I am a huge advocate of 90% silver and all the benefits that come with it... low premium, liquidity, top recognizability, fractional denominations, etc. However, the only down side is that it is not .999 fine. What are your views on holding 40% Silver? Do you think It will retain its value? What is a good price to buy 40% halves at? I know that refiners will charge more to refine 40% halves, but how much more? While were on the subject, what are your views on 35% silver War nickels, and Canadian 80% junk silver? And this is strictly from a bullion standpoint. Thanks guys, I look forward to this discussion.
I like 40%'ers... Obviously command less of a premium in regards to melt due to lower silver content, but still. As for 80% Canadian, I don't really know what to make of it... I mean, it's a decent amount of silver, but it just seems like nobody wants to deal with 'em just because they're not from the US. War Nickels, meh. Nice to find, nice to have, not really super-important, especially in terms of bullion.
Thanks for the reply. This is all strictly in terms of bullion. What is a good price to buy 40% at? I usually buy 90% about a dollar below spot
Tulving generally makes the tightest market. He is spot - 2.00 bid, offered at spot -.80. This is for $1,000 bags, 295 ounces, shipped both ways. That should give you an indication.
My PM exchange here in town, says that his smelter charges so much for sliver less than 90%, that with shipping, he would rather not take it. Horrible prices if someone insists. Jim
This is just a guess but if prices continue to rise there will be a lot more melting going on. The smelters will get backlogged, discounts for junk will widen and the premiums will get wrung out of a lot of stuff. Also the desire to deal with 40% silver may be lessened and the price suffer even more. Personally I would pay no more than 90% of the silver value for it.
i bought a couple thousand worth of it when melt on them was $5.50 a piece. i was snagging them in the $4.40-4.75 range. i believe that as the pos goes higher 40% may be an entry level purchase for someone getting in. $100 silver works out to $15 a pop, i really dont think youll have a problem dumping them. i also read a thread on kitco where someone took all their sterling, 40%, war nickels and other scrap silver to the refiner and got paid 85% of spot after it was smelted, the content did not matter.
If silver popped up to $100/troy oz. I might cash in my wife's sterling silver set and all my 40% stuff too. But that's " Dream on McDuff Time"
I have a couple 40% half dollars I picked up for $5 and $6 a couple weekends ago when the melt value in them was closer to $7.50. I thought I was getting a great deal, but from reading here that sounds pretty typical. I like them, but you can't melt a 40% coin. I do think they will retain value, but not at as high of a value ratio as 90% or .999. In any case, I like to have a variety of denominations.
