I use this. It's good for US and Canadian coins...maybe a few others. Take a look. http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html
I am probably the only one who uses the weight x .900900900 x spot Since spot is for .999, and .900 / .999 =.900900900... For example on coinflation.com: "There are 0.1808 troy ounces of silver in 1 silver Washington quarter(s)." But there are 0.1810 troy ounces of .999 silver in one.
With US 90% every face dollar, whether it is made from 10 dimes, 4 quarters or any combination of coins, contains .713 troy oz of silver. (Number of dollars in US 90%) X .713 x (silver spot price)= value of coinage in silver price For very worn silver coins the weight factor is often changed to .703 to take the wear into account.
I have always done spot times .715 for circulated, for uncirculated the formula is actually .723 and that is dollar face value cost. My knowledge comes from being in the business since I was 15 and I sell approx $1 million dollars a month in 90% junk silver. It can be tricky to figure out actually price per ounce if you are not familiar. I never try to do that with customers because they are typically lost in translation. P.S I have bags of it when ever you are ready!
Impressive to sell those kinds of numbers I know I want to sell PM's But I only sold 2 ounces the profit was $8 I originally had her at $3 above and she insisted take and extra $2 wile this is silly talk - compared to Golden Isles - I ask can some thing small like 2 ounces grow 1000 ounce per month . I reinvested the $50 I was paid . Thats my desire to sell and reinvest back to silver I just need to figure how to get my name out . My business plan is sell at $2 to $4 above as per spot depending on coin , then repurchase stock and add the spot profit for more silver Naturally I had to add and extra $8 to get an extra ounce . I reinvest as fast as I got the money to stay tight with Spot - buy & sell & re-buy I realize it's laughable what I am saying here but a start is a start I remember my first coin was an Engelhard prospector $42 in 2011 I remember looking at it , holding it , then next week I had 2 I can't brag compared to others but lets say yeah for my personal financing situation , what is my life I am pushing and have been pushing since prices have been under $20 I am determined . I feel with a small start any thing is possible Thats the thing of metals you start with a feather of weight and keep collecting and it starts to get heavy then you need room & more room . & to think it started with 1 ounce .
Jislizard recommended divide the spot price by 100 and then multiply it by 90 or the consensuses .715 for circulated, uncirculated .723 (Number of dollars in US 90%) X .713 x (silver spot price)= value of coinage in silver price using todays $16.67 $15 for divide the spot price by 100 and then multiply it by 90 $12.05 for using Number of dollars in US 90%) X .723 x (silver spot price)= value of coinage in silver price A disparity
Very often junk silver is circulated and worn. So the weight of a circulated silver coin is actually less than what the internet says it is. The weights given for silver coins are for brand new uncirculated coins with no wear on them. If you calculate the silver value of the coins using their face value to work out the amount of silver you will be overpaying. The longer a coin is in circulation the more wear it has, so an old quarter will have less silver than a newer silver quarter. Your best bet is to weigh the coins and then work out what 90% is. However dealers like to sell the coins by their face value because it is easier than trying to hit an exact weight or sell in odd weights. They probably don't make much money but each bag they sell will be underweight, so they do get a bit extra. In the good old days of gold coins people would put the coins in a bag and shake them up and down (sweating) so that they could collect the gold dust that came off the coins, you wouldn't get much but it was obviously worth doing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_coin_debasement
The disparity comes from what you are measuring The method I use is looking at the weight The other method is looking at the face value An example, using the weight to find out the silver content of four quarters. Weight of one quarter is 6.25g therefore weight of four quarters is (4x6.25g) 25g the coins are 90% silver, so to work out how much of that 25g is silver we can use my method, divide by 100 and multiply by 90, which is the same as multiplying by 0.9 25g divided by 100 = 0.25g 0.25g multiply by 90 = 22.5g At a spot of $16.67 this gives a value of $12.06 (which I just used the calculators for http://www.silverstackers.com/calculators/index.php?page=3 but if you want to do it properly you have to convert grams to troy ounces. Just type "22.5g in troy oz" into google and it spits out the answer 0.723391798. If you don't have google, then divide the silver weight by 31.1 to get the approximate conversion to troy ounces. spot of $16.67/per troy ounce multiplied by 0.723391798 troy ounces = $12.0589412727 or $12.06 A Second example, using the face value to find out the silver content of four quarters One quarter is equal to 25 cents. So four quarters is equal to (4x25 cents) $1 So using your formula above (Which is correct) (Number of dollars in US 90%) X .723 x (silver spot price)= value of coinage in silver price We get $1 multiplied by 0.723 = 0.723 troy ounces of silver spot of $16.67/per troy ounce multiplied by 0.723 troy ounces = $12.05 So they are pretty much the same, just use which ever one is easiest, if you have a weight in uncirculated silver use my method, if you have a face value in uncirculated, use the other. If you are buying circulated coins remember that they are going to have less silver than advertised.
My method is much simpler. Junk silver = dirty yucky worn junk. = Bad New .999 fine silver= Nice shiny clean brand new beautiful fine silver. = Good
Which is why I can get silver for spot (+-5%), with free copper! If only more people didn't like junk silver I could get it even cheaper... but those damn preppers!
I see it's important to be educated . I see now that the times I purchased junk silver the math was in favor of the seller . i One day if I sell back to the seller I bet the scale comes out . Thats where E Bay is notorious as now I see when they sell Junk silver they sell by face and I see the pictures of coins are well worn. I'm glad I asked as now I can better protect myself . Some sellers wont sell if they see the scale is gonna keep the sale from a face sale .
You probably didn't lose much. The seller has overheads to cover and you wouldn't expect to buy a loaf of bread for the cost of the ingredients so I generally don't mind paying a bit more for my silver. The last lot of Junk silver I bought I payed about 3-4% over the spot price, it was a little higher because of the novelty of it being US coinage. Australian junk silver I tend to spend no more than 2-3% over.
Dude if you sell 2 ounces and profit $8 you have an amazing return. For every ounce I sell after fees, shipping, packaging materials I probably net $0.15-$0.20 yes that is cents... To compete with larger organizations I have to cut my margins thin. Very thin. And even though I am significantly cheaper on some products then others they still do not buy it from me. They want a company that they have heard of enough. I get it, my goal is just to have them see my name over and over. My volume is done primarily with wholesale or investor transactions, I want to appeal to the person buying 1-20 ounces and that is what I am trying to do...
Also, copperhead I do not use scales when purchasing 90% unless coins are absolutely smooth, or damaged if you have a circ quarter, dime, half I want it! and next time you should call me!
