How do I calculate silver coins values?

[Iluvforeignsets]

Hi

 

I searched the web but find only solutions for US coins nothing for world coins.

Let's take an Australian 50 cents coin KM# 364 this coin says on Krause 0.9990 silver and .5353 oz and let's say for this example sake that the silver rate is $21 today.

 

Can anyone show me how to calculate this silver coin value?

 

Thanks a lot

 

Patrick

[bill]

.9990 x .5353 x $21 = $11.23 silver value today.

[Iluvforeignsets]

Thank-you

 

Patrick

[wabnoles]

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who thinks and calculates based primarily upon weight in grams. Since a troy ounce of silver or gold is a little over 31 grams, I divide whatever the weight is by 31. For example a silver Roosevelt dime weighs 2.5 grams and is 90% silver, which means it has 2.25 grams of silver, divided by 31 and times whatever the per ounce value is that day and thats the melt value of the coin.

[gxseries]

Why make life so difficult when prices are quoted in ounces? Divide and then mutiply - they cancel each other out.

[robtgossard]

Instead of doing that, you can use conversion factor:

.0321507466 = ounce/gram conversion factor

.00220462262 = pound/gram conversion factor

So
the value of a Mercury silver dime which weighs 2.5 grams and has
composition of 90% silver and 10% copper could be calculated as:

1.
Calculate 90% silver value: 21.73 (silver price) ×.0321507466
(conversion factor) × 2.5 (coin’s weight) × .90 (percentage silver ) =
$1.5719303781

2. Calculate 10% copper value : 3.2819 × .00220462262 × 2.5× .10 = $0.0018086

3. Add the two together: $1.5719303781 + $0.0018086 = $1.5737389781

$1.5737389781 is the total melt value for Mercury silver dime on October 7, 2013.

Source: coinflation.com

[Steve D'Ippolito]

Here's a better idea, if you expect to be doing this a lot:

 

.0321507466 (troy oz / gram ) * 0.9 * 2.5 = 0.07233917985. That's the number of troy ounces in an unworn silver dime (post 1853).

 

Multiply by ten: .7233917985. Drop the ridiculous one part in ten billion precision; inconsistencies in the minting process far exceed this, and *any* amount of wear would make it moot even if the mint were precise.

 

0.7234 is the number of troy ounces to a dollar face value.

 

Take your face value, of whatever it is (dimes, quarters, halves--but NOT silver dollars), multiply by that number, then multiply by today's price of silver. The copper value is utterly insignificant next to this (what's the difference between $1.5737 and $1.5719? a fifth of a cent!) and might not even make up for how much wear the coin has undergone, which is totally unaccounted for here.

 

For example, I have five silver quarters and two dimes, and the price of silver today is $21.73. The approximate melt value is: 1.45 (units face) * 0.7234 (ounces / unit face) * 21.73 ($/ounce) = $22.7932489 -> $22.79.

 

This way you only have to keep one number in your head (0.7234), though you do have to remember to go get two other numbers and what to do with them.

 

Again I emphasize that trealistically you only need four significant figures--even that's probably too many--because you do not know the price of silver to any more figures, and the computation does not compensate for worn coins. Besides your answer will get rounded to the nearest cent, or does someone pay with tax tokens?

 

It's moot anyway, since the way junk silver is handled is the dealer specifies a price per dollar face to both buy and sell, and that's what you will get.