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 Replies: 8 / Views: 2,059 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
539 Posts |
with the super rise in silver price over the last several months, one of the most frustrating things for me has been the inability to afford coins from countries (or coin issuing entities) for my OFEC collection. My question is how would you all 'value' a silver coin in regards to your buy price. As an example, Anguilla KM15 - we know the coin has .1159 of ASW (according to Krause). For math, let's say silver is at $50/oz. That says it has a melt (if I am using the right term here) of just under $6. Krause lists it with a value of $25. But folks are bidding $40 plus for this coin. Why? I have no idea but they are. Again, so how much numismatic value, above metal value, should I be thinking I need to wrap my head around. I find this behaviour all over the place for these silver coins. Is it a simple 10x melt is the new value? I just have a hard time understanding why folks are paying so much for these coins. there is clearly not a silver value there.
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Valued Member
United States
143 Posts |
Lots of coin have silver in them. It's really not a big deal.
I'm no expert, but I've been collecting for over a decade, and these things influence the value:
-composition. Obviously silver is generally worth more than copper, brass, zinc, etc.
-mintage/availability. Some coins were made in very low numbers, regardless of the composition. 10 million silver coins will more than likely each be worth less than 100,000 nickel ones.
-condition. Proof coins are made for collectors. Usually, they'll be from a precious metal. It costs more to make a proof coin, add that value increases if there's silver or gold in there.
-popularity. Some countries are just more popular than others, especially if those countries have limited coins. Anguilla is a great example. Not a lot of coins at all. Thus, the value is higher.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
505 Posts |
All silver coins with are going to be wacky for awhile...youll have to look and see what the price of silver was when your guide was printed and add the current difference to the silver content in your coin!!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1231 Posts |
Also it could be someone read the ASW wrong and thought it said 1.159
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Moderator
 Australia
16804 Posts |
I think it's more a case of "Krause not having a clue how popular Anguilla coins are" than any kind of factor based on precious metal value. A few years ago I paid $120 for an "Anguilla liberty dollar" countermarked Mexican coin; these coins aren't even listed in the mainstream Krauses anymore, so I don't know what their current CV is, but I don't think it's that high.
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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Pillar of the Community
 United States
539 Posts |
there is no doubt that Krause doesn't have a complete handle on the values of all of those coins listed. Anguilla may very well be a good example of how bad it is. I don't really know. I used it only as an example.
What I was trying to gather was the communities thoughts on how bad it really is, especially for the coins that have silver content. I looked up in my 2010 Krause that the baseline for silver was 12-15 per ounce. Obviously that is way off today. so someone suggested you add the delta. that sort of make sense. so if silver is at 50, then I might add $35 to any silver coin. that makes sense for some of the larger coins but I'm not sure that makes sense for smaller coins (less silver). I guess it will just be a crap shoot to get some of the countries I'm missing
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5362 Posts |
I would like to think that the simple delta could be used on ounce coins - half delta on half ounce and so forth. The math is easy.
But it is a lot more complex I am affraid. Market interest is key.
Right now I am checking melt batches that include silver coins that NEVER would have been considered for smelting just a year or two ago.
The prevailing attitude of the dealers I work with is that melt is so high who would ever pay it for a "common" coin. They believe (rightly or wrongly) that collectors have NO interest in foreign coins in any event, so just melt them for a quick profit over the buy price and forget it.
I am personally appalled by what goes into melt. WE WILL BE SORRY.
How many modern proof silver coins with low mintages are being melted? That number must be rising to the level of a large fraction of mintage. In future years, these will be harder to find. But in the meantime - who doesn't want to cash in a bit on the silver rise.
I sold 200 ounces of Netherlands silver recently just to take the profit. I held back only high EF to MS coins that showed a premium value. All the VFs were melted. But at the price I got I couldn't in good conscience keep everything, especially in a batch I bought for spot less 15% with silver at $5 an ounce.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
539 Posts |
Quote:
The prevailing attitude of the dealers I work with is that melt is so high who would ever pay it for a "common" coin. They believe (rightly or wrongly) that collectors have NO interest in foreign coins in any event, so just melt them for a quick profit over the buy price and forget it. SIGH |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1666 Posts |
Sap is on the money - Krause is terrible when it comes to keeping up with the highly dynamic world coin markets. The Russian, Chinese and many other Eastern European markets have shot up in the past couple of years, but editions of krause that came out after the peak still had old prices. I guess there is no good excuse for a specialized reference library that costs thousands. The $60 or so Krause books are convenient, but you have a huge trade-off with accuracy (including typographical accuracy). As a collector and dealer - I look at krause ONLY for mintage figures and references like material/weight/size/etc. The best factors to take into account are - as others have already mentioned - mintage, market and condition. Also worth noting: The crazy speed that silver has been increasing causes some to pay what they think it will be in a month. This is what I've been seeing the past month or so. Even purely bullion coins are going above bullion, because people are considering the appreciated value and how little time it will take to get there. Oh and SAP - the Anguilla Liberty dollars are still listed in "Unusual World Coins". I have seen a bunch of them in the past year on ebay selling for typically $60-$75 in good shape. Also should mention that one dealer had a whole bunch of them, so the flood factor likely means the actual prices are closer to the $120 you paid. Edited by Numismat
04/26/2011 10:47 pm
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Replies: 8 / Views: 2,059 |
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Posted 04/25/2011 7:46 pm
