Inherited: 50 lbs worth of silver coinage / Suggestions on where to start?

I agree, for circulated silver quarters $4.60 is a fair price at this time. If you want to do a little better, and you have a quantity of them, then try bringing them to one of the larger coin shows where you may find a slightly higher rate. Of course, the rate is going to depend upon fluctuations in the price of silver.

 

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Thanks all for the insight.

So I'm guessing for these 1964 quarters, it really doesn't matter much how nice they are. 4.6 x face is about where they should be for lightly circulated 64' washington quarters.

Also, FWIW, the dealer I spoke to said his bag price was slightly higher than 4.6 x face.

I DID stumble across one really-really super beautiful 64 washington. It's likes a dang mirror....very striking. That's one's a keeper!

 

By my calculation, you have

50 avoirdupois pounds
X 453.6 grams per av lb
X 0.03215 troy ounces per gram
X $7.16 per troy ounce (5-26-05 price)
X 90% pure silver

= $4,698.72.

And that’s just melt value; your collection sounds like it is worth much more than that for its collector value.

One thing you might want to do is give some thought as to whom you show your silver. Somebody on another coin forum recently posted a thread where he had a $30,000 collection stolen by his stepson.

And, you might want to consider a “rider” to your home insurance policy to make sure you’re covered.

 

To ensure that you are not confused, Bacchus is quoting the melt price of your silver based on the "spot" price of silver which is currently at or near $7.16 per troy ounce. The spot price is the price quoted for large volume purchases on the commodity exchanges in U.S. and abroad.

Unfortunately, you cannot expect dealers to pay you the spot price for 90% silver coins. There is always going to be a discount back from spot. In the current market, given that $1 in face value of 90% silver coinage contains around .72 ounces of silver (or slightly less accounting for wear) you are receiving around $6.38 or less per troy ounce of silver. Percentage wise this is a little over 10% or so back from spot. Depending upon the silver market, this percentage may be higher or lower. During the eighties when spot silver prices sored, it was not uncommon for dealers to be paying only 60% of the spot price.

 

Forgot to add... so the value of your collection (if you were simply computing the value of the silver and assuming you were selling to a dealer) would be closer to $4,100. But, as Bacchus also pointed out, chances are the numismatic value of the silver is substantially higher than the intrinsic value of the silver. I would HIGHLY suggest that you contact a reputable dealer in your area to have the collection appraised before you consider what you are going to do with it. And when I say appraisal, I mean pay an expect to provide you with both a retail value of the collection (for possible insurance purposes) and a reasonable wholesale value as well.

 

cdcda,

I already discounted the weight to allow for the 90% silver content. Are you saying that there is an additional 10% held back ? I assume that this is because somewhere down the line if somebody really wants pure silver they will have to separate out the copper 10% ? Or is this more like a low-volume premium paid over what a high-volume silver trader would pay ?

 

The discount is there for a number of reasons...

1. In most cases the individual purchasing the silver is a "middle-man." He/she is purchasing the silver from consumers at X dollars and selling it to another outfit for X+Y percent. A portion of the discount serves to ensure his profit.

2. A portion of the discount is a function of supply and demand. When silver rushes occur on large percentage increases in the spot price of silver, dealers can often be flooded with individuals looking to sell. As a result, the buy price actually gets driven down even though demand for silver is high.

3. A portion of the discount reflects smelting, shipping and other overhead.

4. A portion of the discount is based on volume. Often dealers will pay higher amounts for larger volumes.

 

Very instructive, cdcda ! Thanks for taking the time to list all those discount factors.

In this instance, I wasn't trying to tell Exocet5 what to expect if he sold his coins. I was just trying to make him aware, if he wasn't already, that he might need to take certain precautions.

Here's hoping we all receive 50 pounds of silver coins !

 

Dido

He was using that link as an example, boss! HeHe

 

That's too strange. My buffalo nickels are calling me too, but I'm getting conflicting statements from the herd. Half say "sell us and buy more Morgans". The other half are yelling "give us to billzach to make some hobo nickels".

Sounds like you're having a great time.... and as always, getting great advice from the members and moderators. Can't wait to see some pictures!

 

Those are the ones to obey!

 

You guys are great! Thanks!!

[said as Exocet5 wipes his forehead from an exhausting fall & holiday season] :goofer:

 

What do you think a ballpark appraisal price would be for this collection? Here in Southern Cal?

 

Education Pays

If you have over fifty lbs of silver coin from a collection that you have inherited, BE CAREFUL!!!!! Unless you are in desperate need of money and care nothing about numismatics just sell them. But I'm willing to bet that if you take your time and do some research on what you have there you will be happier and make more of a profit (if you decide to sell).

If you have some real rare/valuable coins in there and you just sell them, someone - not you - will be very rewarded. Concider giving yourself a year to sort and research, you'll be glad if you identify just one coin that could be worth 50-100 dollars instead of 4-5x face. They are out there!

 

Mostly everything GDJMSP said and I only can repeat. Absoutely get the Red Book. Just one more thing. If you want to become a coin collector you may want to start putting the coins in albums. That makes it all a little more fun to try to complete a set. However, some of those albums are expensive. There are several brands on the market. I use the Whitman Classic Albums. Start sorting them out as already noted by others here by denominations and types. Then put all the ones with no dates, such as the Buffalo Nickels off to the side. If you do decide to make albums I strongly advise NOT to use the ones where you push coins into a slot. Only use the ones where the coins fit into a space where there is visability front and back. Sone of the albums where you push the coins into a slot have glue in the slot to help hold the coin in place. This will help ruin the coin. Watch for Mercury Dimes with the reverse excessively turned from the obverse. Some are as much as 30 to 45 degrees off. There are so many things to watch for with that many I wish I were you.

 

As for value of the entire pile of coins it is just to difficult to tell site unseen. Your coins could be worth 3 to 5 times face value as just silver coins. HOWEVER, you may have coins in that pile that are worth hundreds or thousands. If you need money you may end up selling them to someone that really takes you for a song. Know your product.
Note that just like a car, the sum of the parts is much greater than the whole. In other words selling each coins separately will bring in more than just one big pile of coins.

 

based solely on it's intrinsic value it is worth about $6500. You should be able to sell it to a dealer for about $5750-$6000 as long as silver stays up around $9/troy ounce.

 

all my Buffalos have at least half the date missing. So you can tell what date it is because they were only minted in the 1900s but still...