Bummed

[BOIdaho]

I just got back from a couple of different places that buy gold and silver and was disillusion with the fact that some of my great finds are worthless as far as they are concerned. Some of the items I am not completely surprised but was hopeful they had some value. I would like some advice from the people who have been doing this for years. I know there is nothing I can do about what I now know is costume jewelry except give it away of just keep it; but the prices they want to pay for the gold is low and the silver is just ridiculous. The money I would get is probably going to buy more equipment, this is the only hobby I have had that almost pays for itself. This is the first time I have tried to sell any of my treasures, looking for words of wisdom.

 

[gregliss]

All your low grade siver coins can be sold as "bulk silver" also called "junk silver". Silver is selling at about USD$15.50 an oz. Here is a grab from another site, hope it helps:

Junk Silver Coins
Junk silver coins are silver coinage that has no real value to collectors but does have value as silver content.

The coins still have the value of the silver content which can be quite substantial.

Junk silver refers mainly to those coins minted pre 1964 or 65. Pre 1965 the amount of silver in silver coins was around 90%, after that date the amount of silver in each coin was reduced to around 40 percent or so, so it is a good idea, if you are accumulating silver this way, to stick to the pre 1965 coins.

Although there will be wear and tear on the coins, scratch marks nicks and the face worn, the silver content is still usually about 99.9 percent intact making these coins worth their silver content.

For those concerned with the future economic uncertainty these coins make an ideal hedge therefore.

You can get

 

[UtahRich]

Check some of the local coin shops. You can often buy and sell "junk silver" coins at much better prices than the corner 'check cashing, gold thieving, high grading' businesses.

 

[tvr]

Some costume jewelry is collectible and if not, may be desirable for the right person who likes the style. Someone bought it in the first place. If it is clean, recent junk sometimes brings a dollar or two at a yard sale or just give it to a kid who likes it.

Try going through these two threads. The first one is the shorter one. The second also has a lot of people's experiences, good and bad,
on selling metals.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,1081817
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,1140085

Cheers,
tvr

 

[Razorback]

Also have a look at Ebay for individual coins.

The first Coin Goose and I found was a 1968 5c. We laughed coz we thought... great its gonna take the rest of our lives to get anywhere at this rate. Turns out its worth as much as a couple of dollars and if it was mint.... $8

As it is, this is one of the reasons we are focussing pretty exclusively on the beach for now, more "currency" then once we feel like we know what we are doing and have some of the investment back, (and the weather cools down) we will go hit some public and private property sites we know that have a lot of history back to early 1800's.

As I was saying in another thread... having a modern $1 and $2 coin allows you to rack up some nice cash on modern change.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[BOIdaho]

Thanks for the great advise. Even though the buyers did not think much of my finds dollar wise, they can't take away the excitement of finding them.

 

[psyvad]

Several folks on the beach forums sell their gold and silver to Midwest Refineries and are very happy with the results. http://www.midwestrefineries.com/

 

[tvr]

psyvad,
follow the links to the findmall threads just above. The happiness with midwest has faded ... a lot.

 

[Larry (IL)]

A couple of alternative outlets for gold and silver is Ebay and your local family owned jewelry or store. You can usually get close to melt value by selling on Ebay and a little under melt in the jewelry stores but it is usually worth the small loss to get your money right away without the Ebay hassles. You are also building a good working relationship with them that could work to your advantage later when you need a quick professional opinion of your next gold find.

 

[Jesse W. McComas]

How about this, I sell Coins & Stamps on Ebay. When I get a lot of "Junk Silver Coins," I Lot them out on my Ebay site. The other day, I listed $12.00 Face Value in Silver Half's & 1 Silver Dollar, I paid $65.00 for them from my distributor and sold them for $148.00. I also sell junk gold I find this way as well. It works for me. Just a thought. HH...Jesse.