Do Worn Coins Have Less Melt Value?

There are instances with very worn coins that a dealer will weigh the coins instead of giving you X per coin, its not often but culls often fall into that instance. So Yes you can get less value for a very worn coin than for a circulated example. Example a silver dime the dealer may buy them for $1.95 each, but a cull may only have $1.75 in value, so you may get less.

I have seen dealers do it both ways - strictly on face value and some based on weight. Usually it will be whatever is in their favor from my experience with local dealers here. Funny thing is the worn coins bought based on weight are often mixed in with the regular coins being sold based on face value.

If they're less than MS, my LCS only buys on a net weight basis.

the above is why precious metal coins are usually given a reeded edge, one intended to make clipping obvious

$1 face value halves, quarters, dimes have .723 oz silver. To account for some wear dealers use an average .715 oz, 1.1% loss. But coins that circulated a long time can weigh a lot less, like 8%+ loss, letters and dates very worn. That's why I tend to buy the later dates 90%, generally less wear.

If selling just $5 face the silver loss doesn't amount to much. But selling $100 - $200 face or more the silver weight loss can be an ounce to several ounces. So I think dealers will weigh and pay by weight if they see the coins are very worn. That's what my LCS does.

When I've bought cull Morgan and Peace I assume a weight loss also. Though these have a higher premium than halves, quarters, dimes.

There are lots of great coins that collectors overlook now days and many reasons that coins develop discounts and premiums. 35% War Nickel, for instance trade at a steep discount to silver because they are bulky and people believe that there is a huge expense to process them. But there are countless opportunities in these because you can buy them at a discount and they are being destroyed at a breakneck pace. The wear is nominal with less than a 1% loss but there are better dates and better grades. After you dump the junk you'll find you have all kinds of these left that can be sold at substantial premiums. If you haven't looked at these recently you'll be surprised how few G and better ones are left. Better dates are even tougher and there are buyers for even common dates in XF and AU. There are lots of interesting varieties that are still "easy" to find. This opportunity may be coming to an end but don't overlook the 40% half dollars. It hasn't even begun here and it is about the same situation. Nice attractive 40% halfs are not that common and there are varieties here as well. Be sure not to overpay even when you buy at a discount because most of it will have to be sold at a larger discount.

It's still a good time to dump most heavily worn coins.

Markets are highly inefficient and collectors have some strange prejudices. Most hate coins made after 1965 so you can buy a lot of late date silver with low mintages or high at discounts. If you're willing to do the work almost all silver will have a premium in the long run so you can trade it off for whatever is interesting and cheap at that time. Keep the good stuff that is worth more than the current silver value. A well worn 1914-S barber will still be a well worn coin in twenty years but if all you have left from a bunch of trades is a '14-S in F it will still be worth $30 or so even if silver drops through the floor.

Collector preferences and natural cycles create many strange opportunities.