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Junk silver vs Silver Eagles vs bars: what you actually have
Three ways to hold silver. Three bids. Eagles are easy. Bars depend on the stamp. Junk is a formula. Do not mix them in your head.
Silver is silver until it hits the pad. Then it is a product.
Junk / 90%
Old US coins. Counted by face. Spread is its own world. Easy for a shop. Easy for you if you know what year you have. 90% vs 40%.
Good for stacking if you like history in the metal. Annoying if you wanted a clean one-ounce story.
Government bullion coins
Silver Eagles, Maples, Britannias, Libertads, Philharmonics. One ounce (usually), recognized everywhere, premium over melt. Shops buy and sell these all day.
Milk spots on eagles: ugly, usually still an eagle. Milk spots.
Bars and generic rounds
A 10 oz bar from a name we know is easy. A generic round from a website that no longer exists is still an ounce, with a worse bid. Private mint art bars can be beautiful and still trade like generic.
Government coins vs generic rounds.
Mixing them in one “silver number”
“I have $8,000 in silver.” Maybe. Or you have $3,000 in junk, $4,000 in eagles, and $1,000 in odd bars. Those get three lines on the ticket. That is a feature. It means we are not blending a high-premium eagle down into a junk factor.
Bring it sorted if you can. Sorting before you arrive.
Part of the coin shop counter wiki · visitors & collectors · NumisQ Learn