In 1980 I was working for a coin dealer in Toronto who was buying lots of silver to melt. You'd be amazed at what was being melted at the height. One thing I'll always remember is paying the same for proof and business strike Montreal Olympics coins. The silver content was the same, so the quality didn't matter. And any 1939 dollars less than AU got melted, too. In the lower denominations, even Unc. rolls back into the 1950s sometimes bit the dust. It was a wild time.