The 1970s Silver Boom

[kindafoundabuckle]

I am curious about the silver boom that happend in the mid to late 70s. I was born in 1969 so my memories are not that good about the subject. From what I remember everyone including my parents were going through all of there pocket change trying to find anything 64 or older. Both of my uncles had detectors and spent ALL of there spare time hunting yards and at the end of the day they would take there silver and cash it in. Silver was very easy to find they said and it was everywhere!

Here in Louisville I remember a guy who had a small stand set up in a local drug store and that is all he did was buy scrap silver. The one memory that sticks out in my mind about this man and his stand is that I was watching him while my Dad wash selling him some coins and he bent over to pick something up off the floor and he had a gun stuck in the back of his pants. I was a kid and most likely it was the first time that I seen a gun in public.

I would like to hear from you members that have a few years on me that have memories about this. How high did silver get until the bottom fell out of the market? Did anyone buy a detector just for this reason? It seems to me and my memories that a lot of people had a detector back then just to find silver to sell.

A few years ago I asked to hunt a yard and the man who owned the house said he hunted it in the 70s and with the silver he found made about 60 bucks. I did hunt his yard and he did get it all!

Please share your memories on this subject with me and the rest of the forum.

Thanks for your time.
Tom

 

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[bakergeol]

I remember it well. The Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market and were shocked to discover how much above ground silver surfaced. I believe it got close to $50 an ounce.

I have mixed feelings about the era. On one hand I cashed in most of the silver I had found since the 60's but it brought increase competition. It seemed like everyone was out there in the parks with weedwackers cherry picking silver.

However, the glory years were the 60's when everything was untouched(at least where I went) and nobody knew what the heck you were doing. Pull tabs were rare as was clad coinage. It was quite a thrill knowing that you were the first to detect the ground.


George

 

[Sandman]

For a history of the 70's silver boom, Google it and read the Coin Shop web page. With silver selling for near $50.00 an oz. all silver that could be found was sold and melted down, rare key date coins and all for the cash. Having a great key date coin does you no good till you convert it into cash for buying food.

Many metal detectors were bought by the many that needed the extra income, myself included. Detectors of the time where crude by todays standards. Many would swing the things like grass whips and not over lap so they left much in the ground for us to find today with our newer detectors. Silver being of a higher conductive metal was easy to find with higher discrimination which many used as to not waste their time digging trash. I remember skipping quarters across the lake as a kid back in the 40's. I must have been brain dead as I wouldn't skip a penny now.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Tom, great subject. Brings back memories to me too. I was born in '61, and got into detecting during Jr High/High school (mid to late '70's), so I remember it well. The first inkling I recall, was that in about '78 or '79, a friend said to me that silver dimes were worth $1 now. I scolded him and said "no way, the redbook clearly says a common '64 dime, for instance, was scarcely worth .30"

Now at the time, it was still easy to get silver in any park or school, since discriminators and motion machines were still fairly new technologies. So yeah, we'd crank the discrimination and hunt only for high conductors (except on the beach after storms, where we knew about gold being a low conductor). Pretty soon, by about '80 or '81, I recall that silver got up to as high as 23 X face ($2.30 for a silver dime).

Now I know that doesn't seem like much in today's dollars, but keep in mind, that back then, minimum wage was probably only about $3.00 p/h? Gas was maybe only $1-ish per gallon? A fast food meal was only a few bucks still? You can see that for a 19 yr. old fresh out of high school, it might be tempting just to detect for a living. All you needed to do was find one or two silver coins per hour and you could beat most jobs that a kid that age would have A few silver coins per hour was not an uncommon feat for the first guys to hit a park that had never seen a 6000 D at that time

One last thing I remember is that ... since the value of silver had been doubling or tripling every year, some of the guys buying it just assumed it would not stop going up. I remember selling about 50 silver dimes to a detecting friend of mine, for perhaps $1.50 each or whatever. As he handed me the $$, he jokingly scolded me and said "you know it going to keep going up, so you really shouldn't sell any of your silver, haha". Well in the mid '90s, when silver was down maybe 3x face, I ran into that same old friend, and asked him what he did with all that silver he had bought up, from all his friends, back during the rush. He told me he had gotten into a financial need in the late '80s, and had to sell all his silver he'd been sitting on. He had to sell it at a great loss. I couldn't help but think of his earlier attitude about how it would never go down :P

Even if today, it got up to 30 or 40x face, those folks who bought back then STILL wouldn't come out ahead, because you have to account for inflation. The $4 you recoup now, doesn't have the buying power as the $4 you spent buying the silver back then.

 

[kindafoundabuckle]

I remember it well. The Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market and were shocked to discover how much above ground silver surfaced. I believe it got close to $50 an ounce.

I have mixed feelings about the era. On one hand I cashed in most of the silver I had found since the 60's but it brought increase competition. It seemed like everyone was out there in the parks with weedwackers cherry picking silver.

However, the glory years were the 60's when everything was untouched(at least where I went) and nobody knew what the heck you were doing. Pull tabs were rare as was clad coinage. It was quite a thrill knowing that you were the first to detect the ground.


George

ALL very interesting! I often wondered what it was like to walk into a spot that had never been hunted before. Its like hearing fishing stories from the turn of the century where all the Bass were ten pounds.

Thanks for the replies.

