Melting Silver Coins

In my opinion it is pointless to melt them unless there is an immediate industrial need. Leaving them in coin form is more convenient for holding/trading/selling as investment bullion. If you melted those coins, then the bars would need to be assayed; negating any profit gained from the melting.

Dealers sell large quantities to them because it is usually their only market for an immediate sale. That is why my guy says. Buying silver this high, he said he does not have the balls to keep it. When he buys a thousand dollar bag... he cant afford to sit on it because the market is so volitle.

You are lucky to be in that position.

Dealers tend to send stuff like 100-ounce bars, sterling and foreign silver to the smelter. At least one refinery (Golden State) will turn scrap into one-ounce rounds.

Mainly because there is profit to be made by the dealer and the refiner. It's a shame as the vast majority of these coins could be collected and further scrutinized for varieties. Instead, we get large shiny bars... What fun :(

with Nic

At many flea markets and possibly regular jewlery stores that make their own items, Silver coins are melted all the time. Many of these type jewlers give a small amount over face value, melt down the coins and use whatever they get for Jewlery. There are many people that do not know what else to do with Silver coins so they sell to these people for any profit at all. No one really checks for purity when buying a charm bracelet, charms for the bracelet, earrings, neclaces, etc. If a jewler sells them as Silver, 90% of the customers have no idea and could care less if it was ever a coin.
Also, flea market Jewlers could care less if the coin WAS worth more as a coin since Numismatics is not their buisness. A Silver coin is just Silver to them.
Actually a very small percentage of people know or care about the values of coins. Very few know about dates or mint marks on coins. And even less people know or care what metals coins are made from. This is always difficult to understand when your on a coin forum, but go around and ask the average person about coins and it becomes clear that few care. Coins are money and that to them is all they are.

allot of dealers sell off coins to the smelter because they are getting more money for the coins to them and its immediate where it doesn't have to sit in their inventory. Most dealers work on a tight margin of profit so anytime they can make one they go for it. They can sell those bags of coins to the smelter for like $100.00 over what they paid where if they kept them to sell in their store it may be 5 or 6 years before they finally got the whole bag sold at a piece at a time no matter what condition they were in. That is 5-6 years with the market fluctuating and thats their money tied up until all their money is recouped, even if they can make double the price they are waiting 5 times as long to get it. With the smelter they make a profit (which is all they want) and they get it done faster. This was the fate of allot of silver coins in the 70's especially bags and bags of UNC Morgans, but they were worth more for silver content when you look at the big picture than they would be worth selling piece by piece. I have heard from some dealers that sold Morgans by the bags at 100 or 200 sealed bags at a time to the smelter. At 1000 coins a bag 200 bags is 200000 Morgans at one time