I have been buying silver in the form of pre '65 halfs, quarters, and dimes. Any benefits to buying morgans/peace dollars as well? I know that pre '65 has about .715 otz to 1 dollar face. However Morgans are on a slightly different "bandwidth" (pardon the term) than pre 65. Morgans have about .77 correct? Now I imagine that owning Morgans, which are larger than Halfs, will take up less space. Any other reasons to diversify my "collection" and start stacking morgans? Thanks, and I look forward to hearing your opinions. -Dan
I'm not sure what the latest CDN quotes are for $1K bags of circulated silver, but I think the Morgan bag would be worth at least $1,000 more than the 90% bags of 50c, 25c & 10c. Chris
Morgans have more neumastatic value than most silver coins... I for one am a huge collector of Morgan dollars and i have 2 complete date and mint mark sets of morgans. and im working on an AU+ set. I feel that not only am i putting together a fun collection, but i'm also investing at the same time! Your correct that the amount of silver in a morgan dollar, or peace dollar for that matter is more than there is in $1 face value in halves, quarters, dimes, etc... Morgans all the way for me!
These older forms of silver coins like Morgans start to mix bullion value with value from scarcity (and demand from collectors) -- so you pay a higher premium over melt. This could be good or bad. Sometimes pure bullion coins rise faster in value than coins that have a mix of value from bullion and rarity; sometimes it's the other way around. I personally like the older forms of circulated silver coins. In addition to circulated Peace and Morgans, you could also consider circulated Walking Liberty and Barber Half Dollars. It's a way I accumulate silver while scratching my coin collecting itch. The only caveat is you will probably need to pick through the bulk coins in person to pick out ones that are clean, original (gradeable) circulated coins that make the grade in which they are advertised. Often the coins in the bulk bins at dealers contain coins that don't make the advertised grade or have been cleaned or have rim dings/damage that would make them ungradeable and therefore worth less (i.e. worth just the melt value of the silver). What I usually do is walk into a coin dealer and ask to look at their bulk silver coins for a particular type ... then pick through them. If you can put together a lot of 100 coins, you will usually get a better price (also remember that in some states, if you buy more than $1000 worth, you don't pay sales tax). If you are buying bulk coins that have a grade guarantee (for example Barber Halfs in Good+ condition or Walkers in F/VF) be sure to bring a photograding guidebook (if you are not that adept at grading on the fly). You can also print out some photos of PCGS graded coins (on ebay) of the type and grade you are interested in to use as a visual comparitive guide. Since you are paying more than bullion prices for some rarity (where grading matters), you need to ensure you get what you pay for and dont buy coins that are not gradeable. You do pay a bit of a premium for these older type coins. For example Barber Halfs in G/VG Condition might sell for a 20% to 25% (or more) premium over spot (however I think they are still fairly cheap and many times rarer than the later types). Circulated Walkers might sell for perhaps 4 or 5% over melt (which is fairly inexpensive). I recently bought a 100 coin lot of Walkers and a 100 coin lot of Barbers and got some better dates (an 1892 Barber and some Walkers from the 1910's and 1920's). However the dealer's lot of "Good+" Barbers contained many Fair and About Good coins, and a number of cleaned and damaged coins, so I had to pick through 200 coins to get a bag of 100 coins that I wanted to buy (that I thought would actually make a G or VG grade by a thrid party grader like PCGS or NGC). Here are samples from two 100 coin lots (G+ Barbers and F/VF Walkers) I recently bought: In terms of the circulated dollar coins, they will probably be separated into 3 types: Peace Dollars, 1921 Morgans, and 1878-1904 Morgans. I dont like the 1921 Morgan, it's common as dirt (few to none were melted) and they tend to have poor strikes. Plus it's boring, all one date. The Peace Dollars are quite cheap, however they are a lot more common than pre-1904 morgans. The bulk Peace Dollars will most likely all be dated 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925 -- all very high mintage years. And you will probably only get these four dates (from the Philly mint). The upside to circulated Peace dollars is they are quite cheap (a lower premium over melt). I like the 1878-1904 Morgans the best. They are more interesting (there will be many more dates and mintmarks in the lot) and rarer (remember many pre-1904 were melted down between 1905 and 1920 ... perhaps as much as 1/2 of the total mintage I believe). However the premium over melt is higher -- but I think it's worth it because they are easier to sell because (I believe) there are many more Morgan collectors than Peace collectors, so the demand is greater. I do think a nicely worn Morgan Dollar has a romantic feel to it! (By the way, the Morgan below is a PCGS graded VG): Another factor to keep in mind is the loss of silver due to wear on older, well-worn circulated coins ... I posted some estimates of the silver loss in various grades in this thread ... http://www.cointalk.com/t144944/ You need to keep in mind the loss of silver from wear to properly compute the premium over melt you are paying. You can get a rough idea of the prices (and premiums) from the two web links below (prices will definately vary from dealer to dealer). The prices on this web site will update as silver ticks up and down during the week. This will give you a rough idea of market prices for comparitive purposes. (You may find these coins selling for more or less at your local dealer) http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com/Dollars/Bulk_Dollars http://www.goldeneaglecoin.com/Half_Dollars/Bulk_Half_Dollars Finally, the silver content and silver melt value of all the coins being discussed here can be found at the coinflation website (the prices adjust when the silver market is open and the price fluctuates). The silver content and melt value given on this web site will be for high grade EF/AU coins with little to no silver loss: http://www.coinflation.com/ If this is all too much for you to deal with, stick with common (higher population, higher grade, and more recently minted) circulated bullion coins like you've been doing! Good Luck!
