# Lifestyles & Discussion > Personal Prosperity >  Buying scrap silver dollars? Good prices?

## 123tim

I'm trying to invest in silver and I'm having a really hard time finding a place to buy silver dollars at the prices listed as melt value.  Can this even be done?  Everyone has to make a profit, so I doubt that it can.

I've seen scrap Morgan dollars going for almost 16 dollars apiece (today's melt value (Wednesday, June 11) is $12.81 for a Morgan Silver dollar).

Is this a good deal? Could someone tell me how much more I should realistically expect to pay for scrap coins over the current melt value?  

Any advice, suggestions, or comments that I seem to have missed asking for would be appreciated too.

Thanks in advance for any help.  I'm at a loss.

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## Acala

Silver dollars usually have a premium attached because, well, people LIKE silver dollars!  Including me!

The cheapest junk silver (Pre-1965 US coins with no collector value) will be half-dollars, quarters and dimes.

Bars of silver and privately minted silver rounds also sell closer to spot.

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## 123tim

> Silver dollars usually have a premium attached because, well, people LIKE silver dollars!  Including me!
> 
> The cheapest junk silver (Pre-1965 US coins with no collector value) will be half-dollars, quarters and dimes.
> 
> Bars of silver and privately minted silver rounds also sell closer to spot.


Thank you Acala.  This is exactly the kind of help that I was looking for.

I'm thinking that the collectors value of a coin will drop if money really does get tight.  Is this a good assumption?

I also wonder....Would it be hard to sell a junk coin at melt value if I really need to?

Thank you.
Tim

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## rapidtrends

I think that as this market heats up premiums on silver will keep going up

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## Dr.3D

It depends on how much silver you are looking for.
Check this web site for a pretty good deal if you want a lot of silver.
http://www.silverprice.com/

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## Acala

> Thank you Acala.  This is exactly the kind of help that I was looking for.
> 
> I'm thinking that the collectors value of a coin will drop if money really does get tight.  Is this a good assumption?
> 
> I also wonder....Would it be hard to sell a junk coin at melt value if I really need to?
> 
> Thank you.
> Tim


I suspect you are right that coins with minor collector value will eventually be traded by weight like their more common bretheren, but I think the real rarities will stay out of circulation. 

I don't think it will be hard to sell junk coins at their bullion value.  But, if silver becomes a replacement currency for a collapsed dollar, junk coins will be money in themselves - no need to convert them to some other currency.

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## brandon

I can buy the pre 1964 half dollars from a local coin shop for $5.50 a piece, which is pretty close to spot price. It seems like there is a decent market on ebay if you need to sell them quickly.

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## bander87

Do you mean junk silver? Pre 1965 coins and such? You should be paying close to spot price on those

http://coinflation.com is a good site that updates frequently.

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## thebluedog

Remember that pre 1965 coins, sometimes referred to as "junk silver", are only 90% silver.  Just like with anything else, you can buy them in bulk and get a better deal than if you buy them individually.

Coins like the silver American Eagle or the Canadian Maple leaf are .999 fine silver and do have face values as well.  I believe the American Eagle has a $1 face value and the Canadian Maple Leaf has a $5 face value.  These coins tend to go for $1.50 - $2.00 over spot price (http://www.monex.com/liveprices).  So the premium for these coins is rather high -- about 10%.  However, if you resell them, you should be able to sell them back with that premium attached as well so it's not like you take a loss.

You can get silver bars or rounds for much closer to spot price.  The site listed earlier (www.silverprice.com) is about as cheap as I've found for silver bars and rounds.  The price there is currently $0.59 over spot price.  The premium is about 4%.

I like the idea of diversifying.  I think it's good to own some numismatic coins (coins that were once in circulation like "junk silver").    I think it's good to own bullion, both bars and rounds as well as minted coins (like the American Eagle).  I also think it's good to own both gold and silver.  You can also own silver and gold mining stocks or silver and gold ETFs in the case of owning precious metals as an investment.

I think you need to decide why you are going to buy silver.  Is it as an investment (to increase your wealth)?  Or is it as insurance (to protect yourself in case of a complete collapse of the US dollar).  You'll definitely want to physically hold silver and not be swayed by short term ups and downs in the volatile silver market if you are buying for insurance purposes.  I also like the idea of having something stamped and recognizable as insurance.  I ask myself, "If I have a bunch of quarters that are 90% silver, would I be able to use them for what they are really worth or would it be easier for me to trade a 1 oz .999 fine silver American Eagle for something?"  My thought is that people are going to rather own that American Eagle that is pure silver than some old 90% silver coin.

Any thoughts or comments?

