Junk Silver or treasures?

to be honest i really dont know how much is being melted but from where i sit it seems that alot for people are melting what they consider scrap coins. especially with the companies like cash for gold in the uk.

 

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i have in my collection 2 coins from macedonia in the year 350 bc both have portraits of alexander the great on the obverse, two coins well over 2000 years old, and if they could talk what stories could the tell. it's the same for any coin from a significant era of history, did napoleon hold my 1809 franc? did hitler hold my 1941 10 pfennig coin, did wellington hold my 1819 shilling..............let your imagination run wild with your collection.

 

Well, while some common silvers are still considered "common," they are far less so today. Do you know how many silver dollars; war nickels; Barber, Mercury, and Roosevelt dimes; Barber, Standing, and Washington quarters; and Barber, Walking, Franklin, and 90% and 40% halves were lost in the late 1970s and early 1980s? I don't have an exact number to quote but can promise you the figure was in the multiple millions.

 

The greatest tragedy in the history of our hobby, imho.

 

The figure was no doubt in the multiple millions. But considering that mintages for 1964-dated silver coins alone totaled billions, and that the cumulative mintage for 1940-45 Mercury dimes totaled more than a billion, multiple millions don't seem like so much.

On edit-- I have heard that some Seated Liberty Half dollars and even some Bust half dollars were consigned to the melting pot in 1979-80. I don't know if that is true, but if it is true, then that would be a "tragedy". Personally, I believe that no self-respecting dealer would have allowed Bust and Seated Liberty halves to be melted, but of course, not all dealers are "self-respecting".

 

I like the dime - be such a shame to melt that much history away....

 

Yes, by all means, preserve that Seated Liberty dime for future generations. I myself have two or three slick Seated dimes that I bought at 12X face, but I still wouldn't want to see them melted.

 

i have helped many young and new collectors in the past by giving them so called junk for free, it has encouraged them to become more serious collectors and this is something i will keep on doing 'til i die. the look on a yongsters face when they see their first george III coin is amazing as they have only ever read about him in schools and there they are holding something with his effigy on it.

 

I myself have quite a few George III coins-- a half-dozen slick halfpennies, a couple of "cartwheels", plus a few silver coins and 3 or 4 guineas. I cannot imagine melting any of these coins.

I also have an 1821 halfpenny from St. Helena-- the place where Napoleon was finally exiled, and the year when he died. To me, that is one of the most historically significant coins in my collection, as are the two slick copper pieces from France-- one is dated 1815 and has a big "N" on it, while the other one is also dated 1815 but has a big "L" on it-- for "Napoleon" and "Louis", respectively. These coins are not in the greatest condition, but I still consider them some of the attractions of my collection.

I also have a VERY slick copper 2 sous piece from France dated 1792 and showing a bust of King Louis XVI and inscriptions that essentially amount to a plea to spare his life. Talk about holding history in one's hands!