So let's say you buy 10 ounces of coins 90 percent silver and spot is 18 per ounce do you get less because it's only 90 percent? do they buy at melt because they have to melt it refine it for pure silver sorry I know this is complicated but my brain is also lol
If I buy 10 ounces in silver bars for the same price that are 99.9 like Mattheys a reputable company with serial number wouldn't the bars be a better buy cause it would seem you would get spot price plus 10 percent more silver all day long cause they would not have to be refined and is spot lower for coins because being coins are 90 percent to use for silver you would have to melt and refine
hope I didn't lose you guys I almost lost myself. Are 10 ounces in 99.9 worth more than 10 ounce 90 percent coins. Or a better value to get bars cause you wouldn't have to melt or refine. Spot /Melt I still dont get it. Thanks In advance
For the most part, most 90% US "junk silver" does not get melted down. Damaged coins and coins that show very excessive wear will get melted, but not decent coins.
The reason for this is because there are two factors to think about. You are correct in pointing out the general differences between .999, .925 and .900, but you didn't address the issue of PREMIUMS.
There have been a few times where 90% junk had higher "premiums" than even US Silver Eagles per oz of silver. That is not the norm, but I've seen it get that way since I started "stacking" on at least three occassions. The coin dealers make more reselling junk silver because even with low premiums, they get more that way than if they sell it to a refiner to be melted.
If silver is going to be sent to a refiner than the higher percentage silver is worth the most because the refiner pays less for 90% than for .999, generally speaking. If the silver is going to be sold to stackers and collectors, etc, than the premiums are determined by the "market" which differs over time.
Here is an easy trick to see what you are paying by the ounce of pure silver for 90% junk silver. Most coin dealers sell "junk silver" by X times face value. Right now junk silver here sells for about 13 X face at the coin stores. To see how much you are paying for the actual "silver" in those coins, do this: for dimes, quarters and halves 1964 and earlier, take 13 and divide by .715. That equals $18.18, and with silver today at $17.41, I would be paying 77 cents over melt per ounce of pure silver contained within those 90% coins.
It has been determined by the coin market that circulated junk silver has roughly .715 oz per dollar face worth of coins. That is why that number is used to convert to oz of pure silver within the coins. Uncirculated coins left the mint back in those days at roughly .723 oz pure silver per dollar face if I remember correctly, but they account for wear so they made the number lower at .715. So if the coins you get show very little or no wear, you are coming out slightly ahead by using the .715 figure.
You can do the same with US silver dollars, but use .7734 instead of .715 because a $1 worth of silver dollars were made using more silver than a dollar's worth of dimes, quarters and halves.
So try not to think of X times face for junk silver, and instead convert to price per oz of pure silver. For me it's easier to see what I'm paying and for how much I'm getting for it.
Jim
