The popularity of the American Silver Eagle coin has soared in recent years. A lot of the demand has to do with new metal investors. When new investors enter this market, especially when they’re not enormously wealthy individuals, they tend to be interested in bullion and coins. Bullion, while it does have its advantages, doesn’t really have the charm of a coin. Many investors are also hoping that the coins they buy will become more valuable than their bullion and, of course, they’re right to think that will probably happen.
The American Silver Eagle is the current 1 troy ounce coin being produced by the US Treasury. These coins feature classic American designs and, given that they’re made by the US Treasury, their bullion content is without question. Silver has climbed in price enough that those who probably only had a passing interest in coin investing before are very likely to have much more of an interest in it now. So much so, apparently, that the number of these coins sold has skyrocketed. While there are other coins on the market, there are reasons that this one is popular with newcomers.
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Children love to collect things. In many cases, their collections are their first introduction into the wondrous fun and amusement that defines the word hobby. In fact, for most youngsters, the classic American coin collection was their very first foray into the world of collecting.
Sadly, though, most kids lose interest in their coins around puberty, as the hormones of adolescence prompt many to seek other forms of recreation. And so kids abandon their collections, and many years later mothers all over the country sell them off at yard sales and pawnshops for far less than their actual value. From here, collectors, this time as adults, pick back up where they left off and seek to rebuild their collections from the ground up.
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Chances are, if you have a collection of silver dollars or you are looking to get into the collectibles market for silver dollars, that you have come across many confusing and contradictory things in your research. One website may tell you that Carson City minted coins are among the most valuable, while another will say exactly the opposite.
Tougher still, it is nearly impossible to get an accurate approximation of how much a specific coin is worth without going into a coin dealer and having it appraised. Then, the problem becomes trusting that dealer, who may be undercutting the true value of the coin in the hope that you will sell it to him. So, how is the amateur collector of silver dollars to know precisely what his coins are worth? Here are a few places you can start your search.
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Silver dollars are among the most popular ways to invest in bullion. They generally come in 1 oz sizes where most modern productions are concerned. The use of silver as a currency extends thousands of years in the past, but today’s silver coins aren’t intended to be used as circulating currency. In fact, even the coins that were once used as such, and that have actual silver in them, can be a sound investment. The first criteria in determining the value of these coins is, not surprisingly, the bullion of which they’re made.
Silver dollars are no longer produced as circuiting currency simply because the price of silver makes this impractical. In fact, the cost of copper has even climbed to the point that the US Treasury no longer makes pennies out of the pure metal. Where silver is concerned, the value of the bullion in a 1 ounce coin is presently around 20x the $1 face value of the coin itself. That $1 denomination, however, is not really intended to be taken literally. It’s assigned to the coin for economic reasons but they’re not the sort of economic reasons that really affect collectors. What a collector needs to know is the value of the bullion and of the coin itself to collectors.
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As one of America’s most popular investment items, the Morgan silver dollar is a flagship for the entire world of silver coin investing. Highly recognizable, it is a stunning illustration of how silver dollar investments endure well beyond the life span of other asset classes. It also helps to illustrate to would-be precious metals investors all of the ways that silver dollar holdings can help to tap into tested investment safety nets.
How, exactly, can having silver dollar holdings protect a portfolio or nest egg against all of the turmoil in the broader economy? There are many different ways that a silver dollar offers security. Read on to find out more about the major safety nets that hold up wealth when you hold silver.
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While collecting rare coins is known by most people to be a very rewarding hobby, people new to numismatics commonly make the mistake of choosing the wrong dealers. Local dealers often have inventories that are comprised mainly of junk coins or worthless coins, and even use their own grading systems to determine the conditions of coins. Furthermore, these dealers tend to use outdated pricing guides to determine the buying price of coins. Ultimately, there are simply too many risks for buyers to use these types of dealers. Auctions and flea markets are equally risky, and finding the right dealer is absolutely imperative.
When you need to find the right rare silver coin dealer, there are a few specific things that a buyer can look for. Reputation can be a large indicator of how well a company will be able to perform for you. Ideally, going online and finding a company with years of experience dealing only in rare coins is going to be the best choice that you can make. By using the Internet, you can also check to ensure that the company is a member of the most important numismatic guilds and that they work with only the best dealers and companies around the world.
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One of the least popular coins of all time became one of the most popular collectible coins of all time. The Morgan dollar, when it was first minted, was a coin no one liked to use or carry. It was large and heavy, and people thought the eagle on the reverse side looked more like a scrawny crow than anything else. Now, though, this coin is considered to be a beautiful work of art. It is one of the most popular collectors’ coins in history, and many American collectors vie to have a Morgan as part of their collections. Here are just a few reasons that the Morgan silver dollar is so popular today.
For one thing, the dollar comes in a wide variety of years, mintmarks, and varieties. This makes it a truly interesting coin to learn about. There are actually entire books dedicated to just the Morgan, which has a long, rich history. The coin, which was minted out of necessity, became associated with many different mints and was minted for many years. It comes in interesting colors, due to the way the silver has worn over the years.
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Amateurs to the coin collecting world may be baffled when looking at a Morgan dollar price chart simply because there is so much variance in the prices of these coins. Why, they might ask, would one year make such a huge difference in the price of a coin? For that matter, why would one grade point make a coin worth hundreds or thousands of dollars more than it would had it been graded differently? There are many different variables that make a particular coin worth more or less than another, and, interestingly enough, all of those variables come into play when you’re talking about your average Morgan dollar.
One of the main things that makes a coin worth more than any other is scarcity. As long as there is some desire for a particular coin among collectors, it will be worth much more if it is scarce. In the case of the Morgan dollar, scarcity comes into major play. This coin was minted for several years and was minted very steadily. However, a few years after minting stopped, Congress passed a law requiring the Treasury to melt down about 270 million coins for their silver content.
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The Comstock Lode, one of the most significant silver strikes in history, was discovered in Nevada in the 1850’s. The influx of silver on the market put a downward pressure on silver prices, forcing the Treasury Department to purchase large amounts of the silver. In doing so, the government guaranteed a market for the silver mine owners of the time.
Between the years of 1878 and 1921, the purchased silver was struck into silver dollars, which were designed by George T. Morgan. The Morgan silver dollar is identifiable by the monogram on the obverse of the coin, by the neck of Lady Liberty. The reverse of the coin bears the familiar eagle bearing an olive branch.
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Most people who collect coins have a Morgan silver dollar in their collection. In fact, most collectors have a number of these coins from different years and from different mints. They are one of the most popular collectible coins in the world, and their popularity endures.
These silver dollars were first minted in 1878, and the mint continued to produce them until 1904. Less than two decades later, in 1921, the U.S. Mint issued them for another year. Strangely, many people did not like the coins when they first came into circulation. It wasn’t until years later that they became a hot collectible item.
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