Thats why i was reffering to morgans as more of a neumastatic value coin. There's a much bigger market that you can resell to than just silver collectors when you buy Morgans rather than just halves or dimes for melt... Just my 2 cents worth, i'm not telling Dan what to do... I'm just stating why i collect morgans more then halves, quarters, dimes, etc...
Thanks for all your information. After browsing this forum I definitely realize that Morgans are coins that are widely collected and have numismatic value. I do enjoy collecting coins myself, but I would be buying from the melt bin at spot price (with no tax). I am mainly concerned with accumulating and storing silver as close to spot price, while maintaining a diverse, and liquid portfolio... Including smaller denominations (dimes, quarters, halfs) just in case "SHTF". However, I certainly appreciate owning pieces of history that are over 100 years old, and I do enjoy collecting different dates. Thanks again for all of this information. A little about myself: I am a college student, and have started accumulating silver several months ago. I am mainly concerned with: Investing, Providing a hedge against inflation, Protecting wealth as I progress through life, protecting against SHTF scenario, and also having fun and enjoying a tangible asset. Once again, thanks to all who have provided information to me. I hope to see you all around the message board again.
good job! if you started several months ago, you have already seen your hoard rise a good 70% (which is the rise in spot silver since August)
I really appreciate all that you have contributed to this discussion. I especially found these links useful, as it is a concern of mine. I often find myself debating between a roll of classic Merc Dimes or (less worn) Roosevelts. Same thing with walking liberty quarters, etc. Almost all of my 90% is Washingtons, Roosevelts, and Kennedys. But I do have some Franklins, Walking Liberty, Mercs, and a few Barbers. Over the past 4 months I usually would buy $10 face about once a week. I store these coins in square edged rolls of $10 dollars face, ($5 for dimes). Believe it or not, today I bought my very first Morgan! Year 1883. I never really was interested in Morgans, nor did I find them an attractive specimen (I know many of you hate me after saying that lol). Now that i have been able to handle one of these, I am starting to grow fond of it lol. I wouldn't mind stacking a few rolls of these at all
Morgans have always been my favorite. If you're only trying to go after the heavily circulated ones, then "stacking" is no big deal, but you should try to familiarize yourself with the keys, semikeys and varieties that command a premium even in lower grades. FWIW, the Pittman Act (of 1918?) authorized the melting of 350 million silver dollars to sell the silver to Great Britain. In actuality, about 300 million silver dollars were melted. During the Treasury releases of the 60's & 70's, the US had about 150 million silver dollars in their coffers, but there are no records indicating how many were melted in the late 70's as a result of the Hunt Brothers fiasco. Chris
cpm9, thanks for the clarification on the pittman act ... i wasnt sure when that happened. so i think by your numbers about 50% of the total population of Morgans were melted back then. wow. dan88, you impress me with your brains. i am sure few college students are accumulating silver, good for you. one more thing, you should consider buying at least 1 American Silver Eagle (containing 1 oz. silver), just for fun. The obverse design is identical to the Walking Liberty Half, but the reverse is unique. Yes, the premium is high because the mint charges the dealers $2 per coin over spot, so when the dealer adds their profit of $1+ per coin, the premium you pay is $3+ or 10%+ over melt. However ASE's are absolutely stunning to look at. I think since you are a lover of silver, you should consider getting at least 1 to add to your hoard. Below is a 2010 ASE Proof that I bought from the USMint for $46.95 (usmint.gov) -- (funny, there was so much reflectivity in the fields that you can clearly see my camera and lens) -- however you can get regular strikes of the 2010 ASE for roughly $3+ over spot from dealers. I think the ASEs are the most beautiful silver coin on 2 legs (ha). So you might enjoy having just 1 to add to your hoard. Have fun accumulating!
That is a beautiful Eagle. You must have a nice camera to get a shot that close. I do actually have a few American Eagles. They are stunning. I have always wanted a proof one. I also have a few maples (a 2010, and also an older year with the younger Queen, much better in my opinion lol). I also have a few philharmonics, and (My favorite) a 2002 Kookaburra. I do love these gov't issued bullion coins. I like the $5 face on the maple, and its 9999 fineness, as well as the smooth edge on a philharmonic. Very interesting designs. The "frosted" surface of the American Eagle is very nice to look at. I could never NOT own an eagle lol. I especially like the reverse.
