Bags of junk silver?

A few years. This is my second time here, I know enough to get around just not enough to ask complicated questions or have complex interactions. I am surely not confident in my linguistic skills.

 

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German is like that. It's easy to learn enough to chat, but once you get into any sort of technical discussion, I swear they start making up words!

 

As for answering your question, finds in junk silver:

I can remember 3 pieces:

Merc: 1942/1 in XF

Walkers: 1938 D in fine or thereabout, and a 1921 S in AG

 

I have found similar. What I would REALLY look forward to would be to buy bags if silver went down to $15 or so. I had a great time in the late 80's going through bags put together when silver spiked. Almost everything went into those bags then.

Personally, I would love to see a silver spike then a major drop. I would go around to shops and shows buying up bags of misc silver coins.

Btw, I would not care what happened to the price of silver after that. I buy, that is what I do, I just want the fun of going through a treasure bag.

 

Mikey,

Is there a reason it has to be Mercs? Since your in Germany, I would look for "junk" German Empire 1 marks and 1/2 marks. They are 90% silver, and there is a lot of them.

 

Where can I find them?

 

Well, I can't help you there. I haven't been to Germany in over 35 years.
You need to find local shops I suppose.

 

Have you searched out local coin shows in Germany. I would try there at first.

If you wanted some addresses to some ancient coin shops in Germany I could help you out, but it doesn't seem you are into them.

 

I would appreciate that. Maybe they could direct me to places that sell other things?

 

Well Mikey, I am on the tail end of my tour here in Germany and fly out this month. Before I was stationed over here I owned not one single silver coin from any place on the globe besides the US. To say the least I have had a great time with European silver will be taking back about 10 pounds of it. Like Gbroke said, start out with silver 1 and 1/2 Marks. You can get non-key dates at or under spot pretty regularly. You can also find silver 2, 3, and 5, Marks for about spot for lower grade stuff but you will come across fakes from time to time but a magnet, scale, and visual give those away pretty easily. Take a look at Austo-hungarian empire silver Florin, Krone, Forint, and Korona coins. They are .835 to .900 depending on the issue and are at spot usually if they are not AU/BU unless it is a key.

I had a nice little shop in town that used to save all the 1 and 1/2 marks that came through for me. I would go through up to 300 at a time sometimes and take what I wanted for right at spot or under. I started, like you, looking for a way to accumulate a little silver and ended up really enjoying collecting a few different series from Germany, Austria, and Spain.

PM me if you have time. If I'm not too far from you we could meet up for lunch or a beer.

MikeP

 

That, my friends, is what CT is all about.

Thanks, and wonderful post Mike.

 

Just an FYI I sold a $1,000 FV bag of 90% to APMEX today for Spot +$.30. Spot or less is a good deal.

 

Only for 90% though, right? I am sure war nickels and 40% is still at a discount.

Great data point though Matt, thanks.

 

Yeah that was for 90%. I'm not sure their buy for 40% but I'm sure it's less than spot. Next time I call them ill ask their buy for 40%.

 

There are some really cool thalers that you can get over there. I got a Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel 2/3 thaler with a horse on one side for about the melt value of silver. There are lots of others and they are usually about 90% silver. Look around and I'm sure you can find some. The "wildman" is a really cool one. It depicts a wild man from the mountains of Germany and was minted in the 1700's. Most Thalers are around an ounce, so they should cost around $30 or so.

 

There's another big problem with buying PM in Germany, or any other country with US Forces. How are you going to get it home SAFELY?? Foot lockers get pried open in seconds, duffel bags get slashed, etc. And if you come back to McGuire AFB to muster out, and spend overnight in the barracks, I guarantee something will be stolen, if only your boots (while you took a shower).

I would let a trusted relative in the States take delivery, after a long discussion of how to protect the PM until you return. And a safety deposit box is not foolproof, if that person dies, and your silver is in their box, you might have a big problem.

Buying individual coins in Europe and mailing them home through the APO is a little different, but a BAG? No way.

 

Wow, I have never had any kind of PCS experience like that. What branch are/were you in? I will hand carry mine in my carry on for the trip back. Every time I PCS, I fly to where ever it is I am going, and check into billeting. Most billeting offices I have been in have a small safe for expensive items in the room. I have been doing this for 16 years now and never had an item stolen. Sorry to hear about your unfortunate luck.

 

The only thing I've ever had stolen during a PCS was when we had our household goods in storage for a year while we were in Korea. When our stuff arrived in Ft. Lewis, a jar of change (+/- $400), our CD collection, and a bunch of really nice woodworking clamps were missing. We got reimbursed for everything but the change. Oddly enough, it wasn't even on the inventory. Hrmmm...

I have had stuff not make it through the APO on several occasions. I probably wouldn't go that route.

I think much depends on where you're going next. If you're going home on leave like most people do between duty stations, then take it with you in your carry on bags.