I had to take a bit of a road trip today to get a Covid-19 vaccine so while I was on the road I wanted to stop at a new coin shop, which I did. I got some good coins, but one thing the owner said always makes me sad when I hear it. I asked what he does with his foreign silver and he said it all goes to the melter. You know there's got to be a lot of great coins getting melted down with indifference because someone doesn't want to be bothered with checking to see if they have any value. I just think of all the coins that were probably lost that I might have gotten for a great deal if they'd just held onto them. It's just wrong.
Just remember that he may not have a retail market for them so the easiest way for him to turn a profit is to do what he told you. Yes, it's sad.
Some dealers just have little interest in world coins and/or don't have a robust market for them. But I wish they would respect the coins enough to try to get them into the hands of people who do. I can't believe that melting is the only option available to dealers for unloading world silver they don't want.
I totally understand why he does it but I don't have to like it. I think of all the coin shops I regularly visit there's only one that keeps foreign silver instead of melting it.
You could also tell him that if he saves them for you, you could buy all/most of it for bullion value. That would get him the same value, and save him from melting them down. There would surely be enough gems in there to make it worth your while.
Yeah, but I can't commit to something like that. And they probably don't know the melt value which is why they melt them to begin with. I think the different purities is why dealers don't want to mess with it.
I'm curious, then, as to how the dealer's compensation is computed. Does the smelter then melt all the coins of various impurities and determine the amount of (pure) silver left from the total lot and only then determine the amount of payment to the coin dealer. I, like many others, have quite a few worn, defaced, etc. foreign coins of various purities and I wondered how I would sell them.
