Pre-64 Silver -- A Quick Question. - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 8 / Views: 1,902
ianp New Member United States 44 Posts	Posted 03/21/2012 11:56 am Not sure if this is the appropriate forum, but why does everyone try to sell pre-64 silver at a multiplier of face? Or at least -- that is my experience. To me, it makes sense to weigh it and buy it for silver, rather than off of a multiplier of face. Any who.. Sorry for the odd (and possibly misplaced) question, I just don't know who else to ask :) Ian Report this Post to the Staff

argentum Pillar of the Community United States 1195 Posts	Posted 03/21/2012 12:07 pm Near as I can figure, they don't want to bother massing all of their sales of 90%. A multiplier of face value gets them close enough, given the known masses of the coins in question, with a slight profit margin. Report this Post to the Staff
w1a9c8k5 Pillar of the Community United States 1348 Posts	Posted 03/21/2012 12:14 pm Most people don't carry a scale on them to the stores and such. So just counting the face value and multiplying it by the respected silver value makes a quick way to figure out the content. Of course there are always coins like Barber dimes and such that can lose their value due to high circulation, but for the most part Washington quarters and Rosie dimes aren't going to weigh a lot off of the original weight. Report this Post to the Staff
ibab Valued Member United States 167 Posts	Posted 03/21/2012 9:35 pm A $1000 bag is always weighed and needs to contain 715 oz of silver -- so a $1000 bag can sometimes contain more or less than $1000 face. At least that's what they should be doing. As a result though - it's really annoying to weigh a half dollar and find out if it is off by .1 grams - so instead - we just go as a multiple of face. the worst offenders are the auctioneers who know ditly about coins and make you bid some much per coin times the 50 coins in the lot. All the while you have to calculate buyers premium and tax, etc Report this Post to the Staff
ianp New Member United States 44 Posts	Posted 03/21/2012 9:51 pm Thanks for the detailed replies. This may sound silly (I may have just had an epiphany,) but, based on my calculations, the weight of silver in a Rosie dime is proportional to that in a Washington quarter or Kennedy half. So, there is exactly 5.625g of silver in a pre-64 Washington quarter. I would expect there to be a ratio of 2/5 of silver in a Rosie dime, which there appears to be at 2.25g. This now makes sense to me :) A simple(ish) formula to determine melt value on the fly is (correct me if I'm wrong): spot * .03215 * 22.5g = multiplier on face. Thank you all! Report this Post to the Staff
coin1024 New Member United States 30 Posts	Posted 03/21/2012 9:53 pm I used to wonder about this too. The key is that the weights of the dime, quarter, and half dollar are exactly proportional to their face value. Thus, a quarter contains 2.5x the silver of the dime, and the half dollar 2x the silver of the quarter. Once you realize this, it makes sense that you can use a single multiplier that relates face value to the spot price. Edit: It looks like you figured it out while I was writing my post. Edited by coin1024 03/21/2012 9:54 pm Report this Post to the Staff
argentum Pillar of the Community United States 1195 Posts	Posted 03/22/2012 12:21 am <rant>To be scientifically actuate, it is MASS, the amount of a substance (silver in this case), that is of importance in these coins. Not WEIGHT, which is caused by gravity pulling on an object.<end rant> Report this Post to the Staff
BH1964 Bedrock of the Community United States 10982 Posts	Posted 03/22/2012 12:33 am Quote: Thanks for the detailed replies. This may sound silly (I may have just had an epiphany,) but, based on my calculations, the weight of silver in a Rosie dime is proportional to that in a Washington quarter or Kennedy half. So, there is exactly 5.625g of silver in a pre-64 Washington quarter. I would expect there to be a ratio of 2/5 of silver in a Rosie dime, which there appears to be at 2.25g. This now makes sense to me :) A simple(ish) formula to determine melt value on the fly is (correct me if I'm wrong): spot * .03215 * 22.5g = multiplier on face. Thank you all! Your formula does not account for wear on "average circulated" coins as 90% is assumed to be. The 0.715 multiplier accounts for a little over 1% weight loss from wear. Just take the spot price X 0.715 to get your FV multiplier. Heavily worn coins (below G04 condition) should be avoided as they will weigh even less. ANA #R3154474 Report this Post to the Staff
ianp New Member United States 44 Posts	Posted 03/22/2012 08:48 am Great info -- thank you very much. Report this Post to the Staff
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