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Where Can You Buy Silver Dollars at Cost?

Silver dollars are not entirely silver and are rarely produced any more by the U.S. Mint, making them all the more valuable to coin collectors. While there have been attempts since 1971 to revive the silver dollar as a regularly used currency, the main silver dollars collected and traded are 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper and were pressed and created from 1794 to 1935. Most U.S. Silver dollars, also known as U.S. Silver Dollar Eagles, can be found at coin collector shows and through private coin dealers.

Knowing the Value
- Before buying a U.S. silver dollar at an auction, through a dealer or coin collectors, it is important to know as much about the coin as possible. Much of this can be discovered by the year the coin was pressed and its exact weight. For instance, to determine the cost of a silver dollar minted between 1878 and 1935--the main time silver dollars were being produced--just take the weight of that silver dollar (.78 of 1 oz.) and multiply that times the amount silver is worth on any given day. Most dealers or sellers in general add a 10 percent markup, so subtract from the price they are asking to find the cost. The older the silver dollar, the more it may be cosmetically worth to a buyer or dealer as well, so keep this in mind.
Auctions for Silver Dollars
- Both in-person and online auctions on sites like eBay are a good places to try and get silver dollars at cost. Once you know the price of the particular silver dollar you are bidding on, make sure you do not bid above that price. Play the auction game and try to snipe the bid--watch the silver dollars you want and bid at the end, so that the seller has no choice but to give it to you at the desired price or take it down from the auction.
Buy in Bulk at Cost
- As silver prices fluctuate daily, chances are the seller bought the silver dollars when silver was low--or received them for free--and has sat on them for years or decades, waiting for the price to rise steadily before they decided to sell them. Keep this in mind because even though the seller will not want to sell their coins at cost, even if they do they are still making a profit in relation to what they acquired the coins for. So offer to buy the silver dollars in bulk at cost, as it will make a seller secure they can move all the coins and make some money off them all at once, as opposed to a coin here or a coin there. You will end up with a large number of silver dollars, but that will either turn into an investment, so you can sell the silver dollars yourself as silver continues to rise in value--or you can have the ultimate silver dollar collection.

Coin Collecting