Why Buy "Junk" Silver Coins?

If it ever gets to the point where I'm interested in buying pure silver bullion simply for the sake of owning silver, I guess I could see buying junk silver coins if I could get them at current melt value, since there's always a premium on other forms of silver. But other than that, looking at old, worn-out coins brings me no joy whatever. Taking out a roll of BU Morgan dollars and looking at them, on the other hand, just makes my little heart go pitter-pat.

The father of one of my son's friends asked for my advice a couple of months ago about a fairly large stash of silver coins that he had inherited from his grandmother. A lot of Morgans, Walking Liberties, Franklins, Kennedys, etc., but all in pretty poor condition. I told him the coins probably wouldn't be worth too much to collectors due to their condition, but he would probably do well to sell them as "junk" silver on ebay or elsewhere since silver was over $40/ounce at the time. I didn't even make an offer on them, since I really wasn't looking to own a big box of worn coins. He did list one roll of dimes on ebay, but then the silver price dropped and he got frustrated with all the fees involved and decided to just hold onto them for now after all.

Well, after reading all the comments on this thread, I told his wife yesterday to let him know that I would be willing to pay him melt value for the larger coins (dollars and halves) if he is interested. I'm still not crazy about owning a bunch of worn out coins, but I guess it would be worth it if the price were right. Plus, I'd then have the time to go through them carefully and see if there are any key dates.

We'll see what he has to say...

I have a dealer I buy from and he just always has a ton of coinage but I only buy it if it is cheap. Right now melt is like 25x and I am having a hard time getting 23X. Morgans and Peace dollars are different as I never sell them and they will almost always carry a premium. Hit me up if you want to trade some of those dollars I have a bunch of ASE I am willing to part with. GL on the collection

Definitely a kindred spirit, Ed!

A couple of weeks ago, when silver dipped briefly back down to about $30/oz., I decided it was time to buy a little more. I thought about getting some pure bullion and also considered going after some "junk" silver coins, but in the end I bought a roll of BU Kennedy half dollars, a roll of proof Kennedy half dollars, a roll of BU Franklin half dollars, a roll of proof Franklin half dollars and a roll of BU Walking Liberty half dollars. Up until this point, my entire silver "hoard" consisted of a variety of individual coins and some rolls of Morgan and Peace dollars, and I just really love these new acquisitions even if I did end up paying a lot more than melt value for them.

It's funny -- I justify these purchases to my wife as investments in silver, since she has no interest in coin collecting. To myself, however, I justify the purchases as opportunities to buy some really beautiful coins, since I really have no interest in investing in silver...

From what I know you can pick up junk silver at spot but buying some of the bars and rounds there seems to be a small premium over spot, at least from a BM dealer. I can buy junk silver and such at spot all day long but throw in bars or rounds or ASE's and it's usually over spot. Besides, a bag of say, 50oz of junk silver looks more impressive than just 50oz of bars or rounds. I guess it's just psychological I suppose.

Excellent choices, Barry. Those are all great coins.



There are times for haggling the price as low as possible and there are other times when a guy can just give a little to get what he wants. I try to be reasonable when dealing with my local coin sellers. They have to make enough to keep the doors open and the lights on and I want them to do that so they will be available to me for shopping. It is nice to be able to look at and hold coins up close before buying them.



I do something similar. I tell my wife that I am not spending money, I am merely changing money from one form to another. I could go on for hours telling her about good money vs. bad money and how bad the Fed is but those arguments would fall upon deaf ears. My wife is a terrific lady but her only interest in money is 1) how much does she have; and 2) how well does it spend. Other than that, she has no interest in it. That WILL change if we ever get into a collapsing dollar situation, which is possible. At that point, I am sure that she will be VERY interested in MY silver.

15x?

Man, hurry up 250 posts!

As a bullion collector and a coin collector I buy junk silver when I can get it at spot and if there is nothing else available I want to buy. Initially I did buy quite a bit on E-bay just to bulk up my collection. But I almost always got it for below spot. That's not so easy to do anymore.
Lately I've just been getting bullion or if I need a coin to add to one of my collections I'll get it if it's in better grade.
Haven't bought any "junk" silver in quite some time

You would be right about that. It WAS an exceptionally low offer. Clearly, these guys think that you don't know what these coins are really worth and are trying to take advantage of that presumed fact. Good job not allowing them to do that.



There isn't a thing wrong with paying attention to instinct. Those subtle warning vibes are there for a reason. If that reason is not especially clear, then trust your instincts that something is there that isn't good. Sometimes we cannot put things into words that are quite real nonetheless.



Makes one wonder how they would react to a customer coming into their shop with a pistol on his hip.