Modern British Silver Coins Can Be Hard To Find

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,122
Pertinax Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2133 Posts	Posted 03/13/2017 7:26 pm I got chatting to a guy I see at the auctions occasionally, largely because he asked me to translate a Gaelic inscription. I think he goes to every auction, I go to just a few. He buys many lots of silver items and silver and gold coins He told me that over the past 5 years he's sent roughly 1,000 ounces of silver objects and 1,800 ounces of British silver coins for melting. Assuming that all get melted, that's roughly of £450 face value of British silver coins being melted by one person and I imagine that there are probably lots of people doing this up around the UK. The rare dates don't seem to be hard to find but the commoner dates of 20th century British silver coins even in F can be difficult for new collectors. Is this phenomenon occurring in the US and Canada and are prices of the common dates in work condition rising as a result ? Report this Post to the Staff

hcmusicguy Pillar of the Community United States 814 Posts	Posted 03/13/2017 8:04 pm My LCS that I frequent usually has numerous shillings, sixpence, and threepence coins in the foreign junk silver box. Florins and half crowns are in there somewhat less frequently. Occasionally a sterling piece is in the mix. The contents do change so I can only imagine its being bought either by collectors or stackers (which I doubt because not many in the US collect British pre-decimal, I trust, and stackers aren't going to want a 50% alloy) or sent off to be melted. All of my UK £sd silver pieces came from this dealer's box except my Victorian Jubilee bust half crown. Edited by hcmusicguy 03/13/2017 8:09 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Crazyb0 Rest in Peace 10197 Posts	Posted 03/13/2017 8:25 pm Either I've been in a fog or something, I thought we here in US aren't allowed to melt our coinage, at least the newer releases are protected. Things must be different internationally, but would someone set me straight. Report this Post to the Staff
oriole Pillar of the Community Canada 5239 Posts	Posted 03/13/2017 8:44 pm Here in Canada, my experience has been very similar to hcmusicguy. I have built a fairly complete set of most UK silver as old as late Victoria, almost exclusively via junk boxes. 20-30 years ago this stuff was abundant, but I think that it is slowly drying up as the really bad stuff gets melted. I have most all of what I want, so any really worn stuff I get is sold to dealers and presumably is melted, as there is no demand for the worn .500 or even for the worn .925. I think that a lot was brought over by service personnel after and during WWII. Edwardian silver (shillings to 1/2 crown) was never that common-I am still missing some dates. Report this Post to the Staff
Druu Pillar of the Community United States 1000 Posts	Posted 03/14/2017 02:12 am Crazy, silver can be sent off to the smelter. It's illegal to melt nickels and cents. The Treasury changed regulations in 2006, I believe. Here's an article about it: http://www.numismaticnews.net/buzz/...till-illegal Report this Post to the Staff
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