Why Do People Dislike 40% And 35% Junk Silver So Much?

Like you said, not all silver is created equal. Nothing beats the liquidity of .999 bullion. There's no refinery cost in buying/selling .999 silver. The work is already done! And a trusted brand - a national mint or major refinery like Engelhard - can even add premium over melt. Same is true with 90%. The price you pay should be related to why you're buying. It takes a LOT of War Nickels or Kennedy half dollars to retire.

Here's my example, a few years ago I bought a small hoard of Mexico 1 peso "silver coins" for my personal collection.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces3550.html

The coins - minted from 1957 to 1967 - are .100 fine and some collectors debate whether we should even call them silver at all.

Anyway, I kept all the BU examples for my date set and tried to sell the rest for bullion. That was about 75 pieces. No luck! Took it to a trusted dealer and he just pushed the bag across the counter. Wouldn't even look at them. And I knew they guy from previous sales! No market, he said, refiners won't take them and they're only desired by collectors in high grade. And that's generaly true. These coins go dark fast. No lustre, no eye appeal because the silver content is so low. You see the same thing in War Nickels.

Eventually I sold them to a collector on Numista for $1 each (aound melt). A few weeks later that collector wrote to me, said he kept all the ones he wanted, now he wanted to know what to do with the rest?! (Why ask me? You bought them!) I suggested he list them on Numista for trade. Not sure whether he did.

Moral of the story: collect what you like, but if you're looking for profit stick with .999 or 90%!

PS: I like all silver but know I'm not getting rich on most of it...!

@JadeDragon -

I don't think War Nickels are ugly at all, I think they discolor very easily (because of the relatively low silver content), but even then I like the design.

I especially like the HUGE mint marks placed over the Monticello. It's very striking and the older I get the more I appeciate the design modification (to indicate their metal composition).

If someone is looking for silver content, maybe avoid these coins, but as a collector of US coins, I love War Nickels!

I won't get rich from owning them but I'll take War Nickels any day of the week.

@Thomaski

Pro tip #1: with few exceptions, any silver you buy around melt will always be worth around melt... The market is established and the line between supply and demand is generally steady.

Pro tip #2: 90% silver is better than 40% and US is generally easier to sell than world silver...

Pro tip #3: don't get sucked in by "cheap" world silver. It's cheap for a reason. I love world silver, but there's not much room for profit on the flip side.

You bought a decent lot of 40% silver at a decent price (about 13% over melt). That's more than I would pay, but my goals might be different from yours! Luckily, Kennedy half dollars (40% and 90% silver) are very popular so you'll never have trouble selling them, but you won't get rich along the way. Same thing with War Nickels. They're popular, but never carry much of a premium in average circulated condition.

So what are you trying to do with your silver? Collect? Stack? Get rich? Tell us your story. We're here to discuss coins, don't be shy!

When I got back into roll hunting after after almost a 30-year break, I decided to hit the half dollars. This was around 2007. I was finding hundreds of 40% Kennedys, boxes were loaded. At $20 spot silver, my local guy was paying 75 cents each. He really didn't want them tbh. Other hunters such as a couple bank managers that I knew were also roll hunting and they were tossing the 40% and keeping 90%. I ended up finding a couple thousand over the next 7 years, and just sat on them. I tried selling rolls on Craigslist and finally moved a few at 70% of spot, not too shabby for coins found at face value. Today, I'm still slightly fond of 40% but I don't keep more than a couple rolls worth, same with War Nickels.

@thomaski -

No, no, no - bullion coins like those are great. They hold their value very well. All the major mints have decent bullion coins with varying premiums.

What I meant was: watch out for common date, average circulated, low face-value world silver coins. You'll see them on ebay etc and they often sell at or below melt because they're not very desirable. I absolutely LOVE these coins, but I'm a COLLECTOR, not a stacker. So think twice before buying things like UK 3-pence or 6-pence or even shillings, or Norway 10 ore, or Japan 100 yen etc etc. They are very common in average cirulated consition and take a while to sell.

Tip #4: Silver you buy for well over melt value might not be worth over melt value in the future.

An example is from 2011 when silver hit $50, many pieces that were selling at double melt when silver was $20 had virtually no premium at $50.

Not a fan of 40% or 35% for silver content purposes & Actually sold off a couple rolls of 40% Kennedy's to purchase walkers. But as a collector I have Bu examples of all the War Nickels & a couple Bu 40% Kennedy halves & a handful of Bu & proof 40% ikes.

I do love the Franklin silver proofs, too, Tim NH!