With silver doing so well I've been culling my collection of silver coins that have little collector value and sending them off to the refinery. Lets just say, a lot of common coins from the mid 1900s haven't been making the cut even if they are are in mint state. I can just imagine how crazy this got back in the 80s when silver reached almost triple the price it is now (albeit artifically), and I wonder in 20 years if we will ever know exactly how many 1964 Kennedy halfs (for example) actually survived to make it to 2030?
A friend of mine who is in His mid 70s remembers the silver frenzy back in 80. He told me that at a show there were 2 dealers who were buying junk silver off of other dealers as well as attendees. They left mid-way through the show with 2 hand trucks worth of junk silver and drove straight to a smelter 1 state over. I think what intrigues me about that incident is the volume they accumulated in such a short time, and how many people that were actually dumping their junk silver. Idk about the rest of You, but as of right now I have no trouble finding junk silver....whether it`s Morgans, Peace, Walking Libs etc. Many people including dealers are trading the junk between themselves on a regular basis. I think the difference now is that more people are scrutinizing the junk for key dates. (more so now than back in 1980) A friend of mine who`s a jewelry/coin dealer recently purchased some junk silver from a customer. In the mix was a 1928 Peace that was at the very least a good+.......so maybe not everyone turned in their silver back in 1980. : )
The interesting part about the 1980 melt was that many of the coins melted were not junk! Many BU common date coins went into the pot also. I think it happened again to a lesser extent about 1990. But even MORE interesting is that people got more for those coins then than they could today. Particularly if you factor in inflation. Silver spot in 1980 was about $50/oz! People are excited now about the silver spot and it's only about $27.50. And keep inflation in mind. BTW, I was a collector at that time and quit because of the silver spike. I didn't return to coins until about 1991. Oh, and the answer to your question is, "Not for a very long time, if ever."
