# $100.00 Face Value Silver Dimes



## Gwar (Mar 14, 2022)

Hello ! I should be home by this weekend (Sat.) I have a chance to buy $100.00 face value of 80% silver dimes at a really great price, my new furnace has arrived as well as my Buchner Funnel System, I still have the hockey puck kilo of silver to cut up with a grinder and hopefully turn that into silver shot to weed out any ceramic dust / debris and use that with the new power supply in the hopes of getting silver crystals into bars, any comments on if I should do half batches or one big one with the dimes ?


----------



## Martijn (Mar 15, 2022)

Silver is pretty soft. You could go for hammer and sharp clean chisel to cut pieces off. 
I think using a grinder will be messy and create losses as in dust flying out.


----------



## nickvc (Mar 15, 2022)

The general consensus on coins is not to touch them as they are of a known weight and fineness and are an easy way to convert small amounts when or if you need paper ….


----------



## snoman701 (Mar 15, 2022)

Premium on coins is way too high to be molesting them.


----------



## Ohiogoldfever (Mar 15, 2022)

Coins are best as coins. I’d leave them alone. Pitch em in the safe and leave them alone is my vote.


----------



## ssharktu17 (Mar 15, 2022)

You would just be losing a lot of premium.... selling them face value is vs weight is a lot higher.


----------



## Gwar (Mar 15, 2022)

Many thanks for the replies !!


----------



## Agboohans (Mar 16, 2022)

Gwar said:


> Hello ! I should be home by this weekend (Sat.) I have a chance to buy $100.00 face value of 80% silver dimes at a really great price, my new furnace has arrived as well as my Buchner Funnel System, I still have the hockey puck kilo of silver to cut up with a grinder and hopefully turn that into silver shot to weed out any ceramic dust / debris and use that with the new power supply in the hopes of getting silver crystals into bars, any comments on if I should do half batches or one big one with the dimes ?


Just so you know, U.S. dimes that are pre-1965 are 90% silver, not the 80% that you stated in your post.


----------



## manorman (Mar 16, 2022)

Agboohans said:


> Just so you know, U.S. dimes that are pre-1965 are 90% silver, not the 80% that you stated in your post.


If US


----------



## Gwar (Mar 16, 2022)

Thanks Guys, I should have stated Canadian dimes..


----------



## Gsracer (Mar 16, 2022)

Gwar i started my foray into this practicing with some coinage, as others have mentioned its worth more as coins. Try moving on to flatware, it can be had for under spot, sometimes well under if you search hard.


----------



## Gwar (Mar 16, 2022)

Well fella's, I kind of find it fun using the dimes at melt value cost, it seems that flatware at least me is a lot more work, or looks that way, I don't see the challenge of just buying generic rounds or bars to cast into new bigger unmarked (for now) bullion.. Silver cell, after refining seems a bit more interesting and rewarding.. JMO


----------



## ssharktu17 (Mar 20, 2022)

Gwar said:


> Well fella's, I kind of find it fun using the dimes at melt value cost, it seems that flatware at least me is a lot more work, or looks that way, I don't see the challenge of just buying generic rounds or bars to cast into new bigger unmarked (for now) bullion.. Silver cell, after refining seems a bit more interesting and rewarding.. JMO


why would flatware be more work?


----------



## Gwar (Mar 20, 2022)

It just seems like a lot of work .


----------



## ssharktu17 (Mar 20, 2022)

Gwar said:


> It just seems like a lot of work .


I mean which part? Don’t you just drop them in acid as you would with the dimes?


----------



## Gwar (Mar 20, 2022)

I have watched some videos by sreettips, he was using all types of flatware, candle sticks ad platters, perhaps it was Sterling he was refining, but it looked like a bit of extra steps to produce the silver..


----------



## ssharktu17 (Mar 20, 2022)

Gwar said:


> I have watched some videos by sreettips, he was using all types of flatware, candle sticks ad platters, perhaps it was Sterling he was refining, but it looked like a bit of extra steps to produce the silver..


There shouldn’t be any extra steps in fact sterling is higher grade than dimes so it’s going to use less acid even.


----------



## Gwar (Mar 20, 2022)

Good to know, I will mention this to my wife, she goes to rummage sales alot in the summer months and estate sales, perhaps I can build up a stockpile of goodies..


----------



## ssharktu17 (Mar 20, 2022)

Gwar said:


> Good to know, I will mention this to my wife, she goes to rummage sales alot in the summer months and estate sales, perhaps I can build up a stockpile of goodies..


Definitely worth it to look while your there.


----------



## Gwar (Mar 20, 2022)

Yeah, I think I will start looking and be more attentive when at secondhand shops as well..


----------



## BlackLabel (Mar 21, 2022)

ssharktu17 said:


> I mean which part? Don’t you just drop them in acid as you would with the dimes?


The handles of the flatware knives are hollow and filled with like gypsum or lead, the blades are steel. Pieces like candle holders are made from a thin „foil“ of sterling, they are filled also.


----------



## manorman (Mar 21, 2022)

Just be sure its sterling and not plate.


