face is not good, but not terrible.

I just moved away from Houston 2 years ago. There are 100s of coin dealers. Call around.

People on Ebay seem to get very close to full silver value for 90% US coins.


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## Anonymous (Sep 2, 2008)

Hey, finally something I can contribut to...

Here is another factoid on 90% US silver coins (dime, quarter, half, dollar).

When originally struck, one Lb (avoirdupois) equals $20 face value.

you can mix dimes, quarters, halves and dollars; they weigh $20 face value per pound.

This is even true for the clad coins, post 1964, but for dollars, only thru the Ikes. 

If you sell mutilated coin back to the mint you separate as follows:
(of course they don't pay a premium for silver).

1¢

5¢

10¢, 25¢, 50¢ 1$ (Ikes)

SBA$'s, Sac, golden$

Link to pdf:

http://www.usmint.gov/downloads/faqs/mutilated.pdf


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## goldsilverpro (Sep 3, 2008)

I just noticed that Kitco pays about 88% of actual silver value for 90% coins. Now, the spot is $12.89 and they're paying 8.2 X face, but they actually buy by weight and not by face.


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