Are any refiners buying silver again?

@Custerlost said:
Most wholesalers and refiners seem to be on a 30-60 day pay. Major problem for mom and pop stores. Split on junk, with some taking, most not, and pitiful discounts. .9999 being taken at large discounts.

Yup I stopped by one of my go to shops yesterday to unload some fresh tubes and there was a sign on the door stating they were temporarily closed due to liquidity problems. He was getting lots of traffic but the problem is it was damn near 10 to 1 sellers to buyers. He can buy all day long but if the refiners arent taking it or if they are taking 1-2 months to get paid you can't do business for very long. RGDS!

@Bayard1908 said:
I personally find it alarming and disgusting that the default destination of 90% is a refiner. I don't like seeing our cultural heritage destroyed. I saw a video recently of some creepy dealers pointlessly melting Mercury dimes and was enraged.

If these pathetic dealers can't place 90% with customers who want to keep it, I hope collectors will protect enough 90% that future collectors can have circulated sets of 1892 to 1964 coins.

I see what you are saying and I agree mostly..... but the problem is there is nobody for the dealers to sell to. Retail for 90% is non-existent. Even the refiners are so backed up that even many of them are not accepting it. Many dealers aren't even considering it, those that are well back of melt.

@oldglorycoins said:

@Bayard1908 said:
I personally find it alarming and disgusting that the default destination of 90% is a refiner. I don't like seeing our cultural heritage destroyed. I saw a video recently of some creepy dealers pointlessly melting Mercury dimes and was enraged.

If these pathetic dealers can't place 90% with customers who want to keep it, I hope collectors will protect enough 90% that future collectors can have circulated sets of 1892 to 1964 coins.

Do you know how this industry works?

I wouldn't call a bunch of under capitalized store front dealers an industry. Apparently they are nothing more than middlemen for a refinery.

@Bayard1908 said:
If these pathetic dealers can't place 90% with customers who want to keep it, I hope collectors will protect enough 90% that future collectors can have circulated sets of 1892 to 1964 coins.

But will future collectors want such sets, and will the average collector even be able to afford them? The price of silver is already so high that there is little daylight between the circulated and uncirculated price of sets of Franklin halves and 1946-1964 Roosevelt dimes. A circulated set of Walkers is over $2000 in melt value alone.

If the price of silver doubles as many expect, affordability of sets of circulated 90% will decline much further, and the transition to type coin status will be nearly complete. Collectors on limited budgets, if they choose to collect sets at all, will likely favor the more affordable sets of recent clad and minor coins.

At least one shop is offering to sell 90% silver to retail customers at around 10% below melt. If insufficient retail demand exists even with that discount, dealers are not to blame.