Are Morgan And Peace Dollars Still Being Melted?

As a related aside... I was writing with a collector in Italy about some coins I was selling. He said, very matter of fact, that the first thing he does with any coin he buys is polish it!

I told the collector not the polish any coins but he said he does and prefers it that way.

Although I can't tell someone what to do with a coin once they've bought it, I have four 1860s/70s Belgian 5 francs (common dates but better strikes and decent toning ) that I won't sell to him because I don't want them polished.

The mindset amongst some Italian collectors is to polish silver. I've posted plenty of polished Morgans on this forum... Everything from cleaned to whizzed. Most of these I paid €20-25 for, but many would have been great coins had they not been mistreated.

I went to a metals buyer I haven't been to in Rome before this afternoon... The shop employee told me all silver is bought and melt; they do not sell retail to the public. They do sell gold and had a few bars and sovereigns.

I entered as a customer was selling about 30-40 silver coins. My quick glance was that they were mostly Olympic proofs and some European world cup coins. Although I couldn't tell exactly what was being sold.