melting dimes?

I was at a coin dealers a few weeks ago. I saw a set of mercury dimes with 15 dimes I liked. While talking to one of the dealers about them, he said they would only become rarer as mercs are being melted for their silver.

A discussion ensued, with the gist being:

Are they really melting mercury dimes? Points to make it doubtful:

*They know exactly how much silver is in each dime, so why melt it? It's exchangeable the way it is.

*They have bigger fish to fry than mercury dimes. It does cost money to melt the stuff.

So, isn't it doubtful that mercury dimes are becoming scarcer because of melting?

 

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The melting of 90% silver coinage is dying, in my opinion... Only common, later-date (1940ish and later) Mercs in well-circulated condition would be melted these days.

 

Think about it like this: Your a dealer buying 1k face value bags @ 20X...who are you gonna trade it off to? Would you want to be the one holding the bag if the price drops to say 15X?...I'm sure some of it might get traded off, but I'm guessing a good bit gets melted too

 

Or the dealer breaks up the bag and sells to others?

 

Well, the 40's dimes are all common. So there not worth anything above melt.

 

Hmmm 1942/1, 1945 micro s all common well then give all you have of them to me!

 

This thread is sort of shocking me. How can someone possibly melt a Mercury Dime? I am being more serious than not. The idea sounds like something a penny would say.

Melt a Mercury? - insane.

Something from the 1940 melted? That was WWII. I could see it maybe if we were talking about culls, but then you could hardly tell it was a Mercury. What a nightmare.

 

I'm not entirely well acquainted with the refinement process, but as I understand it it requires some industrial chemicals (borax is one i believe), as well as the graphite ingots, crucibles, and other equipment necessary to process it all. However, if someone were to buy a 1000 90% halves for say 10,000 (10 bucks apiece is probably reasonable in bulk?) they'd have (in a perfect world) 361.69 troy. I'd estimate that at least 5% would be lost when skimming the crud/impurities off the top of the molten bar during the refinement process, if that's the case the person has 343.61 troy. They would break even selling at $29.10, this makes me believe plenty of people are doing this despite its illegality

As for melting mercuries.. that just seems preposterous? Why would someone melt mercs when there are myriads of halves, roosies, and other less 'rare' silver coins they could melt? As far as I'm concerned, a mercury is to an indian as a roosevelt is to a lincoln memorial. Mercs have a premium no matter their condition or year imo

Edit: Interested to see 'Merc Crazy's response

 

I like your comparison. Except I might have matched the Mercurys with the Indian Cents, The Roosies with Wheat Ears, the post 1964 Rossies with Pre-1982 Cents.

Just attempting to express how special those Mercs are. Your point was well taken.

Nice to see a little passion here!

 

In 1969, shortly after the melting of US silver coins became legal, I read an article in, I believe Coins magazine, in which the author recommended buying 1964 quarters because they were nearly all in excellent condition and they would be the first to go into melting pots. I promptly ordered 3 silver quarters from one of the back-of-the-magazine advertisers for $1.00, and requested that they all be 1964's. I'm sure the seller was more than happy to send me three '64s. Forty-one years later, the '64s still have no numismatic premium. LOL.

Mercury dimes were the first US coin that really fascinated me, way back when there were still a few that could be found in circulation (and Edie Adams was flipping a Mercury dime into the air in a Muriel Cigars commercial). But given the huge amounts that were minted in the '40s (more than a billion total from 1940-45), the worn common dates will always be plentiful, in my opinion.

 

They are worth at least 10 cents above melt. So if it takes ~1451 dimes to make a 100 oz silver bar (refined) then you have lost $145 in just face value of the coin. Since these dimes can always be sold for at least this I would say this would not be a true statement.

IMO, the dealer the OP was speaking to, was offering up an opinion and not a fact. It doesn't make economic sense to do this especially with the refining costs added in. These coins are easily bought and sold.

 

How do you figure?

 

Stab in the dark, but I'll say it's reliable premium rolls of '40's mercs fetch on auction sites?

 

Why would you refine coin silver into pure silver bars?

If you are holding physical silver as an investment - coin silver is just as liquid (probably more liquid) than refined bars. It is cheaper to trade than refined bars - no assey required. It is real money and therefore provides a monetary floor for your investment. If you are using silver in a commercial application - in most instances it is alloyed. Coin silver is produced to such strict tolerances that it is easily alloyed in its current physical state.

 

The melting could be happening, but I know a lot of what they refer to as "melt" simply means bullion value. There is a dealer near me who orders out of Texas bullion coins, and can specify merc's, WL, etc. He says that some areas of the country are selling, and other areas, like mine, are buying. He doesn't think much is physically getting melted, just changing owners. He does say he is seeing again, like in the early 80's, low grade barbers and a little better stuff in junk bags nowadays.

The dealer could be wrong, just reporting what he told me a week ago.

 

How do you figure common dimes are worth more than spot?

 

Offer me a roll of roosies and a roll of mercs, side by side, and I'll pay $5 extra for the Merc dime roll all day long.

 

No I would not melt any Dimes.





unless you want to pay more for one any year in Silver:yes:

 

Wow! A $1,000 premium per bag. That's a $1.40 premium per ounce of silver even assuming that they will weigh out with the rest of a bag. I had no idea that they sold for that high a premium. Walking Liberty halves sell for a 15 cent/oz. premium over mixed bags so they even have a big premium over those. I never would have guessed.

 

Oh, I'm not saying everybody will, but on a PER ROLL (Can't stress that enough) basis as a consumer, I'd pay $5 more. As a reseller, I'd offer the same as whatever I was offering for rolls of Roosies.

If we're talking bulk ($1000 face) I'd probably not offer a premium greater than 3 cents per.