Other Type of Silver Coin

Week 4.3 Other Type of Silver

There are four groups of common silver which you may want to consider buying due to their silver content. You may not want to buy them in quantity now but buy at least one or two pieces each so that you get to own it yourself. By owning the actual coin you get the feel off it. Hopefully, it can become a reference for your future purchase.

1. US 90% silver.
All US coin 1964 and prior are made of 90% silver, dime (10 cents) , quarter (25 cents), half (50 cents) and dollar. Rule of thumb each one dollar US coin has 0.773 oz of silver.

2. Canada 80% silver 1967 and prior.
Rule of thumb CAN$1 coinage has 0.6 oz of silver.

3. Australia 1966 50cents. 80% silver 0.32 oz of silver content

4. Straits Settlement silver coin.

You can find the coin melt value at the URL below.

http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html

At this moment of time, it is quite difficult to sell these types of coins compared to pure .999 silver round and bar. Thus for large quantities some of them is sold at silver spot price. One of the reason is not many people can recognized that a particular coin is a silver coin. Those who can recognized can hardly remember the silver content and composition. Is it 80% silver, 90% silver? What is the Actual Silver Weight (ASW)? There are too many things to remember. Lot of education is needed.

There is a book and e-book on coin encyclopedia. The book name is “2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000”. Most silver coin in the world has been phased out in 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s. It’s region specific.

In Malaysia, the straits settlement coin silver coin was downgraded to 60% silver after the World War 1 due to rises in silver prices ( I can’t confirmed this cause I just casually read it somewhere). In 1940s, many silver coins were melted during WW2 Japanese invasion. Then, after WW2, it became apparent that silver coin is no longer used as currency.

Situation may be different in USA, Australia and Canada as there are silver mines in these countries.

Investment Options 1

Stick to US 90%, Canada 80%, Australia 80% and Strait Settlement coin, as it is easy for anyone to know the silver content of each coin.
For Strait Settlements Coin, you need to get hold of KN Boon Book. http://www.3833.com/
Inside the book, the coin weight, actual gold weight (AGW) and actual silver content (ASW), gold and silver composition is described.

Investment Options 2

Try to get hold of the “2011 Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000”. Most silver coin in the world in good conditions is in 19xx. From the book, you can start shopping and looking for bargain at ebay.com. The ASW and AGW of silver and gold coin are described. The estimated value of each coin is also described.

Soon you find out that it is not a bargain because most of them are overpriced due its’ numismatic value. Nevertheless, it is an opportunity for you to amass something that will not drop in value due one simple reason it got some silver in it. Some of the coins can be South African Silver Krugerand, German Nazi Coin (rise in prices quite fast), German Mark, Mexico Silver Coin, Bahamas, Russia Olympic etc. So many countries, I find it hard to catch up with all of them.

If you want just buy 1-2 pcs enough, don’t buy 10 – 20 pcs unless you are super rich. Suka sendiri cukuplah. You will find out that there are not many specific collectors like you especially in Malaysia. You will find hard time in disposing some of it. Just look at ebay, year after year, the same foreign coin is listed there for so long with no buyer. The only way to dispose is via ebay auction bid at .99 no reserve.

Lesson Learned

You : Wow! What a great deal 50year plus old coin in EF condition selling at silver spot price? OK, let do my calculation, within 5 years I will be rich. Let buy 100 pcs now.

Customer : What the hell is these Canada dollar 1960 selling at RM60/each? I only want to pay at most RM4/- because the exchange rate is 3.x mah.
Lot of education needed.

Tips

People will sell slightly higher then their cost. They’ll sell cheap if they brought it cheap. Some Ah Chong, mamak or pak cik in some remote town who has been selling for many years, yet they may not know the silver content on each of these coins. You happen to read this silvermalaysia article, hopefully when silver is USD100/oz, they will still sell you KGV 50cents at RM50/-. The hunting begins. What a bargain? Knowledge is power. Enjoys.!