Do junk Liberty / Barber quarters and halves command any premium?

Hi there -

I introduced myself in a previous thread and mentioned that I've got a large amount of silver coins, left behind by my dad, that my sister and I are in the process of selling. We've been focusing on all the junk coins first, of which there has been an enormous amount to get through. We've first searched for key dates before assembling batches to sell.

As I prepare to sell some of the older coins, I'm wondering if they should be fetching any premium over junk silver pricing. Again, I've pulled out anything Fine or better as well any key date coins.

From what I can see, it looks like bagged junk silver sells for a very nominal extra amount for bags of the older coins. Using various online references, it looks to me like Good or worse on these flavors of coinage still don't appear to command any premium for most common dates.

Thanks.

Mike

 

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Mike, I'd say yes, how high depends on the day. I think you would get better prems if sold in small lots rather than bags. With small lots (3-10) you'll have a bigger audience as most can't afford a bag, or they want to see the actual coin they're buying.

 

By junk I think you're referring to well worn pieces below G . Common dates at those low grades really don't do any better than any more recent 90% coins . You sound like you're on the right track by looking for key and semi key dates and pieces with decent detail which will always bring a slight premium for common dates Barbers and Walking Liberties . Which would do better by themselves or in lots of 2 or 3 . Good luck on your selling .

 

Thanks guys. I suppose that by "junk" I am more so referring to silver coins that get no premium above the silver coin value, but not necessarily the amount of wear on the coin. For example, we had a ton of Roosevelt Dimes and Washington Quarters and Franklin Halves, many of which might have been in XF condition, but even the Franklins get no premium other than perhaps a 49D or something special.

I have some uncirculated or AU Roosevelt Dimes and Washington quarters that I can't seem to part with because of their condition, but dealer buyers are not willing to pay any premium on those unless they were in proof or possibly in large quantity, and even selling those types of coins on ebay would be quite an undertaking for a very diminished return.

Now with silver having tanked recently, I'd have even been better off selling coins that had perhaps a tiny bit of extra value as "junk" while silver pricing was higher. This downward volatility is killing me.

So, when I'm asking about additional value to the older junk halves and quarters and dimes, I'm trying to understand if these older Barber and Walkers that are perhaps even in Fine condition should be getting a premium when I sell them to a dealer. I'd figure the demand to be greater for the older stuff.

Also, to give you a sense of the practicality of selling via ebay versus a dealer, we sold about 45 THOUSAND dimes and about 18 THOUSAND halves thus far!

 

I just wanted to say, holy crap.

Full rim Barbers in VG should command a premium over spot if they aren't polished. Maybe not to a dealer but to collectors.

I would love to look through the barbers.

 

Yup - what was left behind is totally holy-crap-worthy The dimes weighed about 250 pounds, and same with the halves.

If you're not too far away in PA, I'd not mind meeting if you wanted to look at anything. I'm also looking to sell -

- About 1000 Peace Dollars
- About 3000 Morgans

All are probably F to XF, though some have little nicks and scratches from the way they were stored, or might be a little dirty - so I'm not sure how much that subtracts from their grade. I'd rather sell to a collector than a dealer, and would rather get better-than-dealer pricing, but I'm not greedy - so if anybody out there is interested, let me know your interests.

I'm still trying to learn how to take quality photos of coins so I can post samples - or is it better to scan them?

Thanks.

Mike

 

Common dates, no rims, just melt, uncommon and rare, well anything goes.

 

Are you saying "common dates AND no rims" or are you saying "common dates OR no rims" ???

 

Though I can't speak for him , I'd say "or" .

 

Coin dealers are going to offer a smaller amount, sounds like you are sitting on a fair investment. I would hang onto the coins or if you need to sell, build sets and sell the sets for a premium.

 

I think they are worth a little more, if you can see the eye really well in the Barber quarter. That's what I use for a quick idea of whether it's worth it to buy a barber. I got a bunch of quarters for around $6 and $7 a piece on Sunday. I don't know if it's a really good deal, but it's not too bad. I just got two walking liberty halves for $17.50, which is not bad. I think you can get some of these coins at melt, but they are worth a bit more than melt if you are willing to hold them for a few years. I used to get walking libs all the time in junk silver, but now it's mostly Franklins and Kennedys, because WL's are worth a little more.

 

Well, if you got Walkers for 17.50/dollar, you did well because my primary dealer is currently paying me about $17/dollar for junk while spot was at $22.95. I don't expect he'll be willing to pay more for walkers or barbers, and selling them on ebay adds cost and would become somewhat of a wash.

I don't want to hold these coins. I've been setting aside key date coins, or particularly nice ones to hold onto, but the goal is to sell the bulk and particularly the junk coins.

This would be a ridiculous amount to sit on. There are a lot of nice CC Morgans I'll probably hold. There are some Bust Halves and a really nice foreign collection I'll probably hold. There are some nice bars, a few of which I'll hold.

But silver is already down about $7-8 from when we began, so I don't necessarily want to hold. I've been hoping for a bounce, but it hasn't happened that way. It took three decades to reach the higher levels - I'd rather have my money in the stock market with more predictable gains, and hang onto the collectible coins which have numismatic value not reliant on silver value - and hang onto anything I especially like. But don't get me wrong - it pains me to sell a lot of this stuff. ****, I've not even gotten to the gold coins yet