I've seen a fair amount of worn silver coins which have practically lost all details aside from the basic outline of the face. I'd be interested in them from a silver content standpoint. I was wondering, from a silver content standpoint, do these coins have less silver in them than a coin with good detail? It might not be a big deal for one coin, but if you buy lets say a roll of them, this silver loss maybe an issue? PG
There is definitely loss. I had a stack the other day of 10 slick walking liberty half dollars sitting next to 10 UNC 1964 JFK's and the difference was almost 2 coins in height.
If someone is buying rolls of junk silver by weight x content and flipping them by roll they are definitely profiting from that lost silver. Sometimes the obvious gets looked over. Think how many people don't even consider this and get snubbed out of say 5% content right out of the gate.
http://www.goldworld.com/articles/junk-silver-coins/375# http://seekingalpha.com/article/110541-junk-silver-vs-junk-bonds 1% seems to be the accepted "average wear"
I hate to say this, but their math is wrong. 90% of 795 is 715 and not 723. However, their problem is that there are 803.8 Troy ounces in $1000 of silver coins. Now 90% of 803.8 = 723 and 99% of 723 does equal 715.
.7234 is the actual weight of $1 in silver coin in dimes, quarters, and halves when they are minted. I am not sure on the .715 when buying, but I won't buy bulk silver unless the price of the coins are based on .712 per $1, a bit more allowance for wear, especially when you get into Barber or SL quarters.
Do any dealers actually pay less for junk silver because its well worn? I've always thought junk was junk, and that it generally traded for its melt value, even if it is worn a bit thinner than a new coin. ??
Where I work deals in sovereigns were the individual PM content of each coin is probably a lot more important (being gold) than it is for junk silver coins. It doesn't make any noticable difference to weight on the hi-res scales we use, and it makes no difference in bullion price between a very worn Queen Victoria Old Head and an Almost Uncirculated Queen Elizabeth II... I would suggest that unless the coin has been blatantly clipped it shouldn't be an issue. Worn or otherwise knackered junk silver coins should trade the same as any other junk silver coin sold for silver content...
Even if you accept 1% as the number, that would mean that each coin would weigh 0.007 ounces less that it did new. 7 one-thousands of an ounce is nothing. The mint tolerance for weight variation when the coins are freshly minted is 1%. This coin for example, weighed 0.001 of an ounce less than a brand new one. When coins become worn, the metal is not so much removed from the coin as it is just squashed down and flattened out. That is why they lose height in a stack, because they have lost relief. But weight, they lose very, very little weight with wear.
