Silver Eagles - Missed It By That Much

Although entirely possible, I really didn't think that the January 2012 final number of Silver Eagles minted would top the January 2011 number of 6,422,000. And it didn't. The 2012 number came in at 6,107,000. Missed it by 315,000 but it was/is still an impressive number. In February of 2011, that number was cut in half (3,240,000) and with only 710,000 Silver Eagles minted so far in February 2012, they will be lucky to make it to the half way mark of January's total.

I want to talk a little about bags of junk silver. When I first started selling precious metals in 2003, spot silver was hovering around $6.00 an ounce. With a full bag of junk silver dimes, quarters or half-dollars considered to contain 715 ounces of silver, a full bag ($1000 face value) could be had for approximately $4300.00. The old-timers (the sales staff that had been around for 20+ years) talked about how the company was buying back bags of silver for $35k when silver hit $50 an ounce. I was impressed by that talk. Back then I didn't think it was possible again in my lifetime. Now I do.

I just visited a site that is offering for sale: a full bag of 90% junk silver dimes, quarters or half-dollars for $24,700 with spot silver at $33.65. That works out to be about $.90 cent premium over spot. That might be a little steep for many budgets BUT they are also offering half-bags for $12,405. That is 357.5 ounces of silver at $1.05 premium over spot. BUT WAIT! You can also get a quarter-bag for $6265. That's 178.75 ounces of silver at $1.40 premium over spot silver. THERE'S MORE! They offer a tenth of a bag ($100 face value) for $2531. That's 71.5 ounces of silver with a premium of $1.75 over spot. Still too much? Finally you can buy one- twentieth of a bag ($50 face value) from this company for $1276.50. That is 35.75 ounces of silver at $2.05 premium over spot.

I really like junk silver and if you are shopping for bags or partial bags of junk silver, this should give you a good idea of competitive prices. Some dealers also offer junk silver bags of silver dollars (Peace or Morgan) but a full bag of those contain 765 ounces of silver. You can find out more about junk silver bags at Junk Silver Bags.

Thanks for reading.