----------



## AustAuScrap (Mar 21, 2022)

Hi,
greetings from down under, regards the coins and flatware is the time, effort and chemical costs worth the time and effort?
At one time in my past I set up what here is called a "Dore Cell", basically a electro refining cell similar to those used in the silver reclaiming section when processing slimes from copper refinery leftovers. This process was basically not worth the time and effort because the final product -the pure silver was barely keeping up value with inflation. The explanation I got was that the industrial needs for silver were diminishing as photography/x-ray tech was going Digital, - the major re tech-ing of Heavy electrical industry to electronic/plc etc. -- thus leaving the silver market to becoming a Human Wants market (jewelry etc). 
In my case the free product input I used in my process was some very old stock from the dental industry, - this though had to be got up to 90+% for the cell to work well. - I thought a way to also upgrade sterling silver to 99+% purity at the same time. 
When the final arithmetic was done - without even calculating Electric consumption the end results did not make costs + actual work time at US$ 3.00 per hour. I am not counting design, or cell assemble time etc. For a proper business case these costs have to be accounted for as well. 
I ended up with a approx 5 oz ingot that tests at 99% at a metal dealers, and decided not to pay the costs for a certified assay because of the price of silver at the time, and the actual prices being paid for the sterling silver by weight at the time by the same metals dealer. 
I cashed up the sterling, and purchased the same value of what he was selling as "industrial gold" at the time. as the gold price has more than doubled I am very happy I did this, but even then this is more luck than a solid business plan. 
I suppose the main Question is have things changed? , or is it still silver a hobby type project?


----------



## Gwar (Mar 22, 2022)

My coin dealer just offered me all his flatware, seems he was sending to a refiner in Illinois and was charged a 3% fee and then cut a check for the difference, he will sell to me at melt value and save the 3%, so it might be a win-win situation.. I will have to check into the feasibility of processing this type of material and will keep the Forum posted.


----------



## Gsracer (Mar 22, 2022)

Gwar, refining flatware is easer than the coins you are doing. The silver content is higher at 92.5%. There is no difference. You will save on acid as well as it takes less acid to dissolve silver then base metals when you up the silver content.


----------



## Gwar (Mar 22, 2022)

Gsracer, I believe I may find out soon ! Thanks


----------



## FrugalRefiner (Mar 22, 2022)

3% under melt value is terrible! I would never buy sterling at that price.

Dave


----------



## Gwar (Mar 22, 2022)

What would be a good price ?


----------



## Gsracer (Mar 22, 2022)

Well to give you an idea of what i have paid over the past year, 16.98 per troy ounce of sterling. Total weight not actual silver weight for 39 kilos. Now that's the average price, some pieces I've paid more, and I've gotten some great deals along the way, however like I've said that's the average price from the totals. You have to hunt, the deals are out there. Estate sales, swap meets, goodwill, thrift stores, even eBay. Last month i snagged 473.5 grams of sterling flatware on ebay for 130.75 shipped. Thats 8.59 per ounce of sterling all because the seller listed it as stainless steel. You have to hunt, look in places other people dont. Talk to people. Etc. Deals can be had even with todays high prices.


----------



## ssharktu17 (Mar 24, 2022)

BlackLabel said:


> The handles of the flatware knives are hollow and filled with like gypsum or lead, the blades are steel. Pieces like candle holders are made from a thin „foil“ of sterling, they are filled also.


I was talking about sterling 925 solid silver. Not sterling "weighted" Yes weighted is totally different. Some sterling weighted products are as low as 2% silver by weight.


----------



## orvi (Mar 24, 2022)

With silver now being roughly 80x less valuable than gold, you can clearly see why it is more difficult squeeze money from it. Truth is, you can usually buy silver at much better price compared to gold. But you need to bear in mind, that you will need to use much much more chemicals and electricity to make equal value product, compared to refined gold. 
Here, it is also difficult to find silverware or silver scrap for good price. People tend to overestimate the value of old and completely unusable, broken silverware. As I learned here on forum, in the US, it is much more easy to get some silver for pretty good price. That will help to cover the cost of chemistry = profitability quite a bit.

For me, silverware and coins are complete no go because of the ridiculous pricing here by vendors and also ordinary people. Contact points and industrial silver is much more feasible, but there is quite a monopoly for this type of scrap here. Few big folks with hands over all market, they have contacts in nearly every facility here, and exclusively buy the PM wastes at bargain prices. I contacted few facilities with requests and our price possibilities. Reply was - we have better terms conditions with another buyers. We know few insiders on both sides, it was simply not true  Most probably, CEO of the company have no clue that his employees and stuff are ripping him off


----------



## Gwar (Mar 24, 2022)

orvi, I can believe that 100%..


----------



## nickvc (Mar 25, 2022)

Gwar said:


> My coin dealer just offered me all his flatware, seems he was sending to a refiner in Illinois and was charged a 3% fee and then cut a check for the difference, he will sell to me at melt value and save the 3%, so it might be a win-win situation.. I will have to check into the feasibility of processing this type of material and will keep the Forum posted.


Well your coin dealer will do ok out of this deal as he will get spot as you say saving 3% plus no doubt a melt and assay charge but I cant see any advantage to you unless you are just looking to stack silver as you still have the refining costs on top of the purchase price


----------



## Gwar (Mar 25, 2022)

Are there any alternatives to just buying 1ozt generic rounds and bars and just remelting and pouring into standard molds, seems like shooting fish in a barrel?.


----------

