silver bullion v. 90% US coins

J

jim4silver

Silver Member
Apr 15, 2008
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One of my local guys told me he has a couple of BU rolls of Kennedys waiting for me if I want them, problem is that the premiums on junk silver are creeping a bit high for my tastes. I can get the rolls for roughly $140 per roll, which is like paying about $2.90 per ounce over melt. Their regular junk silver goes for about 13.5 or so. For not much more I could buy ASEs.

I can get new Maples for actually a bit LESS than that. Anyone here know why junk premiums are so high (I know it is supply and demand, but why the high demand vs. new gov bullion?). I can't imagine it is due to a bunch of guys thinking they are going to barter for survival with their junk silver, so I wonder where the big demand is coming from when they have pretty brand new silver maples for less?

I spoke to a couple local dealers and all they can say is wholesale junk prices are creeping up and not many local folks off the street are selling junk silver to the stores lately. So they have to wait for supply or order wholesale to sell the local customers.

I need to visit my silver coin 12 step program members for advice on this one. I have the extra $$$ today so I know I am going to buy something.

Jim
 

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I wish I knew.

I went a couple of years buying only 90% halves because I could get them at close to the same premium as ASEs/SMLs. All things equal, I prefer 90% coins to all others (probably my collector genes kicking in). Since the first of the year, I've been buying ASEs and Maple Leafs (actually, just one roll each), due to their recently lower premiums. Just two weeks ago, I bought a roll of 2015 BU Maple Leafs for $445, or $17.80 per coin.

This weekend, I started thinking about buying more 90% halves and started monitoring prices on decent Walker rolls. Just from Friday to this morning, I saw prices jump $15 a roll. Needless to say, I lost interest fast.

A fair amount of my "Stack" was acquired in the early 2000s, when I was buying 90% coins at 3x-6x face and Morgans/Peace dollars in the 7x-9x range (I bought a roll of BU 1921 Morgans in 2005 for under 9x). I have added quite a bit (probably too much) the last couple of years with spot silver prices mostly in the $16-$20 range. As such, I will lose my appetite real fast if prices creep up premiums continue to increase.

TCK
 

Take what you can get:laughing9:He who snoozes loses.When the economy goes,notice i didnt say IF,(and its well on its way)it might be easier bartering with silver coin instead of ingots.
 

Thanks guys for responding. I bought one of the rolls, the other one had a few crappy specimens that might technically be BU but looked crappy, such as fingerprints (permanent) etched in where some dumba$$ grabbed the coins the wrong way years ago and now that print will live on the obverse of the coin in perpetuity. Also a few had heavy bag marks.

The one I got was better but I plan to give a few of them a quick dip this afternoon. I was tempted to get neither but I have learned that when you have a good coin dealer connection you sometimes have to get something you might not want 100% because if you go there and say no too many times they will not want to mess with you and will simply wholesale the crap instead. Sort of like letting someone beat you in cards or checkers, etc, once in a while even though you could beat them.

Jim
 

Little to high for me there Jimmy boy. I just can't see myself paying premiums like that for Kennedy Halfs, maybe Walking Halfs. Lol
 

Marchas45 said:
Little to high for me there Jimmy boy. I just can't see myself paying premiums like that for Kennedy Halfs, maybe Walking Halfs. Lol
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Charlie,

If you can get Walkers that are real nice for that price, I would imagine the guy you were buying them from probably "found" them in someone else's safe. LOL
I can get used, off name generic for under 1 buck per ounce, but I am looking ahead. The Kennedys are for my own private stash that I plan to hold until I die, or if silver hits some super high number. I am speculating, but I think if we ever hit silver prices over 100, there will be a higher demand for official gov made coins/bullion over generic rounds/bars that seem to have a Chinese accent to them.

But I am guessing. Looking at ebay, the 140 per roll I paid today is a good deal. Check these prices out:

UNC Roll 1964 D John F Kennedy JFK 90 Silver 50 Cent Half Dollar Coins No Rese | eBay

1964D BU Kennedy 90 Silver Half Dollar Roll 20 Coins JFK Halves | eBay

UNC Roll 1964 P John F Kennedy JFK 90 Silver 50 Cent Half Dollar Coins No Rese | eBay


Jim
 

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In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with $140 for a roll of BU Kens.

I did see one BU Kennedy roll on Ebay Saturday for $140 (Buy now), but it didn't last long. I was fortunate enough to pick up 2 BU Kennedy rolls around Christmas for $135 each, but haven't been able to touch that price since.

