I stopped in and picked it up this morning, and did a quick inventory. Mark sent me one extra piece; I have emailed him to ask how he'd like to handle it.
The bullion is neat, but the coins ("junk" silver) are what really fascinate me. I got both quarters and dimes; all are pre-1964 so contain 90% silver - about 0.71 troy ounces per dollar of face value. I found a few Liberty (Barber) dimes amongst the Mercury dimes - worn nearly smooth, but some of it is still legible. In particular, the "1892" date stamp. It's nifty to think about how many hands that dime has gone through, how many pockets it's sat in... Worn as it is, it may be worth more as a collectible than as junk silver. I'm no numismatist, so I'll have to look.
Most of the quarters I got are 1940s through 1964, although I did spot a few "Standing Liberty" quarters from the 20s.
Here's my advice, and it's worth what you paid for it: if you have disposable cash, putting it into tangibles is not a bad idea at all. Could I have skipped a small pile of rounds and just gotten a 10ozt bar or two? Sure. But if I end up trying to trade this stuff down the road, it's pretty tough to buy a loaf of bread and a dozen eggs with a 10oz bar. A few silver dimes? No sweat.
And because it was worth a shot, a few pictures. Quality isn't superb - I need to fiddle with positioning and lighting and removing the cat hair - but they're pretty representative.
1891 and 1921 Morgan dollars. These were Christmas presents from my grandparents several years ago, when they were de-cluttering their life. Grandma died two years later, and grandpa about 18 months after her.
Standing Liberty quarters, reverse and obverse:
2010 Silver Eagle, obverse and reverse. Traded bank reward points for this one a few years ago.
Mercury dime, obverse and reverse:
Liberty/Barber dime, obverse and reverse, 1903 minting:
And now the "private mint" stuff. These have no value as currency; only their value as a metal. They tend to be priced a hair less than Eagles.
Monarch Metals 5g bars:
"Prospector" divisible round. These are pre-scored for 1/4oz division.
A-Mark "Liberty" round:
Monarch 1/2ozt "Butterfly" round:
Monarch "Lighthouse" 1/4ozt round:
2 comments:
I really like “junk” silver and buy mostly Mercury dimes, Walking Liberty and Franklin half dollars. Unlike newer Roosevelt dimes and Washington quarters they were only produced in silver (not like the later sandwiched stuff) and are easily recognized by even those that know little on the subject.
Smart move, and the 'junk' will be much more convertible...
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