Selling Silver Coins You Have Saved All These Years

People selling silver coins is a familiar site to coin dealers worldwide. Activity of this kind really picks up as silver and gold markets move to new highs. Even when prices seesaw up and down during a major market, a steady flow common silver coins saved from years in the past moves from attics, basements, and old dresser drawers into the common bin at the neighborhood coin store.

Dealers buy these coins at some number times face value, and sell them at some higher number times face.

What is wrong with this picture? Nothing really. You get to unload a myriad quantity of coins you know are worth more to sell than to spend, with little more effort than the haul down to the local coin shop. As I write this, in the Fall of 2008, you should be able to get, say, seven times face value for your coins.

The coin dealer, depending on how he runs his business, may or may not search your coins for rare and scarce dates that he can sell at a premium. Even if he fails to do this he can still easily sell the coins into the junk silver market, or over the counter to those who feel that having a few of the old 90% silver coins may come in handy should the economy totally collapse.

But, if you have a bit more time to spend on the project, consider looking through your coins for the ones that may be worth more than mere bullion value. There are things you need to know about the silver coins your grandfather tossed into a jar so many years ago. It is not impossible that one or more of your coins is rare, and worth much more than melt value.

For example, did you know that:

During WWII the mint made silver nickels from 1942 through 1945. These have a large letter S, D, or P above the dome of Monticello on the back of each coin. These letters are mint marks that stand for San Francisco, Denver, and Philadelphia.

The scarce dates among Mercury Dimes, the dimes where Lady Liberty appears to have wings in her hair, are the 1916-D, 1921, and 1921-D.

Even Washington Quarters can command a premium, especially the 1932-D.

Any Liberty Standing Quarter with a clear, four digit date would be better sold on eBay than turned in as junk silver.

The scarce dates among Liberty Walking Half Dollars are 1916, 1916-S, 1921, 1921-D, and 1938-S.

Who knows, by taking the trouble to look over your coins before you hustle them out the door, you may find them interesting. They are, after all, artifacts from your family history. What do you suppose was purchased when each of these coins was received in change?

Do be careful. You may become interested. You may become interested enough to save some of these coins, putting them into collector albums. Before you know it, you're a coin collector.

Then there is no hope for you.