1960's pricing question

erwindoc

Anyone have any idea what common date silver dollars sold for back in the 60's? Its a bit before my time and Im not sure how to research the question.

astrorat

What grade?

RedTiger

Several old timers have told stories of getting bags at face value. Not every bank had them, and quality and dates varied widely. So to answer the question $1. Dealers might have sold some commons for like $1.25 to $2, and of course the key dates did trade for much more. As for grades, keep in mind that there were only maybe five grades used back then, and Uncirculated might translate to cleaned AU today to MS63 to MS67, with the majority in the middle (MS63/64) because those were the more common coins.

mayor1

In 1969 I bought common solid date Bu rolls right out of the bags from Larry Nunemaker ( Indiana dealer) for $60 a roll. Bill.

DorkGirl

I still have some of my dad's coin envelopes that have $2 on them.

291fifth

Most common dates in anything less than Unc. were face value items. Many common Uncs. brought only slight premiums. Morgan and Peace Dollars were not popular until the great Treasury release of 1962-3 created a groundswell of interest.

DorkGirl

Early 60's they were still circulating. Now and then my dad would get them in payment for gas.

BillJones

Back to circa 1973 an old time bourse dealer told me that he had a source where he would get a bag of 1,000 silver dollars at fact value circa 1961. He would go through them and pull out the better dates. Then he would let someone else take them off his hands for 98 cents apiece or something like that. It was easier to do that than haul them around.

As to retail prices, the number $1.25 apiece sticks in my brain. There really was not much value to the common dates in BU condition. That was as fine as the grading got because coins were either Unc. or Gem. Since these dollars were not worth that much, and people were not nuts over grades, you could have gotten Gem quality coins for no premium, but you had to pick them out yourself.

As to gold, I used to buy the "Gem Uncirculated" common date gold pieces for a few dollars over the "BU" price. The difference was something like $45 for a $10 Liberty to $47.50 in "Gem." When I had the coins graded 30+ years later they ranged from MS-63 to 65. That extra 2.50 to $5 really paid off!

cladking

All through the '60's the wholesale price on almost all silver dollars was $1.

Obviously better dates brought more but most of the dollars available were the circulated
stuff that was around back when you could always get them at the grocery (pre-'64) or bags
that had been released enmass in 1963. Of course by the end of the decade the silver price
exceeded the face value so wholesale increased around mid-1968. While the BU bags were
around they were not readily available and it would require a premium to buy them after '66
or so.

Through the '70's you could buy them anywhere for 2 to $4 each and they hadn't been pick-
ed over yet. People were going gaga for Morgans (peace to a lesser extent) all the way back
starting in the mid-'60's but there was almost no attention being paid to grade until 1977 or
so. Even in '79 when silver started exploding you could buy Morgans as they came at $4 or
pickout gems for $5. Most all the the ones you saw had been dipped because they had sat
in canvas bags for many decades and people wanted their coins blast white. You hear stories
of dealers who bought dip in 55 gallon drums and I doubt they are exaggerated.

In the '80's it was a new ball game with a run on high grades early and again late in the de-
cade. Premiums for silver dollars became substantial and even common dates in unc could
have a 100% premium to melt. Junk usually had a 25% premium but this varied somewhat
with the type of junk and the highly variable silver price through the decade.

Silver dollar collecting took off in the mid-'60's and grew larger each time more were released.

streeter

I was trading my pocket change for silver dollars in 1961 and was selling the dollars to MARKS Coin Shop in San Jose for $1.07 ea.

Tiny

Don't know about silver dollars but when I was like 10 or 11 around 1960 I got my Dad to take me to a
coin show and asked him to buy me a 20 dollar gold coin and he said he wasn't going to buy it for $35.00
it was foolish. hehe

cladking

<< <i>I was trading my pocket change for silver dollars in 1961 and was selling the dollars to MARKS Coin Shop in San Jose for $1.07 ea. >>



Around here you could get them at the grocery or the bank. They weren't used
but were available. People did search for dates and most were lightly circulated
with an occasional highly or moderately circulated coin.

Perhaps in you area the dollars weren't searched as heavily so better dates could
be found?

cladking

<< <i>
Perhaps in you area the dollars weren't searched as heavily so better dates could
be found? >>



Of course in that area there might be alot more CC and S mints. And Marks might have had a big buyer for them.

LindeDad

Any body else also remember what a new car cost back then. In other words a dollar then is worth about a C-note today.

CaptHenway

In the late 60's common dollars were $1.25 u-pickem out of a bin on the dealer's coin show table.

At the 1971 ANA Convention in Washington, D.C., a dealer with three BU rolls of 1880-P dollars let me pick 20 pieces out of the three rolls for $60 total. I got 17 pieces of the minor overdate (VAM-10?) that I later sold for $10 each as VAM-10's. The coins were Gems!

TD

DaveG

Depending on what specific information you're looking for, numismatic publications from the 1960s are readily available and all of them have dealer ads in them.

RichieURich

I found a dealer's ad in my Dad's papers from mid-1955. Unc. 1885-CC Morgan dollars were $55 per ROLL!

golden

In the early 1960's I got Silver Dollars at the bank to take home to look for the dates that I needed.When I finished I took the rest back to the bank. In 1968 I bought 600 from a banker for either $1.50 OR $1.75.In that lot were 2 1889-CC's in VG.

AUandAG

My coin collectors digest from fall of 1964 has common Morgans $1.25 to $1.65.
Some better dates are:

80cc, $19-22
81cc, $45-52
82cc and 83cc's, $6.20 to 7.15
85cc, $28.50 to 33.00
89cc, $72.50 to 82.50
93s, $72.50 to 82.50
94, $47 - 55
99, $14.25 to 16.50

Peace dollar only six are listed:
1921, $9.50 - 11.00
26d, $2.40 to 2.75
27d, $6.20 to 7.15
28, $59 -69.50
34s, $9.50 to 11.00
35s, $3.80 to 4.40

These are all Unc prices. Common Peace are face. Super common Morgans were face.


bob