I have acquired a few rolls of 40% Kennedy halves. I am saving a few to barter with members here and other forums, but am considering selling the others locally. Since I'm relatively new at this, I wanted to pose a few questions to the experts here. 1) If the U.S. economy goes "bust" and people are able to use bullion and silver U.S. coins, will 40% silver coins be as accepted as 90% coins or not? I've read both 'yes' and 'no'. 2) If selling on Craigslist (I know, I know...), best tips so far are: a) Don't use your home phone, real name, or maybe even real cell number (anything that could allow the buyer to know where you live). b) Meet in a public place (bank?) c) Don't sell large quantities at any one time to any one person 3) I have the Cherrypicker's Guide, but having looked through almost a hundred of these coins over the past year and have yet to find *any* DDO/DDR specimens. Which are the most prevalent, which should I really be looking for, etc.? 4) I can sell to a local coin shop but he will pay less than melt. Back when silver was a bit higher and melt was around $3 or so, he was paying $2.50 per half. This is not a good deal unless I don't want the hassle of Craigslist or eBay/CT and having to pay shipping, etc... Right? 5) I posted an ad last week offering 40% halves for $3 each or $55 per roll of 20. Reasonable price or not? (Melt value today is $2.75)
Why would anybody accept a 40% half as 90%?? Craigslist already recommends that advertisers NOT put their NAME or PHONE NUMBER in ads. A bank is a good place to do business; let the Seller see that you are immediately depositing the money, not taking it with you, and make sure he leaves before you do. The real problem is that dealers and refiners HATE 40% halves; they are expensive to refine and transport, compared to 90% coins. Unless you desperately need the money, I wouldn't sell them at all; you're selling at the near-term bottom.
Your LCS offer sounds reasonable. Expect to get about 50 cents off melt for each 40% half. APMEX buy price is 5.18 per dollar, which I would grab if I were selling.
Sorry. I was unclear. I meant that people buying silver coins will more easily buy 90% coins as opposed to 40% silver coins. Does that make more sense? (They don't really want to buy 40% due to the other reasons listed above... more expensive to refine, etc.)
I agree with others have said. These have always sold at a discount to melt, which I do not ever see changing unless copper really increases, (most non-silver in these is copper). They are just to hard to refine, and cost more. In the future for bartering? I have no idea since I just cannot wrap my mind around this possibility. I would think most everyone would want purer silver, though, and not these and war nickels.
I was curious about the relative supply. Omitting the S-proofs and the 1970-D, roughly 847 million 40% halves were minted, or $423 million face value. This seems (to me) a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the vast numbers of 90% out there. Plus, that number doesn't account for the quantity already melted, which is anybody's guess. In comparison, there was more SILVER value in just 1964-D silver quarters than in ALL the 40% halves put together: 1964-D Quarters - 704 million pieces x $3.35 = $2.36 billion 40% Halves - 847 million pieces x $2.74 = $2.32 billion [Coinflation | September 15, 2014] This calculation makes no allowance for either variety of coin already melted.
So would you all say that if I can get someone to pay melt, I should go ahead and do that since I won't get anywhere close to that from coin shops, etc.?
If you find a buyer on CL willing to buy three rolls all at once, why not go for it? That's not a "large quantity" by most standards as the melt value on 60 40%halves is about $165. Of course I wouldn't recommend accepting a check for them unless you personally know the buyer, but $165 cash in hand in a public place like a bank, I wouldn't sweat it. As noted above, 40% halves typically sell for less than melt. How much less depends on the motivation of the buyer and seller and to a lesser extent, the condition of the coins (assuming they are all circulated). If you listed them here for $3 each (plus shipping?), and melt is $2.75, then I'd say the price was a little too high as your asking price was above melt. If you really want to sell them here, I'd suggest something under $2.75 each shipped. If you can find someone willing to pay melt, I'd jump on it.
You will find that shipping small quantities of bullion of any kind is a major expense compared to the value, as well as a trip to the Post Office and a lot of hassle.
I sell about every six months or so to my LCS, he pays like above, about 50 cents less than melt. I am still making a 500% profit on them since I bought them for 50 cents each.
I keep mine and have not sold one. I have a reason though, if and I mean IF times get bad, these will barter just as any 90% will.....the silver is there.
I think if we ever got to that point, silver in general would be worthless. If we're at the point where a dollar is worth nothing, I'd rather have you bring me a fish than any sort of metal...
Even in the worst of times, there will always be traders and speculators who get essentials from "someplace," eager to barter, in the hopes of greater profits later on; the bad times will not last forever. I don't know of any time in the history of civilization, from the Egyptians forward, when PM's were worthless, and when they were not coveted by the masses.
