sorting my 90% junk for numismatic value?

hello,

i have recently started buying some 90% silver halves, quarters and dimes whenever i can get them for less than spot in order to begin investing in silver.

i keep wondering if any of those coins have value beyond their bullion worth. i realize junk silver coins, by definition, have no numismatic value but maybe some of these 90%ers (and 40%ers) aren't junk. some of the coins seem to be in really good condition.

i am thinking that if so, i could sell the coins with numismatic value and use the proceeds to buy more junk coins.

does anybody do this?

thanks.

 

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I buy mostly junk silver. I have sold them on ebay from time to time. A couple times something has sold for way more than spot. I'll look in the price guide and notice that sometimes they are semi key dates. I'm not going to search through my stuff though. I'll let the ebay buyers decide what is worth more. When I sell a quantity to my local coin dealer, he doesn't bother to look at them. He just pours them into a bucket.

 

You will need to buy a Redbook and learn a little about grading coins to identify the coins that might have value above the bullion content. There is no harm in trying and it will teach you a lot about grading and the rarity of your coins.

 

I always look through my "junk" silver as it's really only junk after I've taken a look at all of them to make sure!!! Think about it, if a dealer tossed a common date Barber Half in the junk pile 20 years ago because he thought it was only worth melt (which may have been true at the time) it takes a collector to sort through it again and save such a coin from the junk pile. I've pulled many great coins from sorting the junk silver I buy. Same goes for accumulations of "searched" wheat cents. They may have been searched over for the key dates, but have they really been searched for all repunched mintmarks, doubled dies and semi-key dates?? Likely not!

In the last lot of $50 face of 90% Barbers I purchased I found three 1904-S halves (worth maybe $25 each) and also found a few Seated dimes that were in decent condition.

 

What He Said~

To Me, this is where the fun begins.

Grab some "Junk" coins. Get a loupe. Take some photos. Read the book. Spend some time with your new stuff.

Then melt them as a last resort.

 

Each has his own definition of junk. I only consider junk to be:

40% halves
1964 halves
common Washington Quarters
common Roosevelt Dimes

I keep everything else I find.

 

sounds good. i ordered the red book a few days ago and it should arrive soon. i appreciate everyone's comments. it seems this could be a hidden benefit that doesn't exist with other types of silver bullion investments such as ASEs or silver bars. and it should be fun. thanks again.

 

The coin could be a key rare date, but if someone over dipped it in cleaning solution then the coin would be considered harshly cleaned and not carry any numismatic value at all, rare key date regardless. I think people lose sight of what numismatic value means. Cleaned coins carry NO, NO, NO numismatic value, regardless of how unique or rare they are.

Sometimes it takes a trained professional with a magnifying glass to realize that the mint state key date coin you are holding has really been overly cleaned and that is why it finds itself in the "junk" silver bin.

 

There is a huge market for scarce/rare coins in less than perfect condition.
Cleaned, scratched, rim dinged coins that could never make it into a reputable slab can still have a value many times the melt value.

 

yeah I definitely scan my bulk buys for some low mintage numbers. Its always a good idea to have a red book close to give you an idea of dates to scan for.

 

I would like present a question, not an argument for SilverSurfer's comment above."

Would the NO, NO, No part apply to Civil War tokens and gold coins. If so, then I have been very mistaken in my judgement.

I have a few "cleaned" coins. There were still very beautiful to me, so I purchased anyways. My tokens have very little gold melt value to them.

Thanks.

 

Yes indeed, it is fun to LOOK.

 

I'll answer sunshine and sweeper at the same time.

It depends on who is buying it. Obviously, sunshine, you bought these cleaned coins at some price higher than melt value. So, someone is willing to pay more than melt for them. But, take those same cleaned coins to a coin dealer and see what they tell you.

 

I found a 1893 s barber half in the junk 90% box the other day! I also found a 21 and 26s merc int the box awhile back.:bigeyes:

 

I went back through a couple of rolls of old circulated Mercury dimes I have. Some are higher grade but nothing worth having graded for sure. But I was pleased to find both varieties of the 1928 S ! I put them in a 2 coin flip and now at least have a reference. I know a lot of coins are deemed "junk" by the purists, but there are many collectors who cannot afford the best coins for their books and willing to pay over melt to fill a space. At $18 an ounce, it is hard to think of any silver coin as junk. IMHO

 

In today's coin collecting market, the state of preservation of the surface of the coin has become a critically important element in judging what the value of the coin is. If a coin has been cleaned, its value is significantly reduced. If the coin bears a common date in the twentieth century (1900 to 1999) and it has been cleaned, most dealers throw them on a scale and pay you a small premium over bullion value for them. If you send common-date coin from the twentieth century which has been cleaned to a top-tier grading service (such as PCGS or NCG,) it will probably come back to you in a body bag, and you will have wasted your money trying to get it slabbed.

What I am trying so hard to stress to you is that cleaning your coins is a surefire way to destroy the surface of a coin, along with a good portion of the coin's value. In all fairness, grading services do make occasional exceptions regarding the cleaning rule, especially for coins that are so rare that people are glad to acquire one despite the damaged surface. On coins of the ninteenth century and earlier (dates in the 1800s and before,) the grading services are also more lenient about cleaned coins, but generally only if the coin was cleaned many, many years ago.

***The reference above came from this link***

http://coins.about.com/od/caringforcoins/f/shiny_coins.htm?nl=1:smile

Make of it what you will!

 

Value In Cleaned Coins

The statement was absurd/ridiculous, just watch auction listings for "improperly cleaned" certified semi-key/key coins (e.g. 1889 CC Morgan). I have many semi-key/key "cleaned coins" certified by Top Tier TPG, and others, that were purchased in auction at significant premiums. I've also sold some "cleaned" coins to collectors for their premium coin sets, when they couldn't locate dates similar to that previously suggested. Beauty/"Quality" is in the eye of the purchaser. Look at the prices paid for the cleaned "ship-wreck" coins. I suggest that you buy that which appeals to you, rather than dictated to have value by others.

 

Man, where I am, the dealers want to give you melt value less about 40%. I can sell junk on eBay for just under melt, pay all the fees and still come ahead of what I can get from any dealer in the Las Vegas area. The only way to even come close to realizing the coin's true worth is to ship them to a smelter yourself. IMHO

 

Thanks for your input.

 

It doesn't really matter. ANY coin YOU take to a dealer is JUNK ! At least that's what you will be told. They don't pay squat for raw coins and of course YOUR slabbed coin is greatly overgraded ! Face it. The dealer must profit immensly from face value money to stay in business. That's why they offer 10% of the market value of coins you take in. eBay is the only place I have found where you can come close to a equitable trade. But, purists only deal in Slabbed toned proofs. Other collectors do what they can. IMHO