Blue Ikes - To open or not to open?

I have bought several "Blue Ikes" off of eBay lately. I bought them strictly for their silver content as I got a good deal on them. However, they came sealed in the original packaging from the US Mint along with a little token.

I keep all of my bullion coins in those square coin-safe tubes. That makes them take up a lot less space, keeps like-coins organized, and protects the coins from the air.

I had planned to remove the Blue Ikes from their packaging and place them in a coinsafe tube. But my wife protested saying I should leave them in the packaging - that they'd be worth more. However, I've seen loose 40% silver Ike's on eBay fetch just as much as the ones still sealed. Which leads me to believe that everyone else buys them for the same reason - for the silver content. I planned to keep the tokens. In fact, I may put them in the same tube as the Ike's themselves. Maybe put them in between each coin. That should help protect them even more.

So my two basic questions are: 1) Would you open the IKEs? 2) Do you think they will have any change in resale value by opening them?

 

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I believe the silver value will always be higher than the collectible value of these Ikes. Unless of course silver crashes.
The OGP doesn't add any premium to them. So do what you like!

 

I don't think there is any harm in removing them from the original packaging. However, I think there are a couple of varietys of certain years that could carry a premium to some collectors. So if you decide to open them you may want to check out the Ike group website and do a little reading....Dennis

 

I just got a bunch of Ike's as well, both mint and proof. There are some that will be varieties that will be worth more, including the 1973 due to its mint numbers, so check that first, but I believe the packaging won't make any value difference. My good ones will go into hard plastic 2x2, and the rough ones will go into tubes as bullion.

 

Break them out. I have been doing this for years. It a great feeling to hold a roll of silver IKEs. I do this for both the proof and uNC silver ikes. As others have said, except for the 73S Brown Ike, there isn't any numismatic value other than melt....Unless of course you find a 1971S Peg Leg or 71S/S (both blue IKES), so look at those carefully.

 

i would definitely not take them out. is space worth more to you than preserving coins? there can never be more packaged ikes.

 

There are too many as there is.

 

You are right there can never be more packaged Ikes but what you have to understand is that if you do not store the OGP correctly the coin inside begins to get caked with whitish yellow crud sometimes its even blue. I see no problem taking them out and putting them in tubes, unless you have a variety or error they are probably just going to be worth melt in our lifetime.

 

I leave them in the packaging, but that is me.

 

If they are nice looking and you want to be able to see them better--crack them out. IT won't hurt the value either way.

 

OK, I took them out. I much prefer having them in the tube. I am keeping the little blue tokens as spacers. So I guess I'll only get 10 coins per tube that way. But that is still about $120 worth per tube. I think I'm going to go hunt some more down and buy them. I'm going to add the 40% silver to my ongoing bullion collection.

 

Leave the new ones in the OGP. You can always take them out later, but you can never put them back.

 

What are the blue Ike's going for? I only see them for $15-$18 which seems high.

 

There melt is a little under 10 bucks

 

[QUOTEWhat are the blue Ike's going for? I only see them for $15-$18 which seems high.

Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/t214559/#ixzz29mChzNKA][/QUOTE]

Its because to some degree they are collectible but its very hard to realize $15-$18 without extensive marketing....

 

All of the ones I had in the photo there I just bought recently from eBay for about $12 a piece. I think 1 of them I got lucky and paid around $10 for.

 

You really should look around last time i picked some up i paid under melt....

 

Thanks. Good price.

 

I picked up about 30 different blue/brown Ike's, and my total average cost with shipping, was just about $11 (this was when silver was @ $34 spot). If you're patient, you'll see the same deals over time.

 

This sort of question always reminds me of the situation with ultra expensive wines, which collectors buy and sell at ridiculous prices and never, ever even think of opening and drinking.

I guess to some folks the anticipation of what might be inside a package far, far outweighs the benefits of opening it and finding out.