so how much stuff do you think got melted in the early eighties?

i started thinking about this after somebody started a thread about what will be worth the most in years to come. i have read a lot about how coins were melted when silver hit its highs 30 ish years ago. i read that most of the coins melted were cull morgans/peace dollars and franklin half dollars. how long do you think it will take before the coin world realizes how much of all the coins were melted? right now circulated franklin half and roosevelt dime sets can be purchased for melt. i wonder if this will ever change or if we will ever find out about how much stuff was melted. i think it may take another 30 years

 

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:devil:j To Much a 1800-1964. Coin of all grades were just melted. No records of
what date went in to the melting pot.
I hate to thing What was lost due to greed + Hunt brothers
All the rare date??? No one can know unless they paid to get
coins to save.

 

i really read about the hunt brothers for the first time the other day. thats an interesting story. i always knew they were behidn the price going up, but that was it. and it makes you think about now. to me the prices of silver and gold are high. i wonder how much stuff is being melted currently. is it as bad as the 80's? what coins will turn into rarities?

 

Apparently not enough. The common date stuff still sells for not much above melt......and often at melt.

 

i agree with that. but do you think it will always be that way? will there ever be an estimate of how much and of what was destroyed?

 

No one even had an idea of how much was there before the melting started, so no. There will be numismatic collectors and those who want to make money from the volatility, so if silver does extend to $50 within the next 6 months, there will be plenty of melting. But not all will be coins~ jewelry, tableware sterling, industrial waste, etc. Many missed the $49 level before and won't do so this time. Silver coins will continue to increase in price, because the underlying silver would be do so. I think it would be a good thing in the long run by reducing the amount of damaged, altered, and worn coins.

By the way, the Hunt bros. started the plan and had about 1/3 total silver ( not under some government's control) under contracts before the jewelry industry, especially The Tiffany family, starting using their influencial political power to get the government and the exchanges to change their margin rules severely, and the Hunts couldn't financially comply. They were playing by the rules, but the rules were changed on them in the middle or they might have run silver to $200 and really reduced the coinage available.IMO.
​

 

As an add-on, don't think I admire the Hunts, but they do have strong mercenary sense of business. More than a decade ago, they bought land here that was served by the Colorado river, which was guided by the law developed a century ago. They weren't interested in farming, but in selling the commodity of water to San Diego and LA area. Their lawyers argued that the water rights went with the land and if they fallowed the land, they should be able to sell their water to these cities. years of Legal battles resulted, until the federal Government decided water was something like public lands and got new laws and regulations passed to stop the Hunts again. If they can find a way to make fresh air a commodity, they will try to make a killing on it IMO.

 

Are or were common silver proof sets 60-64 melted?


Lack

 

Yes early 60's proof sets were scrapped.