Silver Dollar Coin Value
Want to know a silver dollar coin value for selling purposes? This page is a great place to start. There is other pages specifically about silver dollar prices for buying, and how / where to buy silver coins .
Let’s begin by learning what a silver coin is, and what is isn’t. In the terminology of coin traders a true coin is a round, minted piece of metal that used as a form of currency, and usually issued by a government. Examples of US minted silver coins are the Mercury Dime, 1932-1964 Quarter, 1916-1970 Half Dollar, Morgan Silver Dollar, and Peace Silver Dollar, just to name some of the more common ones.
A silver coin is not just every round silver thing with a design stamped on it. If the item is minted by a non-government entity, it is usually not called a coin, but rather it is called a silver round or silver bullion round. So, a silver coin is not the same thing as a silver round or silver bullion.
Now that we know what a silver dollar coin actually is, let’s talk about the value of silver dollars. All the silver coins called dollars are worth a lot more that a dollar in today’s market. Today the US dollar is issued in paper form, and also in coin form, but not in silver or any other precious metal. These modern dollar coins are made of cheap metals like zinc and brass, and their melt value is just is penny or two, so in essence they have no intrinsic value in the metals that they are composed of. If you want to own a coin that has real value then generally you must buy silver coins that are minted before 1965 or buy silver bullion.
A real silver dollar coin value, on the market, will never be less that its melt value. This means that any coin that contains silver won’t ever be worth less that the value of the weight of silver contained within it.
Silver coins are often valued by their collectability in terms of the face value, and all coins have some value to the contents of their constituent metals. Silver coins are of specific interest because silver itself is widely used and recognized as a valuable metal that has value in its beauty along with its uses in industry, medicine, and history, along with the numismatic value that collectors and investors are interested in. Investors are usually also considering the melt value of bullion a nd junk silver.
Take as a specific example the Morgan silver dollar which was minted in the US from 1878 to 1921 in the mints located in New Orleans, San Francisco and Carson City, then in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Denver. The Peace silver dollar is another example of American silver that maintains good value for collectable specimens. Even the coins that are badly worn still have an excellent chance of selling at greater than melt value simply because they are minted and therefore contain a known ratio of alloy in the coin. This fact alone makes junk silver bags an excellent investment for a people concerned with the future resale value of the coins since the silver dollar coin value cannot be below the melt value ever.
If the current 2010 economy changes like all economies will, silver stands to be a strong solid investment whether inflation or deflation happens. Some say that the price of silver is already severely depressed by intentional mechanisms and that this artificial relative deflation will reverse to a great extent or even disappear completely in the near future as many may flee fiat currency for real hard cash. Junk silver stands to be a winner if the US dollar weakens significantly. Just like any hard asset in times of sweeping monetary valuation change silver would most certainly be in high demand along with gold. Other less portable and valuable assets take second place to these timeless forms of money that are relatively simple to price.
Silver jewelry also maintains value quite well especially artwork grade pieces, but the melt value can be hard to determine requiring chemical tests in the absence of reliable markings placed by the maker. Melting jewelry for scrap reclamation can make the silver content of each piece to be irrelevant at the time of melting, as the purifier company can measure the actual silver content of the entire ingot you provide. As a note, you will want to probably have jewelry appraised before melting, unless you are certain that your piece is not a collectors piece.
If you have a United States quarter dollar coin (25 cents) that was minted in 1964 or earlier then it has actual silver content and is worth far more than its face value, even in terrible condition. Quarters minted after 1964 are clad tokens and do not contain precious metals. If your quarter is nice and unworn, with the details being clear and unworn then the value can become astronomically higher. The same goes for silver dollars and half dollars. During times of material shortages the mint has not produced coins of some denominations, or even minted them using metals other than usual e.g. tin. But for the most part all dimes up to dollar coins minted until 1964 are 90% silver with ten percent other metals to increase durability. These coins are always valuable and some are worth a small fortune. No matter what, a silver dollar coin value remains constant on some level. Check out silver dollar coin values at NGCCoin. Check PCGS’s silver coin values.