That's what makes them under-valued: you can play the spot market with physical (rather than paper) so there is no counter-party risk and also forget dealing with "fair" or "unfair" premiums on semi-collectable 999 bullion. All the other markets (U.S., Canada, Europe) have a market for "junk" at or around spot price, so if our "junk" is selling lower than that either we're under-valuing ours or they're over-valuing theirs. Given how developed our bullion market is compared to theirs (i.e. virtually undeveloped), I reckon their pricing is about right and we're under-valuing our junk.
... You can just refer to the "silver is silver" argument I guess. Yah it takes up twice as much room per ounce of silver, but they are very divisible and an awesome blast from the past. Love love love sixpences and threepences. They are very cute coins.
Sure but in a sustained SHTF scenario silver would be scarce indeed, in fact only 2% of the general population (pulled from no-where) own any so sharing that out into a barter system would involve all forms of silver, the fact it has identifiable weights and silver content make it useful (no need to be essayed) 1for1
Fair Just agreeing hard for a dealer to justify trading post decimal with little or no margin to work with! probably a little bit more than fair with an in house swap for something more "attractive" Most dealers would pay melt value rather than spot
correction......... why does everyone hate paying close to spot for post 46 predecimals.......drop the price 10% under spot and they have disappeared very quickly!
They are obviously spoilt for choice or had their full, i find them great but especially in higher grades. Paying spot should be a no brianer but peoples thoughts are clouted by pretty pictures. A more Prudent investor would go hard on pre-decimal and care far less about 'p' sign or coloured sticker and fake leather case which hold no scarcity and next to no intrinsic value. Pre decimal does largely eliminate down-side potential as you buy so close to spot.. good luck doing that with modern numismatics from PM. 1for1
Personally - I think of the post thirty - pre 46 range as a good coin to collect for the fact it's 925 silver. Doesn't matter what condition they are, recycled junk quality coins are perfect for jewellery use. Collect the unc/gem grade post 45's but avoid any other grades. I've bought them off eBay scores of time below their silver content value. That tells me something.
Most collectors of predecimals have a collection of contempory pre dec fakes as well, as the fakes are harder to find they generally sell for quite a bit more than a low grade silver coin. As they are no longer legal tender they are not illegal to posess, unlike fakes of modern coins. I would be interested in any old fakes you uncover!
I dug a bunch of pre-decimal silver loving in suburban Sydney over the last 3 months And that's just the silver!
I agree with this but also add... In the mania phase of the bull market where the public is going insane - they will leap at the chance of getting ANY silver So my post coins I try and get at or under spot because i know ill be able to re-sell either if TSHTF or during the mania phase probably at a premium in lower proportion to the huge premiums there will be on minted coins.
The higher silver content coins look more like silver usually. And they are less bulky. Also if you do take your coins to a smelter, I understand you get a better rate the higher the percentage of silver in the melt. Here is an fleabay auction for 80 half crowns British pre-WWII, which are 50% silver. I figure 14.14 grams x 50% x 80 = 565.6 grams or 18.24 ounces of silver. With some wear round it down to 18 ounces of silver. The seller is being more conservative and listing it as 17.5 ounces. Shipping is $35 worldwide from seller in Ireland, or about $2 shipping per ounce ASW. I am mildly curious how this junk silver auction will go. I'm guessing about 85% of melt value. 120867646291 Flea auction
So this sold for $523.88 US dollars. At 18 ounces, that's $29.10 per ounce, plus $2 per ounce shipping, for the 50% silver half crowns.
