i'm a huge collector of 999 silver bullion, never paid much attention to 90% Silver US Coins. However I recently purchased a few rolls of pre 65 Washington quarters and Merc Dimes in an attempt to make my collection a little more diversified. To be honest, I don't know why i've never given these any attention. I love 'em and think they're a great way to hoard silver. My question is this. Most reputable dealers will obviously pay spot price on .999 bullion, and sell at a premium. However i've noticed that 90% Coins are sold at spot. So when going to sell, how far under spot generally speaking can a person be expected to get paid?
In my experience, the best dealers have about a 5% spread. These are the guys who really move product. Where this spread lies will adjust, meaning sometimes they sell at spot, other times spot plus a percent or two. If its selling above spot, expect their pay price to be still 5% below what they are selling for, but at 3-4% below spot. That is the best in a relatively stable market. Other dealers of course have a wider spread they try to achieve, and all dealers will have wider spreads in more volatile markets, (as they should). The most active dealer around here basically has 1x face as his spread he advertises at shows, if he is selling at 24x he is buying at 23 x. The danger is those dealers who advertise high wishing to cherrypick, but if you bring in true "junk" silver, for some reason they won't buy it. I have unfortunately known a few of these too. They advertise high pay prices, if an uneducated person comes in with BU mercs and SL material, he adds it up, points to his board, and says that is his price and its the best in the show. So he steals from these people, but if someone with a bunch of circulated franklins comes up to sell, for some reason he "just can't buy them today". Yeah, I really hate these guys..... Sorry if that last bit was a touch OT to you OP, but others who might read this thread should be aware of this underhanded practice.
from b&m dealers i've seen 4x back to .5 x back. like the previous post above, it depends on the dealer. like anything else shop around
It is going to depend on where you go. Pawn shops and lower end will be currently offering 15-18x. A good shop should be in the 21-22x range right now. Some of the price will depend on current inventory levels. I buy both bullion and junk silver. I look at it his way, bullion has a premium attached that silver has to go up a certain dollar amount to overcome. With junk you are buying at spot but taking the premium hit on the backend.
Your much better selling it in private sales as you can usually always get at least spot price fairly easily imo.
I don't think most dealers pay spot on bullion. They _might_ pay spot on government bullion (Pandas, Maples, Eagles, Philharmonics, Kookaburas, etc), but I'm pretty sure they'd pay as low as 85% of spot on non-gov't issued bullion products. For junk silver, it depends on the market. In the post-Hunt era, stores would essentially buy silver coins for 2x face. This was when they were "worth" around 5x face in silver and ~7x face in numismatic value.
