The 1970s Silver Boom

[Mackaydon]

I remember those times. I was working near a bank in LA (Ca). Silver was about $50 (record). I asked the tellers to save for me their Silver Certificates;
I could redeem them for (up to) $1.53 each.
In the San Fernando Valley, near the '405' a company was paying high prices for silver. On more than one occasion, I recall waiting in a line (like you sometimes see on Antique Roadshow); everyone holding their coins, chalises, jewelry, etc.; ready for the 'melting pot'.
EDIT: In retrospect, the redemption of the Silver Certs was in 1968; the redemption of massive amounts of silver was in the period 1979-1980; just before the 'crash' of silver and the demise of the Hunt Brothers effort to control
the worldwide price of that metal.

 

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[Ray S ECenFL]

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

 

[jeff of pa]

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

lastleg

there are Times I wonder if any of it got Melted,
Or if it's all sitting in safes yet, Because some got Greedy
thinking it would
hit $100 before the Bottom fell out
& now are waiting rather then take a loss.

 

[lastleg]

Jeff:

Someone needs to research this to see. There must be a book
somewhere that details a countrywide selloff of silver. It would seem
likely that some refiners cherypicked the coins and valuable silverplate
before melting common coinage.

And there had to be international repurcussions too.

lastleg

 

[jim4silver]

There is no way humanly possible to know with certainty the years and mintages of pre-65 coinage that was melted or that still remains today. In the early 80's tons of junk silver was melted as prices got higher and higher. I have read that refiners were melting Morgans, Peace dollars, and everything else often without regard to what year the coins were. Some have stated that they believe key dates (key back then) were often included in what was being shipped to them and they did not have the time or desire to sift through them before they hit the melting pot.

If you imagine $30-$50 silver back in 1980, it would be equivalent to about $80-$100+ silver today due to inflation. I doubt back then many average people would be more concerned about a particular year coin when they were getting such a high price for the silver. I remember as a kid in the early 80's selling some silver quarters (actually my parents sold them for me) to a local coin dealer and getting over $4 each for them.

I spoke to a coin dealer recently who was in business back then and he said as the silver prices went up the refiners where not paying anywhere near melt due to all the silver of all types being sent in to them. He said the most he ever paid for silver from customer was in the low-mid $30s per ounce (because the refiners weren't paying much more than that), and this was during the peak. His prices are pretty fair now so I imagine he was that way then as well. Like today, I imagine the paper price of silver was not the same as the physical price at the coin store.

One interesting note is he said that in that same time period they had a band saw in the back of the store, and they were sawing 100 ounce silver bars in half to check for drill and fills. He said if silver gets that high again they would probably do the same.

But due to high mintages of the circulating silver coins, I think a lot still exist today. I have been in one of my local coin stores and seen several hundreds of old Morgans and Peace dollars stacked up that somebody brought in that had been stashed for years. I would bet that as time goes on more and more will come out of hiding as the original owners die and/or the price of silver goes up.

Jim

 

[silvercop]

i remember it too. i was in the 6th grade and that is when i joined my dad's hobby and have been doing it every since. my dad was in the xray business and he would re-cycle old xray films. he made a mint. paid for christmas and vacations that way. very fond childhood memories from that era.