Coinflation...

[Dok Holliday]

I hope you are all up for some healthy debate.
I've seen a few craiglist adds of people thinking for .900 silver coins are worth exactly what the Coinflation website says. Who here believes this? Can you explain why you believe this?

I’d like to hear your opinions before I state the reason behind why I think Conflation is a crutch used by people to overvalue their coins so as not to “spoil” your beliefs. I’d like to hear what you have to say without influence from my own reasoning.

 

[Bigheed]

Heres my 2 copper on the subject.

That is what they are worth in terms of their "melt value" All the silver halves you find are only worth 50 cents until you sell them to an individual or smelter.

What someone is willing to pay is different.....sort of like the difference between the red book and the blue book for numismatic value.

Hence the buy/sell spread on junk silver (or other precious metals)

If you are buying/selling them its now a commodity, theres risk & speculation and its no longer CRHing.

The reason people are selling at spot or +spot is because people are buying them at spot or +spot on "Speculation"

-Bigheed

 

[Argentium]

mdockter, Coinflation is no different than any of the sites that inform people of the world market,
value of precious metals . They happen to focus on the precious metal value of U.S. or Canadian
circulated coinage - what people do with that information is their business , the site makes no claims
about what you will likely receive as a seller of any product whatsoever - so I'm not sure I understand
your attitude about this - I think speak for most when I say - I find the site very helpful , Argentium.

 

[papa1956e9]

Are you trying to pick a fight? Coinflation only calculates the amount of silver in a coin are the current price. It isn't a value guide. Yes, it states what value in metals a coin has at that time. No, it should not be used as a cost per coin. But good luck trying to buy something on craigslist below spot. No one (that isn't a moron) will sell a silver coin for less than they think its worth. Any non-coin person can google "coin value" or "silver coin" and get coinflation and see it as a basis for their sale. How do you think i found this website? I've been doing this for a long time and one night decided to google "banks that sell boxes of coins" or some nonsense like that. The first thing that came up was this site. I couldn't believe there was a community of people on the internet that participate in this ridiculous hobby (as my wife says ). I had no clue that there was even a name for it...CRHing, haha

Bottom line is no matter what the economics are, you can't convince someone on craigslist that their coin is worth less than what they think. Everything is only worth what someone will pay for it.

 

[Generic_Lad]

Silver coins are worth what the coinflation website says in terms of melt value. And buying silver coins for melt is -always- a good deal if you are either bullish on silver or bearish on the dollar. Of course if you are a reseller or coin dealer, you aren't going to pay coinflation prices because you have to re-sell the coins, but if you are an individual, I think coinflation prices should be the standard for any US silver coin listed on craigslist, assuming the coin doesn't have anything special about it. Try buying even "junk silver" from a dealer, chances are you are going to be paying a .20 cent + premium on every coin over the coinflation intrinsic value from the coin, and this isn't coins grading in fine condition but slick/bent/holed coins. In my opinion 90% silver coins are the best value for silver because they are A) Recognizable in the event of a currency collapse B) Small enough to pay for smaller things with C) have a low premium and D) Are not often faked. On the other hand, when you get down to it, it is hard to know if the 1 oz generic round you bought is real silver unless you do a lot of tests on it, it is not easily divisible in smaller values, and often times carries a larger premium.

US 90% silver coins priced at coinflation prices are a bargain in my opinion (if you believe that silver will go up or that the dollar is going to go down) and I would pick them up as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, in my area people seem to charge higher than dealer prices on most coins on craigslist meaning that its cheaper to go down to the coin shop and buy them than it is to buy them from individuals unless you spend a few hours trying to convince them to lower their prices.

