regular 90% vs barber 90% junk?

calleocho · February 26, 2009 7:48AM

I have slowly been adding some barber halves instead of regular 90% ( mercs , wash, kennedys)

I will usually trade $13 face of regular 90% for 10$ face of barber halves.

This its not VG coins by any means ...just barber junk.

I feel i could protect my downside by adding a " a little" numismatic interest and if silver does to to 50$ bucks i would still do more than OK regardless.

what do you guys think?

I am not talking massive quantities , just about $10 face of barbers a month.

Coll3ctor · February 26, 2009 7:57AM

If the barbers are "junk" then it's all the same to me.

cars · February 26, 2009 8:26AM

I hightly doubt we'll ever see $50 silver.
As for the barbers they less silver and when you go to sell will result in less money for you as most places pay by weight and not blank Times face. Better to stick with newer unworn 90% IMO.

calleocho · February 26, 2009 8:40AM

rolls of barbers do sell for a larger premium on ebay...at least right now.

RedTiger · February 26, 2009 8:47AM

$13 to $10 is about the going rate ($6.50 for an average circ Barber half vs. $5 melt value for a Franklin). If you like the Barbers, that's reason enough. If silver goes way up, regular 90% will do better.

roadrunner · February 26, 2009 9:11AM

I don't see much numismatic in AG barbers that will end up being melted anyways. Most are nasty looking and as someone already mentioned, have less silver. BU rolls as well as BU Morgans will be going into the pot someday again as well. If I had my choice I'd prefer Good-VF circ Walkers over the AG Barber halves.

roadrunner

Weiss · February 26, 2009 10:29AM

I've got a little of both. I'd rather have BU '64 kennedys or AU/BU frankies than AG/G barbers. I was lucky enough to get several rolls of crazy BU frankies @ xface not too long ago. Best of both worlds: Collector value and maximum silver weight.

I personally don't see any real numismatic value in AG/G or even VG barbers. They're in rolls for a reason.

calleocho · February 26, 2009 11:21AM

Why cant i find barbers halves closer to spot then?

maybe its just the coin collector in me then ...i just think there its something cool about a coin thats over a century old.

If anyone is insterested i will happily trade your old barbers halves for franklins.

Weiss · February 26, 2009 11:37AM

That's totally your preference, and if you like it nobody can tell you not to.

But to me, at least, it's not a good deal if it's not a good deal. I've gotten rolls of F-XF+ walkers at xface in the past. I thought that was really cool. And even though I'm not a Frankie fan, I love the choice BU rolls of frankies I got at xface.

But those are best of both world scenarios. Collector quality and maximum silver, all at xface junk prices.

It seems as if you're going for a worst of both world scenario. Questionable collector interest with metal loss, and the worst part is that you're paying a significant premium for it. Doesn't make sense to me. But it doesn't have to. If you like it, it's all good.

Norseman88 · February 26, 2009 12:57PM

I would agree that AG/G barbers aren't worth the hassle but if you're talking about G/VG or VG barbers they sell for a premium and bring a premium both buying and selling.

cars · February 26, 2009 1:53PM

<< <i>

If anyone is insterested i will happily trade your old barbers halves for franklins. >>

What kind of deal is that? You already told everyone you'll give $13 for $10 lol

TwoSides2aCoin · February 26, 2009 3:27PM

It's never a good deal numismatically until you step away from the junk.

pennyholic · February 26, 2009 3:47PM

Well let me shed some light on this. I collect junk silver and coins and I have filled many of books looking through dealers silver bins. There is nothing wrong paying a premium for Barbers as I have to fill a book. I have paid 14 times for AG and have gotten many somewhat rare ones. I am only missing a couple of coins from each album starting with Mercury Dimes to Peace dollars from searching through silver bins. Yes when it is all said and done and my family sells my coins they may not be worth that much but I only paid melt on almost all of them. So collect what you want and for me it was the hunt to try to complete a set minus the keys for melt. I have not paid more then 20 bucks for any coin and yet have complete sets of Roosie and Franklins, missing three from Mercury, two Washingtons, six from WLH and lots of CC from the morgans and several from the peace dollars. Regarding Barbers I have many dimes through halves that fill several albums that look pretty nice all matched in AG.

