foreign silver?

[jasmatk]

i said this in another thread of mine but i want to know what foreign silver is worth buying i went to the flea market earlier today and every coin dealer was selling foreign coins some had them marked w/ ag content some didnt i just dont know enough about them to buy so let me learn from you one guy had coins marked 72% ag 5-15$ they seemed like a deal (i dont rember the country)but im not gonna shoot into the dark any help would be awesome i know about canadian so other countrys please

[Country]

It's a big list - lots of countries, denominations, and SILVER fineness to consider. In addition, condition of the coins has some importance as old worn coins can lose as much as 10% of their weight due to wear. Start with the popular countries, like Mexico and Australia for some good deals. Australia will be easy, SILVEery coins 1945 and older will be ALL sterling (92.5% fine); know the ASW of every denomination (3 pence, 6 pence (half a shilling), shilling (half a florin), and florin (.3363 ASW); crowns go much higher than melt) so you know what the coins are worth. GB coins before 1920 are sterling (same fineness and denominations as Australia), 1920-1945 are 50% SILVER (florins contain .1818 ASW, other denominations pro-rata), after that mostly copper-nickel. Mexico is all over the place, but the dollar sized pesos dated 1920-1945 (72% fine) contain .3856 ASW have $10.30 melt value each. A recent favorite of mine is Netherlands 1G (1954-1967, 72% fine, .1504 ASW) and 2.5G (1959-1966, 72% fine, .3472 ASW) - a little obscure, but nice sized SILVER European coins with little wear that may be missed by many dealers.

I would suggest buying an old Krause coin catalog for $10 or less and take it with you. Once you can recognize the SILVER coins (don't assume that the coin is SILVER just cause it's marked so on the 2x2), you can look up the ASW in the book, multiply it by the SILVER spot, and know the melt value of the coin. You want to pay less than melt for these foreign coins. Dealers will sell them for melt or higher (unless of course YOU know your coins and buy it cheap from him), but will buy them for less. Other folks will be looking to get a good deal from you when you sell the foreign SILVER. So, try to buy at a large discount from melt from those who would sell to you.

Hope this helps a little....

[jasmatk]

country----that does help it only makes sense if i buy at a discount i will sell at one i was looking toward ausi coins and u having said this confirms what others told me.....that being said it only makes sense to buy these coins cheap and sell them for melt right away and buy .999 which i prefer..

[Thogey]

The Krause book is a great investment and will pay for itself quickly. You can get foreign silver at give away prices.