Am I wrong in thinking it is illegal to melt silver coins? I was in a jewelry shop today asking about about silver quarters and halves. The guy said he had a bunch come in earlier this week but he just melted them last night. He showed me some of the jewlery and bars he was working on and that he had made from melted US coins. Thanks, Erin
It is not illegal to melt silver coins, though it was, briefly (1967). It is illegal to melt cents and nickels. See Susan Headly on About.Com here and USA Today here and hte US Mint Press Release here.
In order to corner the market on silver bullion, Nelson Bunker Hunt &William Herbert Hunt, aka: The Hunt Bros. amassed a estimated 100 million ounces of silver. Along with family heir loom silver tea pots and serving trays, untold millions of silver coins were forever destroyed in 1979, melted and turned into ingots, specifically to satisfy greed. Although it is not against the law to melt US silver coins, these brothers got their just reward when their empire finally collapsed around them.
Those greedy Bros were left with too much and they enjoy looking down on the rest of us. At least some of us still own things they do not and I'm sure it riles them.
The Hunt Brothers were the major LOSERS in that silver run up. Most of the silver they "owned" was owned on margin. When they changed the margin requirements on them they lost big time. They were worth more than a billion dollars LESS afterwards than they were before the run up.
