War Nickels contain more Ag than any U.S. coin ever....
VanHalen
Posts: 3,993 ✭✭✭✭✭
....including ASE! $1 face in War nickels contains 1.125 troy ounces of silver.
I just noticed this today after years of handling 35%, 40%, 90%, and .999 silver. I realize they are tough to melt and not highly desireable, but I never realized war nickels contained more silver per $1 face than any U.S coin ( and likely any coin ever) minted.
I just noticed this today after years of handling 35%, 40%, 90%, and .999 silver. I realize they are tough to melt and not highly desireable, but I never realized war nickels contained more silver per $1 face than any U.S coin ( and likely any coin ever) minted.
0
Comments
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
But at the time silver was cheap, and had no strategic value other than as a conductor used as windings in the generators built for the Manhattan Project.
<< <i>Right. A warnik contains approx. 70% as much silver as a 90% dime.
But at the time silver was cheap, and had no strategic value other than as a conductor used as windings in the generators built for the Manhattan Project. >>
right
What happened was a trade where a buyer sent me 35% nickels instead of 90%. I immediately contacted the buyer and let them know I was "shorted" and we came to a somewhat unamicable agreement.
I understand they are less desirable and less salable but how much less? I said on $4.50 face they owed me another $30 to make up the difference and they were not too happy about that. I expected 90% and didn't get it but did get an equivalent amount of silver.
What would you have done?
I'm not buying the difficult to melt routine, I think its a crock. Why would the be a need to melt them if the bags just trade back and forth?
Who are these mysterious people that melt 90% or 40% or warnickles anyway? I bet the refiners just bag them up and sell them .
<< <i>I'm not buying the difficult to melt routine, I think its a crock. Why would the be a need to melt them if the bags just trade back and forth?
Who are these mysterious people that melt 90% or 40% or warnickles anyway? I bet the refiners just bag them up and sell them . >>
The people who do refining for a living disagree with you.
http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=42&threadid=888643
It seems like yesterday we were discussing the low end protection that 40% halves offer. This was a much more interesting play when silver was just a few bucks and ounce. You literally had nothing to lose owning 40%. With .14792 ounces of silver per $.50 piece, it takes roughly 6.75 40% halves to make an ounce. That's $3.375 face value per ounce of silver. If silver dipped below $3.375 an ounce, you could spend your 40% halves and not lose out.
Sure seems unlikely now. But stranger things have happened.
--Severian the Lame
<< <i>That was kind of the point I was making with my second post in that last war nickel thread:
http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=42&threadid=888643
It seems like yesterday we were discussing the low end protection that 40% halves offer. This was a much more interesting play when silver was just a few bucks and ounce. You literally had nothing to lose owning 40%. With .14792 ounces of silver per $.50 piece, it takes roughly 6.75 40% halves to make an ounce. That's $3.375 face value per ounce of silver. If silver dipped below $3.375 an ounce, you could spend your 40% halves and not lose out.
Sure seems unlikely now. But stranger things have happened.
the "downside protection due to face value" (in the event of severe deflation and declines in asset values) is one of the strong points of all legal tender bullion with a face value, such as of course 90%, 40%, and 35% old coins, as well as the ASE, AGE, and APE denominations. Heck, even the 5 oz. pucks will never be worth less than a quarter, no matter what happens in the future of metals prices
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
linky
<< <i>Since war nickels are the least popular way to hold U.S. silver coin, I expect that the melting rate for them has been higher than for 90% silver coins. >>
Doesnt this fly in the face of what you said in the previous war nickel thread ? You had the opinion little to no melting was or had taken place there but here it's higher than the 90% ?
<< <i>
<< <i>I'm not buying the difficult to melt routine, I think its a crock. Why would the be a need to melt them if the bags just trade back and forth?
Who are these mysterious people that melt 90% or 40% or warnickles anyway? I bet the refiners just bag them up and sell them . >>
The people who do refining for a living disagree with you. >>
so 7k & 8k gold cant be melted?... thats some bullsh!t story, they & u r tellin...
An ounce of 8k gold will net you $475. An ounce of war nickels will net you $8.
--Severian the Lame
<< <i>Low karat gold is still cost-effective to smelt--especially with gold at its current relatively high prices.
An ounce of 8k gold will net you $475. An ounce of war nickels will net you $8. >>
Don't confuse them with the facts!
Run them through a counter and sell them by the bag. There is very little work to that , especially if you can beat the price down by spinning some yarns about how hard they are to refine.
If I was a refiner I wouldn't melt anything but foreign coins and scrap jewelry or flatware , anything people would buy per bag I'd sell that way right out the back door.
$1 of 90% brings $17 +/- bid .
If you want to sell me warnics at 90% rate, please offer.
You read that right: if you have a bunch of crappy lousy war nickels, talk to me about buying them from you.
<< <i>Since war nickels are the least popular way to hold U.S. silver coin, I expect that the melting rate for them has been higher than for 90% silver coins. >>
<< Doesnt this fly in the face of what you said in the previous war nickel thread ? You had the opinion little to no melting was or had taken place there but here it's higher than the 90% ? >>
What I said in the previous thread was, "At the moment, war nickels (like most other silver coins) are bringing premiums above refined value, hence little or no melting is taking place." Present tense. However, in the past, there have been massive melts of both war nickels and 90% silver. I believe the melt rate (in the past) was higher for war nickels than for 90%, since war nickel rolls and bags are much less popular with silver stackers than 90% silver rolls and bags.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
<< <i>I realize they are tough to melt and not highly desireable........ >>
They aren't difficult to melt but the alloy used is very difficult to refine which is a different process. The alloy used (especially the manganese) and the low silver fineness of war nickels makes it an expensive process to extract the silver and produce 999 fineness silver.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
A lot of these coins have been melted and mixed with alloy to make items of
low grade silver like some solders and electrical contacts. There isn't any real
refining costs if you can use it as alloy.
No doubt a lot is refined as well.
I suspect if you hold these long enough there will be demand enough to get
almost full melt value but that might be decades yet.
<< <i>The best you can do wholesale with silver at $23.77 is about $41.60/ roll. ($1.04 @)
>>
Thanks for comments. Yeah, $1.04 ea at current melt was about how I valued them. 75% of melt or so. That's still 21X face and way more than I thought these brought.
They often bring full melt value on eBay but then I have to back out 15% for costs.