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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,588 |
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Valued Member
United States
168 Posts |
I have been a moderately successful coin-roll hunter for the past two years (focusing on searching customer-wrapped rolls of dimes; half dollars that customer cash at banks; and $500 boxes of half-dollars packaged by Loomis). During this time, I have found ~100 40% silver Kennedy half dollars, ~20 90% silver half dollars, and ~225 90% silver dimes. I enjoy finding this kind of "treasure", and I don't plan to sell these coins. Recently a local coin dealer told me that he offers 16X face value for 90% "junk" silver coins. Offering $8.00 for a 1964 Kennedy half dollar seems reasonable: i.e., today is has a melt value of $8.68. But I was surprised when he told me that he pays only $1.25 for 40% silver Kennedy half dollars (which is only 35% of the value of the silver that they contain). He explained that it is not profitable to melt them for the purpose of separating the moderate amount of silver they contain -- so their value is severely discounted. I get excited when I find a 40% silver Kennedy half dollar because of the size and appearance of this kind of coin. But it is discouraging to learn that a silver dime is worth $1.50 more than its face value, while a 1967 Kennedy half dollar is worth only 75 cents more than its face value. Finding a "junk" silver dime may not be as exciting as finding a 40% silver Kennedy half dollar -- but unfortunately most of the silver in the latter coin is "stranded". This also suggests that it is not wise to invest in 40% silver Kennedy half dollars (which currently sell for >$3.50 each). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2213 Posts |
Yeah, I've seen several YouTube videos of collectors and dealers talking about 40% silver. The refiners don't pay much due to higher smelting costs. It's good to find 40% in the wild but maybe not the best to stack. However, if bought at a low price compared to melt 40% could pay off in the long run.
I don't stack 40%. I'd rather have 90% which is easier to sell in my opinion.
Edited by livingwater
02/17/2024 10:10 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
If you're into bullion like I am you'll find 40% Kennedy halves are not a good medium for holding. That said $1.25 is ridiculous these days. I remember selling some about 15 years ago and got $1/ea but silver was $10/ounce then. Put them on ebay and you'll get $3/ea minimum. Sometimes $4/ea. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
 to the CCF! |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5238 Posts |
I think that those prices are way lower than what other dealers would pay. My LCS in Canada does not discount the buy price of the 40% halves.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2049 Posts |
I was at a big coin show today. Plenty of people asking about 90% silver as well as bars and rounds, but didn't hear anyone asking about deals on 40% halves. If you can get them at more or less face value (I say that because there is a cost associated with the trips back and forth to the bank), then great. But I honestly don't know anyone that actively stacks these.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
The 40% coins are a drag for everyone involved in the process, buyers and sellers alike.
Edited by Coinfrog
02/18/2024 5:13 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5177 Posts |
If you melt and mix five pure silver halves with one 40% and recast as six halves, each will be 90% silver.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6448 Posts |
Quote: Put them on ebay and you'll get $3/ea minimum. Sometimes $4/ea. This. Transaction cost $0.30, ebay shipping cost $0.64, auction fee 13%. You can sell decent looking 40% Kennedy half dollars for $3-4, and pocket $2-3. |
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Moderator
 United States
15381 Posts |
Quote:
If you melt and mix five pure silver halves with one 40% and recast as six halves, each will be 90% silver. And where do you go to acquire the pure silver halves? I'm familiar with 90% silver halves.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2049 Posts |
Quote:This. Transaction cost $0.30, ebay shipping cost $0.64, auction fee 13%. You can sell decent looking 40% Kennedy half dollars for $3-4, and pocket $2-3. Don't forget the lost packages, returns (if the silver spot price crashes causing people to change their mind or for whatever reason as allowed by ebay's generous return policy), and if you sell more than $600 in a calendar year it gets reported as income to the IRS on a 1099-K. Add in the gas cost of hunting (trips back and forth to the bank) and the times you get something other than a US half dollar in bank roll (my personal experience included tokens, dimes, quarters, and other worthless foreign coins) causing you to take losses. Now what is the true net profit? Is it still $2-$3 per half dollar? As usual...YMMV |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6448 Posts |
ebay shipping insures packages at $20 for 1 oz. and $50 for 3 oz. I've only sold ~40 ebay packages, but they do come with USPS tracking and I've never had one lost. You can choose a no returns policy, although I don't know if that applies to bullion. I don't think the folks buying 40% Kennedy halves on ebay are necessarily looking for bullion vs. collectible coins. The OP said 100 40% halves. At $3-4 each, that is under your $600 line for a 1099K tax form. I thought for 2024 that line was much higher because people put up such a fuss? I have never filed a 1099K, so I don't know what you can write off against the sales. Does ebay issue the form based on your top line sales or based on your bottom line payouts? At any rate, if you are doing CRH for fun, you are already enduring gas money, occasional short rolls, and other minor costs for the hobby. I don't know how practical it would really be to hunt 40% silver as a business because most banks don't even seem to have Kennedy halves with any reliability.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
I am glad I liquidated (that is, traded to the LCS for store credit) most of my 40% silver half dollar finds nearly a quarter century ago. I retained a few retained for sentimental reasons, my good ole days of CRH.  |
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Moderator
Australia
16804 Posts |
Quote:But I was surprised when he told me that he pays only $1.25 for 40% silver Kennedy half dollars (which is only 35% of the value of the silver that they contain). He explained that it is not profitable to melt them for the purpose of separating the moderate amount of silver they contain -- so their value is severely discounted. It's just another illustration that those websites that "calculate the value of a coin" by calculating the value of each component of the coin separately and then simply adding them together, are incorrect. Yes, that's how to calculate the cost of making the alloy used to produce the coins, but the equation is not reversible when attempting to un-make a coin. The correct "melt value" of a 40% silver coin is not the melt value of the 40% silver plus the melt value of the 60% copper. It's the value of the 40% silver, minus the cost a melter would incur attempting to remove that 60% copper from your silver. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is the reason. Entropy: you can't unscramble eggs, and there is no magic box that can un-mix an alloy with 100% recovery of all ingredients at zero cost. This cost would be allayed if there were some practical use that a pre-mixed alloy of 40% silver 60% copper would have. But there isn't; 40% silver has virtually none of the beneficial properties of pure silver (tarnish resistance, electrical conductivity, etc), and doesn't really have any new beneficial properties to exploit. 40% silver alloy is technically "billon" - it corrodes easily, looks ugly, and is (historically) useless for anything except making debased money from it. So anyone wanting to actually do anything useful with the silver is going to have to refine it. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
Quote:
And where do you go to acquire the pure silver halves? I'm familiar with 90% silver halves. Starting in 2019, any coins that were previously struck in 90% silver, will now be struck in 99.9% fine silver. This includes silver proof dimes, silver proof half dollars, silver proof quarters as well as both silver proof and silver uncirculated commemorative dollars. |
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
That is it. You can pull the half dollar from a recent silver proof set.
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,588 |
Posted 02/17/2024 9:56 pm
