Melt Value vs Collector Value of Coins

How melt value is figured

Melt value starts with weight and purity. Multiply the coin's weight by the share of it that is gold or silver, and you get the metal content, usually stated in troy ounces. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, a little heavier than the ounce on a kitchen scale.

Take a Morgan dollar. It weighs 26.73 grams and is 90% silver, which works out to 0.7734 troy ounces of silver.

A Peace dollar has the same weight and purity, so it holds the same silver. Multiply that by the day's silver spot price and you have its melt value.

Spot prices move every trading day, so melt value moves with them. A coin that was worth a certain amount in metal last spring can be worth more or less today with nothing about the coin itself changing. Our offers on metal follow the live spot price at the time of your appointment.

Here is the metal content of coins we see often in Chicago collections:

What makes up collector value

Collector value comes from the coin as an object. Date and mint mark set how scarce it is.

The 1921 Morgan is a common date, while the 1893-S Morgan from San Francisco is a famous rarity. Carson City Morgans, struck from 1878 to 1893 and marked CC, draw collectors in most grades.

Grade sets the rest. Graders use the 1 to 70 Sheldon scale, where 1 is a coin worn almost smooth and 70 is a perfect coin, and a coin that has never circulated grades 60 or higher. The same date can be worth a little over melt in a worn grade and many times melt with full original luster.

Eye appeal and originality count on top of the grade. Collectors pay more for even toning and a clean, unscratched surface, and far less for a coin that has been cleaned. A cleaned coin loses grade and value even when the wear is light.

Demand changes over time. Buyers track it through published price guides, dealer wholesale sheets and recent auction results, and we use all three when pricing numismatic coins.

Coins that usually sell for their metal

A large share of the silver and gold in most collections sells by metal content. Dealers call worn, common-date 90% silver dimes, quarters and halves junk silver, and they trade by the ounce of silver they hold. Junk silver is usually counted by face value: a roll of 50 dimes is $5 face and holds about 3.575 troy ounces of silver.

Modern bullion coins such as Silver Eagles, Gold Eagles, Krugerrands and Maple Leafs trade close to their metal value, since collectors buy them for the gold or silver. Gold jewelry, dental gold and sterling silver also sell by weight and purity.

Dimes, quarters and halves dated 1965 and later, apart from the 40% silver Kennedy halves of 1965 to 1970, are copper-nickel clad and hold no silver. Most of them are worth face value.

Bullion coins move into the collector group when they are proofs or carry a high grade in a PCGS or NGC slab. Collector demand sets the price of a proof Silver Eagle in its original Mint box, while a Silver Eagle from a tube of 20 trades on its silver.

• Worn common-date dimes, quarters and halves dated 1964 and earlier
• Worn 1942 to 1945 war nickels, which are 35% silver
• Bullion coins, bars and rounds
• Gold jewelry, dental gold and sterling flatware

Coins that usually sell above melt

Some coins carry collector value in almost any grade. The 1893 Isabella quarter, requested by the fair's Board of Lady Managers, had 40,023 struck and 15,809 melted, and it sells above its silver value even when worn. The 1918 Illinois Centennial half dollar, with 100,058 struck, also sells to collectors above its silver, with price following grade.

Other coins cross the line only in better condition. Worn Columbian half dollars are common, since millions were struck and many were spent at face value, and they sell for a little more than their silver. A Columbian half with sharp detail and original luster sells for more.

Pre-1933 U.S. gold often sells above its gold content. Scarce dates and mint marks like CC and O add to it, as does a high grade, and a $20 double eagle in uncirculated condition is priced off collector demand along with the 0.9675 ounces of gold it holds.

Proof coins and silver proof sets often sit in between. Proofs are struck twice on polished dies for collectors, and in many years silver proof sets carry 90% silver coins. Some sell close to their silver, and others carry a collector premium on top, depending on the year and the condition of the coins and their packaging.

• 1893 Isabella quarters in any grade
• 1918 Illinois Centennial half dollars
• Columbian half dollars with sharp detail
• Carson City Morgans and other scarce-date dollars
• Pre-1933 gold in better grades or scarce dates
• Proof coins and coins graded by PCGS or NGC

Why the two have to be sorted

A buyer who weighs a whole collection and pays by the ounce prices every coin at melt. That works for junk silver. It costs the seller money on a CC Morgan or an Isabella quarter that happens to sit in the same jar.

We sort collector coins from melt coins at every appointment, so a better date is never priced as bullion. Each coin is checked under a loupe for date, mint mark, grade and eye appeal before it goes into either group.

Metal coins then go on a calibrated scale you can read. Collector coins are priced one by one against current demand, and the two groups come together on one written offer.

Coins that turn out to be common still get their full metal value on the offer. A worn 1921 Morgan that a family hoped was rare holds the same 0.7734 ounces of silver as any other Morgan, and we price it on that silver.

What you see on the written offer

The offer is written and item by item, so you can see how each coin was priced. Silver and gold sold for metal follow the live spot price, and numismatic coins follow current collector demand.

Accept the offer and you are paid the same day, in cash or by a same-day wire to your bank for larger sales. Decline it and you keep everything, along with the written list. The appraisal is free and carries no obligation.

Each line shows what the item is, such as a date and mint mark or a group of 90% silver counted by face value, and what we offer for it. Gold jewelry appears by karat group with its weight.

If you want to keep a coin for sentimental reasons, cross it off and sell the rest. Metal prices on the list follow the spot price at the time of the appointment, so if you come back weeks later, the metal lines are figured again at that day's price.

Melt and collector coins in Chicago collections

Chicago collections lean heavily toward silver. Families who lived through the 1950s and early 1960s on the South Side or in the bungalow belt often set aside dimes, quarters and halves, and those coffee cans of change are mostly melt coins. The same households sometimes kept a few Morgan or Peace dollars in a dresser, and those are the coins worth a closer look at a coin appraisal in Chicago.

This city also has its own coins. The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park produced the Columbian half dollar and the Isabella quarter, and families in Hyde Park and Bridgeport still find them in old jewelry boxes.

The 1918 Illinois Centennial half marks the state's 100th birthday. Each is 90% silver and can sell above melt, so a grade check comes before any number goes on the offer.

Gold shows up differently in the suburbs. Estates in Hinsdale and Naperville more often hold Gold Eagles, Krugerrands and pre-1933 double eagles, where melt value and collector value can be close or far apart depending on the date. A coin that looks like plain bullion can be a scarce date, so each one is checked before it goes on the scale.

We meet by private appointment Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm. Call (773) 241-8624 and we call back the same day.

Ready to sell? See how we handle free coin appraisals in Chicago, read about selling coins in Chicago, or call (773) 241-8624.