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 Replies: 21 / Views: 3,158 |
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Valued Member
United States
271 Posts |
Three years ago I considered to start collecting silver dollars. However, money at the time was tight and I decided to start simple and get a good Lincoln Cent collection first. It's clear to me now that I should had started with the silver stuff. With the price of silver at $43 an ounce and only going up further, it makes affording silver dollars a whole different proposition. Now I only want to firstly complete my sets with any coin in any condition, then maybe later I'll go in and start upgrading. Is the price of silver changing the way anyone collects coins? I'm sure there are many different points of view to this topic. I'm curious as to what yours is. Cheers. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1510 Posts |
yes-- I used to get used Morgans for around 20--now there 28-30 so I stopped getting them, also the "its worth $5 but the price of silver will tack on another $2" is getting annoying so I'm looking at copper now.
Retired USAF 1983-2003
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New Member
United States
40 Posts |
I don't think you made any mistake at all. In my opinion it's much more enjoyable to collect for numismatic value rather than intrinsic metal value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
931 Posts |
With current Fed policy I'm not at all worried about purchasing some bullion coins and nice Morgans. If I lose in the short term I think it will be possible to regain any losses over time. I don't buy anything except coins that interest me on a numismatic level. Anything that I buy I won't sell until I'm really old and I'm 53 now. Also my past acquisitions allow me to dollar cost average the coins that I purchase now. It is a very interesting time to be in the hobby.
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Valued Member
United States
424 Posts |
I try to buy higher grade silver. The numismatic value of a mint state coin tends to take some of the bullion value out of the equation, and price you pay. Key dates, and semi-key dates should be roughly the same price, no matter what the spot price is...just my one cent, I'll owe ya.
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Valued Member
 United States
271 Posts |
Well said Funny Money. And I agree completely. However the fact that the price for these key date coins are unchanged seems to suggest that the numismatic value has actually depreciated against the price of silver. Just a thought.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
just my one cent, I'll owe ya.
That was Funny, Money.  |
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New Member
Canada
39 Posts |
I have found that the rising cost of silver has actually moved me away from "buy any condition to fill a hole and upgrade later." As Chadwick observes, numismatic value is not moving (especially for the world coins that I collect); so now "junk silver" costs almost as much as coins in collectable conditions, and it makes more sense to be more disciminating.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
Silver king right now, no doubt about it. Dealers, Profiteers, Pawn Shops and others looking to cash in are low-balling those trying to sell in my area and are charging a hefty premium if you are just trying to get a few for your collection. Most are still only paying around 20-22x face each for 90% silver and then reselling for 35x or better, mostly higher. I have found that great deals can be had on coppers if you know where to look. I picked up several large cents in F-VF a couple of weeks ago for $7 each and and 21 IHC's for $20. The IHC's would go any where from VG8-F12. So as far as buying any silver, I will pick up a BU Franklin for my Dansco from time to time and still search rolls, but I am focusing more on the coppers and nickles fright now. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
the funny thing about the silver prices is that the Morgans in the condition I am looking for have actually gone down in price in the last year or so. A year ago a 1878 Morgan in MS-65 would bring anywhere from 1000-1100 bucks now I have seen them with a BIN of $870.00 and not sell. MS-64 1878 was about $250.00 or sometimes more and now they are under $200.00. So in the higher grades the price has gone down so it has effected my buying in a positive way instead of negative
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3540 Posts |
Actually, because of the high silver price now, I have sold off silver to buy high/higher grade Lincolns.
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Valued Member
United States
172 Posts |
as said before....with price of silver being so high it made a tiny gap between "junk" silver and mint state silver.....so as of now I'm selling off my dateless, heavily damaged, and bad toned silver and upgrading to proofs and brilliant uncirculated.....i went and sold some old silver and when I went to check out the new ASE's I saw that the BU silver eagles were close to $50 and the proof silver eagles were $55.....who wouldnt pay the extra $5 for a proof that will deffinitly hold its value better than a BU eagle that will barely break melt value with the high prices.....i think right now is the best time to sell and upgrade........its working otu nicely for me, but everyone has their own idea of what is going to happen next with silver......not to mention the fact that a proof eagle is in my opinion one of the most beautiful coins on the market ;) |
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Valued Member
United States
271 Posts |
And a proof eagle is beautiful.. Bought one today actually. A 1986 S proof, and 4 Morgan dollars for the low low price of 160 dollars. The four Morgan dollars are common date average value Morgans, however one is easily a MS coin. The rest Extra Fine at least. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1348 Posts |
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Actually, because of the high silver price now, I have sold off silver to buy high/higher grade Lincolns. You might be  to use in a couple months. We might be  to you in a couple months. NEVER KNOW! |
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Valued Member
United States
291 Posts |
It could have been worse. What if you took all your money and bought gold and platinum instead of silver? The gold at least would have gone up 50 to 75%, while watching silver soar 500 to 750%. :)
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Valued Member
United States
293 Posts |
Yeah, it kind of bugs me a bit too. When I was younger, I was buying silver at ~$7/oz, then it went down! A couple of years ago I got back into collecting and silver was around $16-18/oz and I was mad at myself for not buying more when it was half that price. Now I'm mad at myself AGAIN because it's 3x the price of just a year or two ago! I can't afford to buy any amount of silver in bulk, but I think I'm just going to continue buying a little at a time when I have money. Whether it continues to go up or if prices drop. One day when it's time for me to either retire and cash in or pass it all along to a relative as an inheritance, hopefully there will be a nice chunk of silver in my collection. But yeah...It would be nice to be able to buy at around $10/oz again...those were fun collecting days  |
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Replies: 21 / Views: 3,158 |
Posted 04/17/2011 12:23 pm
