An Increase in Demand for Silver
Soaring silver prices and heavy scrapping have blurred the line between common and scarce, leaving collectors to wonder whether “common-date” silver coins are common at all.
Silver coins have been getting more attention than usual. There are some serious questions regarding whether common-date silver composition coins in “nicely circulated” or even in a cull condition are becoming as rare as scarce to rare date and upper Mint State level examples. The recent price surges in the spot price of this precious metal have led to higher volumes of common coins being sold for scrap.
The problem dealers are facing is that the refineries lack the capacity to process this kind of volume in a timely manner. Values have been so volatile that coin dealers are checking the spot price of silver just about every time someone asks them for a price. These values have been changing rapidly. About the only thing missing from this scenario is the absence of hotel buyers hawking prices they supposedly will pay for grandma’s coins and jewelry, as we’ve seen in the past.
Should someone attempt to assemble a date and mint mark set of any silver composition coin type, that collector will be challenged to find even the common dates due to all this activity. As I questioned earlier in this commentary, are common date silver coins still common? Premiums for more commonly available coins have been overtaken (perhaps overwhelmed is a better word?) by the rapidly increasing intrinsic value of those coins, making many of them as challenging to find as rare dates.
Demand for fresh U.S. Mint silver products shouldn’t be ignored either. The Mint has been more than pleased to increase its online promotions as 2025-W Proof Silver American Eagle sales became the mint’s number one seller. Most other current SAE coins are listed online as being “currently unavailable” by the mint and by coin dealers.
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