Bags of junk silver?

Has anyone purchased bags of junk silver? Did you find anything good in there or was it pretty well picked through? Where is the best place to purchase and whats considered a decent premium over spot?

 

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For a bag of junk silver, I think spot, or even a slight discount, is appropriate. I would not pay a premium.

 

I have searched high and low and have seen most members here remark that they pay spot at their LCS. The cheapest I have been able to find bags of mercury dimes for are .99 over spot per oz, with mixed coins being the cheapest at .79 over spot oz. Any suggestions?

 

How big of a bag are we talking? For a small bag of say $10 face value dimes you're talking a little over 7toz and melt is about $217. If you're paying $1/oz over spot, that's a $7 premium bringing your total to about $225. For me, I'd accept that premium for that bag.

However, in larger bulk, say $100 face bag of the same you're looking at about $2170 and 71+toz of silver, which at the same would incur a $71+ premium. I would personally not want to pay that much premium for that large of a bag, I'd be looking for at least half that or less for the total bag.

The usual, with larger volume should come larger discounts in my book.

Either way you'll have to go with a large silver house or an LCS, you'll never find that on eBay as their bullion prices are way over spot in most cases I've seen.

 

If I were you, I'd just go to a dealer in person and not look online. That way you can pick out what you want, and I always get my silver for spot. Some dealers may charge a premium, so make sure you check coinflation.com beforehand.

 

Thanks for the advice, I am looking for 100FV of Mercury dimes. The problem with going to a LCS is I am in Germany and do not speak the language. I can say Hello and thank you. Also I guess I assume it would be more expensive here.

 

Your location does change things a bit.

Where are you in Germany? Are you in the service? If so, shipping shouldn't cost too much, as long as the vendor is willing to ship to an APO/FPO.

 

A "bag" of junk silver is normally 1000.00$ face value, which might explain some of the answers you're recieving. The more you buy, the more negotiating power you're gonna have.

 

Yes I am stationed here =) I love it! And I am not sure how to bargain with these big companies. I already have an order in for a decent amount with a company that sells bags (100FV, 250FV etc). I will likely email them after the holidays and ask if they can add 100FV bag onto my order for spot. All they can do is tell me no right?

 

I don't know how much bargaining there is to be done with the big companies, but you're right, the worst they can do is say no.

I'll be in Germany this summer visiting the in-laws. Maybe we should get together for lunch with GoldMark.

 

Hi Mikey,

90% junk silver normally has the lowest premium of any form of bullion I've seen. Here's a link to my LCS. http://www.libertycoinservice.com/ On the right side is their Daily Quotes pdf that lists most all things bullion with their premium. It's a handy reference.

Because you're overseas, rather than buying 90% bags, why not get into european silver? If nothing else, the logistics would be easier.

And lastly, as LCpl Ford used to say back in '69 in 'nam as he wandered through the area securing the troops, 'keep your ass low and your flak jacket close'.

peace,

rono

 

Yeah, what Rono said. Collect what is local, expand your horizons. You will have the rest of your life to buy US coins locally, take advantage of your geography now and buy coins fro the area. There is a HUGE show in Germany, I am betting others will remember the name of it. I would HAVE to go to that one.

 

I bought £800 worth of junk silver recently, and I found a few coins worth 5 or 10 times melt (1916 Australian sixpence in nice condition, 1890 UK 3d in XF etc). The lot was mostly worn and damaged early 20th century coinage.

 

Blaubart, sounds good!

Rono, thank you! I ended up purchasing 100FV for 99 cents over spot at goldmart.com, ill have to see if its worth it or not or if i get worn wafers.

As for local silver etc. I do not know anything about world coins or whats considered good or not. I don't want to get taken. Plus every site i have looked at quotes a 7% tax so it comes out more expensive. Also i am having a horrid time finding a local shop, the only one i did find was about 30-45 minutes from here.

 

Maybe Mikey or GoldMark could help answer this, but my main concern with buying bullion in Germany would be their Value Added Tax. As far as I know, it's currently at 19% on most goods and services. (7% on some items like food, and some goods and services are exempt, like banking and health services). Is buying PM for investment purposes considered "banking"? (Unfortunately, I'm thinking the banking exemption is for banking services.)

When I was stationed in Germany, we were exempt from paying the VAT. However, in order to exercise that exemption we had to have the merchant fill out a form, bring that form back to post and have it signed, and then go back to the merchant and purchase the item. With all that hassle it wasn't worth it for buying a bratwurst, but it was worth it for buying more expensive items.

I'm hoping for my sake and Mikey's, that bullion purchases are exempt from VAT. Or, for Mikey's sake, that the VAT exemption still exists and that they've reduced or eliminated the administrative burden of exercising it.

 

Blaubart, you are correct as far as i know its 7% on silver but i think gold is exempt from VAT. I do have vat forms (now you just bring them to the merchant when you buy the item they fill it out and you drop it off at the VAT office, whenever you want..but you can only have 10 out at a time and they cost 4.00 each or so.)

my issue is finding a bullion dealer that will take them. I emailed a few and they either do not understand what i am asking or have never heard of it. There is a dealer about 45 min from here that i ran the math on. If i used my form and even with the euro conversion it would cost about the same as if i ordered it, but id save on shipping. But i have asked him 5 times now, even wrote the name of the form in German and he doesn't know what it is or what to do with it.

I wish i had a translator to accompany and i would just go in person. =(

 

I can attest to that!

 

I get good deals through gbroke.

 

Don't hold out gentlemen. Hook it up.

 

How much longer are you going to be in Germany? You might want to take some time to learn the language. It's not too hard to learn enough to get around, and you'd be surprised how much people warm up to you when they see you're making an effort to learn. :thumb: