Check yer' quarters, fellow Americans.

[Zero]

I think he's asking if you can separate the silver from the other metals once you melt down the quarter.

 

[jleemero]

ALL QUARTERS: $0.25
Silver Quarters: $0.25

Silver from a refined Silver Quarter: ~$3.00

 

[weaponepsilon]

Depending or not the seriousness of this thread, let me interject. The rarity + composition of a quarter + plus condition is what the value it. All currency produced in the US never loses its face value, it will always be worth what ever the denomination it is. Now the "collectors" or numismatic price figures the minting and the condition of the individual coin. Like how certain comic books or Video games for that matter are worth more because of when they were made. Now even though a coin can be badly damaged, the metal can still be salvaged and refined. I bought a stack of coins off of someone for face value. I bought 11 $1 coins. Okay so I traded one currency for another. But they were all minted before 1930, so they are .90 silver and are 26.73 grams, worth more than a dollar. So current trading for silver is:

$17.01=silver price / ounce on Mar 12, 2010.
.90 =silver %
$3.359=copper price / pound on Mar 12, 2010.
.10 =copper %
26.73 =total weight in grams
.0321507466=ounce/gram conversion factor
.00220462262=pound/gram conversion factor (see note directly below)

The NYMEX uses pounds to price copper and that means we need to multiply the metal price by .00220462262 to make the conversion to grams. The silver price is based in troy ounces and that means we need to multiply the metal price by .0321507466 to make the conversion to grams.

1. Calculate 90% silver value : (17.01 × .0321507466 × 26.73 × .90) = $13.1563909408
$13.1563 is the rounded silver value for the 1878-1921 silver Morgan dollar on March 12, 2010. This is usually the value used by coin dealers when selling these coins at melt value. However, the total melt value is continued below.

2. Calculate 10% copper value 3.3590 × .00220462262 × 26.73 × .10) = $0.0197942

3. Add the two together :$13.1563909408 + $0.0197942 = $13.1761851408

And thats just the melt value. Some of the numismatic values of some of these dollar coins are ranged $155.00 - $7000.00. So, not bad for $1 coin thats only worth $1

 

[zeturi]

Someone is far more into coins than I am. Master of Coins.

 

[Zero]

Maybe we should just send all of our quarters to Beta and he can melt them down and make us a cool dagger or something.

 

[vskid3]

I checked all $10.75 of my non-state quarters, none were '64 or older. Had 2 from '66, I think this must be a well known fact, or they've just been taken out of circulation because they were so old.

 

[PalmerTech]

Not as well known these days, but people were very, very much aware of this back then. All the smart people got most of them and melted em down by the 70s.

 

[weaponepsilon]

Palmers right. A good chunk of the stock was refined back in the 70-80's when the price of silver sky rocketed. But thats okay. Once in a while, I'll come across a silver quarter. You can always tell immediately with out looking at one if its silver, it'll "ping" differently when it gets dropped. Plus it has a much different luster.

 

[grossaffe]

Not to mention that silver has a tendency of tarnishing. It really isn't hard to tell the silver ones apart.

 

[zeturi]

Palmers right. A good chunk of the stock was refined back in the 70-80's when the price of silver sky rocketed. But thats okay. Once in a while, I'll come across a silver quarter. You can always tell immediately with out looking at one if its silver, it'll "ping" differently when it gets dropped. Plus it has a much different luster.

That's how I find silver dimes.

 

[pLover]

Yes it does. If there's more of another metal inside the quarter, then there's less silver in it. In a pure silver quarter, it has more silver inside it and so is worth more.

...Right, but that's not what I'm asking. He said that when you melt it down, it's worth more than when it's solidified, but that doesn't make sense. If you melt it down and SEPARATE the metals, then it sort of makes sense, but not if you only melt it down.

 

[vskid3]

Yes it does. If there's more of another metal inside the quarter, then there's less silver in it. In a pure silver quarter, it has more silver inside it and so is worth more.

...Right, but that's not what I'm asking. He said that when you melt it down, it's worth more than when it's solidified, but that doesn't make sense. If you melt it down and SEPARATE the metals, then it sort of makes sense, but not if you only melt it down.

Most people would assume that separating the metals is part of the process of melting it down. The silver is worth the same solid or liquid. He meant that solid, its value is officially $0.25, but the silver inside is worth ~$3, and it must be melted down to obtain the pure silver.

 

[zeturi]

Yep.

 

[pLover]

Yes it does. If there's more of another metal inside the quarter, then there's less silver in it. In a pure silver quarter, it has more silver inside it and so is worth more.

...Right, but that's not what I'm asking. He said that when you melt it down, it's worth more than when it's solidified, but that doesn't make sense. If you melt it down and SEPARATE the metals, then it sort of makes sense, but not if you only melt it down.

Most people would assume that separating the metals is part of the process of melting it down. The silver is worth the same solid or liquid. He meant that solid, its value is officially $0.25, but the silver inside is worth ~$3, and it must be melted down to obtain the pure silver.

There's the thing. It obviously wouldn't be accepted as a 3 dollar coin at stores and stuff, but put that aside. If it was just a disc of metal and wasn't worth anything to stores, the value would be just over $3, since it's $3 in silver, plus a little extra in other metals, correct? Like if you just had all of the pure metals as solids, its would be just over $3, and wouldn't it be the same when they're all in one thing, or would it be worth less, since obtaining the pure metals would require effort?