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 Replies: 9 / Views: 1,453 |
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Valued Member
United States
292 Posts |
This might sound dumb, but having experienced the Hunt brothers' silver escapade in 1980 when silver went to $49/oz ($163/oz in 2020 dollars), why is there still so much bulk silver around? In 1980 I turned in every single sub-par silver I had pulled from circulation. I figured everybody else did too and that all the worn out silver would have been melted down. But there's still tons of it. And are stackers and bulkers hoping that someday it will go back to that brief (insane) 1980 value (it would have to approach $160/oz)? Edited by EDM
08/25/2021 09:15 am
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Large amounts of pure bulk silver will always be around, when it comes to poured bars.
For junk silver in dealers' junk boxes, even for World coins, it has almost completely vanished.
Lots of us who have had junk silver in the past have cashed it it, and the surrendered silver coin has found it's way to the melting pot. Higher condition coins have survived, and this has had the affect of increasing the average condition of the remaining coins in collectors' hands.
I do not think that this will have any influence on the price offered by dealers for junk silver, but I have found it it is definitely becoming scarcer.
Edited by sel_69l
08/25/2021 09:27 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
In order for a price to be set, you have to have both a buyer and seller at that price. So even when silver was $49/oz., there were people buying at that price under the assumption that it would still go even higher. That may appear irrational in retrospect, but at the time it probably seemed like silver could not go anywhere but up to some at least. This is how manias and bubbles form.
In addition, it is not necessary to melt down bulk silver in order to realize value when selling, so many people may have just bought bulk and junk silver and sat on it, knowing they could resell at close to spot in the future if they wanted to.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5239 Posts |
Remember too that during the 1980 bubble, that last rise was very brief. Most dealers, at least in Canada, were paying substantially less than melt out of fear that there would be a major collapse (which did happen). Dealers had to move the stuff very rapidly or they could lose a lot, so many people did not sell at the peak (but in retrospect they wish that they did). There were people lined up to buy just before the bubble burst.
Melting of junk silver did not end in 1980. Every dealer sends hundreds or thousands of ounces to the melting pot every year, and the supply of worn silver keeps dropping.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Something else to consider, duing the 1979/80 silver rush not all of the silver coins were melted down. A significant portion were diverted to $1000 face bag and traded on the commodities market. And a lot of people bought and held hoping for even higher prices that never happened and are now sitting on it waiting for the prices to go back up so they don't have to sell at a "loss"
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Probably if all the Silver items were melted down there would be mountains of that stuff. Ever notice all the Silver bowls, pitures, plates, knives, Forks and on and on. And they are still mining the stuff too.
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
1557 Posts |
What is the bubble of 1980? What happened this year?
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Moderator
 United States
54280 Posts |
Quote:
What is the bubble of 1980? What happened this year? Long story short, some rich people tried to corner the market in silver, thus artificially pushing up the price. It eventually failed and silver fell back down in price. ps, I sold all the silver bullion I had at that time, but the best I could get was $39 per ounce. That was OK because my cost was about $3 per ounce. Show your financial support of the Coin Community Family (click here)See my topic on Mexican Numismatic Medals (click here) |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
Quote:
Long story short, some rich people tried to corner the market in silver, thus artificially pushing up the price. It eventually failed and silver fell back down in price. It failed due to intervention by uh, um..anyways, I was a 17 y.o. collector then, what an exciting time! I never sold, only to hold and take losses during sales for college costs. When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4333 Posts |
Between 2009 and 2015 I hit the rolls hard, gathering a couple thousand silvers, mostly dimes but a good portion in halves. More quantities than I ever found back in the 70's although now being older, I had a bigger bank roll. I knew of bank managers in the mid 2000's that were ordering boxes of halves and only keeping the 90% and dumping the 40%. I was on roll hunting forums starting about 2008 and folks were finding mind-boggling amounts of silver halves in rolls. It was nothing at the time for me to visit ten banks in one day and at each one I made silver finds.
When I listen to LED ZEPPELIN...so do my neighbors...
Roll hunting since '77
Dirt fishing since '72
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Replies: 9 / Views: 1,453 |
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Posted 08/25/2021 09:24 am
