Refining 40% half dollars

Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it illegal to melt them? Also, why would you want to make your silver coins worth less? You haven't tried to sell them hard enough.
 

40% silver Kennedys frequently sell for a bit under spot. Home made silver bars typically sell for considerably under spot. Plus you have the added costs of recovering the silver, refining the silver, and proper waste disposal. A trip to the Gold Refining Forum should help you understand the processes of recovery of silver from the coins, and later refining that silver, should you decide to proceed.

If you decide to attempt to recover and refine silver from your coins, please stay away from YouTube for now. Far too many videos either leave out safety procedures that will keep you safe and alive, or their procedures are actually wrong. If you start with a forum that helps you learn to refine properly, you have far better chances of doing it right without severe complication or injury.

That being said, my advice is, if you want to sell, sell as is.
 

I'm not really interested in selling them. They are worth about $100 for the silver. I think it would be fun to pour some ingots or try making jewelry.
 

Yeah, that video looks like just enough info to get someone hurt.
Duckshot said:


Not my video, it explains some of the basics.

Read C.M. Hoke, then join GRF forum, stay safe, and please don't deface currency unless you are overseas.
Click to expand...
 

Well after some research, I've found out how to turn my 40% silver coins into .999 silver rounds. I studied up on refining them with nitric acid. It takes 4 times as much acid to dissolve the copper as it does to dissolve the silver. Nitric acid is expensive. Then that has to be melted into rounds or bars. I don't have enough to send to a refiner. Local coin shops want to pay half or less for the spot price. However, I've found a person that has the time to collect silver and he sends it to a refiner. My 43 half dollars contain 6.35 troy oz of silver. He will take my silver and give me 5 troy oz of silver from a reputable refiner. So I think that is a good trade. I did get some acid and when I get enough I'm going to refine some silver jewelry.
 

doubtful a reputable refiner will take them. As someone said early on in the post it is illegal to melt down any US currency. If you do it don't tell anyone. I've been saving copper pennies in the hope that one day the US government will give permission to melt them down. I currently have 57-5 gallon buckets of copper pennies.
 

Currency is paper. Coin is metal. Go ahead and melt the currency.

It it is not illegal to melt or refine silver coins. Even those issued by the USA. There are regulations affecting the cent and nickel, however. As far as other current mintages, who would want to?
 

It's legal to melt silver coins in the USA.
57 5 gallon buckets of pennies? That should weigh almost 5 tons. [
QUOTE=fuma1986;4776213]doubtful a reputable refiner will take them. As someone said early on in the post it is illegal to melt down any US currency. If you do it don't tell anyone. I've been saving copper pennies in the hope that one day the US government will give permission to melt them down. I currently have 57-5 gallon buckets of copper pennies.[/QUOTE]
 

fuma1986 said:
I've been saving copper pennies in the hope that one day the US government will give permission to melt them down. I currently have 57-5 gallon buckets of copper pennies.
Click to expand...
do you use a ryedale to seperate copper from zinc? I had one but had to stop sorting because I got a hernia from carrying dozens of $50 bags of cents home, sorting and then bringing them back to another bank every few weeks. I think I had collected 60 to 70 thousand coppers during that time. That does not count the 2000 or 3000 wheaties that I still have. I sold the coppers for copper weight to an investor.
 

There is/was a member here named JewelerDave, from Colorado. He does what you are talking about, he takes 40% halves and recovers the silver. That being said he also has a professional setup, as it is part of his jewelry business. You might try to contact him with any questions, he could give you concise accurate information.
 

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