Buying old silver coins..

[rockriver]

idea
decide ahead of time what you are willing to pay for junk. for instance maybe you decide you'd be willing to pay 25 times face value for junk if it is pretty and not worn or 22 x face if it is "worn"
or that you'd be willing to pay $27 for old peace or morgan silver dollars if in good shape or $25 for peace or morgans if they are looking worn (not as much prettiness value and not as much silver still there!)

making that decision ahead of time would make the shopping easier.

as you walk and ask what they have and if they have, then how much. you are ready to buy if they hit your price.
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sometimes you might see a seller walking and trying to sell his small plastic bag of coins. ask him what he has and would he sell to you.
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then later in the day, make the circuit. same question. then regardless, nicely make offers based on your
valuation.
enjoy.

[miked2345]

Well I went to the coin show that was in town for the weekend, and found some pretty good deals.. There were about a dozen dealers there, so I just compared them all and found the best prices. I was able to pick up some Kennedy half dollars, (1964) some quarters and dimes, all for around 2.5% under the "melt price" quoted on coinflation.com and a few other sites. Provident Metals.com had higher prices, and I avoided the shipping charges too.

I stayed away from silver dollars, after what I've read about fake silver dollars coming out of China. I also picked coins that had the least wear, figuring they would be easier to barter if SHTF. And I found out you don't pay sales tax when you buy money! Wow... what a concept!!

Now for the bad news for anyone here who's holding silver - If my luck with silver is the same as my luck with picking stocks, silver will soon plummet to $5 per ounce and stay there.... :D

[trifire]

When I went to a local coin shop they were very nice and helped me out with prices. The way they found the price of 90% silver coins, quarters and dimes, was this formula. Spot price (kitco.com) x .715 (constant)=(answer) x face value of the coin. For the spot price today it would be 37x.715=26.455x.25=6.61375.

So the going rate is $6.61 per pre 65 junk quarter + their fee. I hope this helps a little

[JUSTIFIED]

We've had good luck on ebay. Good prices and fast delivery.

[Lowdown3]

We have just in the last year started doing more with silver and gold. 26 years of actively preparing and I finally feel like it's o.k. to devote any real attention to PM's.

IMO, people get into buying PM's waaaaayyy too soon. Long before they can feed their family for a realistic amount of time, have had some decent training, have their medical preps squared away, six months to 1 year of cash put back, out of debt, etc.

Things you are most likely NOT going to do with PM's-

*"Buy" your way out of the country during time of trouble- WWII stories aside, technological advances, forfeiture laws, etc. make this unrealistic for the most part.
*"Pay for your labor or security at my retreat"- are you flippin serious???? Yeah that ought to work out good..... GET REAL.

You can "always buy food" I was told one time by a guy that claimed his world was falling apart. Can you now? Are you willing to pay $50. for 20 lbs. of rice? Go right ahead my friend.... I'll keep eating the same stuff I bought at $17. per 100 lbs.

Most people's preps are no where near where they need to be when they start considering PM's.

Touchy subject cause Americans worship money and everyone wants to feel like they "scored."

Lowdown3

[goatlady]

Absolutely, Lowdown3. I bought enough just to cover a few year's property tax, just in case.

[Urban Survivalist]

I have found a great resource. I made a friend who works the thrid shift at a QT gas station and when he is board he goes thru the till and pulls out Junk silver and replaces it with newer cions. Then he sells them to me for 1/3 the cost. it is a win/win situation for both of us.

[rockriver]

there was a coin show nearby today.
i priced 3 things.
silver eagles. general price was 37.50 each best price i could find was 35.25 tube of 20 for $705.00
pre 64 90% coins were NOT common. best deail i saw was 23.5 x face value
old slver dollars (morgan and peace) were usually 28.00 to 31.00
a couple of guys had some "culls" 1 was 24. each and the other was 25.2 5 each.

lots of civilians were selling to the dealers.

rr

[mtnmom5]

We bought locally, but now we want to try the ground... with our metal detectors. :)

[JUSTIFIED]

I've heard various thoughts on what percentage of our currency should be in precious metals(5%-20%)but if and when the shtf I'm not sure how many people are going to be interested in trading coins instead of usable goods. Patriot Lady and I are continuing to build our metals but are concentrating even more on barter goods. We've bought most of our silver(Morgan Silver Dollars , dates including 1879-1904 and 1921.