 

[Dok Holliday]

I'm not a fan of Coinflation because the price it uses is based on the value of .999 fine silver at the refinery. To get your .900 coin silver to that level will take refining, which is a value add and will cost money, taking value out of the coin. I do find the site helpful to give facts about the approximate value of the coin, I do not appriciate when people say "Coinflation says it is worth at least this much." No, it is worth as much as someone will pay for it. I think papa1956e6 is correct. It shouldn't be used as a price guide, but as a great reference...and good luck getting anyone to take less than that, even though the coin is probably worth less @ melt due to the factors I list above. Bigheed brings up in example the idea of the Bid/Ask spread, which I think is a great example of something being worth not what you are asking for it, only what someone is willing to pay.

I do, agree, that 90% Silver US coins are a great investment for "apocolypse" money as Generic_Lad puts very well. I actually don't think that is something that anyone here can disagree with. I do think that some of us take the valuation in dollars of our coins a little too far when we try to sell them. (I have an emotional attachment to my first Walker, my first Merc, my first rolls, etc, that I can't put into dollars) I also think that rounds and bars are not as "apocolypse" friendly as 90% US coinage.

Who here as gotten a smelter to pay the melt value that coinflation dictates? I'd be curious to see if anyone has. If we're neogotiating buying silver, and you tell me your bottom line is what coinflation says, I'm going to walk away. The coin isn't worth what that website says at melt, it is only worth what that website says if you can get someone to pay you that. Yes, someone certainly may pay you that price, or more, if they are bear-ish on silver. I don’t know if I’m bear-ish on silver at the coinflation price…at face value via CRH, heck yes I’m bear-ish on that!

 

[jim4silver]

I think some are using Coinflation's site as if it were a coin dealer price listing. Coinflation is a great resource that simply shows what a coin's metal value is relative to spot price based on commodity prices. It does not mean you can get that much when you decide to sell. But it would be a valuable resource if somebody was offering you half of spot and you were a newbie and did not know how much silver value was in your coin based on the spot price of silver.

It is not a list of what coin dealers are paying nor what your coin is worth in the market in general. Even some great price resources such as the Redbook don't really show what you can get when you sell. I have quoted Redbook prices to some of my coin dealers (who are generally very fair) when I wanted to sell and they tell me to sell the coins to Redbook if I wanted that price.

If someone thinks they can get spot for their 90% then it is up to them to find a buyer. If they do then good for them I say. But a person's possible erroneous belief that their junk silver coin is worth spot is not the fault of the site Coinflation but perhaps is due to that person's own lack of understanding of the coin market.

A good site open to the public to see what some dealers are paying wholesale for items is www.coininfo.com

Jim

 

[legend76]

I LOVE coinflation.com, not only for melt values, but links to great articles.
And I'm not worried if a smelter will give me $12.9306 for a Franklin half when silver is at $35.75/oz. I'm planning on keeping my Franklin's right were they are at.

There's many factors to consider when buying 90% silver "junk" coins......

HH,
Legend

 

[quiksilver]

This will make clear the debate and all debates of value for ANYTHING at ANYTIME since the dawn of time.

An item is ONLY worth as much as some one else [and or a insurance company] is willing to pay [or trade] for it .

 

[mts]

I'm not a fan of Coinflation because the price it uses is based on the value of .999 fine silver at the refinery.

I would take it even one step further. What exactly is the value of .999 fine silver at the refinery? Is it some number listed on COMEX? Well, not really. As others have said, it is the number that someone is willing to pay the refinery for that silver. It is certainly possible for COMEX to say that silver is worth $100 per ounce but the refinery might not be able to find any buyers at that price.

Any price listed anywhere in the world is a guideline and nothing else. Those guidelines may often prove to be very useful. But sometimes, they may not.

So I definitely agree with you on the usefullness of coinflation as a way to price silver for sale. I just wouldn't stop there when pointing the finger at web sites that are misused when sellers determine silver coin pricing. And don't even get me started on eBay...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Member erocionry banned for posting spam...

 

[jarlbartar]

Its only a reference to determine the value of the silver content in the coin. Thats it! I have been able to sell using coinflation's price many times over. The old "worth" debate goes on quite a bit around here, with good cause, but without a reference on what things are worth in the market we would not even have a starting point to go with.