How Much Would You Pay For Circulated Rolls Of 90% Silver Coins

Discussion in 'Bullion Investing' started by keemao, Mar 19, 2017.

  1. keemao

    keemao Well-Known Member

    Have a chance to go to an auction where there will be several rolls of circulated 90% silver Franklin, Kennedy halves, Roosevelt dimes. I know some of the bidiodts go crazy and jack the price up way over what I might be willing to pay but if I planned on holding said rolls for at least 5 years, knowing full well silver could be anywhere by then, what percentage over face would be good to pay for them? Keep in mind that there is also a 10% auction fee added onto the final price by this particular auction house.
     
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  3. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Excellent question which also brings up the problem of the 10% (and in some cases 15%) auction fee. Between 12X and 13X would be about a break even price (I think), and allowing for the fee, probably 10-11.5X. Now, since I don't know too much about it, let's see what knowledgeable people say.
     
    tommyc03 likes this.
  4. doug444

    doug444 STAMPS and POSTCARDS too!

    I bought four rolls of dimes yesterday for 12x, and they were big fat Roosevelts, not Winged Liberty's in the 1920s so thin you could read the Wall Street Journal through them.

    I'm happy at 12x, for now. Private individual, no fee, no sales tax; it all adds up. I'm seeing more and more amateur-buyers bailing out; the fun starts when they start selling their Mint products.

    Frankly, I would hesitate to buy 90% at a public auction. Just one clad and you're out 2%, 2½%, or 5%, depending on the denomination. Plus, no clue if they're unsearched, doesn't matter what the auctioneer sez...

    Auctions also contradict my policy of keeping a low profile.
     
    SilverMike and Evan8 like this.
  5. easj3699

    easj3699 Well-Known Member

    My local dealers sell it 1x over for dimes and quarters, 2x over for halves.
     
  6. keemao

    keemao Well-Known Member

    Well, one good thing is I can go early and inspect the rolls I am interested in and see that they are indeed all 90% silver so that's not a worry for me. I have attended this particular auction before and the biggest problem are the boneheads that think silver is God and go crazy bidding it up too high just so they can get it. So what I do is make a list of what I am interested in, put down my highest bid price and if someone goes too high, I just don't bid. If it looks like I can get it for what I am willing to pay, then I go for it. Sometimes i get lucky, sometimes i don't. But other than some UNC Kennedy rolls years ago I haven't bought circulated silver rolls and I have been out of the country for probably the last 4 or so money auctions that were had. So I am trying to determine what a good high bid would be for me. I don't plan on selling any I may get for 5-6 years and that's about the extent of how long I will hold the rest of my silver hoard.
     
  7. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    Someone in my area is offering a $100 bag of silver dimes for $1400...I'm tempted to make an offer.
     
  8. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    meaning?
     
  9. tommyc03

    tommyc03 Senior Member

    Sometimes the auction fees can be mitigated to some degree by paying cash, not with checks or credit cards. If it's a local auction of course, not online. The local auction houses around here usually give 3-5% off for cash sales.
     
  10. easj3699

    easj3699 Well-Known Member

    Melt is about 12.5x face, Dimes and quarters are 13.5x face, halves 14.5x face. But that is how it is for me. I have realized prices are different for different things in different areas.
     
    Kentucky and imrich like this.
  11. Bman33

    Bman33 Well-Known Member

    I have two dealers i go to. One has a shop and one doesn't. I paid 13xFace on Saturday for a roll of quarters and a roll of dimes when melt was 12.6xFace from the dealer with a shop. The dealer that doesn't have a shop sold me $11.40 in 90% halves, quarters and dimes for 12xFace when melt was 12.3xface. We just did another deal for $11.50 in Halves, quarters, and dimes for 12.3xFace when melt was 12.6x face. So anything between 12-13xFace is great with spot at $17.41. I used to pay $1.25 over melt, now it's down significantly for some reason I don't know. I wonder if the dealers know something I don't or if they just need cash because silver dropped a lot within the past few weeks and just started rebounding.
     
  12. keemao

    keemao Well-Known Member

    Ok. How about $500 face of 40% Kennedy halves? Have to add 10% auction fee onto that.
    Or 100 Franklin halves?
    Just trying to get an idea on what my limit would be since I haven't bought silver like this other than Morgans or Peace rolls.
    And thanks for all your input!!
     
  13. doug444

    doug444 STAMPS and POSTCARDS too!

    Don't buy 40% halves. They are extremely hard to sell down the line. That's why they are cheaper up front -- refiners don't want them, they're expensive to process for their bullion.

    Same for War Nickels; tell the average yahoo "there's silver in them thar nickels" and he'll say you're crazy.

    Unless you get a stupendous deal, I wouldn't buy halves at all. Go with dimes which is what merchant-traders and speculators WANT, so they can make change. There's a couple of diehard UNbelievers lurking around CT. They'll find out, when they have to take a haircut on their 1-ounce coins, gold OR silver. They can hoot and jeer all they want.

    This week I had no problem at all finding 90% dimes at 12x but a minimum purchase of five rolls. More like 12.4x now.
     
  14. keemao

    keemao Well-Known Member

    There's plenty of dimes. $50 face, $20 face, $100 face mixed, etc.
    What about quarters? Lots of 90% silver Wash. quarters in this auction in varying amounts.
     
  15. doug444

    doug444 STAMPS and POSTCARDS too!

    Are you paying sales tax on these auction purchases? Is there a "buyer's premium"? Is there a local CraigsList nearby? All of these factors influence our collective advice.

    Quarters are OK. I do know that silver dollars (at estate auctions) tend to bring substantially more than they're worth, especially old worn-out CC dates, which are no doubt salted into the auctioneers' inventory by local coin dealers.

    What I buy at auctions are items that nobody wants and nobody knows anything about. They go straight to eBay. Only years of flea market experience can help you in that general category.

    My first flea market set-up was over 50 years ago, while I was still in college and needed date money, as MIT (and then a flood of competitors) had just launched computer dating on the OSU campus. Bars, restaurants, theaters, and bowling alleys were making TONS of money. The questionnaire took an hour to fill out, and you got 5 names (supposedly good "matches") for $20, I believe. What fun!

    I should have become a Mormon and married 5 or 6 of them.

    ======
    I didn't quite answer your question. I went back and saw the 10% buyer's fee (plus sales tax?) and you can surely do better when Apmex has a "deal" on eBay. They ship free, you don't have to waste half a day, and sometimes you get as much as 8% in eBay bucks. My guess would be that eBay gives big bullion sellers a sweetheart deal, which Apmex uses to balance inventories and get new potential buyers' (for higher mark-up items) names, emails, and addresses.

    I doubt they break even on small 90% sales. It's like grocery coupons, except they deliver the goods.
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2017
  16. keemao

    keemao Well-Known Member

    No sales tax as I have a tax ID number so I save on that at least. I may still go and just watch to see how it is going down. If the idiots are bidding things up crazy I just leave and not worry about it. If I see something that is not getting the bids I am interested in, I may try to snag it. But there are times I think a couple people intentionally bid up some stuff to get more money for it (close friends of auctioneer). There is one 1875-CC trade dollar that looks to be AU or better.
     
  17. Brett_in_Sacto

    Brett_in_Sacto Well-Known Member

    Unless you expect to find some uncirculated coins and take the time to cherry pick them, I'd be at spot. But at a large auction, you will not win with spot.

    The key with auctions is finding the hidden gems, not the ones that everyone knows about. But good luck!
     
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