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Finding Junk Silver on Ebay - Tips and suggestions for New Zealanders

The best place to find junk silver, hands down, is ebay.com! Here is list of Ebay tips that you should for finding junk silver:

• Don't just search in the Coins category, look in the collectibles and antiques. Expand beyond coins, and you can find some deals!
• Don't forget to calculate shipping to New Zealand! USA sellers will have the best prices to New Zealand, followed by UK and Germany. Aussies and Canadians have extortionary shipping even though the currency is valued less than US or UK. I still haven't found any deals with Aussie and Canadian ebay dealers.
• Bid your highest price first. Why? Sometimes people will tend to move off bidding the closest it gets to the silver spot price. For instance I bidding for a roll of coins worth 40 usd, I am leading the bid at $38.00, my highest price. I am not interested in winning the auction, I am interested in getting a deal! Like minded people will realise that there is little room for a deal and move on to the next cheapest auction. I've won several auctions where it seemed like bidders have 'moved on'
• Don't get into bidding wars, unlike trademe.co.nz - there are plenty of coins to go around on Ebay.com - On trademe.co.nz you will notice that many coin sellers greatly inflate values even after shipping and exchange conversions. Ebay is the place.
• If you have items shipped from the USA - it can take 2 weeks to a month and half to receive them. Just be aware of this - the USA postal service, which is the cheapest option, is very inconsisent with delivery times.
• New Zealand Customs - try to keep your total purchase under $199NZD (now $130ish USD), I've need been confronted by customs taxes at this price. I've found American shippers to be very accomondating and often write the face value of the coins instead of the silver value. Remember to ask!
• Advanced searches are your best friend - Use it to find who ships to New Zealand and find coins within your budget!
• Be familar with the Coins. Eg, know that 1971 Eisenhower dollar only has silver if its minted in San Francisco! Do your homework and it will save you from stupid mistakes.

Canadian Junk Silver

I am not too familar with Canadian Junk Silver, but here is a general guide of Canadian Junk silver mintage:

Coin Silver Ounces

1920-1967 Dime 0.0599

1920-1967 Quarter 0.1499

1920-1967 Half Dollar 0.2999

1935-1967 Dollar 0.5997

Multiply the oz of silver with the current spot price of silver for the value.

For a more indepth look, read about Canadian Junk Silver Coins Here

I haven't bought any Canadian coins yet, but i'll keep you posted if I do.

How much silver is left in the earth?

Here are a few charts i've uploaded to show how much of Silver is left on the earth. We have less than 30 years left of silver left in the earth at todays silver consumption rates. This image was take from http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/04/26051202.jpg Click to enlarge image.

original image which show more resources, click to enlarge.

US War Nickels - 35% silver coins

During the Second World War, the USA need to use its Nickel and other alloys for the war cause. So during the war, the Nickel, or the five cent piece, was made of 35% silver, 56% copper and 9% Manganese. Production for the war Nickel began in 1942 and ended in 1945.

These are some of the cheapest investments in Junk Silver. Here are some unique facts about the War Nickel:

• War nickels have the largest Mint Mark of any coin featured on the back of the coin
• The coins tend to be darker and 'tarnish' easier than regular nickels
• Francis LeRoy Henning, a counterfeiter, tried to copy the 1944 War Nickel, but in doing so he forget the Mint Mark, therefore the fakes are easy to distinguish (and ironically of high value to collectors!)
• An error in minting the 1943/2 War Nickel - is a sought after war nickel
• There is an estimate that says 50-60% of all war nickels were lost to the smelters for their silver and copper contents. Read more about the great smelting of coins during the early 1980's here.
• Due to the small size and silver, its considered an excellent 'survivalist' coin.

Below is the list of years and Mintage of war Nickels:

Year Mintage

1942 P 57,873,000

1942 S 32,900,000

1943 P 271,165,000

1943 D 15,294,000

1943 S 104,060,000

1943/2 P unknown

1944 P 119,150,000

1944 D 32,309,000

1944 S 21,640,000

1945 P 119,408,100

1945 D 37,158,000

1945 S 58,939,000

For New Zealanders, this coin is an excellent entry into the Silver market. You can still pick up rolls of War Nickels very cheaply - check Ebay for the best deals (be sure to check postage as well, you should be able to have shipped to New Zealand for about 4 usd ($6.35 NZD).

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Coinflation.com - the first place to stop before buying Junk Silver

Coinflation.com shows the 'melt value' of junk silver coins from the USA. If you want to get the pure metal value of junk silver from the USA, this should be your primary stop. It doesn't have all the junk silver coins, but you'll find the most commonly sold ones.

