Melting 90% for rounds?

[Engineer]

Noob question here:

I've got a decent stack of 90% (sold as avg. circulated), and I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to turn in some of my lower quality 90% to be melted into rounds. I'm thinking of bent coins, near slicks, etc. I really hate the thought of melting down old coins, but then again I love shiny new rounds...

Also, is there much numismatic advantage in keeping older (and more worn) Mercs vs Roosevelts?

Any opinions from the experts?

[Lemon Thrower]

- you 90% may not weigh as much as you think it does.

- there is cost to have this done

- you end up with .999 from a mint whose reputation is inferior to the US Mint.

I would do this only for bent or holed coins, and would just post a listing here with the actual weight. reason is that when sending stuff to a refiner, the more you have the better your price. also, there are folks who'll buy slicks and put them in bags they sell to dealers.

[bigjohn56]

Given the price of 90% and the cost of doing the conversion how do you make the deal work out? The numbers just aren't there when 90% does not sell at much of a discount to melt.

[DuckTales253]

Also, is there much numismatic advantage in keeping older (and more worn) Mercs vs Roosevelts?

The Mercury dimes are always going to have a slight premium over Roosevelts, due to its age, lower mintage numbers, and the fact that silver Roosevelts "appear" more common to the eye, as the design is stil a circulating issue. Even if heavily worn, Mercs have the appeal of a classic design and may be desired by some for jewelry or art projects. As for numismatic value on common or worn dates, it is close, but I think anyone would prefer to have Mercs over Roosies. I suppose the only exception would be if you were into pure bullion value, the Roosies might be less worn and hold more silver.

[Engineer]

Thanks everyone. My gut was telling me not to send them in for refining, but its nice to hear you agree.

Most of my Mercury rolls are only about 2-3 grams lighter than the Roosies (122 vs 124), so they aren't severely worn, but I could probably put together a 110 gram roll with the worst of the bunch. Those were the ones I was considering melting, but you've convinced me otherwise.

[uthminsta]

Refining CAN be worth it. Especially when you talk about going from this:

to this:

First of all - and this is going to fly in the face of a lot of what we are all about here, but... it's not always about profit. At least not immediately. Sometimes it's nice to have something unique. I took this ingot into a local coin shop yesterday and they asked a LOT of questions about it. They said, without me asking, "If you ever want or need to sell it, bring it in." Even though they've never heard of Market Harmony, they were VERY interested.

Secondly, if you know where to look, and get "lucky," you can find junky stuff at well under melt. I bought those 5 dimes shown above for $4. From a coin shop. I had bought it all under the "silver is silver" philosophy, and had found good deals over time. I had a lot of stuff that I might have a hard time bartering with. Now I have something worth talking about.

Keep in mind, I have plenty of U.S. minted silver coin, because I think stuff of known fineness... from a worldwide-known source... that has been minting coins for over 200 years... is always going to be the easiest stuff to sell and to trade with. But if you're still hung up on ONLY that side of the equation, maybe a few more pics would help!



That's my opinion. And I'm sticking to it.

[TwoAndAHalfCents]

What do the kids think about it? It could by a good way to get them interested in the value of PMs at an early age.

[uthminsta]

They think Daddy's a dork. He spends too much time on RealCent.
Nah, they know it's all for them. The gold tenth-ounces are from their birth years, so there is no question as to which ones belong to whom. Sarah (6) goes with me to the coin shop sometimes, and even has an envelope of Canadian coins they've set back for her; she buys one from time to time. And she likes coins with holes in them. Ruthie (8) sort of collects wheaties, but she hasn't done much with them lately. And she thinks Egyptian coins look cool right now.

They know the safe has valuable stuff that will be theirs when they get older. They also know not to tell anyone about it... I wonder who will get this ingot?

[TwoAndAHalfCents]

You're getting those kids off to a great start.

[dtfstock]

That bar is sweet

[merchoarder]

I knew that MH was good but to turn 5 dimes into a sweet 6 ozt ingot!!! That is impressive! Lol

[Chief]

Those pyramids are sexy!

[Rodebaugh]

Man, thats a nice ingot.

The dude is good.

[DRP270]

Dump cr*p silver for these or other products he has. They are great.

[Silver Addict]

I was gonna pick up one of those sexy pyramids this weekend off Mike, but he didn't have any with him. i gotta remember to phone my order in ahead next time.

[fasteddy]

crud it is a little lite to be an effective hammer....






..........last year at the coin show in Denver during the RC get together there was a fella using a 10oz bar for breaking the glass gemstones out of jewelry and then buying the scrap metal....

[beauanderos]

I knew that MH was good but to turn 5 dimes into a sweet 6 ozt ingot!!! That is impressive! Lol

If you cut it open,it's brass on the inside. Mike is Chinese