Need basic advice on how much to pay for some silver quarters

A guy mentioned he has several silver quarters that he doesn't want but has never wanted to take the time to take to a coin store. I told him I'd buy them and give him a fair price. I know nothing about their condition or years, we didn't get that far.

So, assuming these are normal silver Washington's in not so great a shape, how much would be a fair price? I would like to make a little profit but not too much.

Please don't point link to a website saying "Look up melt" thanks. I get it but I really don't have much interest in knowing the difference between spot, melt, bid, whatever as I'm a darksider although a newbie. Just looking for a fair number.

Thanks for your help :smile

 

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Offer to buy at 20x face value. If some are collectible pieces offer a fair price based on what you'd need to make if you went to sell the pieces.

 

Thank you. So $5 apiece and maybe a little more if any in obviously good condition. I'm not looking for a comprehensive list, but what is the general rule of thumb for collectible dates in average condition? 30's?

 

I'm not a 'quarter' guy but here's what I would do. Take the hoard home and carefully go through it. Sort the junk into one pile and the collectible stuff into another. Grade the collectible coins and search recent sales from the major auction houses and e-bay. This gives you a ballpark for what the coins may be worth. Offer 10% less than the auction sales prices.

 

Since melt changes so often, I guess I would think you would WANT to know the easiest way to look up current melt prices, like coinflation.

In bullion, melt is always key. You START there, then negotiate discounts or premiums. If I do not know what today's melt is, I have no idea how to buy bullion.

 

Unless nice grade, at least to this old timer all washingtons except for mintmarked 1930's coins, or AU/BU coins, were melt. Mintmarked 30's coins I would look up individually, with of course 32 S and D, and 36D, being highest.

 

You can look at Coinflation.com for melt value for silver quarters and start there for the base value.

 

Well I agree with what you are both saying. I will offer him $5 apiece and then if any of them are worth more than that I will share the profits if he is agreeable to that.

As for knowing how to look up melt prices, I really don't as this is a one time thing for me. Plus what is melt vs spot vs a good price from a dealer vs a bad price from a dealer vs what I could get for actually melting it? I know these are all slightly different and I don't really care as this is a one time thing.

 

Chris makes a good point. I based my answer on today's current melt value but that answer could change up or down a day or two down the road......

 

I have Kitco and Coinflation on the iThingy, unfortunately it doesn't save me from buying silver and then having it plummet the next day! Now if someone could come up with a real time app that accurately predicts what will happen with prices...

 

One time or not you do need this link. Bookmark it as I'm sure you'll again want to use it sometime in the future.


http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html

 

OK since everyone (besides Green) told me to go to the site even though I didn't want to, I did. Price is about $5.40.

So since I did as I was told, let me now ask this since that number is actually meaningless to me. What does melt value of $5.40 mean to me as a seller, someone with no connections? If I go into a store giving decent prices will they offer me less than $5.40, $5.40, or more than $5.40? I need to know "melt value of X means I can fairly easily sell for Y", otherwise melt value of X doesn't help me. Which is why I just asked for a fair price in the first place. If most dealers buy for melt great, but somehow I doubt that.

Edit : OK green did too while I was typing this

 

You and I must buy at the same time!

 

You'll get less than spot (5.40), maybe way less if you are from a different country than USA. (which is what a darksider means right?)

Depends a lot on the different coin shops but I could see them offering you anywhere from $2-$5 for quarter. Some shops will offer you a lower price if you aren't selling a large quantity as well, while others may offer the same/similar, no matter the amount.

Here's how you calculate spot without having to use that website. Say you are trying to figure out the spot value of 5 quarters, $1.25 face value X .715 (.715 oz of silver per $1 face value) = .89375 oz of silver x silver spot (29.87 right now) = $26.69

 

Whether you get more or less than melt selling to a dealer depends on the dealer and current market.
Call a local dealer and a pawn shop and see what they are offering. Then you'll know.

I wouldn't hesitate to pay just slightly under melt, because I know I could sell a little bit over.
But it depends on your market and how much time you are going to invest.

And btw, you don't need coinflation. Call whoever you are going to sell to just before you buy it and then you'll know the local market price.

 

Melt value is simply the amount of metal value in the coin. Bear in mind that coinflation takes into account all types of metal in a coin, so if there is any copper for example that will be included in the price. It isn't necessarily the "silver" melt value, although that is mostly the case.

You will probably not get melt value from a dealer for your 90% US coinage - but you might. Prices on junk silver have been going up lately. It used to be dealers would sell it for melt and buy it for under melt. As of now some dealers are paying over melt.

If the person you are buying from only has common date quarters then coinflation at melt value is a fair price for both parties IMO.

However for bulk you are better off paying by weight than face value as worn coins will not have as much silver. This would just be the total weight in Troy oz multiplied by 0.9 (90% silver content) multiplied by silver spot price.

 

OK great useful replies thank you.

 

If I'm selling a silver quarter to my local coin shop and the current melt value of a quarter is $5.40 my coin dealer will offer to buy it from me for around $4. However, If I'm buying a silver quarter from that coin dealer he's going to charge me atleast $5.40. That is my experience with that particular coin dealer. Silver took a little bit of a dip today, so offering a little bit under spot wouldn't be a bad idea in order to insulate youself if the silver prices keep dropping. Also, offering slightly below melt value is common and will give you a better profit margin if silver moves up on monday.

 

I'd call the local dealer and see what their buy is and offer 1x face more. Usually they are buying at 3-5x below spot, so if you can, make him feel as if he got a good deal out of it.

 

I agree with Cazkaboom. Coinnoisser, your local shop is way too wide a spread. The big dealer around here who does junk silver has a 1x spread. That is fair, and because he prices fair he gets a ton of business. $4-$5.40 spread is simply too wide for me to wish to patronize his business. However, if $5.40 is the cheapest around, what are you going to do. I would definitely say someone selling should do better than $4 though.