The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 17, April 23, 2006, Article 20

THE GREAT SILVER MELT OF 1980

The SilverSeek.com posted an article this week about the
great silver melt of 1980:

"We had silver coins come in by the bags. As I recall we
had three automatic coin counters running. It was a noisy
place. At the door of the coin shop we had an armed security
guard. I wore my .380 Walther on a belt holster on my back
under my shirt. We could only permit a dozen or so in the
shop at any one time. Outside, at times as many as three or
four dozen were lined up waiting their turn to convert their
silver to cash money. It was exciting."

"For several weeks we ran an armored courier service nightly
direct to the refiner in NYC. No middleman. We got good prices.
I was only a go-fer. The owner became a multi-millionaire."

"As a lifelong coin collector I cringed every time I had to
count out Morgan and Peace silver dollars, and even some
seated liberties, into a melt bin. Barber dimes, quarters,
uncirculated or not it didn't matter into the melt bins they
went. Who had time to sort them for their numismatic value?
They had to be on that truck that night to NYC! You coin
collectors will like this one. One of the other coin dealers
after paying the melt value, later on opened it and discovered
a mint choice uncirculated roll of 1936-S quarters. Today,
one of those single coins in a roll of forty will fetch
upwards of $1,000 each!"

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

[What other numismatic gems turned up in the buckets that year?
Was there anyone at the refineries culling goodies before they
hit the melting pot?  -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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