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 Replies: 16 / Views: 3,228 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
632 Posts |
Anybody else find it weird how we tend to refer to circulated silver coinage as "junk" silver?
Wouldn't they technically be less "junky" than say a silver bar or round because the coins have a legal monetary value which miscellaneous bullion does not have?
What is junk about a coin that is composed of precious metal that out values it's face value? That seems like a graduate sort of status to a coin for me...not junk status.
Anyone understand where this numismatic colloquialism seems to come from?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6478 Posts |
Some call it 'constitutional"
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
I think it is the lack of numismatic value that make it junk silver. Because silver is silver , bar, round or monetized.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I collect World junk silver out of dealers' junk boxes.
Have about 200 World silver coins collected in this way as a by product of collecting World coins, ancients to modern.
Quite often, and if I am lucky enough, I can buy such items for considerably less than their ASValue. Never buy junk silver in this way, for much more than ASValue.
It is possible to end up with a very interesting and varied collection, which can be easily cashed out if you neeed to.
An interesting way of combining numismatics with bullion silver accumulation. The thrill of the hunt, you never know what may end up in the main body of yor collection, and all of it bought very well. Such an approach opens up the whole of numisamtics to opportunistic bargain hunting.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
619 Posts |
I prefer to call it 90%. I only think it's junk if it's holed, slick, or broken.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
It's just junk because of it's not having added collected value compared to other coins in the series that are In better shape and demand.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
We call it junk silver because most of us wouldn't have it in our collections. Most of these coins are very worn or worse; damaged- bent-heavily scratched-etc. only on a rare occasion could you find something decent in a junk box. it's not worth my time or effort.  |
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Valued Member
292 Posts |
I look at those nasty dirty coins and I love them more than when I find one in really nice condition... I enjoy the nicer conditions because T-BOP will pay a high premium on them ;)
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
576 Posts |
I think it is a great question, it's all about who's holding it and why. I love to buy "junk" silver because it's cheaper to make it "my" silver.
Liverpool
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5828 Posts |
Any silver coin with out a collectors premium is "Junk" to me. If you look at my jar, you'll see plenty MS coins, like a 1967 half, and countless 1964 dimes. However, you'll also see beat up old coins, like a couple of Barber dimes. Anything is/can be junk  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
I build my collection out of junk halves in trays. The ones I pick out are usually better then the $16 ones in shops. It just depends on how picky the dealer is and how fast he wants to move Items.
Edited by Bertensgrad
06/15/2015 10:33 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1512 Posts |
I think they call it "Junk" because it is not .999 pure like "Quality" bullion is. I think it has more to do with the fineness of the alloy rather than the numismatic characteristics of the coin. For a purist-type stacker, silver is silver, and the lower the percentage of silver per gram/oz, the junkier the silver.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Quote:
I enjoy the nicer conditions because T-BOP will pay a high premium on them ;) Yes I Would Because I'm A Coin Collector Not A Junk Collector ! Not Pouncing On Anyone, It's Just My Opinion.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
586 Posts |
My fingers became smelly and dirty each time after I dig through 90% quarter buckets looking for SLQs and Barbers in my LCS. If that wasn't called junk, I don't know what is. I am done with junk, will go back stacking 99.9% shiny silver, from now on.  Edited by leon1998
06/15/2015 9:17 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
586 Posts |
I agree with matttheriley; 90% is called junk due to its impurity. 92.5% is called sterling silver; while 99.9% or above is called fine silver. It seems anything at or below 90% purity level is Junk. With a 999 purity silver bullion, doesn't matter whether it is dirty or damaged; it is not Junk. Puzzle solved.  Edited by leon1998
06/16/2015 9:13 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1704 Posts |
The term junk silver has nothing to do with its condition or cleanliness. It has to do with the distinction between coins with numismatic value, the value which exceeds the intrinsic value, and the value tied to the spot price of silver.
Collectors of classic coins and high grade modern coins refer to modern circulated silver which has no numismatic premium as junk silver, purely in a derogatory sense coins that they would never consider buying. That is how it has been for decades it is just that simple.
Pure .999 silver whether it be denominated or not has no relation to junk silver as the .999 silver was never produced as circulating coinage.
Edited by Gyrene7483
06/19/2015 02:58 am
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Replies: 16 / Views: 3,228 |
Posted 06/14/2015 11:34 pm
