I noticed on ebay that silver eagle proofs such as the 93, 95 and 97 can be bought for as low as $80. Is this a temporary drop because of the current mania for silver or are we seeing the value these of coins actually falling?
When the price of PM's rise numismatic premiums are erroded or even fall. Ask someone who was in the market in 1980.
As Fifty says, Buy collectable coins (low mintage at a little over Melt) And sell all your JUNK Silver. Also goes for Gold.
an increase in demand rarely, if ever, results in lower prices. If anything it has the opposite effect. My opinion is that the "mania" as you put it is actually dying down.