That as time goes on, and as people melt more and more of our silver coins for cash. That Circulated examples (especially silver) in poorer condition will diminish considerably? I wonder how much we have lost thus far that we are not even aware of. I know when my grandfather passed away 10 years ago, we sold for melt more than 10K (face) in Silver. He was in the vending machine business for 50 years and had put aside giant bank bags full of silver over those years subsequent to 1964. I made sure at that time to go through them with my trusty redbook, and caught a lot of key and semi-key dates, selling them individually. So... as time goes on, our silver and gold coins get rarer and rarer, even if it is at a slow pace.
I agree but it will take a while. I've been melting silver monthly for 20 years. All in rosies, mercs, Quarters and halves. I'm trying to finish the job but I think it might be more than I can do alone.
I've seen many a dealer turn in hundreds of dollars in circ silver and uncirc silver from the 60's. Its nothing new, someday they'll run out, but I'm betting it wont be soon
great post i have thought off this many times they will run out but when i can understand the faceless coins but that only confirms that there will less and less of these coins to be found i myself am a hoarder so i will still hold on to them dave
I recall this story from some time ago. I'm not sure how extensive the research or confirmation was into this melting. Didn't take long for some to consider melting even current bullion and collector coins: Thousands of First Spouse Gold coins melted
I don't think as much junk silver gets melted as we think. It's true a lot of it changed hands as bullion and traded as such, but in reality most of that never sees a furnace but just keeps trading. Guy~
I just checked the completed listings on e-bay. Basically, this coin (raw) is going for melt. Still, more than what I paid for it....:smile
I've often wondered about this also. As all here are aware of silver got very high in the '70s, yet there seems to be no shortage of junk silver coins. That may somewhat validate what someone said about not as many actually getting melted as we think. The part about being in short supply in say 10 or 15 years I'm not sure. The Hunt Brothers' episode is now over 30 years old and yet they are still out there by the pound. The coins that do actually get melted down, what is the process? Do people sell them to firms with smelters, do individuals have their own smelter? If a person is buying these coins is the profit margin enough to be worth the effort to actually melt down?
I think that, given the fact that the option of being paid (all or in part) by the refiner in junk silver coins for gold and silver (non coin items) is available....means that they are definitely not all melted. Nightowl
I recently sold off all my junk silver and I asked the dealer if they are melted. He said, "some, but mostly the slicks, dateless and damaged. The rest get rebagged and traded."