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## bander87

> Remember that pre 1965 coins, sometimes referred to as "junk silver", are only 90% silver.  Just like with anything else, you can buy them in bulk and get a better deal than if you buy them individually.
> 
> Coins like the silver American Eagle or the Canadian Maple leaf are .999 fine silver and do have face values as well.  I believe the American Eagle has a $1 face value and the Canadian Maple Leaf has a $5 face value.  These coins tend to go for $1.50 - $2.00 over spot price (http://www.monex.com/liveprices).  So the premium for these coins is rather high -- about 10%.  However, if you resell them, you should be able to sell them back with that premium attached as well so it's not like you take a loss.
> 
> You can get silver bars or rounds for much closer to spot price.  The site listed earlier (www.silverprice.com) is about as cheap as I've found for silver bars and rounds.  The price there is currently $0.59 over spot price.  The premium is about 4%.
> 
> I like the idea of diversifying.  I think it's good to own some numismatic coins (coins that were once in circulation like "junk silver").    I think it's good to own bullion, both bars and rounds as well as minted coins (like the American Eagle).  I also think it's good to own both gold and silver.  You can also own silver and gold mining stocks or silver and gold ETFs in the case of owning precious metals as an investment.
> 
> I think you need to decide why you are going to buy silver.  Is it as an investment (to increase your wealth)?  Or is it as insurance (to protect yourself in case of a complete collapse of the US dollar).  You'll definitely want to physically hold silver and not be swayed by short term ups and downs in the volatile silver market if you are buying for insurance purposes.  I also like the idea of having something stamped and recognizable as insurance.  I ask myself, "If I have a bunch of quarters that are 90% silver, would I be able to use them for what they are really worth or would it be easier for me to trade a 1 oz .999 fine silver American Eagle for something?"  My thought is that people are going to rather own that American Eagle that is pure silver than some old 90% silver coin.
> ...


Yeah, diversity is good. 

I've heard, "Gold is for security, Silver is for profit". 

But I don't think there's anything wrong with the 90% coins. They are good for small purchases and they make escape confiscation.

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## 123tim

> Snip....
> I think you need to decide why you are going to buy silver.  Is it as an investment (to increase your wealth)?  Or is it as insurance (to protect yourself in case of a complete collapse of the US dollar).  You'll definitely want to physically hold silver and not be swayed by short term ups and downs in the volatile silver market if you are buying for insurance purposes.  I also like the idea of having something stamped and recognizable as insurance.  I ask myself, "If I have a bunch of quarters that are 90% silver, would I be able to use them for what they are really worth or would it be easier for me to trade a 1 oz .999 fine silver American Eagle for something?"  My thought is that people are going to rather own that American Eagle that is pure silver than some old 90% silver coin.
> 
> Any thoughts or comments?


I'm interested in buying for insurance.  We live frugally and we've always managed to live quite well on little income.  However inflation could wipe out our savings rather quickly if I don't do something about it soon.  I've never been money oriented, but I think that I'd better start heading in that direction.

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## soapmistress

> I'm interested in buying for insurance.  We live frugally and we've always managed to live quite well on little income.  However inflation could wipe out our savings rather quickly if I don't do something about it soon.  I've never been money oriented, but I think that I'd better start heading in that direction.


Me too.  I know someone who worked at a gas station where a lady came in all strung out and used a bunch of old dollar coins to buy cigarettes.  I have some of them that she traded me for cash (go figure!) because she didn't want to try spending them for gas. Mine now! LOL! They're somewhere around here and it would probably be interesting to look them up and see what they are.

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## thebluedog

I recommend reading a book by Howard Ruff.  I think it was just published in March of this year (2008).  It's called:  "How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century".  There is so much more to preparing for the upcoming hard years than just protecting against inflation, even though that is a very important task.  This book is a fairly easy read and it covers everything from nutrition, food storage, insurance (gold and silver), and how to actually make a lot of money through investments.  It also scares the hell out of you by telling you some things that could happen that you may not have thought of.  I think it's $12 on Amazon and definitely worth reading.  I read it about a month ago and I remember that he recommends junk silver as insurance.  I do like what was mentioned earlier about the fact that junk silver offers some protection against confiscation that bullion may not.  Remember that the federal government has already confiscated gold; it happened after the great depression.  Why wouldn't they do it again?  They may be even more likely to confiscate silver because it is used for industrial purposes.

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## thebluedog

By the way, I'm sure most people on these forums have also heard of a book by Ron Paul's economic advisor, Peter Schiff.  It's called "Crash Proof".  That's definitely a good book too and focuses on how to protect your investments.

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## tonesforjonesbones

So...if everyone buys up all the silver..and the dollar crashes..we will be able to use silver to purchase things?  If the dollar crashes it will impact the world economy..i guess it's impacting it now.  I figure this...the old barter system will come back into play..so I am storing my rice and dried beans.  It's cheaper than silver lol.  I have a couple of old silver dollars and will probably get more if they are around.  I remember my pop talking about the great depression..his father brought home a chicken for thanksgiving and the thing laid an egg.  My grandmother woudln't let him kill it and they went into the egg business....they traded those eggs for a lot of things..sure did.  I can remember him talking about sugar rationing.  Someone gave "the ladies"  a bunch of old candy that had weevils in it.  The ladies boiled that candy down and sifted out the bugs...they used that as sugar.  We are going to have to become creative again. It's funny..when I talk to my dad about all this stuff...depression, crashing of dollar...he just shrugs and says "we survived it before...we'll survive it again."  TONES

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## Bruno

> By the way, I'm sure most people on these forums have also heard of a book by Ron Paul's economic advisor, Peter Schiff.  It's called "Crash Proof".  That's definitely a good book too and focuses on how to protect your investments.



Yes, but thank you, and welcome to the forums!

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## jdmyprez_deo_vindice

Go to www.auctionzip.com and find a live auction in your area.  Most live auction houses that carry coins will have a lot of coin dealers and collectors show up. The high value pieces will soar well past melt value but the pieces with little market value will remain so low that you can often buy them in lots (by the handfull sometimes) and for only a few dollars. Best of luck!

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