Silver Trade, want your thoughts!

[BoredBankTeller]

So I work at a bank and search all the dime and quarter rolls on a regular basis and have built up a decent collection of silver. I want to trade some quarters and dimes for a Peace Dollar that is in decent shape. I've contacted two local coin shops and asked how much silver they would want for a Peace dollar in good shape.

If you guys were going to do this, how much silver would you be willing to give up? Thanks for any input!

 

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[Thorne]

just by looking on ebay id say like 15-20 dimes is the same value as a peace dollar. this is only cost not weight in AG or numismatic value.

 

[BoredBankTeller]

The guy at one shop told me 16 dimes, so that's right in that range. What would you think for quarters? The other shop told me they wanted 9, I countered 6 and we could not reach an agreement.

 

[Thorne]

when they sell quarters for 5plus dollars 6 is fair in my book. however the shop has to make money so id say 7 would be more realistic. I find that most shops will work deals out if your a regular. Ive been trying to build my relationship up with my LCS. I want to try to get it where i can trade 3 war nickels for one silver quarter. only time will tell.

 

[BoredBankTeller]

Yeah, I agree with everything you said. I understand that they need to make a buck. I've been buying coins on ebay and I was hoping that if I started to buy my coins from a shop instead that they'd be more flexible with the coin trades. I found a really nice Bust half dollar on ebay and they wanted like $120-160 for it and at the LCS he said he had ones in decent shape starting at 40 and one in excellent condition for 85. So we'll see, I'm going to start giving them my business and hopefully be able to build out my collection.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

First off, let me state that the coins are yours to do with as you please. Even if you traded 100 silver quarters for 1 silver dollar, so long as you were happy with the trade, then it was a good trade.

However, the problem with trading at a coin shop/pawn shop/etc. is that they will make money off you on both ends. You'll generally receive below wholesale for your traded in items and be charged full retail for theirs. You'll almost always come out ahead dollar-wise by selling your items to a collector and paying cash to the dealer. You'll generally be able to get a better selling price when dealing directly with a collector, plus dealers will usually come down on their asking prices when you're paying cash. The drawback is that this takes time and trouble whereas with trading, you walk in with what you have and walk out with what you wanted. Only you can decide just how much this convenience is worth to you.

 

[BoredBankTeller]

Thanks for the reply Arkie. They definitely make money on both ends.

In terms of pure silver content, it only takes 4.28 silver quarters and 10.7 silver dimes to account for the silver in a Morgan or a Peace dollar. When I think of it like that it really doesn't seem worth it to give up even 6 quarters or 15 dimes. I think what I'll do is hang on to my silver and just buy the coins I want. In terms of buying do LCS' generally beat eBay in terms of prices? I've only bought online so far.

 

[twiasp]

You can figure straight up silver value of your coins but that is just for whatever shape they are in to sell for melt and you are wanting a coin that he is not going to sell for melt. Plus he has to keep the lights on and storefront up and going, not really fair to expect him to trade your straight up your melt value coins for his coin in decent shape. I would personally give him some dateless dimes or quarters if he is going to trade you very close to melt value for his silver dollar that is still in decent shape and let him play the market on the silver values (that have been dropping lately). I would say get a Redbook or look into the value of your coins also before you just let him maybe pick through them to say what he wants to trade you for.