Find the USA junk silver coin values here. This is probably the single most useful reference for American Junk Silver there is!

Common American Junk Silver Coins

The USA, by far, seems to have the most 'Junk Silver Around'. Here are some popular coins to look out for and their silver content:

• 1942-45 'War Nickel' - These are some of the best values you can pick up for 'Junk Silver' They contain 35% silver, so the content is lower than any other American junk silver coin, however you can buy rolls of this quite cheaply, below the melt value. I like this coin because its the cheapest entry into Junk Silver for New Zealand. Buy in Bulk!
• 1964-1970 - Kennedy Half Dollar. These are 40% silver - but because of their larger size, they contain more silver and more expensive than above war nickels. Hard to buy in bulk, and shipping charges to New Zealand are often the price of the coins themselves.
• 1971 - 1976 Eisenhower Dollar - San Francisco mint. The San Francisco mint produced 40% silver 1 dollar coins. Make sure the coin is stamped 'S' as other mints in the US produced the same coin during these years without silver content. These are Big Ol' American Sized coin, bulky and can be expensive to ship.
• 1916-1964 Dimes - These dimes (from 1916 - 1945 they are known as Barber dimes, 1946-64 they are Roosevelt dimes) have 90% silver. They are small coins, like above, buy in bulk!
• 1932-64 - Washington Quarters. We are getting into the mid-range junk. These coins are also 90% Silver. Rolls can be a bit pricy, but their still good deals to be had on the internet.
• 1916 - 1964 Half Dollars. During this time span their where 3 different designs (Standing Liberty: 1916-47, Franklin:1948-63, and Kennedy:1964) . Expensive to buy in rolls, however you can often find sets of 3 to 5 coins that are more within range.
• 1871 - 1935 Morgan Dollars and Peace Dollars. These are one of my favourite coins. Beware, there are alot of copies of this one around (I'll provide sites later so you can help identify 'fakes'. 90% silver. These are often sold by themself, lots are available. Often you can find good deals on these - sometimes below the silver content value. Morgans where produced 1878 - 1921; Peace Dollars (my favourite) where produced from 1922 - 1935.

This is not an exhaustive list of American Junk Silver but these are coins that are found commonly in the market place and are easily recognised.

A special note, if you are travelling to the USA - check your pocket change. Silver quarters, dimes and War nickels look identical to current currency. I've found several dimes, a few nickels and the odd silver quarter in my change.

Junk Silver in New Zealand

Hi everyone, this is my first post here - and as you can guess by the name of this blog its about Junk Silver.

First of all what is 'Junk Silver'? Junk silver are coins, usually circulated, that contain a high content of silver. These coins are commonly found and are more valued by hoarders for silver content than coin value.

In reality, 'Junk Silver', is not junk at all. It currently can still be bought below the 'melt value' of the metals it contains. Often coins can be purchased with expensive premiums that is associated with Bullion Silver (usually .9999 pure).

This blog is particularly aimed at New Zealanders - its the country where I live. I believe there is window of opportunity for Kiwis to purchase metals at good value now (as I am speaking the value of silver is hovering around 25NZD per ounce). This is of course on speculation that silver will skyrocket in the near future.

Silver, I believe, is more accessible to the average New Zealand investor than gold is. High premiums (there is 26% percent markup/premium on the local NZMints 1/4 coin) and customs charges of importing gold do not make gold a viable investment for most New Zealanders. Even for those looking for gold on popular sites such as trademe.co.nz will find that gold items (bullion or coins) often have extortionary values when compared to the market.

I don't fault sellers, much of the pricing has to do with New Zealand's isolation and small population. However, I hope to present ideas that are more within budget to small investors (which lets face it, most of us in the country are!). I aim to open, honest and fair in this blog. The fact is, I am using this blog as much as I can learn about Junk Silver and metal investment myself. So if you have insights and corrections - and by all means, differing viewpoints, please comment away!

Here are 4 reasons that make 'junk silver' a viable investment for New Zealanders:

Portability and Divisibility

Junk silver coins can be easily spent or traded in small amounts; this makes them popular for investors. These coins are still valuable even though they are fractional sizes of most bullion coins.

Low premiums/No Premiums:

Junk silver can often be bought for little or no premium over the spot price of silver

Legal tender

U.S. and Canadian junk silver remain legal tender, and maintain their face value regardless of the price of silver.

Recognition

Despite a mass smelting of junk silver in the 1980s, junk silver coins are still somewhat well-known, and may be less likely to have their value disputed than silver bars or rounds. Though rare, some silver coins can still be found in general circulation

Thanks so much!