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Does anyone know if Canadian silver dollars are an easy sell in the USA. I'm thinking of diversifying my stack but I don't want to get stuck with some items that will be difficult to move if/when a time comes that I have to liquidate. Thanks.

Id say ALMOST just as liquid as 90%. Most coin stores buy and sell Canadian 80%.

It used to have both a lower premium both on the buying and selling end, and traded relatively close to spot. However as of late it appears that the premium to 'buy' is rising, without the subsequent 'premium' attached come time to sell. Just my observations.

One thing I dont know however is if there is a melt ban in Canada on silver coinage, that could affect resale. I dont think there is but I am sure our Canadian members could enlighten us on this.

Also silver that is 80% pure is obviously going to be more costly to refine than something that is 90% pure.

All in all if you can find it close to spot, most members here would agree its a good deal.

They're easily recognizable and usually EF to BU, so that makes them more appealing than regular CDN 80%. A high percentage of the CDN silver dimes and quarters I see for sale are dirty, tarnished, scratched or generally ugly. Silver is silver after all, and if one is buying for that purpose only then it's tolerable.

Take a look on eBay. Many sellers have CDN silver bucks listed and are getting some lofty prices for them. I like them...........like them a lot.

Know Common Cents wrote:They're easily recognizable and usually EF to BU, so that makes them more appealing than regular CDN 80%. A high percentage of the CDN silver dimes and quarters I see for sale are dirty, tarnished, scratched or generally ugly. Silver is silver after all, and if one is buying for that purpose only then it's tolerable.

Take a look on eBay. Many sellers have CDN silver bucks listed and are getting some lofty prices for them. I like them...........like them a lot.

Know Common Cents, I agree Most of the quarters and dimes you'll find are usually quite dirty or cull. The 80% silver dollar is nice however you have to remember when buying them that they are substantially less silver than 90% silver dollars. Obviously theres that 10% difference in purity, then CDN dollars are only .6 of an oz. when US 90% dollars are .7734.
If both are spot priced, stick with the 90%.

Deals for Canadian are becoming far far less common, almost ALWAYS selling for a premium to spot. Its hard to find anything at spot these days. Its out there but you got to work for it.

My favorite thing about Canadian is the math is so easy. $1=.6 toz, $5=3 toz., etc.

Wear is almost negligible so you don't even have the .715/$ "fudge factor" like junk US (should be .723/$ for no wear). And even then Barbers, Standing Liberty quarters, Walker Halves can easily dip down into .7/$ range.

I think it is a little harder to sell, and you have to watch out for the composition changes in 1967-1968.

jerry278 wrote:Also silver that is 80% pure is obviously going to be more costly to refine than something that is 90% pure.

All in all if you can find it close to spot, most members here would agree its a good deal.

I'm not sure that this is correct. Less purity doesn't mean more costly if there is only one other ingredient(Copper).

In fact, to a savy smelter, they would prefer 80% Canadian because then they get 20% copper as a free byproduct that they can then sell for an added profit. Especially with Copper on the rise!


Unlike the war nicks that have multiple ingredients and with the manganese a difficult one to get out.... that does make them more costly to refine.

wolvesdad wrote:

jerry278 wrote:Also silver that is 80% pure is obviously going to be more costly to refine than something that is 90% pure.

All in all if you can find it close to spot, most members here would agree its a good deal.

I'm not sure that this is correct. Less purity doesn't mean more costly if there is only one other ingredient(Copper).

In fact, to a savy smelter, they would prefer 80% Canadian because then they get 20% copper as a free byproduct that they can then sell for an added profit. Especially with Copper on the rise!


Unlike the war nicks that have multiple ingredients and with the manganese a difficult one to get out.... that does make them more costly to refine.

Wolvesdad, thats very interesting if thats correct. I can defintely follow that logic though. I forget where I heard it was more costly to refine 80% than 90% but I cant remember. I honestly could see it going both ways. Any input from a professional refiner would be very helpful.

interesting thread btw.

Dvorak wrote:I think it is a little harder to sell, and you have to watch out for the composition changes in 1967-1968.

For the dollars specifically that's not so much of an issue, the 67's are all 80% and the 68 dollars are all nickel (and not the same size.) Same is true of the halves for those years. It's only with the dimes and quarters that different compositions were minted within the same year in that period.