Is 90% a good bet? Did I pay too much?

I was at my LCS today and bought some 90%. I normally buy Maples or ASEs but I thought I would try something new. I got $10FV 90% at 20.25x and 10 peace dollars at $24 each. However, the 90% were all quarters. Is that a good deal? I am located in Canada so I was pretty happy about the prices. What do you guys think? Do you guys think the price of 90% per $1 FV will increase more than bullion? I am trying to increase my holdings a fair amount during the next few months. Any opinions would be appreciated. I am able to invest between $500-$1000/month. What would be the best bet? Bullion or 90%?

 

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You are essentially comparing apples to apples. I would say what ever you can buy at a lower margin from melt is the best deal.

 

Seems like a fair deal. IF I can find 90% in town, they're asking 22x-23x. It's just crazy out there right now.

 

The peace dollars sell for $27-$30 each in my area.

 

You did pretty well on the 90% quarters. Also, you paid below wholesale on those peace dollars. Just out of curiosity is 90% US coinage popular in Canada?

 

Glad to know I did well at that price. I am not too sure how popular 90% is up here. A couple LCS are always out and the one I did get some from says he sends it back down south to some US dealers. He basically charged me the same as what the US dealers pay him.

I might drop by one Monday and buy another $10 FV and a couple more Peace dollars.

I am only in this for the bullion value so is it ok for me to clean the coins in some soapy water?

 

You got a deal! Peace dollars go for $28 around here, and that's only recently since the price of silver went down. around 20X face is good too. I wouldn't worry about it. I used to buy just bullion, but now I buy almost exclusively 90%. There are lots of great Canadian 80% and even 92.5% you can pick up also. There are even Newfie silver coins as well.

 

You paid below retail on the 90% and below wholesale on the peace dollars, well done

Personally I'm staying away from 90% right now, but that is because I can get .999 silver for about $1-2 over spot, while 90% is typically $5-7 over spot right now. Even a couple months ago before the price drop in silver, 90% typically traded near spot. So i'm thinking if silver goes back up to $30-$35 you may lose all the premium you paid on resale as you may only get spot for it then.

 

It's a short term buying binge brought on by a sizeable drop in prices. Silver will either rise back to the $30 range and buying will slow down, or prices will remain flat and guys will get their full at the new price level. After all, silver doesn't feed the family when it's collecting dust, and at some point, dealers and hoarders alike will have to sell at whatever the new price point might be. The bottleneck will clear once people think they know which direction silver is headed over the next few months.

 

If you like these 90% coins and want more, I'd recommend a roll of Franklins next. I like them cause you don't have to worry about the dates and they tend to hold their spec weight pretty decent. I have my father's old junk silver coins (some quarters, franklins & kennedys) and the quarters tend to be more 'used' and all under spec weight (not that it matters though).

The thing about cleaning coins and getting them to look clean and shiny is that once you do it- you can't undo it. I didn't realize that cleaning them pretty much ruined any collectible value. However, in my case, I'll never sell them (since they were my father's) and will pass them to my son. So, I'm ok with them looking shiny clean. Fun to play with... feel and sound like treasure chest coins.

 

For the 90% I am not too concerned with the collector value as they are not in the best condition and I am sure that lightly cleaning them won't affect the melt value. By no means CULL but no where near MS. I am gonna clean them up tonight, I just don't like germs!!! =D

I weighed each and every piece of 90% I bought and they are within the original weight parameters so I am good there.

 

junk silver doesn't work like bullion. dealers can't just order up more or wait for more to be made. I think if prices stay low it will stay off the market and be in very short supply. I don't think many hoarders have to sell and dealers can only sell what people give up. now when prices go back up more will come on the market and premiums will tighten but you will still have to pay more in the end.

 

That's cool.. yes, melt value wouldn't be affected. My father's 90% were mostly tarnished or very dirty. He wasn't a collector either, so, I decided to go ahead and clean them (halves pic attached). I figured they would be fun to play with and yes, I don't like germs either! I don't ever plan on selling these due to sentimental value.

 

Those look sweet. I love the clinking sound when you shake 90% coins in a velvet bag. Feels like I have treasure!!!

 

Just picked up this load of 90% recently.

 

Don't clean em, if you resell them people will be turned off by the cleaning and they will sell for less, even as bullion its frowned on.

 

I can see no reason why a cleaned junk coin would lose any value.
If it happens its because the buyer already has a thing with cleaned coins and maybe hes looking to pick it up the coin for something more than junk.
Its no secert some junk coins may be a key date coin that holds more value than the price of junk.
I also think by saying some would frown if junk silver coins were cleaned shows just how far some will go off the deep end when the word coin and cleaned are used in the same statement.

 

Yep, for whatever reason, justified or not, my guess would be that the cleaned one would get less buyers (on ebay for instance), thus sell for less.

 

I just looked on fee-bay, & it looks like "junk" peace dollars, ordinary dates, maybe g-vg, are going for $28 or so each. While coinflation.com says that at $22.17 oz, peace dollars are worth $17.15. Am I missing something? Why would anyone pay those kind of premiums for ratty looking junk silver? I've never seen those kind of premiums over melt.

So it'd seem like even ASE's or ML's might be a better deal? (I hate the premiums on those too, but not as bad).

Maybe I should clean out the last of my junk Morgans & peace dollars & put them on fee-bay.....

Question: the OP says he has between "$500-$1000/month" to spend on Silver. Is it more cost efficient to save up & buy larger quantities at a time? Silver bars perhaps? IOW, what is the amount one would have to spend at a time to get the premiums a lot lower?

 

Silver dollar coins do carry a huge premium to them, and are usually worth ~$30. Coinflation just shows the silver value, not any premiums.

And yes, if you want more silver, I would sell all your junk dollars for $28 each and go buy ASE's for $28 each.