Overdate · February 26, 2009 5:07PM

Back in 1979-80 many Barbers went to the melting pot. Dealers were paying the same for AG Barbers as for any other 90% silver coins. The weight difference is apparently not all that great - see second post from the bottom.

ttown · February 26, 2009 9:25PM

If your collecting AG barbers are fine. If your buying silver 90% junk is better. If silver takes off your 3/4 roll of barbers will be weighed for the price of silver and you'll come out the loser. Buying semi-keys/keys are one thing but common date barbers will come back to bite you when you want to sell if silver is high.

pennyholic · February 27, 2009 1:13AM

On the average the Barber Halves weigh about .10 grams less or about .46 cents with silver at 13.00. If you pay a premium on those coins over melt you are over a buck in the hole on each coin alone. This figure can add up to some serious dollars in large quanities, if you buy them for their silver content.

Norseman88 · February 27, 2009 1:40AM

I've gotten some good dates buying barbers for a little more than kennedies, Washington quarters etc. Got an original 1904-s half in G/VG, 1896-0, 1897-s, 1901-0 Barber quarters in G, have gotten 5 1905-0 micr o dimes too.

gecko109 · February 27, 2009 1:45AM

<< <i>On the average the Barber Halves weigh about .10 grams less or about .46 cents with silver at 13.00. If you pay a premium on those coins over melt you are over a buck in the hole on each coin alone. This figure can add up to some serious dollars in large quanities, if you buy them for their silver content. >>

I dont think your numbers add up. If silver is $13/oz, and the coins weigh .1 gram less, than that is just 4 cents worth of silver. Therefore, the actual difference in silver value on a roll of AG Barbers vs a roll of UNC Kennedys is just 80 cents.

pennyholic · February 27, 2009 1:58AM

Gecko you are right, that decimal point always drifts the wrong way....thanks

sumrtym · February 28, 2009 1:16AM

This raises a REALLY interesting point to me then and leads me to maybe make a proposal which maybe I ought to make in a separate thread.

Would there be anyone here on the forum that would like a deal to increase their silver in terms of 90% year after year? Typically our metal detecting club uses >100 ounces of 90% silver coin for our Annual Hunt each year. If someone who was making a stash of 90% that only cared about amount of silver and would make a good deal on exchanging Barbers to Roosevelts / Washingtons (by this I mean a percentage weight like 5-10%, etc.), it could be really mutually beneficial to BOTH on a YEARLY basis. They could increase the amount of silver they hold and our club members could have older coin designs for the hunt plus, depending on the exchange rate, a certain number increase in targets as well. Let me know what you think by pm or this thread.

TomB · March 1, 2009 12:10AM

I would not pay a premium for low grade Barber coinage if my intent was to buy and hold silver as a hedge or for growth. Mercs and WLHs in VF, Franklins in AU or Roosevelts, JFKs and WQs in AU/MS are better plays in this market at closer to bullion and would likely be more liquid at or near the price paid than would be low grade Barber coinage.

illini420 · March 1, 2009 2:45AM

I will pay a little more for junk Barbers, but not significantly more. Even if it's just for the silver. I just like the design and I have fun going through them to see if I can fill any holes in my albums and that is worth a little extra. Also, I know that when I go to sell that it's very likely that some other Barber fan will pay me a little premium as well.

I usually try to go for Barber Quarters as I like those best, but Barber Halves are good too. I try to avoid the dime though, unless they are very close to the same price as Roosevelts/Mercurys, they are just so tiny

sumrtym · March 1, 2009 3:31AM

I'm taking a poll of our membership in our club now to see whether it's acceptable to them to do a trade in our hunt silver for barbers. Just for the record for anyone might be interested if they approve, we would need mostly dimes.

regular 90% vs barber 90% junk?

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