I see auctions on eBay for this stuff by the pound but since junk is only 90%, I'm not sure how to figure how many toy ounces that is. Can someone help me out please?
http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html Check this link out. Think you'll find it quite helpful and up to date
Silver Dollar - .774 troy pure silver. Silver Half Dollar- .36 troy ounces pure. Silver Quarter .18 troy ounces pure. Silver Dime .072 troy ounces pure. You basically need a silver dollar, and a silver quarter, to get a troy ounce of pure silver.
That site is nice but these auctions are mixed coins. Any way to figure it out considering the Lots contain dimes, quarters, halves?
The real question is what kind of pound are they using, troy or avordupois(sp)? For junk silver, and dollars are not junk silver, you should use .715 X spot price X dollars of face value. Simply stated, if spot is $27.50, take 27.5 x .715 and you should be at 19.6625 per dollar of value of the coins. The calc of .715 is what is commonly used for junk circulated US coinage, .7244 is used for uncirculated, and you're in little danger of buying that for close to or under spot. Some will tell you about how they lucked out and bought some for that, but I wouldn't count on getting that deal on a regular basis, it's not realistic.
It sounds a bit scammy if they're using an odd or non-standard weight method, but this could be your friend...so could google http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/conversions/weight.php
www.silvercoinstoday.com Go to the silver calculator and put in the coins in the auction. It will tell you how many ounces of silver and the spot price.
Seems to me that you need to know what KIND of ounce or pound is being discussed. I have seen junk silver sellers use the AV Oz in their sales, but don't tell you outright, instead they put it in little print at the bottom of the ad. There is a big difference, and you need to know which measurement is being used first and foremost. The rest is easy cheezy.
Dimes, quarters, and 90% halves all use the same amount of silver content in relation to face value, so there is no real trick to mixing and matching those, so long as you know the end face value of all the coins added up. It's war nicks, 40%, and silver dollars that can skew the results if added in.
With the site that I posted, it doesn't matter what ounce the seller is using. It just tells you how much silver is in the coins and the current value of the silver. Even has War Nickels and 40% halves in the calculator. Just enter the coins in and you'll know what the value is and can bid accordingly.
A Scam? Unless otherwise stated, you can generally expect exactly what is offered, namely one pound of Silver coins as you would weigh on your bathroom scale. I don't know why buyers expect anything other than that when occasionally the coins are shown with the offered weight on the scale face. If the auction doesn't state troy ounces of Silver content, one should expect that which is described. No more, no less. Is the auction dishonest, not legally. The buyer should expect to convert from Avoirdupois to Troy, and factor out the 10% Copper, as some have partially described in this thread. I recommend not using the Coinflation calculator as that is based on uncirculated coins, but I've found it to be within 3% of actual weight/value for circulated coins. A buyer could expect 14.583 Troy oz. of coin. or 13.125 Troy oz. of Silver per pound offered, but the standard for circulated 90% Silver dimes through halves is 715 oz. Silver content per $1000 face, or .715 Troy oz. per dollar face value. I believe the conversion process, and the various charts offered are deceiving/confusing, not generally intended for the uninformed or arithmetically/mathematically challenged. :thumb:
I just weighed some of my silver coins on my horrible, inaccurate, and old kitchen scale. 20 Franklin halves split pretty evenly between very little to no wear to a decent amount of wear were weighed at 8.5 avoirdupois ounces. That converts to 241 grams. Coinflation would say 20 Franklin halves should weigh 250 grams or 8.8 avoirdupois ounces, for a -3.6% error. 40 silver Washington quarters -- about 30 are in good shape with little wear, the other 10 are quite worn -- weighed in at 8.75 avoirdupois ounces. That converts to 248 grams. Coinflation says they should weigh 250 grams or 8.8 avoirdupois ounces, for a -0.8% error. 30 well worn but not awful silver Roosevelt dimes and 5 well worn but not awful Mercury dimes weighed in at 3 avoirdupois ounces. That converts to 85 grams. Coinflation says they should weigh 87.5 grams or 3.1 avoirdupois ounces, for a -2.8% error. All told, they weighed 20.25 avoirdupois ounces, or 1.26 pounds, or 574 grams. Coinflation says they should weigh 587.5 grams or 20.72 avoirdupois ounces, for a -2.3% error. So imrich is spot on with the 3% error figure for Coinflation's numbers. None of my coins, however, are badly worn or slicks, so I wouldn't be surprised if those are up to 5% off.
Ebay has a method of asking the seller questions. Just post your question on whether it's troy weight or not and look for the answer or lack of. It becomes part of the auction page. IMO, it's better to advertise these sorts of things in terms of total face value (for American silver coinage) or metric weight.
A "Catch 22" Condition It would seem logical that buyers would accept "face value" as a reasonable measure of exchange value when provided in an auction, but recent experience in a large volume 90% Silver coin auction provided a differing enlightenment. Buyers have come to accept the Coinflation (and others) charts as gospel for conversion of Silver content/value. Generally, they are intended for uncirculated coinage, as is the 715 Troy ounces per $1000 face value 90% dimes to halves rule. Buyers are often weighing coins with accurate scales and Tare weights to determine Silver content received, and are surprised that circulated coins weight don't match the published charts that generally don't have a clarifying statement about coin condition. I recently sold $100 face of advertised/delivered VG to VF condition 90% Silver dimes @ 20 x Face, receiving a positive feedback stating the coins to be more than 1% deficient in weight, and thus Silver content. After weighing lots of various condition coins, it was realized that the charts/rules are generally logically for uncirculated condition coins. My auctions now state both face value and the anticipated average deviation from published information concerning 90% Silver coinage. I weigh lots received/delivered from/to others and find that dealers commonly use face value when selling, and weight when buying, but often offer weight in auction, knowing the common use of published inaccurate data. Just My Humble Experience :thumb:
