Is it a good idea to make coin rings?

Are those CnClad or Silver?

 

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clad. i am broke at the moment and can not afford the silver. (the start up costs killed me.)

 

This is amazingly beautiful!

This talk about not destroying any coins at all, no matter how common, is really kind of funny. Its not like coins are fundamentally different from any other manufactured goods or artifacts. Look at everything we destroy or throw away every day. Wouldn't it be cool to have a pair of revolutionary war boots? How about a set of wooden plates from 15th century Holland? The stubs of candles burned in the Vatican 200 years ago? The fact is, for collectors or people interested in history, EVERYTHING becomes scarce and personally valuable if old enough, while the general public laughs at the idea. If someone saves all of their empty cereal boxes for the future, people laugh and call them hoarders, but if a cache of product boxes from Thomas Jefferson's attic came to light, they would now be priceless artifacts. Things become valuable when supply is reduced to the point that it is below demand. Circulated 1960's US silver coins will never be valued at over melt, baring a collapse of the silver market, no matter how many you destroy, because supply will never be exceeded by demand. Junk silver is called junk silver for a reason, its only value is in the silver.

 

Wrong. Morgan Dollar's have significant premium over the base silver value. And personally, I cringe at the idea of people destroying these precious piece's of history for something so meaningless.

 

Morgan Dollars weren't produced in the 1960s. I understand you were trying to offer a precedent, but there are enough differences between Morgan Dollars and 1960's junk silver that your precedent is nearly meaningless.

For example, the mintage numbers for 1964 quarters was 15x that of the most common Morgan dollar. If you compare 1964 quarters to 1895 Morgans, the ratio is more like 1500x higher. Subtract from that the many Morgans that were melted before they ever saw circulation and it should be much more difficult to obtain Morgans for either a type set or a full set.

Other differences are the unique story behind the Morgan dollars and the size/denomination/composition that hasn't been minted for circulation since 1935. When you compare the total number of silver dollars minted to the number of silver quarters minted, the difference is staggering. However, despite all those differences in favor of the rarity of Morgans I can still buy cull Morgans and Peace dollars for a small premium over melt at my LCS.

If you take it to the extreme I do believe the supply of 1960's junk silver will eventually wane, but will that be in 50 years, 500 years, or 5000 years? After all, there are ancient coins that are only worth melt value today. How long until those will see a premium above melt? Another 2000 years? How many avid coin collectors will there be in 50-2000 years? It could very well be that demand will drop faster than supply.

I say, if you're going to make a coin ring, then at least use a common date. However, not all metal smiths/jewelry enthusiasts are coin collectors and we can't expect them to check the mintage numbers before destroying a coin. That's where supply/demand comes in to play. Eventually, those coins with numismatic value will be in the hands of collectors and dealers and will be priced accordingly. When someone wants to obtain a coin to make jewelry, I don't think they're going to gravitate towards the $2,000 slabbed rarity, they're going to go for the more common samples in 2x2's, or in a junk silver bin that are priced around melt. If they desire a coin with good details, the only way to obtain one of those for a reasonable price will be to buy a common date.

In the end, these coins were minted by our government and they are available to the public and the public should do with them as they wish. For some people, a ring is more meaningful than a coin and I think we shouldn't judge them because their values are different than ours. Of course, you are part of the public too and you can do with them as you wish. If it is your desire to preserve coins, then buy as many as you can and preserve them for future generations.

 

These are interesting as well...make coins into little spheres



Or bigger ones...

 

Wow, those are awesome!

(BTW, thanks for reviving this thread.)