# Junk Silver Coins - 1967 & 1968



## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

Many years ago (at the time when the Hunt brothers were trying to corner the silver market), I bought some 1967 & 1968 Canadian coins (dimes, quarters, and dollars), which have a 50% silver content. I tried to get earlier ones, which had a higher silver content, but there were none to be had so I settled for these. I put them away in a cupboard and forgot all about them until recently when I realized that they are probably worth a lot more than I paid for them. (If I recall correctly, silver was trading at about $7 an ounce when I bought them.) The face value is just a little over $200, and I'd like to get rid of them.

The coin dealer I bought them from has long since gone out of business, and I have no idea how to sell them or what would be a reasonable amount to expect for them. Can anyone help with some advice?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

1. check ebay to see what similar junk coins sell for

2. contact places like Colonial Acres Coins in Kitchener or Gatewest Coins in Winnipeg and see what they'll give you.

Remember they need to make a profit too so you'll have to take less. If you sell on ebay you have to contend with fees and shipping.


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## GeniusBoy27 (Jun 11, 2010)

Or go to a coin store and look at the standard prices in the coin book.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions, TRM & GB. That was part of my problem - not knowing which coin dealers are reputable. Of course, I am fully prepared for the dealer to take a profit - even a very generous profit - but I wanted to ensure I was dealing with a dealer who can be trusted to be fair.

I will contact some coin dealers in the Vancouver area. What I don't know is whether the dealers' coin book shows only the prices for collectible coins - mine are classed as "junk silver", i.e. of value only because of the silver content. Of course, there's only one way to find out, and that's to get in touch with some dealers. I'll do that soon.

Thanks again.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I can't speak for Vancouver area stores but I do know the two I mentioned are reputable.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I phoned a company called Vancouver Gold, and was surprised that they gave me a quote over the phone. They are paying $14.90 per $1 of face value. I checked for the exact face value of my coins and found it was $198, so they would pay me $2950.20 if I took them in today. Not a huge amount in the overall scheme of things but a nice little bonus considering I paid about $400 for them, and I had forgotten I had them for many years.

Thank you again for your advice.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

That reminds me, if you check the Gatewest website, they actually indicate what they pay in the terms you describe above. I was on their website recently and made a mental note of that, I had forgotten. Pays to shop around - don't jump at the first offer, regardless of what you paid.


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## Retire Hopeful (Apr 20, 2009)

Karen, I also have some silver coins to sell and I found prices on line for a place in Vancouver called J&M. If I am reading it correctly, it looks like they will give you more than Vancouver Gold but they are not always buying. They also have 2 locations in Vancouver. I think the site is J&M.com


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I will certainly check with several dealers before I sell the coins, including both Gatewest and J & M. Thanks to both of you.


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## v_tofu (Apr 16, 2009)

too bad you're in Vancouver, or I would have bought them off of you 

www.coinflation.com is a good site to determine melt worth of coins depending on what spot price is that day.


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

Karen said:


> I phoned a company called Vancouver Gold, and was surprised that they gave me a quote over the phone. They are paying $14.90 per $1 of face value. I checked for the exact face value of my coins and found it was $198, so they would pay me $2950.20 if I took them in today. Not a huge amount in the overall scheme of things but a nice little bonus considering I paid about $400 for them, and I had forgotten I had them for many years.
> 
> Thank you again for your advice.


Just out of curiosity, what's the annual ROI on that?

EDIT: I googled hunt brothers... so that would have been late 70s, early 80s. If we say 1980, that's around 6.7%.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

Good question Barwelle! Your estimate is probably pretty close. That's not a bad ROI for me, who has been extremely cowardly with my money all these years. I don't remember what it was that made me decide to do something so uncharacteristicly adventuresome at that time!

V tofu, thanks for the link. I'll contact them when I decide to sell. Right now, I'm beginning to think maybe I should hang on to them for a while.


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

No problem! I like to see how things compare as an investment. I'm sure some people "lose" money by buying collectibles because, when they sell them, their return on investment doesn't even beat inflation! Even if they think they made money because they sold it for more than they bought it. Yea, 6.7% ain't bad if you're pretty conservative.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

Coins are the worst way to hold silver, when buying you pay HST and also a coin premium and then, as Karen has found out, you need to find someone to buy them.

SLV/NYSE is the best choice for those who want to play the Silver Market.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I certainly wouldn't be buying silver coins in 2011 but these were bought thirty-some years ago, and I just recently remembered I had them when I was thinking about the silver price being so high. It was rather a nice surprise! And it seems I won't have any trouble getting rid of them - it's just that I'm having second thoughts about whether I want to get rid of them. Since I had long ago forgotten about the original $400 I spent, maybe I'll just hang on to them and see how high they go.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Whatever you do, make sure you do not put it into an envelope and send it off to someone who guarantees you the best price (How could they possibly do this even if they intended to).

One of those companies made the mistake of advertising that they were a public company. So I looked them up and took a read of their latest income statement. Something like 88% gross margins. What that means is, if you assume that it costs maybe 2% to pay for postage, evaluation and melting of the gold, etc., that only left 10% to pay for all the gold received. So the morons that sent them their gold were only getting 10% (about US$140 per ounce) of what it was worth. Since gold is money, that is like sending them a $10 bill and being happy with the loonie that comes back in the mail.

Their symbol was MFGD but they appear to have delisted the company so I suspect they realized that what they thought was a plus (being a public company, somehow portraying trust) was actually a drawback (public disclosure of business practices).


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

LOL Eagle - that's a great post hahaha. Very informative! Yeah I often wonder about those commercials I see on TV saying how easy it is for us to send in our gold and they'll send back a bubble mailer for us to send them our gold. But hey, you can get shipment tracking and status - it must be safe!

Unfortunately, these scams exist because they work.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

I am hearing about more people buying silver, My Sons buddies are buying silver, this is a clear sign of a top.

Sometimes it is better to lock in the gains.?


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

OPTS, I went to a home party that was quite ingenious. It had one of these places that you could bring in your old gold jewerly, the person would inspect, and cut you a check on the spot. Then there were other home party consultants, so you could spend the money. I thought it was the worst idea in the world, but can't believe how many people thought it was great to get rid of their old jewelry, to be able to buy more stuff right away.

They were offering it seemed less than 1/3 of what it was worth in terms of metal content. I have pure 24K gold jewerly, I think it was offered about $300-$400 oz. I brought it just for fun, but I was surprised how many people didn't care.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

Thanks for all the advice - I certainly won't be sending it anywhere in the mail - or selling it at a home party! And I know you're right, Howard, about locking in a profit, and I may decide to do that. On the other hand, maybe I'll go against my cowardly nature and tuck it away again where I had it hidden all these years.

I'll let you all know what I get for it if I decide to sell. I've really appreciated all your thoughts on the subject.


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## v_tofu (Apr 16, 2009)

I'm Howard said:


> Coins are the worst way to hold silver, when buying you pay HST and also a coin premium and then, as Karen has found out, you need to find someone to buy them.
> 
> SLV/NYSE is the best choice for those who want to play the Silver Market.


Interesting. But what happens to those holding SLV demand physical delivery?

need to find someone to buy? My coin dealer can't even keep stock for longer than a week!


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