Farewell 40%ers

[namster]

Sold them for just a hair over spot and converted to 90, 99.9, and gold. Anyone else dump their 40s? It was hard to do because of the work that went into finding them, but I think was a good move in the long run, with 40s being fairly undesirable.

 

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[crhstreetwalker]

I would have just bought silver and not gold. There's more opportunity with silver. But, if you want gold just because you want some, that's fine.

 

[fish on!]

I sold mine a couple months ago when silver was hovering around $24. I moved 400 of them. I sold for just a tad under spot and was happy with the money I got. I didn't really need the cash, but I really didn't like storing a ton of coins. Since then I've ended up finding close to half of what I sold in 40%'ers again, so it's no big deal. I'm new to the hobby so it was important to me to actually convert some of the profits to cash just to experience all aspects of the hobby. It's nice to have the bulk of my stack in 90% coins. They are the ones that are most desirable and will ultimately be worth the most, so I don't foresee myself selling those unless the spot price sky rockets.

The only 40%'ers that I didn't sell were my 1970's and my silver bicentennials. I doubt I'll ever get rid of those.

 

[Coppercrazy]

I think it's a good move. Down sizing and getting over spot is great on 40%. At least you didn't just sell them. Out of curiosity how many did you have?

 

[BuffaloBoy]

I sell my 40%ers with the exceptions of my NIFC 40%ers (which I only have 1 1970d).
I'd love to convert into gold because it has more of a demand and takes up so much less space.

 

[maine_Jim]

I sell the 40% when I need some cash. Unfortunately I didn't sell when it all when it was at $48...I did move a bunch at $38 and some at $33. Sold a box to APMEX which went smoothly. I also sell some at spot to a local buyer that I met via craig's list.

Maine_Jim

 

[namster]

I had roughly 1600 40s. Since I was putting it all back into PMs I did not feel bad about selling at $22.60. About 1/3 went back into silver 90% and a little 99.9% the balance went into gold mainly because I didn't have any yet. As far as silver being a better buy at this point, I'm not completely convinced. Time will tell I suppose. It was fun to buy gold for $205 an oz that's for sure!

Happy hunting!

 

[Joe777Cool]

I always sell mine - convert to 90%/.999 Takes up less room in my safes.

 

[Weaselbrott]

I also get rid of my 40%ers for 90%er, but I prefer gold for the space savings if I can trade for it too. Diversifying is always a good move. I need to think about platinum next...

 

[Owassokie]

I've made the case before but especially right now, I don't see the value in moving out of 40% halves. There are exceptions, such as selling for over the silver spot (congrats OP). Also, if space is an issue, then by all means, get rid if the 40s. But there is a fairly substantial premium on 90% junk right now, especially if you look at it in terms of % premium. When silver goes up, the premium % on 90% junk tends to go down and 40% junk stays about the same. That means selling 40's for 90's is a bad move if you expect silver to go up. Also, people never take in to account the value of the copper in the 40% halves. Right now, 40% half dollars have about 5 cents of copper per coin or 10% of the coins face value. I guess $50 in copper on every 1000 halves isn't a big deal right now. But with some patience and another run in the metals, I envision a day when the 40% seller is compensated for the silver and copper content. If copper goes to $10 a pound, you'll receive an extra $150 for 1000 40% halves.

 

[He-Be-GB]

9 rolls to go for a whole box of $500 to reach my goal for the year with 40's and I had intentions on selling... Depending on what I can get for them I'll sell.. Will go towards gold and maybe platinum.. I just hate that the cost to get platinum is so much over the spot price almost an additional $100 bucks. Wish I held off on purchasing gold earlier this year... If I only knew to sell as much silver then and to possibly purchase gold now!!!! Back to lurking I go.....

 

[uncubano13]

I have done the same, turned in 32 coins and turned them into 5 graded silver coins, saves a lot of room when it comes done to it!

 

[namster]

In my endeavor to sell the 40s I learned some things. LCS wanted a 35% cut on the 40% halves. Provident, I think takes around 10% plus you have to get em there. Craigslist, for every message I got from someone who knew what 40% are, I got 2-3 from people who told me they stopped minting silver coins after 64. Took a couple weeks but finally found a fellow who wanted them for spot plus 1%. I don't feel bad moving out of them, long term I think it will be a good move to diversify. But who knows really.

