Silver crossed an interesting milestone recently. Now one dollar in so-called “junk silver” U.S. coins costs more than $30.
“Junk silver” refers to U.S. dimes, quarters and half dollars minted before 1964. They’re only called “junk” because they have no numismatic value and are sold solely for silver content.
These pre-1964 coins are 90% silver and weigh 25 grams per dollar in face value. So 10 dimes, for example, weighed 25 grams when minted. Theoretically those 10 dimes contain 22.5 grams of silver – or about 0.723 troy ounces – but because they’ve been circulated, most dealers assume they weigh 0.715 troy ounces.
Or, to look at it another way, if you have $1.40 worth of these coins, that amounts to about one ounce of silver.
Here’s a chart that shows the value of just one of these dimes since 1981:
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Coinflation| CALCULATING TODAY'S MELT VALUE (USD) |
Using the latest metal prices and the specifications above, these are the numbers required to calculate melt value:
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| | $44.94 | = | silver price / ounce on Apr 26, 2011. | | .90 | = | silver % | | $4.3299 | = | copper price / pound on Apr 26, 2011. | | .10 | = | copper % | | 2.5 | = | total weight in grams | | .0321507466 | = | ounce/gram conversion factor | | .00220462262 | = | pound/gram conversion factor (see note directly below) |
The NYMEX uses pounds to price copper and that means we need to multiply the metal price by .00220462262 to make the conversion to grams. The silver price is based in troy ounces and that means we need to multiply the metal price by .0321507466 to make the conversion to grams.
1. Calculate 90% silver value :
(44.94 × .0321507466 × 2.5 × .90) = $3.2509227424
$3.2509 is the rounded silver value for the 1946-1964 silver dime on April 26, 2011. This is usually the value used by coin dealers when selling these coins at melt value. However, the total melt value is continued below.
2. Calculate 10% copper value :
(4.3299 × .00220462262 × 2.5 × .10) = $0.0023862
3. Add the two together :
$3.2509227424 + $0.0023862 = $3.2533089424
$3.2533089424 is the total melt value for the 1946-1964 silver dime on April 26, 2011. |
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I first started buying junk silver in August 07. Over the next seven months I invested $3,108 of fed reserve notes. This morning, based on a spot price of $46.03, my holdings in silver are worth $9,873. That's a 318% increase in value, and I'm very pleased! My gold portfolio consists of 270 troy ounces, and it has done equally well.
ReplyDeleteGood job. I purchased $800 of 90% silver dimes when silver was around $12. Just wish I could have bought more.
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