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What melt gets ya now'days

WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum
My dealer gets lots of smaller family collections and also has a few "gleaners"--guys who rummage through garage sales, antique stores, even other dealer inventory looking for undervalued world silver. They buy cheap, flip it to him cheap, and he sends it to be refined.

I've just happened to stop by his shop a couple of times recently when he was getting ready to ship this material, sorted by silver content, to the smelter. The majority of this stuff and much more came from a bag marked .900 that I asked him to throw on the scale, sight unseen. It was a real thrill to savor pulling out these pieces and researching each one.

The UK trade dollar (with chop mark), and the 5 Mark & Manchurian pieces were bought on subsequent visits at melt, too.

image
We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
--Severian the Lame

Comments

  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    How that first baggie looked when I bought it:

    image

    It's not .900 fine, but I spied this little gem in another bag (.500?) and asked if he'd kick it in for free. He did image The toning is even more vivid in hand.

    image
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • SYRACUSIANSYRACUSIAN Posts: 6,461 ✭✭✭✭
    image


    I don't like you anymore. imageimageimage
    Dimitri



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    DPOTD 3
  • MockingjayMockingjay Posts: 121 ✭
    Makes you wonder what's actually being lost to a smelter. Hope they look before tossing them in.
  • PokermandudePokermandude Posts: 2,713 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Makes you wonder what's actually being lost to a smelter. Hope they look before tossing them in. >>



    Indeed. I bet quite a few world coins are simply tossed to the smelter, especially if that dealer doesn't do much world coin business. I can't imagine too many collectors walking into a USA shop asking for newfie silver.
    http://stores.ebay.ca/Mattscoin - Canadian coins, World Coins, Silver, Gold, Coin lots, Modern Mint Products & Collections
  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,564 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Newfies for melt? Dang, who is your dealer?
    Tir nam beann, nan gleann, s'nan gaisgeach ~ Saorstat Albanaich a nis!
  • WeissWeiss Posts: 9,941 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yep, this was just one small bag in one big box full of a whole slew of other bags, in one shipment from one really tiny shop in the midwest.

    I suspect a box like this has been shipped out from just about every coin shop every few weeks (or months anyway) for the last few decades.

    IIRC, the Russian piece might actually have a fair amount of value over melt. That is if I graded it anywhere near accurately.

    Close-up of some of the pieces:


    image

    image


    image

    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
  • ZoharZohar Posts: 6,652 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thats very cool!
    Habsburg Talers
    Taler Custom Set
    Ancient Custom Set


  • scotty1419scotty1419 Posts: 928 ✭✭✭
    I really like the mexican and German 5 mark pieces a lot.

    Nice finds!
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