In 1963, Silver was 1.29 per. ounce...

joeykoins

What in the world was the common public thinking? If Silver was 1.29 per. ounce back then, wouldn't one think that even though a low amount of money per ounce, wouldn't the public (esp. the coin collecting public) have hoarded and melted these coins back then? Even a quarter would be worth melting for a profit. Wouldn't it? or is it just me thinking this? Esp. when Silver hit the $2 or $3 dollar mark! You know they weren't doing this because of the fact that most of these coins are still around, thank goodness.

BigA

At $1.29 the silver value of a quarter would be around 23 cents.... and:



<< <i>1963 is well remembered in the world history as the time when President Kennedy was murdered. As compared to present times, in 1963 commodities were a little bit cheaper, as the prices of most commodities have skyrocketed since then. Back then the prices of commodities varied depending on whether they were consumer or, industrial goods. For example, back then the price of a house was approximately 12,650 dollars and the price of gas per gallon was 29 cents. >>

MGLICKER

<< <i>What in the world was the common public thinking? If Silver was 1.29 per. ounce back then, wouldn't one think that even though a low amount of money per ounce, wouldn't the public (esp. the coin collecting public) have hoarded and melted these coins back then? Even a quarter would be worth melting for a profit. Wouldn't it? or is it just me thinking this? Esp. when Silver hit the $2 or $3 dollar mark! You know they weren't doing this because of the fact that most of these coins are still around, thank goodness. >>



...and many were being hoarded, that is why the Mint went clad.

ambro51

Don't kid yourself. Sharpies pulled silver as soon as they knew clad was replacing it. Millions and millions of coins hit melt pots. It just "looks" to us like lots are left. Actually I'd guess only 1-3% of all silver struck is still around. BTW when I started to drive in 1972 gas was 29.9 per gallon. I had a beautiful turquoise 4 dr 1966 Cadillad Calais. We bought it that year for $1490 from a Cadillad dealer

BillJones

Some forward looking dealers were buying silver at tiny premiums back then, but for most people it didn't matter. I remember selling or trading silver to a Philadelphia dealer at 8% over face value. It helped me buy my first Draped Bust coin, a 1799 silver dollar.

The $1.29 per ounce value you cited applied only to silver dollars. The breakeven point for dimes, quarters and half dollars was about $1.38 per ounce. This difference dated from the Coinage Act of 1853 when the weight of half dimes, dimes, quarters and half dollars was reduced because the discovery of gold in California. (The increase in the supply gold raised the relative value of silver which made in profitable to melt every silver coin that was then in circulation. This required a reduction in the weight of the silver coins was marked by arrows at the date.) For some strange reason, probably in a misguided attempt to maintain the credibility of the dollar, Congress did not lower the weight of the silver dollar. Hence you have this difference.

Congress increased the weight of the dime, quarter and half dollar slightly in 1873, but it was not enough to put those coins on par with the silver content of the silver dollar.

joeykoins

The Mint going "clad" then makes sense. Is that all a quarter would be worth at $1.29 per ounce? I didn't do the math. Thanks for doing it for me. Still, how 'bout when it hit 3,4 or even $5 per ounce? The public probably went nuts! I know I would.

ambro51

You should have seen how nuts we went when the Hunt Bros manipulated and skyrocketed the price of silver in the early 80s!! I had just restored a few old cars and remembering finding grubby old quarters dimes etc behind the rear seat spend a MEMORABALE hot summer day at Ray Fox's Junkyard. It was like picking up gold nuggets! That trip netted like $600 after I sold it!

s4ny

In 1963 very few people were pulling silver from circulation.

In 1964 the silver content exceeded the face value and even non
hoarders were saving Kennedy 50c coins.

By the time the Coinage Act of 1965 became law in mid 1965, many people
were saving silver coins.

I disagree with the idea that a vast majority of silver coins were melted.

Silver hoarders preferred $1000 face value bags of 90% silver coins.
The contents could both easily be counted by machine and weighed to determine
accuracy of the 715 ounce count. The coins continue to retain their monetary value
along with the metal value.

Nickel coins today are destined for the same outcome. They are currently
worth around 90% of their metal value, but have traded above.

ElKevvo

There was not nearly the amount of disposable discretionary income available to most people back then as there is today. It was much more of a cash economy with few folks using credit (charge plates!!) and of those that did it was paid monthly. Plus the banks etc. paid a reasonable rate of interest so if you wanted to save you put it in the bank or on a more limited basis in other investments like stocks etc. Why put money into an easily obtainable metal? Heck even when I was a kid in the70's it was not hard to get silver from half rolls but I did not have the $ to put it aside...had to buy fishing equipment!

K

edited to add more info

JerseyJoe

I've read a set amount of silver coins(at face) back in the day would buy a gallon of gas.
The same silver coins(melt value) will still buy a gallon of gas.

Warning this won't work with clad.

7over8

.30 a gallon, at face, 1964

$20 silver = that same .30 face = $4.29. Buys you a gallon or more, depending on where you live

SaorAlba

I know that my grandpa and dad started saving silver ca. early 1964 - they had a whole safe literally full of silver coins mostly dimes through halves set away. They still had them in 1976 when my grandpa moved in with us, he was then in his late 80s. Unfortunately my aunt then looted the safe about 1977-8 and didn't sell them - she took them to the bank and deposited the funds into her account.

I am glad that my dad let me loot my savings account before my aunt cleaned out the safe and buy up rolls of halves - one of the halves is a 1909-O!

jmski52

You have to remember that clad was introduced in 1965, but clad didn't become predominant in circulation until probably around 1970 or so. If you could receive 90%silver in change all the time, there was still more silver than you could possibly put away. By making circulating half dollars out of 40% silver clad from 1965 to 1969, the also Mint hoped to stave off a full rush on silver coinage. The other factor in delaying a rush on 90% circulating silver was the ban on the melting of silver coins, so the premiums for any silver coins were muted until the ban was lifted, and I don't really remember when the ban was lifted - probably around 1975 or so.

