Hey guys/gals: For someone like me who is currently interested in silver coins for the purpose of storing the value of silver as a hedge against USD, do I really care if the coins are circulated or uncirculated? I purchased 50 uncirculated coins last week and I see that they carry a bit of a premium. Thoughts?
Personally, I would just buy circulated silver -- "junk" type. BUT, I would aim for obsolete type (Mercury, early Washingtons, Walkers and Franklins), because they are still available near melt value but also carry some collector value. That way, you enjoy two venues for selling those silver coins -- either for bullion value or to collectors who need those issues for their albums.
Thanks coinman, I'm very very new to all this so I don't even know much about mercury/washington's etc that you speak of. LOL BUT! I do know that pre-1965 quarters contained 70% silver correct? Does that also apply to dimes and nickels? When you say junk silver, is that circulated ASE's? Or are you speaking of a mixture of dimes/quarters/nickels etc? Also, how does one calculate the value of a pre-1965 quarter? Let's say I have a 1960 quarter in pretty worn out condition. Is that considered "junk" silver? Thanks!
Hi, Foolsgold, Actually, pre-1965 dimes, quarters, halves, and dollars are 90% silver. In 1965, the U.S. Mint took all silver out of business-strike dimes and quarters and reduced silver content to 40% for halves. In 1971, business-strike halves no longer contained silver. ALSO, don't forget to look into war nickels (1942-45). They are 35% silver. ASEs are not considered "junk" silver; they are bona fide "bullion" coins bought and sold by investors. They also qualify for certain tax exemptions if held in certain approved accounts (I think IRAs, but double-check that). "Junk" coins refer to common-date, circulated silver coins. A Fine or Very Fine 1961 Washington quarter would qualify as "junk." A Very Good 1946 Walking Liberty half dollar is "junk." A cull 1921 Morgan dollar is junk. Basically, "junk" refers to any common-date silver coin in a well-worn grade.
Oh, and do be sure to check out http://www.coinflation.com/ . There, you can actually determine how much bullion value your coin has based on denomination and type.
Awesome! Thanks guys, I will take a look. I have about 5,000 pennies that I've saved and even rolled up. I've kept them just because it looks so nice rolled up, I have no idea what year dates they are. I have quite a bit of nickels and dimes rolled up as well but not as much. It's too bad I don't know so much about which coins are worthy of keeping but I'll take a look at that link and see if I have any good "old" coins...
Here's a quick picture of coins that I have. Remember, I am NOT a coin collector and I've only saved them because I thought they might be worth something. I didn't even know I had 6 mercury dimes... But it doesn't look like I really have anything all that worthy..... Enjoy....
Hey I can't post a picture of my coins? EDIT: Ok I've attached the picture. Not sure why I can't link to it.
What did you buy? Where did you buy them? How much did you pay for them? You should figure out what your weekly/monthly budget is and start there. If you have $50 a month, you can buy a couple ASE's ($18-$20)or you can save for for a couple months and look for a couple rolls of Mercury dimes ($55-$62)or maybe a roll of silver quarters ($112-$120).
I bought 50 uncirculated 1 oz. ASE's from APMEX.COM. APMEX charged me $18.53. So the coins themselves were somewhere around $16.64. I don't really want to get too involved with the collectible type of coins since I'm not really a coin collector. I just wanted to show what I had found. All the Mercury coins that I have, I found as pocket change through the years and I thought they looked nice.
Nice finds, Fools Gold. Andrew has some good advice....Decide on a budget and start saving toward silver rolls. I'm not offering any investment advice, but if collecting silver rolls is your goal, it certainly does seem like now is a pretty exciting time to pile them away.
Thanks. Yeah the price seems to be pretty affordable. It would have been nice to pick them up at $5-6, but everyone's saying that now! LOL... Plus I had no clue about gold/silver back when it was that price anyways. How many coins come in a roll? When I bought from APMEX, they came in a tube that holds about 40 coins. Is that not a good way to store the coins?
Rolls are a fine way to store junk silver coins -- just make sure they are hard plastic tubes, which you can buy from any coin dealer for 50 cents or so each; these have screw or push-on caps and are virtually airtight. Coins in typical silver rolls come in the following quantities: War nickels: 40 ($2 face) All dimes: 50 ($5) All quarters: 40 ($10) All halves: 20 ($10) All large size dollars (the silver kinds): 20 ($20)
search your pennies for errors you might have some errors worth more then face value and then could sell them and get alot more silver that way then just cashing them in check this site out www.coppercoins.com and click on die variety search you can get alot of information from this website
Time yourself! just pull out one random penny, do the research and examine coin, reinventory coin according to collectible, junk etc. time spent going to fridge for another beer must be deducted as well as glances at the football game on tv. calculate time spent on first coin then multiply by 5000 or just take the whole mess to the nearest big green change machine and cash out!
Ok sorry for this really newbie question but what's the difference between these two pages? Both offers are for uncirculated coins. http://www.apmex.com/Product/23331/1_oz_Silver_American_Eagles___Brilliant_Uncirculated.aspx http://www.apmex.com/Product/48687/2009_Silver_American_Eagles.aspx
Yeah, I'm eager to just drop them all in one of those coin machines. I'm so afraid that I might actually own something that is of value.... I just don't know if I have the patience to go through each one....
