Circulated Silver Dollars And Other Junk Silver Coins Are Worth Hoarding.

In times of deep economic crisis, the type which brings the world into turmoil, people turn to gold, silver, platinum, diamonds or any commodity that will guarantee purchasing power. It is time to start keeping an eye on the junk silver price.

That is because paper money, bonds, deeds and whatever had paper value when the economy was vibrant loses its appeal. Paper values are in real danger of losing purchasing power and this includes plain everyday paper money. It is the origin of the saying among stock brokers and asset managers that states that  “Gold loves bad news”.

A good example of this is the Russian Revolution. When the communist regime took power around 1917, most stock holders who owned parts of Russian businesses were wiped out. The once valuable documents had no other value any more than to decorate and be sold as curiosities on Sunday markets or garage sales. For awhile, these were common items to come across at flea markets.

What does this have to do with coins or numismatics?

Well, if you are piling up large amounts of junk silver coins or other silver containing trinkets, you might be saving for a rainy day, but you might also be betting on the price of silver reaching records heights on the commodities market.

That is not contrary to logic, as in times of economic crisis, there is more demand for precious metals as refuge values, which invariably pushes the price upwards.

Is is not a bad move. American silver coins minted before 1964 contain 90% silver and include dimes, quarters, half dollars and silver dollars, as did many other coins from other countries in those days, for example, Swiss franc coins.

A bit of quick math will surely make you understand the wisdom of hanging on to junk silver bullion. If you have a 1000 grams of old dimes, then you have the equivalent of 900 grams of silver. Check what the current price for junk silver is today, and you will be amazed at the actual dollar worth your old dimes in terms of precious metals value represent.

Dimes:

As and indication, the average spot price for silver in 2007 was 13.86$ and in 2008 it had risen to 17$. As 1 troy ounce equals 31.1 grams, the 900 grams of silver contained in 1 kilo of old dimes would be worth 491$.

But remember, the U.S. dime from 1873 to 1964 was 2.5 grams, so you should have 400 dimes to the kilo.

Face value of 400 dimes = 400 times 10 cents = 40$

But these coins contain 900 grams of silver worth 491$ if the silver price is at 17$ per troy ounce.

Silver dollars:

A silver dollar contains .7736 troy ounces of silver. (Or 77.36% of 1 troy ounce)

100 of them contain 77.36 troy ounces of silver and have a face value of 100$, but at 17$ a troy ounce of silver, they have a silver worth of around 1309$

A small checksum confirms this. 1 troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams, so 77.36 troy ounces are 2 406.16 grams, or 2.4 kilos of pure silver!

Now you know why it is worth hoarding these old coins…