Prices paid by dealers for heavily worn 90% coins

[Recyclersteve]

I just wanted to ask everyone something. Have you noticed a sizeable discrepancy between what a dealer buys normal 90% silver coins for versus heavily worn coins (for instance, dateless Standing Liberty quarters). I was in a coin shop when silver was around $21 an oz. or so (just recently) and (on two separate occasions) heard the dealer say to a seller "Those coins are what we refer to as slicks (heavily worn). We can only pay 8 to 9 times face value for those." The seller I watched pretty closely had over $300 face in silver. I can't imagine that they were ALL slicks, but the dealer appeared to buy them all as slicks. After the seller left, I asked the dealer what he would sell the slicks for. He said that normal 90% silver was selling for 16.5 times face. He'd sell me the slicks for 13.25 times face. I was floored at the huge markup. And I'm certain that he would go through the so-called "slicks" and find that many were not actual slicks so he would sell them for 16.5 times face instead of 13.25. This would be a markup of OVER 100% for something which is VERY LIQUID and easy to sell. Is anyone else as offended as I was when I heard this? And I caught the same dealer doing it twice to two different clients to two different days. What do you guys think? The dealer is very friendly and knowledgeable. He has been around for at least 15 years. Is this an isolated situation or do you think this happens a lot more often than I realize? (I am purposely not giving the dealer's name or geographic location)

[gubni]

Young grasshopper you have much to learn. To cover rent advertising payroll etc a business must make a big markup.

[ZenOps]

Sometimes they don't want slicks, might be as simple as that.

In a down market, they have to sell to the refiner. Some shops will do it maybe twice a week, but its really a pain in the butt for most coinshops. In an up market they don't have to sell so often (if at all) They can maintain a gigantic float, and hope that someone comes in the store and buys them out.

The worst thing a coinshop can do is keep the slicks in a down spot market, which will never have any premium value.

If coin shops were rolling in the dough, there would be one on every streetcorner - like starbucks.

[coppertop1982]

This is a joke, because I see Lowball morgans on feebay going on the upwards of $60, people want Lowball slicks for their registry sets

[messymessy]

Morgans always sell for a higher premium than any other denomination 90% in similar condition.

[Morsecode]

Since when is buying for 8 and selling at 13 a huge markup? What you were likely floored by was his nonchalant way of announcing it...seeing that you had just heard his buy price. Such is life at the coin shop. I've experienced it myself many times.

I never did get around to starting my own coin shop, though

[JerrySpringer]

In similar vein, the war nickels I have I would not feel justified asking spot for the multiple of face value. I would weigh the coins and back out the % of silver and use that as a reference. For $300 of face, well, that is 600 half dollars, etc. The dealer could of weighed the stuff as it would probably scale in at about ~ 15 pounds and a regular 50# digital scale would easily show the weight down to 1/10 of an ounce. So dealer was being lazy.

[ZenOps]

Anything with less than 2 million mintage (canadian) or 20 million (US) will have a premium, even in good condition.

But the vast majority of common date slick quarters and dimes, which is what a coinshop usually gets in - has no resell value above melt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington ... ge_figures IE: For quarters if its an S, its a keeper. And just like nickels, you have to really start looking at 1950 or earlier before it might have some value. Otherwise, its melt melt melt.

And if you live in a town with only one or two coinshops and neither is buying, you might have to ship slicks off to get a better price (if you have enough to offset the shipping price)