Does anyone on here (dealers etc) have any indication of how much of the coins being sold at these high prices are being melted? I was wondering if the any or many of the modern coins (comm. gold or silver) are being melted or just sold on for slightly higher prices. Mint news had an interesting article on the 2009 silver proof 25 sets selling out as they approached there melt value. Does anyone think some of the first spouse coins may be melted if the price goes high enough? Years ago I bought a number of the American Arts Medallions because they were supposedly melted in very high quantities. They still don't bring a premium, but I still own them. I would think that if silver hit $30 or so there would be a lot of newer commems that may hit the melting pot. Right or wrong? Lack
Silvertowne (if I remember correctly) melted untold numbers of First Spouse coins a couple of years ago.
Yes it was Silvertowne. My table at the coin show this weekend is directly across the aisle from them and I know them well. I'll make sure to ask Leon just how many they melted.
I remember speculation about how the 1980 silver bullion spike affected coins. The thinking was that common dates might not that common anymore. But current values seem to indicate that even though many coins were melted, supply still exceeds demand.
I talked to Leon Hendrickson today about just how many first spouse coins they melted and it took a little prying but his answer was "a couple three thousand"... he also said "but we melted a lot of bags of dollars in the 80's too".
My first question is "Why?" As a First Spouse their weight and purity were established beyond doubt. My second is: "Melted them into what?" Just an ingot? Lots of little ingots? Which brings me to my third and final question which is, once again, "Why Leon, why?" ------ Why did you take the trouble, the time, the money, the highly skilled expert labor, fuel, capital cost of equipment [furnances,precise analytical balances, other such not inexpensive items], fluxes, and whatever else I haven't yet thought of but was involved in all that merely to render a universally recognizable US Mint product into a somewhat less universally recognized private comapny ingot? And that is not to mention the customary 'melt loss' that is invariably rearing its ugly head. ---- I'm sure I'm just dumb but I just don't understand how this scenario works to produce a profit rather than a substantial loss.
Just what I was wondering, why? I could understand $5 gold commems since they are 90-10 alloy. But the first spouse are already .999 fine bullion. I bought some of the American Arts medals for the same reason. According to some old articles it is possible that less than 10,000 of some issues exist due to melting. Of course there is no market for these, since they are not coins, but the US govt. first stab at bullion. At last years Indian State show I found a few for $5 premium over the bullion price. I know junk silver is melted by the bucket loads as told many times in Coin World etc. Mint news website had an interesting article about the sellout of the 09 silver proof quarter set, speculating that the selling price by the mint was getting clsoe to the melt value-imagine that. I would love to see the 5 oz. quarters-will anyone have them at the IN State show this weekend? Lack
Ok here is a real rookie question. If all those badly worn peace dollars, morgans, merc and so on are melted, does it have any effect on the coins that arent? What I mean is if we know the mintage of any givin coin and 100k or what ever is lost to the pot there are actually less of them. Mintage quanity has quite a bit to do with value right? But now those mintage numbers are useless, correct? This is just something I have always wondered about.
Why? Because to most of the world they are what they are, bullion, not collector coins (first spouse and ASE's). When an investor wants to buy 500 oz of gold, they don't want 500 coins, they want a bar because it's easy to store and keep track of, and it's easier to sell to anyone anywhere. Thats why coins get melted...it's convenient for everyone, except the collector. Guy
? Well I dunno if I agree or not. I just sold my second complete set of circulated Franklin halves basically for melt this week. There seems to be no collectible (aka numismatic) value to them in the grades that one would expect to see in the blue Whitman albums assembled by me, U, and darn near everybody else 'back when'. I suppose that higher grades or varities command higher prices but basically my observation is that these things, most Walkers, and even Barbers command quite modest ( if any) premium above their melt. I am not speaking of key dates. ---- The same seems to be true of Mercury dimes, as well as Washington quarters. The price of silver determines the price for the lot absent the critical 'key' dates. ---- The world is changing friends.
That's what I gathered... I'd bet they had an order for bars of gold (they have their own bar making operation and private mint) and getting the pure gold this way was easier and possibly cheaper then buying it from the refinery.
I don't know what everyone else here thinks, but I really hate the thought of coins getting melted. I know they could melt a couple truck loads of 1964 silver, and probably not change the market much, but I love 90% silver as my silver investment.
I agree with you. I hate the thought of old things being destroyed, and I actually like the circulated silver. It just looks its age and when I collect something old I kind of want it to look old. Once these things are destroyed they're gone for good and I think that's sad, even if there are others.
I disagree ! It's the survivalist types that buy sell silver because they have no faith in paper dollars. I somewhat agree, too ! When ( if ?) the economy collapses....a barter system will develop. You want small pieces of standard silver, like a silver quarter to trade for a loaf of bread or a gallon of gas or something. Storing a bag of silver coins or a chunk bar isn't a space issue. You might save 10% of space. BFD ! Coins are perfect for the sky is falling crowd/ survivor crowd. A 500 ounce chunk bar isn't what y'all want if you bend that way. IMO it all depends on how needed silver is at that point ( or Gold, or any other metal). You can't eat metal....somebody needs to want it , for it to retain value in the end of the world scenarios with nuke bombs going off and killing off most of the population of the world. JMO
Excellent reply! IMO, it would be much easier to spend a .999 fine half ounce gold coin, should the need arise, than it would be to spend a 100 ounce gold brick! Better yet, a .900 fine silve dollar has more accomodating spending power than a 100 ounce brick. As for the investors? The numismatic investment could far out weight the intrinsic PM value especially if folks are melting them. Always remember: The Lone Ranger ONLY used Silver Bullets! Ha ha ha!
