There aren't calculators for world coins, but here's the next best thing: http://coinauctionshelp.com/TPGS_FORUM/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=34 Silver coin value charts for lots of countries.
Ok as someone new to this but learning fast I have a question. Most collectors seem to be in this for the preservation of old and rare coins. Why would this link be of any real interest? Dont get the wrong idea, I am not critisizing, just curious. Why would someone want to melt down the coins they prize?
I found it because I wanted to buy a lot of Barber halves and I wanted to know how much over melt the price was.
Sorry, as stated I am very new at this and the idea of using this to check value had not occured to me I get it now lol
The melt value is just a base price......sort of a starting point. For example, if you search halves and find some beat up silver, you know that you could at least get the silver value out of it.....that's what people will pay. I know logically it doesn't make sense because it is illegal to melt the coins for the metal value, but that is how it works generally....
You're correct. Any silver coin (other than war nickels) can be melted legally. That's because silver coins don't circulate anyway, so melting them will not remove a viable coin from circulation.
I look at coinflation every once in awhile. It sometimes comes in handy to know melt value when you're at an auction and their selling lots of silver coins. I virtually never look at all the coins in these "bag lots" so it is useful to know the melt value. As with everything else in this world, the value of the finished product will be directionally proportional to the value of the raw materials.
http://www.coinnews.net/tools/canadian-silver-coin-calculator/ This is the calculator I use for Canadian silver coins. It also has calculators for New Zealand, Australian and U.S. coins.
You don't have to be sorry. It was a good, honest question. The other reason people might want to know is because there are millions of worn out silver coins out there, with very little numismatic premium over what the silver in them is worth. And nobody prizes them. They can be beat up, ugly looking, worn out, and hard to sell. Some people will hold on to them, while others would rather cash them in for silver value and let them get melted. If silver ever hits $60 or maybe even $100.00 an ounce, you can bet that many, many silver coins that used to be decent, lower dollar, collectors items will be sold and melted down. Just because silver could drop back down to $17 an ounce and the coins wouldn't be worth much numismatic premium again at that point. People would cash out and let them go to the melting pots if they ever got a chance like that. $18 for every common silver quarter?? Oh yeah, they'd be melting them down 24/7.