Around here, the premiums on 90% seem about the same compared to a year ago, perhaps this is a regional thing?

 

[CC-Hunter]

Interesting reading. I also sell my 40s, but haven't had to sell the 100s of coins you guys have. How did you find so many? (No need to answer). I've probably found a total of about 100, maybe less.

 

[fish on!]

Interesting reading. I also sell my 40s, but haven't had to sell the 100s of coins you guys have. How did you find so many? (No need to answer). I've probably found a total of about 100, maybe less.

I didn't have nearly as many as the OP, but I found the vast majority in boxes. I noticed my finds increased exponentially when I was doing high volume (20+ boxes per week). I may have been lucky timing the high volume with good collection dumps, but I think it really is just that finds are much better when you consistently order high volume from the same supplier.

 

[fish on!]

As for investment, I am probably in the minority on this site. I think the huge return comes when you find silver at face value. Investing long term in pm's is not for me. I think i personally am much better off if I find silver at face, sell it when the spot price is reasonable and then use that money to invest in something with a higher return or to pay down debt (mortgage).

 

[namster]

As for investment, I am probably in the minority on this site. I think the huge return comes when you find silver at face value. Investing long term in pm's is not for me. I think i personally am much better off if I find silver at face, sell it when the spot price is reasonable and then use that money to invest in something with a higher return or to pay down debt (mortgage).

When the next PM spike happens I will likely do the same.

 

[Omega]

I didn't have nearly as many as the OP, but I found the vast majority in boxes. I noticed my finds increased exponentially when I was doing high volume (20+ boxes per week). I may have been lucky timing the high volume with good collection dumps, but I think it really is just that finds are much better when you consistently order high volume from the same supplier.

Lol duhhh. Why didn't that register to me? Haha. I order 2k from 6 banks, I could easily get 4k at 3 banks. I figured that ordering from different suppliers would give me a better chance, but after reading what you said it makes so much sense haha. Makes me feel a little dumb after reading what you said will try out the different ordering strategy in the next few weeks.

 

[fish on!]

Lol duhhh. Why didn't that register to me? Haha. I order 2k from 6 banks, I could easily get 4k at 3 banks. I figured that ordering from different suppliers would give me a better chance, but after reading what you said it makes so much sense haha. Makes me feel a little dumb after reading what you said will try out the different ordering strategy in the next few weeks.

I've thought a lot about it and here are the reasons I think it happens:

There are a lot of hunters in any area. Each supplier (garda, brinks, dunbar, loomis, etc) has a lot of hunters. Some probably dump right back into their own supply and others dump into other supplies. I've always ordered garda in my area. If I'm doing 20+ boxes per week I am at the least moving 20 boxes of dumps out of my supply and into someone elses supply. I know there are a ton of halves in circulation, but I think over time that can have an impact on some of the people that are hunting from the other suppliers. If I'm dumping 28 boxes a week, every week into dunbar, then those dunbar hunters are going to have that much harder of a time finding something good and that much more likely to give up hunting or slow down hunting until it picks back up. That can in turn also lessen the amount of dumps I have to hunt through every week in two ways: 1 by physically hunting dumps and moving them out of my supply and 2. potentially lowering the number of people dumping into my supply. I've seen what I and probably other hunters have done to dunbar and brinks in my area first hand. The boxes literally are not worth looking through even if you don't have to order them.

The other important factor with volume hunting is that halves seem to be really streaky. There can be a great collection dump that is in a very small number of boxes with a lot of skunky boxes surrounding it. The more boxes you are hunting each week makes it that much more likely that you are going to get one of those awesome boxes. I've had days where I have 5 boxes with 4 giving up a total of 1 or 2 40% and the last one giving up 20+ silvers. If I was still hunting low volume I could have missed the good boxes and had a meager day.

Finally, by moving a massive volume of coins over time in an unnatural pattern from one supplier to another makes it more likely that your pickup supplier is going to run out of coins to supply. They are going to have to get them somewhere. I'm not going to guess where that "somewhere" is because I'm not in the cash/coin management industry, but I do know that they are likely to be new to me coins.

 

[Abilene]

Could you guys explain some of your terminology to a newcomer. what is a 40% and 90% halfs