Why do you think that silver dollars were disappearing from Nevada's casinos by the $1000 bagful back in the 1960's and the U.S. government called in all the paper money silver certificates?

It was because silver was officially pegged at $1.29 an ounce by the U.S. Government and silver was trading at higher levels and each silver dollar had more than $1.29 worth of silver on the open market. In 1980; Gold approached $1,000 per ounce and silver almost went to $50 per ounce. People with gold & silver coins, silverware (including family heirlooms), sterling silver and gold jewelry, eyeglass frames, wedding rings ... (and even gold fillings from teeth) stuffed in paper bags were lined up at coin dealer shops across the country waiting for the shop owner to open the door in the morning to scrap these items. What we are currently witnessing now (almost) is history repeating itself and some of those who missed out on the huge price hikes in 1980's are cashing in now. Back in 1980, it was the Hunt Brothers from Texas who were trying to corner the market on silver. Different world economic circumstances are fueling today's price hike.

But the bottom line is that our common silver strikes have appreciated in value due to their silver content ... not because of demand for their collectibility. It would be foolish to expect the masses of collectors to hang on to all their duplicate strikes and take them to their graves with them when an opportunity presents itself to cash them in at a profit over what they paid for them. I have no problem selling my excess duplicates to collectors for the same price I could get from a bullion dealer for melting. From what I've seen, not too many folks want to purchase silver strikes at today's melt value. In fact, some of them may want to purchase silver strikes at LESS than melt value so that THEY can cash them in for silver melt!!

I pose this simple question; How long are you going to wait for some future collector to come along and offer to purchase your excess strikes?