Morgans At Spot or Below, on eBay

I think a lot of cull morgans [and junk silver in general] were melted during the price rise in 1980. I would be surprised if a large percentage has been melted since. They seem to be worth more as culls than they would be as scrap. It's going to take an industrial silver shortage to trigger the next great melt.

 

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I read recently that refiners don't melt the coins that are sent to them, they just sell them off in bulk to someone else. Anyone know for sure?

 

It really depends on the refiner but most often they are melted down to satisfy any bulk orders.

 

Indeed. It makes no economic sense to melt down monetary form silver. The coins will almost always be worth more unmelted because there is no cost to melt them AND they are an automatic assay of silver.

 

I have a problem with worn common date Morgans bought for bullion. THOUSANDS of young people start collecting Morgans numismatically this way--it is their only entry into this series affordably. If one wants bullion, there are other ways to get it--buy silver bars, or minted for bullion coins.

 

"...If one wants bullion, there are other ways to get it--buy silver bars, or minted for bullion coins."


And in my opinion, this is exactly what you don't want -- form(s) of silver that you either have to "prove" are genuine, if the crunch comes, OR that are inconvenient for bartering (plus you probably paid a larger premium for them).

For the pure silver play, no frills, it's hard to beat silver dimes and quarters; everybody recognizes them, no one questions them, and they are the ideal $ize for trading or purchasing. The catch, for some of you, is that there's no numismatic element to acquiring them.

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^Indeed. People often forget, it's not about the buying, it's how do you plan to sell it when the time comes. Selling a bar of silver is difficult compared to selling a Morgan.

For a pure bullion perspective it really makes no sense to handle small amounts of silver in bar form. The coins will always be much easier to liquidate.

 

If you are buying and selling essentially flipping Silver in secondary markets it is much harder to break even with smaller denominations/size of silver coins/bars unless you are moving them in bulk, since most of your cost will be in shipping, handling and transaction fees.

 

I am buying, not selling. Haven't sold any silver in five years, and don't plan to, except in a dire personal emergency.

The only way I play silver is buying puts and calls on SLV, the Silver ETF, and I haven't done that in a year, either. But it's a great time to sell off all your junk, knick-knacks, and unwanted collectibles.

 

You're buying at the highest point in history.

 

Actually, that's GROSSLY incorrect. Considering inflation, which you MUST, current prices are less than one half* of the 1980 peak. Plus, as I try to make clear to people under 30 (are you one?), the current economic situation is totally unpredecented -- we have NEVER had a multi-trillion dollar deficit and debt overhang before, not just in the U.S., but in much of Europe, Japan, and the U.K., all of which will eventually savage the dollar, Euro, yen, and pound, driving PM prices sky-high. I hope you are still with us in 2015, so we can discuss the financial carnage.

*http://www.macrotrends.org/1333/gold-and-silver-prices-100-year-historical-chart

 

true, I should have said highest in decades. and these doomsday scenarios have been "just around the corner" forever.

 

"...these doomsday scenarios have been "just around the corner" forever..."

You don't get it, do you? There has NEVER been a financial crisis like today's. It was well-recognized in the 1980s that Medicare and Social Security payouts were unsustainable, and there were some half-hearted efforts to fix them. And yes, a few doomsday warnings then. And ever since.

But the present situation will most likely end badly, with the middle class wiped out by hyperinflation; they've already lost, on average, a third of their net worth from the housing and stock market bubbles, with retirees suffering an additional hit to their incomes from extremely low interest rates earned by their savings (lowest since the Depression) and low COLAs on their Social Security due to phony inflation numbers.

You and I can do nothing to change all this. The best step I personally can take - try to preserve the purchasing power of my declining dollars with PM.

If I only break even over the next five years, in terms of purchasing power, I'll be happy. And I'll be way ahead of the average clueless family of the middle class; in fact, my taxes will be supporting them.

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just another fox news parrot whining about paying too many taxes and people on welfare.

 

doug444-
Thank you VERY MUCH for that chart! BOOKMARKED.

 

Race Bannon-
That's still abit unclear, because it could be read several ways. When you say "SOLD At SPOT" do you mean that literally, or the original Morgan Silver weight?
These premiums vary greatly; that's NOT inconsequential. Take POS @ USD$ 33., estimated different ways.

"Bulk-Rate" :
1) POS + $1.>2. = $34.-35. per coin
2) Mint Weight Intrinsic (@ POS) +1.>2. = ($25.52 + 1.>2.) = $26.52 > $27.52
3) True Intrinsic (Lightly Worn @ POS) +1.>2. ~ ($25.+ 1.>2.) = $26. > $27.

"Coin Show Rate":
4) POS + $10. = $ 43. per coin
5) Mint Weight Intrinsic (@ POS) +10. = ($25.52 + 10.) ~ $ 36.
6) True Intrinsic (Lightly Worn @ POS) +10. ~ ($25. + 10.) ~ $ 34. > 35.

Since 3 of the 6 are ~$35., that looks to be what you meant, literally: "Spot plus $1 or $2." That premium is 40% over the Intrinsic value of a lightly-worn Morgan, btw. Rather steep, for "bullion"! (In fact, there's a 'junk numismatic premium' I suppose.)

It's a vastly better deal to buy (low-premium) Silver Proof Quarter Rolls, I see now. Thanks!

 

When looking at the price of a single coin it's totally incorrect to assume that spot price = intrinsic value. Spot price is for 1000 ounces of silver bullion bought at once. For smaller amounts the real price and hence the intrinsic price will always be higher as you have to figure in handling costs, production costs etc. You can always sell it for more as well.

 

Dude, that's not news to me. I look at WSJ Cash Prices: http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3023-cashprices.html
But what local retail dealers Bid/Ask, well that's different.

 

Then why did you say it above?