Thread: BU Franklins compared to Junk Silver Franklins

Was in the old coin shop on Saturday and asked what the price was for Junk Franklins. Lady said $9 each.

Looked down into the display case and they had pretty bright BU Franklins for $12 each. have always wanted to start a Franklin book so ended up buying 10 of the nicest BU examples and ended up getting a discount too - 10%. Couldn't understand why anyone would buy Junk for $9 when BU can be had for $10-12?

Made me think that the numismatic "spread" on Franklins must not be that much. So, do you think people will melt the Franklins to an extreme that will make them more scarce?

Thoughts?

Originally Posted by debordj

Was in the old coin shop on Saturday and asked what the price was for Junk Franklins. Lady said $9 each.

Looked down into the display case and they had pretty bright BU Franklins for $12 each. have always wanted to start a Franklin book so ended up buying 10 of the nicest BU examples and ended up getting a discount too - 10%. Couldn't understand why anyone would buy Junk for $9 when BU can be had for $10-12?

Made me think that the numismatic "spread" on Franklins must not be that much. So, do you think people will melt the Franklins to an extreme that will make them more scarce?

Thoughts?

What coin shop in PA?

In my opinion, hi-grade Franklins have been underpriced for some time. They are one of the semi-ignored coin types. This can be shown by looking at common Morgan and Peace dollars in good grades, these go for 26x - 30x face. Where as you saw, Franklins are going for 20x - 24x face. That is a considerable spread when you consider that 1964 Kennedys are going 26x - 28x face. It is, to me, a really good time to collect Franklins.

Originally Posted by Log Potato

What coin shop in PA?

Log - sorry. Just transferred with military from PA to San Diego. Shop was in San Diego. Updated my profile. Thanks.

Thanks for starting this thread. I had not thought of the BenFranklins in this way. I paid about $10.00 a piece in a original Federal Reserve roll earlier this summer. Love the paper on the roll alot. Silly maybe, but I really enjoyed seeing the faded color of original roll wraps. I will keep my eye open for more.

How about some dates/mint marks to postulate a reasonable answer.

This thead kinda answered one of my questions. I want to get my 8yr old daughter into collecting. Being an 8yr old she in more into "the blingy" coins. With prices like this I can start her with Franklin halfs.
Thanks for making a desision for me!

Those junk silver coins are slightly below melt, so pretty cool! The BU ones are a great deal as well.

sorry for asking this but i have always wondered wat is "junk silver" coins? are they just circulated coins?

Originally Posted by debordj

Couldn't understand why anyone would buy Junk for $9 when BU can be had for $10-12?

Thoughts?

It's pretty simple, the only reason they are buying the junk Frankies is for their silver value so why pay more ?

For that matter if silver prices were not so high those BU Frankies would be a lot cheaper too.

Originally Posted by lunar lord

sorry for asking this but i have always wondered wat is "junk silver" coins? are they just circulated coins?

No, they can be BU too. The thing that makes them junk silver is they have no numismtic value. Their value is based on their silver content.

ok thank you

Originally Posted by BR549

How about some dates/mint marks to postulate a reasonable answer.

Here you go - will try and take some pictures tonight:

58 P - $11
59 P - $11
58 D - $12
60 P - $11
61 P - $14 Proof
61 D - $11
61 P - $11
62 D - $11
63 D - $11

I have wondered if these were priced like this or a little lower back when silver was $15 per oz. I sometimes suspect that the coin shop is so busy with bullion customers that maybe they don't have time to go through and reprice the silver coins. Don't know? But they are nice BU coins and happy to get them at that price...hope they are worth it.

Originally Posted by blsmothermon

In my opinion, hi-grade Franklins have been underpriced for some time. They are one of the semi-ignored coin types. This can be shown by looking at common Morgan and Peace dollars in good grades, these go for 26x - 30x face. Where as you saw, Franklins are going for 20x - 24x face. That is a considerable spread when you consider that 1964 Kennedys are going 26x - 28x face. It is, to me, a really good time to collect Franklins.

if franklins are underpriced does that mean walking liberty halves are overpriced?

Originally Posted by debordj

I have wondered if these were priced like this or a little lower back when silver was $15 per oz. I sometimes suspect that the coin shop is so busy with bullion customers that maybe they don't have time to go through and reprice the silver coins. Don't know? But they are nice BU coins and happy to get them at that price...hope they are worth it.

Like Doug has said, two things are going on, silver is up and numismatic coins are soft. This is creating a situation where many more coins are losing any numismatic premium and more and more coins are junk silver. If you believe that silver will stay where it is at or that more people will collect Franklins, then your coins will hold thier value. If silver goes down I could see these coins going down some as well though, since they historically are priced just a few of dollars above melt.

They are cool coins, I always thought Franklin was much more deserving than any President of being on a coin, and its depressing that he got booted off after just 15 years.