No reason here for buyers remorse, plus, you were able to keep in the good graces of your supplier.

TCK
 

LMAO Hi! I can't help it if I won't pay a premium it's the Scottish in me. Lol
 

Jim wish I had seen this earlier I am selling 4 junk rolls of quarters to a guy here on the forum if he wants them for 12.75X and I'm still making a profit. Charlie
 

Marchas45 said:
Jim wish I had seen this earlier I am selling 4 junk rolls of quarters to a guy here on the forum if he wants them for 12.75X and I'm still making a profit. Charlie
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You get some good deals Charlie. My buying plan over the past several months has caused me to buy a bunch of items that are usually not far from melt but are not melt that is for sure, but I could double and sometimes triple what I paid on ebay the day I buy the stuff (not talking about halves, but my commemorative dollars and foreign/unique stuff I find cheap). My choices are limited and often they don't get much of it in at any one time. My plan is to use this stuff to hedge my regular bullion and coins if silver falls to 12 and Bradley turns out to be a genius.

This way I could sell my ebay type stuff and not lose a penny and still probably make a profit should I need to sell some for $$$ and the price is below what I paid. If silver goes up a lot I will lose much of those premiums on the semi numismatic stuff I decide to keep for my own collection, but the silver value would still be way up from what I paid.

This is how silver bugs diversify. LOL

Jim
 

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Good deal Jim on the BU Kens. I checked my normal on-line source, Provident Metals, $192 per roll.
 

fistfulladirt said:
Good deal Jim on the BU Kens. I checked my normal on-line source, Provident Metals, $192 per roll.
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FFD,

That's good to know. I can get Franklin BU rolls (63 or mixed) when they have them for around that price, but that is too high for me. I found out some dealer has some high bids on the Franklin BU rolls now on one of the dealer only sites. My dealer told me the guy was offering 200 for 63 rolls and something like 250 a roll for some of the early 60's rolls. My dealer couldn't figure out why the guy is paying so much wholesale for them, but it sets the bar at what he is going to charge me if I want the stuff he has.

Jim
 

Premiums on junk silver are now through the roof nationwide. One national dealer is buying junk silver for 13.3X for a whole junk bag ($1000 Face). That equals $18.63 per ounce of pure silver that the dealer is paying for average junk silver - $4 OVER melt. Is that crazy or what??

My local stores are selling junk silver for roughly 14X. That's $19.58 per ounce of pure silver. That means it costs almost $5 over melt for each ounce of pure silver via average circulated junk silver coins (we are not even talking about BU coins). I would buy ASEs, Maples, etc any day over junk, especially when they are actually CHEAPER.

I guess because at such low prices nobody is selling their junk silver (in large numbers), the newly minted stuff coming onto the market is cheaper, even gov bullion coins. As much as I like junk silver, when prices go back up the premiums are gonna fall to the floor for junk silver and the gov minted coins' premiums will only drop a bit, to get to the average level they possessed when prices were stable (normal times so to speak). In higher price time periods I was buying junk silver for near melt, like mid 20's, etc. But ASEs were always $3 or so over. Right now I can get them for $4.5 or so.

Just my opinion.

Jim
 

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I'm not fussy myself,i'll take 90%ers.easier to use if its ever needed in certain scenarios.I'
m not saying bullion isnt as good,with 90%ers you can break an oz into tenths.
 

Red James cash said:
90%ers you can break an oz into tenths.
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Exactly what I feel about junk coins. Additionally, you have the nostalgia factor. I for one believe that factor will enhance the value in time.

However, bullion rounds and ingots are very sweet as well - but worn silver dimes are less likely to be fakes :) Those dimes are easily identifiable as the real deal.
 

Junk silver is great, but not at $5 over melt for circulated coins. I have some AU level and better junk put away that I won't sell, but I don't even consider the whole "barter" scenario ever unfolding. Unless you live close to an Amish community and such, who would you barter with? How long would that last?

A more likely scenario is that some great day silver will gain in value (yes that used to happen long long ago) and at a certain point almost all semi numi value evaporates. I was buying BU solid date Franklin rolls (1956 and forward) with premiums less than new ASEs around $25 or so silver. At that point many could obtain junk silver at melt. Yet at that point the premiums on ASEs was still $3 or so, like they have been for a long time.

The only reason the premiums are high on junk now is because not many sellers are dumping their stashes and wholesalers can't get enough.

Just my opinion.

Jim
 

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