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I've heard comments in other threads where people would appreciate some imput on the grade of junk silver that others receive when they order online.

Just completed a swap with a friend at BullionStacker. He purchased five $100 face bags of junk from Provident when silver recently dipped below $19.

They sent him all quarters. Naturally, he put out listings seeking a few swaps to obtain a little variety, and I was one to send him some Rosies for his quarters. He was gracious and sent me more gram wt then he asked for.

What were the quarters like? Out of 163, 108 of them I deem "unacceptable." Meaning that they were well-worn, underweight, etc. Mostly pre-1948. Alot of 1942 plus or minus a year. These averaged out at 713 (compared to the 715 which they are represented as). Since I'm putting together another pile to send to APMEX, it makes no difference to me.

41 of the quarters I would consider worthy of resale (718), and there were 11 that will go in my keeper pile. There was only one coin newer than 1959 (a 1960). There was a beat to death 64, but it's being sent to the morgue.

So, yes... you can get good prices online, but they don't let you pick the denomination... and it wouldn't surprise me much if this lot fairly represents the "industry standard" if you buy from the big online dealers.

Any other members have their own experiences to share? Dakota1955? Weren't you poised to buy some awhile back? How did that go? (or was it NDFarmer?)

It was me and I posted about mix and condition of the coins I got from Silvertowne. I would have to look up the link.

dakota1955 wrote:It was me and I posted about mix and condition of the coins I got from Silvertowne. I would have to look up the link.

yeah, I vaguely recall you saying something about maybe four $10 lots or so, had a mix that included Barber coins?

Thanks for the heads up OB...something always told me to stay away from the mixed bag lots.....ie, $100 face value at whatever times the melt is, etc.

I remember thinking, "what would be the motive for them to give me clean coins?....and Heaven forbid these guys throw Standing Lib's in there!!!....

why is it, that quarters always seem like the bastard child of US coinage?....or is that my imagination?

I think I MIGHT have any idea, and it goes back to coin design, STARTING at the Standing Liberty....forget the exposed breast of 1917 that got everybody crazy...it was also the design flaw of the raised date from 1917 to 1924...THEN they recessed the date from 1925 to 1930....and those coins just wear BAD...the Liberty Lady's got this tiny little head....that wears bad.....then of course, in 1931 and 1933, no quarters minted.....now the problem with the Washington quarter is, in my opinion, if you look at the hair detailing....how HARD it is, to REALLY glass the coin and you tell me how easy it would be to pass off an AU as a BU.

couple a years ago, I bought a 10 face roll of Standing Lib's and I was doing a hard count inventory, and I glassed the 40 coins.....5 of them were clods, and these were all the raised dates (17 to 24) I found what look to be a few EF20's, bunch of 12's....now stupidly, i'm bidding on a 10 face roll of Barber Quarters on Ebay, they're all VG8's and better....only reason is I don't have any Barber quarters, from 1892 on, I like to have at least one roll of every American 90% coinage, in every decade. (that's why I got greedy about those BU 44 Wash's..i didn't have one roll of 40's Wash's...i'm sorry...I said 44 BU Washington's right?....hey, they could be AU's...I glass them, but????)

I got a "BU" roll of 1941 Walking Lib Halves, and I swear they're AU's.....at least I paid 30 times, and not the crazy 55 to 75 times face they were going for......for a while there, I was watching a WHOLE BUNCH of Walkings hit the market...and trade crazy....this was right before the last dive in silver price...now you don't see anymore Walking Lib's.....when I say "you don't see"...I mean you don't see BU's or uncircs....there's ALWAYS rolls of old worn G4's/F12's trading...always.

neilgin1 wrote:Thanks for the heads up OB...something always told me to stay away from the mixed bag lots.....ie, $100 face value at whatever times the melt is, etc.

I remember thinking, "what would be the motive for them to give me clean coins?

I'm not convinced its a matter of the big dealers cherry picking, but theorize it's more a matter of their inputs. I've certainly done my part in sending "junk" back to the big dealers, and others here have admitted the same.

You "can" pick some good stuff out of generic bags, but at least in my experience, the offerings tend to be a little better in our own marketplace...and if something here is advertised as "good or better", you wouldn't expect to receive a bunch of F2 slicks.

I added a few of $10 junk bags on to my orders from JMBullion over the last few months. They weren't offering them all the time but, if there, I'd add one. After the second order of all quarters, I quit. They did contain nicer pieces but I, as also stated above, just don't like a bunch of quarters.... no idea why. Maybe because of all the 90% coinage, it's (and the Roosevelt dime) still have the same design as today... the others are unique and just cooler to look at from a historical standpoint....

