Coin Shop Report - Denver, July 30 2011

[madfranks]

I hit my favorite coin shop earlier today and here's what I saw. First off, it was packed with customers, more than I think I've ever seen there at one time. A few looking to sell, but most looking to buy. There was less gold than he usually had, but silver was plentiful. He had two trays filled with generic silver bars and rounds, price was spot + $2.50. Normally his rate for generic is $1.50 over spot, so premiums rose a little bit, probably to help cover the risk of volatility in the market right now. Anyway, $2.50 over spot was fine with me, so I picked up a handful of rounds, let my kids each pick one out for their own piggy banks at home. The business was thriving, which was good to see.

[ximmy]

How about some quick pics of the goods... :D

[madfranks]

10 oz total, but two are already in the kids piggy banks and I didn't feel like busting them open to complete the pic, so you only get to see 8 of them. :)
492

[ximmy]

That flying eagle round looks like a cherry score..

[madfranks]

That flying eagle round looks like a cherry score..

It certainly looks uncirculated, doesn't it? It's a Monex round, and dated 1982. But it's still generic silver, and it all goes into the same pile.

[1970 silver art]

Once I get my paycheck next week, I plan to go to some of the local coin shops to see what silver art bars they have. My main local dealer that I went to during the last few times had some silver art bars and they had some generic .999 silver but when spot silver eventually goes back down from the current level to the $34-$36 range (and lower), then I expect that a lot of the local dealers will get cleaned out of their .999 generic silver. In my local area, when spot was in that $34-$36 trading range, there was no .999 generic silver nor was there any silver art bars to be found. A lot more people are waking up and buying more silver now.

Also during the earlier part of this year, I was paying between $1-$1.50 over spot for 1-oz silver art bars. In May, after the spot silver price fell from $48 to $35, my main local dealer raised its premiums to $3.00 over spot for .999 generic silver (and 1-oz silver art bars). That was not surprising to me given the volatility that silver showed in May up to the present time. The last time that I went to my main local dealer, the premium on .999 generic silver was still $3 over spot.

In term of .999 generic silver premiums, I do not think that much will change when I go to visit some local dealers later next week.

[madfranks]

Hey Art, would this one be considered an "art bar"? I like the detail of Liberty on the front, but I understand that classically, art bars were made in the 70's and this one has a date of '86. What's your opinion?

495496

[ximmy]

Madfranks, it looks you shop the way I do. A few rounds, a few bars.....

me too... drift in... down a few... stumble out...

[1970 silver art]

Hey Art, would this one be considered an "art bar"? I like the detail of Liberty on the front, but I understand that classically, art bars were made in the 70's and this one has a date of '86. What's your opinion?

495496

To me, it is considered a silver art bar and it is not a bad looking silver art bar IMO. I believe that I have seen some of these before in the past. Even though a lot of silver art bars were minted in the '70's, a lot of silver art bars were also minted in the 1980's as well as the 1990's to present time. I think that the '70's silver art bars are the best because of the various economic, political, and some social themes. I like some of the silver art bars that came out in the 1980's (and early 1990's) such as the sports-themed silver art bars that were produced by a private company called The Mint.

The reverse side of The Liberty bar that you have pictured has the "MTB" initials. MTB stands for Manfra, Tordella & Brooks Inc. The most recent silver art bar price guide does not give a mintage number for this bar but I suspect that it is a common-minted silver art bar. In the past, I have also seen these on ebay as BIN auctions. Not a bad find but not a rare silver art bar but the good news is that you paid only .999 generic silver premium for it.

[Twisted Titan]

Went to my local shop today to pick up whatever 50 buxx could get me.

Shopdealer told me a man walked in maybe about 40 minutes before and bought 10,000 dollars in mercury dimes.

The best part.............. The fellow is a stockbroker.

Which tells me the fastest money in the room will soon be finding its way into physical silver.

Bring it.

[Shami-Amourae]

Anyone in Arizona wanna review this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4OAg24OO4

http://app.xtremelocator.com/visitor/viewLocation.php?lid=36348478