What's left after the great melts?

Johnnybravo300 · Dec 9, 2018

https://www.pcgs.com/news/After-The-Melts-Whats-Left-In-Silver-Coins

Interesting article by pcgs.

Key dates may now be common dates and common dates may now be the keys?
One dealer sending in $400 million to be melted in a years time?
75-98 percent of junk silver gone forever now?

ToddsPoint · Dec 9, 2018

I inherited my mom and dads coin books from the late 50's and early 60's. They stopped collecting in '64 when the silver went away. I though about selling the books, but after reading the above article, I think I will keep them. Gary

unclemac · Dec 9, 2018

a lot, i mean A LOT of U.S. nineteenth century coinage was melted down,"worn out" old coins. Many reales too. In those days you could bring your bulk silver to the mint and they would "re-coin" it. Depending on the price of silver, this could be a lucrative activity.

Johnnybravo300 · Dec 9, 2018

That was from 99 so I wonder how much is gone since then, almost 20 years ago.
I never realized it was done on such a grand scale.

WG2020 · Dec 9, 2018

Todd, you may want to look at the value of the actual books. I read an article recently that highlighted that the books themselves are highly collectible in some cases.

ToddsPoint · Dec 10, 2018

WG2020 said:
Todd, you may want to look at the value of the actual books. I read an article recently that highlighted that the books themselves are highly collectible in some cases.

They're the old Whitman blue books from the 60's. I have the common ones, cents to half dollars. I'll have to look them up. Thanks. Gary

huntsman53 · Dec 10, 2018

About ten years back, I attended the BRNA (Blue Ridge Numismatic Association) Coin Show in Dalton, GA on a Saturday morning. As I walked in, SilverTowne (a well known Bullion Dealer and Minter of Silver Rounds and Bars) was having an Armored Truck loaded with millions of dollars worth of 90% Silver coins purchased. This was the second Armored Truck they had filled since opening to Dealers at 8:00 AM on Friday and here it was only around 9:00 AM on Saturday. I had some Silver to sell, so I eventually made my way to their' tables to sell to them. I was amazed that although they had already sent to Armored Truck loads of Silver to their' vaults, they had three tables behind them and one on each side that had dozens and dozens of 5 gallon buckets filled to the top with Silver coins underneath and on top of the tables. By the time I made it to their' tables, it was only about 11:00 AM Saturday and they nearly had enough Silver to fill another Armored Truck.

Diver_Down · Dec 10, 2018

huntsman53 said:
About ten years back, I attended the BRNA (Blue Ridge Numismatic Association) Coin Show in Dalton, GA on a Saturday morning. As I walked in, SilverTowne (a well known Bullion Dealer and Minter of Silver Rounds and Bars) was having an Armored Truck loaded with millions of dollars worth of 90% Silver coins purchased. This was the second Armored Truck they had filled since opening to Dealers at 8:00 AM on Friday and here it was only around 9:00 AM on Saturday. I had some Silver to sell, so I eventually made my way to their' tables to sell to them. I was amazed that although they had already sent to Armored Truck loads of Silver to their' vaults, they had three tables behind them and one on each side that had dozens and dozens of 5 gallon buckets filled to the top with Silver coins underneath and on top of the tables. By the time I made it to their' tables, it was only about 11:00 AM Saturday and they nearly had enough Silver to fill another Armored Truck.

A side story unrelated to this thread - I attend FUN every year. For those that don't know, it is one of the largest coin shows in the US. 700+ dealers. There is a bullion dealer called Gainesville Coins. Two brothers run it. This was back when Gold and Silver were pushing market highs. They deal mainly in gold. Now, the bourse floor is very secure, but they had their own security. I watched as they were getting their second delivery of the day. 2 dollies of stacked red monster boxes being escorted on the bourse floor with armed guards. As fast as they could cut the bands, they were selling tubes of gold eagles. It was amazing to watch old men with disposable income handing stacks of cash for tubes of gold. It was obscene and perverse at the same time.

huntsman53 · Dec 10, 2018

Diver_Down said:
A side story unrelated to this thread - I attend FUN every year. For those that don't know, it is one of the largest coin shows in the US. 700+ dealers. There is a bullion dealer called Gainesville Coins. Two brothers run it. This was back when Gold and Silver were pushing market highs. They deal mainly in gold. Now, the bourse floor is very secure, but they had their own security. I watched as they were getting their second delivery of the day. 2 dollies of stacked red monster boxes being escorted on the bourse floor with armed guards. As fast as they could cut the bands, they were selling tubes of gold eagles. It was amazing to watch old men with disposable income handing stacks of cash for tubes of gold. It was obscene and perverse at the same time.

Hopefully this was not during 2011 when Gold was at strong highs because some of those old men might have had major heart attacks or strokes in 2018 due to the lows that Gold has suffered!!

Icewing · Dec 10, 2018

I have long thought silver coin prices were severely undervalued but everyone still goes by how many were minted and scrap prices. There are at least a dozen local Craigslist ads by folks looking to buy silver coins at 10x face value, but it seems like almost nobody who pays more.

Diver_Down · Dec 10, 2018

huntsman53 said:
Hopefully this was not during 2011 when Gold was at strong highs because some of those old men might have had major heart attacks or strokes in 2018 due to the lows that Gold has suffered!!

It was close. And yes, they lost money. But with the absence of reporting for cash transactions, I would bet these men were stashing assets for future generations.