Tom

 

[Dman]

I remember it well. I sold all my silver when the price reached about $45.00. I had found a lot of silver back in the 60's and early 70's. I still hunt but the virgin sites are few and far between. I remember going to an old football stadium and finding 32 silver coins in about 2 hours. Those were the days.
Dman

 

[MEinWV]

Those were the days for sure. A lot of people got into detecting for the money, which didn't help our hobbies image. I started detecting in '74 and by the time the prices went up I had quite a load of silver. I sold most of it at $24 on the dollar. Gold prices were going up also, and I sold about 50 of my gold rings.

I made out real well, but looking back now, I can't help but wish I still had it all to look at and hold.

All in all, I think it would have been better if the prices had just stayed the same. I have always enjoyed this hobby , as I never got into it for the $$$$$ in the first place. It's about the history and about the romance of treasure hunting(whatever you concieve it be).

Good post! Thanks

 

[kindafoundabuckle]

Those were the days for sure. A lot of people got into detecting for the money, which didn't help our hobbies image. I started detecting in '74 and by the time the prices went up I had quite a load of silver. I sold most of it at $24 on the dollar. Gold prices were going up also, and I sold about 50 of my gold rings.

I made out real well, but looking back now, I can't help but wish I still had it all to look at and hold.

All in all, I think it would have been better if the prices had just stayed the same. I have always enjoyed this hobby , as I never got into it for the $$$$$ in the first place. It's about the history and about the romance of treasure hunting(whatever you concieve it be).

Good post! Thanks

Well said! It would have been very hard for me not to sell at those prices. That must have been some easy money! Thanks for the reply.

Tom

 

[skydiv]

when i was a kid i saved merc's silver rosies and quarters. back when the silver went up I sold the rosies and quarters. I keeped the merc's and 1/2's. I still have about 60 merc's several 1/2's and silver dollars. 2 merc's were found md'ing no other silver.

 

[teverly]

The Hunt brothers also found out that if you corner the market and the silver cant be bought by anyone because the price goes so high,it doesnt matter how much you it isnt worth squat....
But it would have been nice to have a few hundred ounces to sell then!!!!

 

[snake35]

It was not the amount of above the ground silver that stopped the Hunt brothers. The federal government released tons of silver from the strategic supply.

 

[lastleg]

If I recall correctly I sold silver coins too soon, at about $26 a
troy oz and got right at $625. It was a madhouse at the Silver
Exchange with little old ladies bringing in their silverware and
silver services. But the guy who weighed mine went through it
setting aside the New Orleans halves I brought in. At the time
none knew how high it might go so I was happy with $625 for
the time I spent finding it. Little did I know that those little
beauties would get so scarce as more and more detectorists
hit all the vacant lots in town.
I didn't go aout every day but lots of guys would go after
work till dusk 6 days a week. Had a friend who wore out 3 or
four coils and saved it all. He finally hit the wall and gave it up.
His collection of coins, jewelry and collectibles was amazing.

 

[Dimeman]

So many people were bringing in their coin collections and jars of coins that the dealers didn't have much time to sort them to see if any rare key dates were in the thousands of silver coins they bought daily. They even bought silverware and other silver items ,gold jewelry and other gold items.
Silver got up to $48/oz and gold about $850/oz. Metal detector sales had started to pickup in the mid to late 70's when gold started going over $75/oz. and the detectors were getting better by each year.
One of my dad's friends during the silver boom years, was buying 100 oz silver bars and had a big gun safe installed in his house to store it all. After the crash he still had hundreds of 100oz silver bars worth less than $4/oz.

 

[jeff of pa]

although I Like that people Buy Precious Metals
when they are High, on speculation they will
Rise more, it makes Little Sense to me.

I Personally will never Buy gold at anything over $350.00
Per oz. or Silver for over $5.00.

Simply because of the odds.

Glad I Have my Detector.
This way they are Free with a Little
Work & Luck.

 

[Gettintoknowsomethin]

although I Like that people Buy Precious Metals
when they are High, on speculation they will
Rise more, it makes Little Sense to me.

I Personally will never Buy gold at anything over $350.00
Per oz. or Silver for over $5.00.

Simply because of the odds.

Glad I Have my Detector.
This way they are Free with a Little
Work & Luck.

I think that in 2-3 years $25.00 a ounce silver and under a $1000. ounce gold will be a cheep price

 

[lastleg]

Gettingtoknowsom:

Would you mind telling us how silver at $25 per oz will look cheap?

lastleg

 

[Monty]

He said cheep, not cheap. Something to do with birds I think? Monty

 

[oneeye]

Silver hit $50.00 an ounce in January of 1980. Yes, I remember it well. Lots of collector coins were melted. This is why you cannot believe the "supply" numbers listed in red books based on mintages. In fact, I believe many of the early silver collector grade coins are much scarcer than most realize.
Dan

 

[jeff of pa]

Silver hit $50.00 an ounce in January of 1980. Yes, I remember it well. Lots of collector coins were melted. This is why you cannot believe the "supply" numbers listed in red books based on mintages. In fact, I believe many of the early silver collector grade coins are much scarcer than most realize.
Dan

and because of this,
I believe alot of the Higher Mintage dates could be
semi rare Now also.

 

[lastleg]

Has anyone ever seen any govt figures of the amount of silver coins
melted?

lastleg