Why arnt 40% as popular as 90%

Reason #301: They take up more space.
 

When they are sent off to the refineries to be melted down by the gold and silver buying places, the 40% coins are harder to smelt and produce less silver per energy spent. At least that is one reason one buyer gave me for why he would rather have 90%ers.
 

Minky is right on the money. We used to throw 40% back.
At the show this weekend, a dealer I spoke to was not interested in 40% halves at all.
 

fistfulladirt said:
Minky is right on the money. We used to throw 40% back.
At the show this weekend, a dealer I spoke to was not interested in 40% halves at all.
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While I'm not interested in Warnicks at all, if it weren't for 40%'s, none of us would be able to CRH. Coins have different levels of demand.. Morgan/Peaces and ASE's outstrip most other silver. Numismatic silver is in high demand. 40% is still better than most rounds.
 

rckymtn said:
While I'm not interested in Warnicks at all, if it weren't for 40%'s, none of us would be able to CRH. Coins have different levels of demand.. Morgan/Peaces and ASE's outstrip most other silver. Numismatic silver is in high demand. 40% is still better than most rounds.
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Really? so an ounce of 40% would cost/sell for more then a one ounce round?
 

thing said:
Really? so an ounce of 40% would cost/sell for more then a one ounce round?
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When put that way, yes. Look on eBay and you'll see that people are paying a premium for any quantity of 40%, but oftentimes generic 1 oz. rounds go for spot or slightly less. It just means there are less interested buyers for generic rounds.

Of course you would need $3.50 FV or so in 40% to achieve an ounce of silver.
 

rckymtn said:
When put that way, yes. Look on eBay and you'll see that people are paying a premium for any quantity of 40%, but oftentimes generic 1 oz. rounds go for spot or slightly less. It just means there are less interested buyers for generic rounds.

Of course you would need $3.50 FV or so in 40% to achieve an ounce of silver.
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Please post a link where I can buy 1oz. silver rounds for spot. If you are interested, I will trade anyone even up (silver value) my 40% halves for silver rounds.
 

The reason 40% are not as "popular" as 90% halves is pretty straight forward.

40% Silver
90% Silver

Do I need to say more?
 

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fistfulladirt, I wouldn't be surprised if you get a taker on that. If I had a bunch of generic, I'd make the trade in a heart beat.

Valid arguments can be made for both sides. I'm guessing I'm in the minority but I feel I could argue 40% halves being superior on several fronts but I'll just pick a couple. 40% halves have value beyond just silver. Copper, legal tender, recognizable. At some point, the copper value will be included when valuing half dollars. Assuming silver and copper continue to increase over time, the smelting cost will become negligible. I'm not sure I buy the smelting cost argument anyway. The copper has value and should at least offset any added cost. Coins with a premium and coins with a discount will move closer to spot, as a percentage.

If you met up with a guy from CL and he wanted to trade your car for $8000 in silver. Would you feel comfortable taking miscellaneous 1oz generic silver coins/bars? I would feel confident trading 40% silver (or any other US silver coin, except silver dollars). I would want a qualified person to test many of the generic rounds. Matter of fact, the reason I don't own a bunch of generics is because I don't trust they are all silver.

OO
 

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CoinFetcher said:
More than likly - these are auctions that have ended - not SOLD for that amount.
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Not true. eBay allows sorting of completed auctions and SOLD auctions. These are in the sold sort and are marked green which means they ended with buy it now or a bid in excess of any reserve.

Regardless, the demand is different for 40% vs. Generic rounds, mainly for the reason brought up by Owassokie - verification of silver content. Plus you have counterfeiting to worry about. Name brand Generics may be safer, but I'd feel a helluva lot safer stacking 40% as it is legal tender, and no-one questions the silver content.

Many of the major sites - Apmex, MCM, Provident, etc. are always having sales on Generic rounds at as low as .79 to .99 cents over spot. Why? They are tough to sell.
 

40% and 90% halves often lose mass from being worn down due to circulation—for example, two weeks ago I found a Walker weighing 11.7 grams instead of 12.5. 40% halves are silver "clad," meaning that the outer layer of the coin is about 80% silver whereas the inner (core) layer is only 20% silver. So when a 40% half gets worn down, it loses mostly silver, not copper.
 

Kinda unrelated to the original post, but I can get 92% spot value for my 40% ers... they seem to be in demand almost as much as 90% ers.
 

@thripp - Sounds good in theory but you're comparing apples and oranges. The problem is you referenced a walking liberty's weight and compare it to 40% silver. Do you have experience stacking 1965 thru 1970 half dollars? I've purchased/stacked countless 40%ers and I've pulled over 600 from 'circulation'. I can tell you that 1965 through 1970 halves were never really circulated. I doubt you'll find 1 out of 100 that are more than 1 or 2 tenth of a gram light. Most 40%ers have a rub mark on Kennedy's check. You can't compare Walking Liberty's to Kennedy's.

Yet another good reason to stack 40%.

OO
 

Love me some 40%ers. They make it easier to feel like Scrooge McDuck.
 

rckymtn said:
Not true. eBay allows sorting of completed auctions and SOLD auctions. These are in the sold sort and are marked green which means they ended with buy it now or a bid in excess of any reserve.

Regardless, the demand is different for 40% vs. Generic rounds, mainly for the reason brought up by Owassokie - verification of silver content. Plus you have counterfeiting to worry about. Name brand Generics may be safer, but I'd feel a helluva lot safer stacking 40% as it is legal tender, and no-one questions the silver content.

Many of the major sites - Apmex, MCM, Provident, etc. are always having sales on Generic rounds at as low as .79 to .99 cents over spot. Why? They are tough to sell.
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I asked, you delivered. Thanks -
 

Who wants to be the first in the Silver nickel bandwagon?

Trade down your 999 fine bullion for some of my fine War nickles? Common - it still holds a face value of 5 cents - legal tender. What? DO you don't want to trade?? come on!

The argument for 40%ers bearing a premium over 999 fine, even generic, is not holding water for me....<-- just me though!
 

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