I'm pretty new to serious coin collecting so I'm still learning how things work, but I was really surprised recently when I went to my local coin store looking to buy some silver Roosevelt dimes to fill up a coin book and was told that they don't save them but just melt them all down. First off, I would think people like me would occasionally come in looking to form sets, and you'd want to have them available, but even worse in my opinion is the destruction of all these old coins. I can understand one of those "Cash for Gold" type places that just buys precious metal melting down their coins, but it seems like a coin store should be preserving them, not melting them down. It seems sacrilegious somehow.
Most do not actually get melted they just use that term. And not all shops will get rid of those. Ask them for their junk silver bag and look thru them if you want that should have some for you there.
Silver Rosies are a dog of a series and deserve to be wiped off the face of the earth. The Duke, might be a little off with his "most" assumption. I called the stores in my area and most are actively melting all old silver coin. Yes - literally ..sending them off to the smelter. Silver is at $20 an ounce and that is causeing a spike in those cleaing out their old witman folders for cash. Your overexageration of calling it sacreligious is quite humorous but the god I worship is the god of paying the mortgage and putting food on the table. People are still losing jobs and losing their unemployment ..so to those that have the fortune to fill out their Dime folders ...oh, well ..instant rarities ....lol.
Some Brick & Mortar coin shops do not want to be burdened with accumulations of old, slick, dateless, dirty pre-1964 coins (dimes included) so they sell them in bulk wholesale to other dealers who specialize in bullion. Yes, silver US coins have seen the bottoms of smelters, but the majority is traded as the silver market fluctuates. These coins have very little to no numismatic value and are amassed as a precious metal. What you think might be collectible, a dealer sees as marginal profit, so it is disposed of quickly. Most places have a "junk box" ask to see that, you might find some adequate dimes mixed in there. Good Luck and Happy Collecting
Wow Drew, I disagree with you on that line buddy. I think the Roosevelt dime is over looked and IMO is a very nice coin, specially toned and highly collectible by many people (like me.) Other than that, I agree with the other blah, blah, blah! Recently sold and I sure regret doing so... :headbang:
I'm not saying it's the greatest coin ever made, but I see old coins as history and I hate to see any history destroyed like that. Since I've been trying to build up a coin collection I wanted to start with the easy coins first, so I started filling up folders of the more modern coins and then am working my way back. That's how I ended up looking for the silver Roosevelts. And I certainly don't blame anyone who sells their coins to pay their mortgage, I just hate to see the people who buy them melting them down. The coin dealers don't look like they're about to go bankrupt. Maybe it's just a different way of looking at coins, but for me, it's an antique and even if there are 100 million of them out there I don't like to think of them being destroyed.
I agree with you on the coins in bad shape, but they are melting down some good coins regardless of condition. I know it's not the end of the world or anything, but as I said in another post, I just hate to see old things destroyed. The shop I was at did not have a junk box for the Roosevelts, just Mercury dimes. I did get lucky though in that while I was in there someone came in and sold a bunch of Roosevelts and they let me buy the ones I wanted afterwards.
It's amazing to me---and inexplicable---why so MANY very good US coin designs have been dumped after having been around for only 25 years. . . while designs like the Roosevelt dime, the JFK half, etc., just keep living on and on and on like numismatic zombies. The Roosevelt dime is merely functional; it has next to no aesthetic appeal. Toning immensely helps this coin. Why can't we get new designs?
I'm not saying that they are not being sole to Smelters. I am saying that most of those are not being melted when they get there. But there is a few people in that business here hopefully they can chime in here.
It is very unfortunate if pre-64 silver coinage still gets melted down regardless of condition. It always makes me wonder what the actual surviving mintage is on some of the more "common" silver coins. TC
i wish the numismatic world would use the words "silver value" instead of "melt value". just sounds alot better - i think alot of confussion is associated with using the word melt, especially with new collectors
I'd really be surprised if anything that was even half way decent was getting melted. You can store a lot of silver dimes in a bag. If you can sell them for 2,3, $4 a piece, that's more than the $1 they're going to get for melting one. But, you can bet that the higher silver goes, the more coins become cost effective to melt as bullion. Nothing we can do about it. The premium ones will never be melted though.
The problem with the Roosevelt series is that there are no really rare dates. There are a coulple that get pricey in the upper uncirculated range but for 46-64 unless they are brilliant uncirculated they are really only worth about melt. Not many people will buy or hold onto them other than as bullion.
bqcoins is spot on. According to the mint, 6.6 billion of these were minted between 1946 and 1964. According to me and the research I've done, there are still about 500 million left. Though that is less than 8% of the original mintage, about 180 million of the remaining coins are in un-circulated condition. The data suggests there are some surprises in store for future collectors but even the rarest of the series has over 300,000 un-circulated specimens available. Therefore, the only things that will ever have much value are high grade un-circulated coins and then only after there is some interest in the series. That may be never or at least not in the time frame a dealer is interested in. I hope my kids thank me. For now though, keep melting them. As the price of silver rises and/or when industrial demand again increases, more of these will be melted. If enough rolls get busted up and enough of the busted up rolls get melted, and if enough people become interested, then maybe there will be a modest profit to be made on high grade specimens. Also, in case I forgot... If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. I buy and hold them because I like them. To each his own.
Of course these things are getting melted - even if silver gets to $50. They're just converting it to another form that they can perhaps sell for more profit like silver rounds, bars, art bars, medals, etc. Silver is silver. It doesn't have to have Frank Roosy's face on it to have value.
I don't think it has anything to do with "functionality" or else the "cent" would have been mentioned. It costs more to make them than its actual value, but to the point. Although the Roosevelt dime has been around for some time and it has no real key dates, that's part of what makes it a great coin on its own. It is history for some time, well designed, easy to collect and in my opinion just a beautiful looking little coin (toned.) Topcat is right too on saying "It is very unfortunate if pre-64 silver coinage still gets melted down regardless of condition. It always makes me wonder what the actual surviving mintage is on some of the more "common" silver coins." So many have been melted down that they are starting to become harder to get. Besides, one of the best things about this coin is that it's a great stater coin for newbies and even I started with such coins.
But how long will it take you to find those people wanting and needing those 2, 3, and 4 dollar coins? While there are Roosevely collectors that aren't a tremendous number of them and there are LOTS of those 2,3, and 4 dollar coins around. So a dealer who has been hoarding those that he bought at to make "extra" profit may very well end up LOSING money by having their money tied up for a long long time.
Because U.S. coins have presidents on them and politicians won't let them be changed:headbang:. The Virginia congressional delegation forced a law requiring Jefferson to be kept on the nickel. Should the Dem's lose both the house and senate, you might see a change, but to different politicians. IMHO, we won't see good coin design until we remove presidential portraiture as the only acceptable coinage obverse. P.S., I do like the presidential dollars and have no objection to that concept.