I actually really like Washington quarters, silver and clad. Especially he reverse. When I buy junk silver, I usually get quarters, since you can find dimes easily in circulation and halves cost a premium.

scyther where were you back in the winter. I couldn't give quarters away, only interest was for dimes and halfs...

Ray, I haven't had the need to buy from these companies yet. But as long as the bags total out to 715 as a whole i'd be happy. I mean that is how they advertise these bags of 90% silver.

~JobIII

Junk bags are a crap shoot. The last bag I went through was exciting. The company normally sends dimes and quarters but the last time they sent $500 in halfs. In that bag I got a 16-S , 17-S O. 19, 19-S , 19-D , 21 and 21-S.

alpacafarmer wrote:Junk bags are a crap shoot. The last bag I went through was exciting. The company normally sends dimes and quarters but the last time they sent $500 in halfs. In that bag I got a 16-S , 17-S O. 19, 19-S , 19-D , 21 and 21-S.

In other words... you got a lot of heavily worn coins (you were just fortunate to get some good numie specimens )

were most of the bag old walkers?

Most of the bag was 64's and Franklins.

alpacafarmer wrote:Most of the bag was 64's and Franklins.

Sounds like a nice bag.

I was going through some AU/BU 90% quarters the other day and noticed that there are quite a few of them that are simply minted underweight as well. I was able to put togather an underweight roll of AU+ quarters with ease.....Hummm, In general full weight (250 gram) washington quarter rolls are extrememly hard to come by. Just some side thoughts there..... Quarters are the absolute worst when it comes to wear I do believe.. I find it very disturbing that a dealer would be putting out underweight rolls! It would be nice to have a list of dealers who actually put out decent bags, Ray you have one in particular that you have better than average results with?

Scotty

So when Provident ships your silver coins, did they come in rolls? Tubes? I bought a bunch of silver halves from them once and the batch came in a crumpled up plastic bag that was shaped into a ball and randomly wrapped with strapping tape. I'm not complaining because they were nice coins but thought they'd at least put them in tubes or paper rolls...

ScottyTX wrote:I was going through some AU/BU 90% quarters the other day and noticed that there are quite a few of them that are simply minted underweight as well. I was able to put togather an underweight roll of AU+ quarters with ease.....Hummm, In general full weight (250 gram) washington quarter rolls are extrememly hard to come by. Just some side thoughts there..... Quarters are the absolute worst when it comes to wear I do believe.. I find it very disturbing that a dealer would be putting out underweight rolls! It would be nice to have a list of dealers who actually put out decent bags, Ray you have one in particular that you have better than average results with?

Scotty

you might be looking at counterfeits, Scotty. I came into possession of a BU drummer boy the other day... noticeably light... 5.7 grams. Should be 6.25 Aside from the weight, you'd never know. Supply from online sellers is just Gresham's Law in practice. They sell what they get in, everyone sells their more worn coins before they do their AU/BU. This is the consequence. Imagine what it will be like in five years or so, after the true scarcity of silver becomes known?

beauanderos wrote: Imagine what it will be like in five years or so, after the true scarcity of silver becomes known?

5 years?
Last year at this time I would agree with that time frame. But it is picking up speed. 2-3 years seems more likely now.
However, If you listen to Bix Weir, it may be more like 2-3 months.

(note to self: check funds, see what Ray's roosie prices are)

The only "junk" silver U.S. coinage that I have are '64 quarters and dimes.....and an assortment of war nickels.

Why 1964? I like these coins because it's the last year the quarters and dimes were still silver, and they seem to have a thicker feel to them, IMO.

I cherry pick the ones that I want.

And what do you want the war nickels for? They get no respect you know. They are the redheaded step child of silver coins. Maybe you should just sell them cheap to someone. (hint,hint)

Z00 wrote:And what do you want the war nickels for? They get no respect you know. They are the redheaded step child of silver coins. Maybe you should just sell them cheap to someone. (hint,hint)

True. They don't hold much respect....but then again, why do YOU want them so bad, hmm??

They DO hold, however, a small amount of the shiny and that's good enough for me!

Me? I like them because they're cheap, and that fits my image ..."cheap", and many times that is all I can afford out of my monthly check to give myself the illusion that I am "stacking" some every month.
So, just humor me... I'm a cheapskate.

just my 2c re Provident:

I also ordered a $100 mercury bag (in late 2011 when we got a great dip down into the 20's). Came with 1001 dimes. 999 mercs, 1 barber, 1 roosie. All silver.

Weighed up almost 2 full ozt silver short. I was not happy. I complained but they said they could only guarantee the face value, not the weight. The 715 thing was only an industry convention not hard and fast guarantee.

I disagreed and pointed out that their item descriptions says that $100 face in coins will contain 71.5 ozt of silver.

They said they would make it up to me in my next order with a small discount.

I haven't bothered to order from them since...

Oh well lesson learned.