With the prices of precious metals going higher and higher, many investors are finding putting their money in silver coins to be a very smart investment. People who bought silver coins five years ago have seen their money multiply five-fold. The spot price of silver can always drop, but it has been on a steady increase over the past year, breaking records just about every week. Many people could jump on the bandwagon now and still see their investment grow.
Silver bullion coins are very popular, as they are 99.9 percent pure silver, so there is no calculation that needs to be made to figure out exactly how much silver you have. Most of these coins are minted as one ounce or half ounce pieces, but two ounce coins are not uncommon.
Another popular way of investing in silver coins is to buy what is known as junk silver. These coins are anything but junk, however. They are old, circulating coins that may not have eye appeal but will always hold value for the amount of silver in them.
In the United States, the mint made coins that consisted of 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper until 1965. Half dollars, quarters, and dimes from 1964 and earlier all have silver bullion value. Generally, the face value of the coin can guide you to the value in silver, as half dollars are valued in silver at double the value of quarters and five times the value of dimes.
U.S. Morgan and Peace silver dollars also contain 90 percent silver, though a lot of these coins can be worth a premium over the spot price of silver because they are so popular. Still, a completely worn Morgan or Peace dollar with no readable date will still hold silver bullion value, at the very least.
In the United Kingdom, junk silver consists of coins that were minted before 1946. Crowns and half crowns, as well as florins, shillings, and six and three pence coins minted before then contain some silver. Coins minted from 1920 and later only contain 50 percent silver, while coins minted before 1920 contain 92.5 percent silver.
Many other countries also minted coins that contain silver in their history, and these can be collected and invested as junk silver. Canada’s quarters and dimes from before 1967 contain 80 percent silver content. Some Australian coins from 1910 to 1945 contain 92.5 percent silver.
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