I know that many people buy common date, well-circulated 90% silver coins (aka junk silver). How many of you buy brilliant uncirculated (BU) common date silver US coins from 1964 or earlier? These often sell at a premium to "junk silver." Is it worth it to do so? Thanks, TC
I do buy silver mercs, peace, Morgans....I try to buy them at at least ms 60 with coin lots of au every now and then. I do enjoy it. One I'm a quality over quantity type and from an artistic stand point they're usually beautiful(er) (lol). For me it's worth it but it's an objective thing and a personal preference. As long as I don't get too overboard, i'm happy to pay a little extra for something I love. What exactly do you mean by "worth it" though?
I have a BU 1964 quarter that is the biggest pain in the arse to photograph... I'll try over the weekend.
I buy BU when ever possible for a good price but at the end of the day, I prefer just regular "junk" silver coins so I can play with it and not have to worry about dings and such.
Ok, well like I said I do it for the love and enjoyment. And with higher grades you'll get better "beauty". As long as I'm not over paying, I'm happy to do it cause I love it.
i only buy BU if its something that's going into my personal collection, other wise i have a place for "junk silver" and ill buy it cheap so i can hopefully make my money back plus more.
I bought a couple of rolls of BU Mercury dimes, mostly because I really like them. They are mostly later dates, so they probably won't be worth much more than melt, but they do seem to hold a small premium on the bay.
This may sound like a bit of work, but you could purchase rolls of silver dimes, quarters, or halves from a dealer, and cherry pick the best ones. Most of the 64s are darn near mint state, and sometimes uncirculated in my past roll searches. Then you could turn around and still get melt for the remaining ones from a local hoarder.
I would say if you can get BU pre 64 silver close to spot then its worth it, but if not then just get the normal "junk." A few weeks back I got a bunch of BU pre 64 quarters for 22X face value and most everyone here was saying I paid too much. Well, now that silvers right around $33 an ounce, I'd say I made out pretty well. A few of the quarters are '50 S and '52 S, which I've seen going on ebay for anywhere from $10-$15 apiece. BU silver really looks great though. So I'd say it's worth it just to have some, even if you have to pay a little extra. It's really nice to look at.
I don't buy pre-1964 BU silver coins because of the price, and because I don't want to take care of it. Of course, if you do find some near melt, then it's worth buying. Modern proofs are available in BU at or near melt. So I do buy those. It's hard enough guessing which direction the price of silver is going without factoring in the numismatic value of a fancy BU coin.
