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BU 90% and 80% Question

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:23 am
by Hawkeye
With the recent drop in price, I've been looking at some things that I usually don't look at. I usually buy junk 90% and 80%, and as beautiful as that old "junk" is, I'd like to pick up some nice, shiny stuff. Just to look at. :) Provident has added rolls of BU 90% dimes, quarters and Franklins for 22-25x face and BU Canadian 80% rolls for a little under 18x face. Both are well above melt, but I wondered how those prices were in comparison to other BU rolls. Like I said, I don't normally even look at that kind of stuff, so I don't have a good frame of reference for the price. I know some of you deal in BU rolls, so what I am I looking at here?

I did buy some AU/BU Canadian dollars for under $15 a piece - I couldn't pass that up.

Re: BU 90% and 80% Question

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 9:50 am
by neilgin1
Hawkeye wrote:With the recent drop in price, I've been looking at some things that I usually don't look at. I usually buy junk 90% and 80%, and as beautiful as that old "junk" is, I'd like to pick up some nice, shiny stuff. Just to look at. :) Provident has added rolls of BU 90% dimes, quarters and Franklins for 22-25x face and BU Canadian 80% rolls for a little under 18x face. Both are well above melt, but I wondered how those prices were in comparison to other BU rolls. Like I said, I don't normally even look at that kind of stuff, so I don't have a good frame of reference for the price. I know some of you deal in BU rolls, so what I am I looking at here?

I did buy some AU/BU Canadian dollars for under $15 a piece - I couldn't pass that up.


here's what i'm watching on Ebay, these auctions end in 9 hours, all the same seller, "hsturn"...blue chip seller, these are just Franklins, all trading in the 22 to 29 times

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360658154091?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400489811440?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400486407715?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360654666694?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360654666725?ss ... 1423.l2649


here's three 5 dollar FV rolls of Roosie's...don't know the seller, but he's got a 100% pos in over 8600 transactions:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360657066986?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370815361715?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360657069234?ss ... 1423.l2649

roll of uncirc 64 Kenns

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380643863913?ss ... 1423.l2649

here's two rolls of 64 Kenn's, where the seller seems to be just raising cash, doesn't specify BU, or not

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140977876903?ss ... 1423.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140978474237?ss ... 1423.l2649

here's a roll of multi date AU/BU Merc's offred by another top notch seller, "carrieafl"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200921565334?ss ... 1423.l2649


and finally here's where AMPEX is on Ebay offering 350 tenth toz Gold Eagles at $170.97 each

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121107950287?ss ... 1423.l2649

this is the stuff i'm watching...hope it helps, and btw, i'm not bidding, just watching. neil

Re: BU 90% and 80% Question

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 10:35 am
by beauanderos
Ben, I searched Providents website and finally found the BU rolls. Their prices are a bit below what you will find on ebay, but there's a reason for that. The coins themselves might be brilliant uncirculated, but they are not presented as solid date, same mintmark rolls, which fetch a premium. These "BU" coins could just be someone's idea of shiny, cherry-picked "nice" coins plucked from circulated lots. Myself? Not interested in them as I would consider such rolls to be AU.

Re: BU 90% and 80% Question

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 12:32 pm
by Hawkeye
Thanks for the information, Ray. I hadn't even thought of the solid date rolls as carrying a premium, but it makes sense. As I said, I'm completely new to buying "junk silver" in any condition other than circulated (and even a few culls here and there). If I understand correctly, Provident's prices would be good for BU solid date rolls, but aren't that great for random date, AU/BU rolls.

Neil: Thanks for the links. I'm going to start watching them myself, just to get a feel for what they're going for. This is a new area for me and I didn't want to just dive in with little or no information.

Just out of curiosity, what would be a good premium for solid date BU rolls over regular random circulated stuff? Maybe I'll pull the trigger on some pretty stuff sometime. I like shiny things. :)

Re: BU 90% and 80% Question

PostPosted: Mon May 20, 2013 1:37 pm
by neilgin1
Hawkeye wrote:Thanks for the information, Ray. I hadn't even thought of the solid date rolls as carrying a premium, but it makes sense. As I said, I'm completely new to buying "junk silver" in any condition other than circulated (and even a few culls here and there). If I understand correctly, Provident's prices would be good for BU solid date rolls, but aren't that great for random date, AU/BU rolls.

Neil: Thanks for the links. I'm going to start watching them myself, just to get a feel for what they're going for. This is a new area for me and I didn't want to just dive in with little or no information.

Just out of curiosity, what would be a good premium for solid date BU rolls over regular random circulated stuff? Maybe I'll pull the trigger on some pretty stuff sometime. I like shiny things. :)


premiums for solid date GEM/BU 90%'ers run about $10 FV over melt...meaning board is 16.3 times face, and BU rolls on Ebay run 24-28 times over face....excepting extreme numi rolls, like an OBW roll of 1940-S Walking Liberty's which just traded at 141 times face...GEM/BU war era Walking Lib Halves are REAL HOT now, its not unusual to see them trading 50-65 times face.

the "red headed stepchild" of 90's BU's is the Washington Quarter, solid date, 50's era...they don't trade with high premiums that the Franklins do...same era. the only reason I can POSSIBLY come up with is, the die cast isn't as CRISP, meaning glass a GEM/BU obverse of a Wash....notice the hair...not a lot of detailing, and that spook collectors, because what's done a lot is to pass off "About Uncirculated", as BU's...and without detailing, its easier to play those tricks......(and that IS a bad trick to pull)

My opinion?...if we do a REALLY sharp down turn, and you can start picking up 90's in the BU at 15 times...you might want to look at the 64 Kennedy both GEM/BU, but especially proof.

(especially proof.) I KNOW I bought the last $30 FV of 64 Kenn proofs off Ebay, and right off the top of my head, I think they minted 3 point something mln coins(3.9 mln)....and that pool is where you find the vaunted "accented hair"...imo, anytime you can sneak in, and snag a roll of 90's GEM/BU rolls with mint numbers below 10 mln coins?....you're doing good, coz you got two markets to work in, numi and intrinsic.