Bags of 90% silver were listed in most coin publications by 1971 or 1972, maybe a bit earlier, so it was easy to figure out the bullion value in silver coins by that time. That's when the final removal of silver from circulation was done - the early 1970s. Until then, saving it was still a speculation on the lifting of the ban on melting on some unknown future date.

emzee

I remember silver dropping below$2 an ounce in the early 1990's.

kiyote

This same argument can be made for copper cents and nickels today...

19Lyds

A $10 roll of half dollars simply did not stand a chance in my household in 1963! Bread was 29 cents a loaf. Milk was 49 cent a half gallon. Cigarettes were 25 cents a pack. Candy was still 5 cents a bar and beer was less than a buck for a 6-pack.

I do remember becoming "aware" and going to Lake Tahoe around 1976 and buying rolls of half dollars just to pull out the 40% Silver coins.

I had better luck finding 40% Silver Kennedy's in 2006!



If folks could go back in time, as so often happens in their minds, they'd bring back just as much silver as they have today.

robec

Wasn't gold $35 per ounce?

Amigo

Most the silver was out of circulation long before 1970. I recall it dried up soon after the clad was introduced.
I went thru gobs of coins in the late 60's as a Carhop. I saved every silver coin / silver & gold certificate / IHC / buffalo nickel I found. None of it was that common. My .75 hour pay afforded me much more than enough disposable income to trade it all out. If memory serves me correct, most all the Buffalo and IHC's disappeared right about the same time as the silver. The rarest item was the Gold certificates. Only one found out of nearly 4 yrs.

I began collecting with the family prior to 1964. I remember like it was yesterday when I read about the clad release and how some people were beginning to hoard silver coins. My predominant thought was how stupid those people were to hoard it. Guess the laugh was on me.

blacksmoke

I just love all the "market reports" that predict silver will outpace gold and platinum soon and be over $3k an ounce. Of course they then try and get you to buy their bullion while it's still affordable. Personally, I would be amazed if silver breaks the $100 mark in my lifetime but I can see it bumping it a time or two. I still invest in it, especially at the today spots but as more of a filler in my portfolio that will hopefully give me a decent return one day but I don't see it making me rich.

TireKicker

<< <i>You should have seen how nuts we went when the Hunt Bros manipulated and skyrocketed the price of silver in the early 80s!! I had just restored a few old cars and remembering finding grubby old quarters dimes etc behind the rear seat spend a MEMORABALE hot summer day at Ray Fox's Junkyard. It was like picking up gold nuggets! That trip netted like $600 after I sold it! >>



Great story, nothing like a little ingenuity to increase your net worth or your candy/slush fund, depending on your age back then!

Overdate

Canary in coal mine 1963: Dealers began paying premiums for circulated war nickels - some were putting buy ads in Coin World. Postage was cheap enough that I sorted through many bank rolls, finding an average of 5 warnicks per roll, and shipped them off to be (presumably) melted.

The vast majority of U.S. silver coins have been melted. Even in 1968, coin melting had become widespread enough that the government banned the practice for a few years. During the ban, there were many anecdotal reports of clandestine exporting and melting of silver coins. Then the 1980 spike decimated the remaining silver coins. At its peak, 90% bags were trading at a 30% discount to spot due to long waits at the smelters. Bags of Morgans and uncirculated dimes, quarters and halves were torched as fast as capacity would allow.

In the 30+ years since, 90% silver bags have periodically traded at discounts to spot, triggering additional melting. Currently they sell at a premium to spot, which may reflect their increasing scarcity as well as their usefulness as a store of value.

TavernTreasures

In the early to mid 1960's, (I think I remember) leaded gas being as low as 19 cents a gallon for regular. At the no name gas stations of the time.

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Canary in coal mine 1963: Dealers began paying premiums for circulated war nickels - some were putting buy ads in Coin World. Postage was cheap enough that I sorted through many bank rolls, finding an average of 5 warnicks per roll, and shipped them off to be (presumably) melted.>>

Good point! While silver dollars valued silver at $1.29+ and subsidiary coins at $138+, war nickels valued silver at $0.89-.
I think dealers were buying them before 1963. In 1960, in the Boston area, I found 1/3 of nickels in circulation were war nickels and 1/3 were buffalo nickels.

Overdate

War nickels have likely seen even more attrition by melting than 90% silver coins. Only the lowest-mintage 1943-D was widely saved from circulation. I think the 1944-S may now be scarcer than the 1950-D.

joeykoins

Back in 1963, when people were starting to hoard the silver, think of all the '55 double dies were being passed up when people were concentrating on the silver in coins?

SaorAlba

<< <i>

Good point! While silver dollars valued silver at $1.29+ and subsidiary coins at $138+, war nickels valued silver at $0.89-.
I think dealers were buying them before 1963. In 1960, in the Boston area, I found 1/3 of nickels in circulation were war nickels and 1/3 were buffalo nickels. >>



Thankfully there still are some in the public that are completely clueless that the 1942-5 nickels are silver - I have several hundred of the little darlings from roll searches over the past couple of years.

mr1931S

I had a beautiful turquoise 4 dr 1966 Cadillad Calais. We bought it that year for $1490 from a Cadillad dealer

Did you use clac money to pay for your new Cadillad?


I was in a high school speech class in 1963 and gave a speech on the government plan to soon stop making silver coins.My closing line was something like this,

"The day is soon coming when you will no longer hear the familiar sound of silver money in your pocket."