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Silver Coins & Melt Value — When (If Ever) Is Melting Appropriate?

Purpose
This brief clarifies when melting a silver coin may be justified — and, more importantly, when it is not. It reinforces Fair Market Value (FMV) discipline and addresses current concerns around rising silver prices and indiscriminate melting.

If the silver value exceeds the coin’s Fair Market Value, you sell it — you do not melt it.

Melting is a last resort, not a strategy.

Melting may only be considered if all the following apply:

• The coin is extremely common, with no collector, historical, or scarcity premium
   
• The coin is damaged, holed, bent, heavily worn, or altered beyond normal circulation standards
   
• The coin trades consistently below intrinsic silver value in open market sales
   
• There is no viable collector or wholesale market at or above melt
   
• The coin is not required for set building, FMV trading, or disciplined resale
   

In practice, this applies only to low-grade bulk bullion-type material, not curated numismatic stock.

Melting should not occur when:

• The coin has any collector demand, even at modest levels
   
• The coin trades at or above FMV, regardless of spot silver price
   
• The coin is suitable for:
   
  • set building
     
  • FMV resale
     
  • long-term collector placement
     
• The coin is part of a finite historical series (e.g. florins, crowns, shillings)
   
• The decision is driven by short-term silver price spikes
   

Rising silver prices do not invalidate numismatic value — they test discipline.

• Permanently removes historic material from the market
   
• Destroys future collector optionality
   
• Replaces FMV discipline with commodity panic
   
• Creates false scarcity narratives
   
• Undermines trust with educated collectors
   

Once melted, value is capped forever.

• We do not melt silver coins that can be sold at Fair Market Value
   
• We treat silver coins as sellable assets first, metal second
   
• Rising spot prices strengthen resale, not justify destruction
   
• Our discipline ensures:
   
  • what we BUY, we can SELL — 100%
     

Collectors seeking assurance can be confident:
FMV always comes before the furnace.

Melt only exists where no FMV market exists. If a coin can be sold, it should be sold.

Fair Market Value isn’t a claim — it’s a discipline.
What you see is what you get.

Position:
Melting a 92%+ silver coin is almost never the optimal outcome within a disciplined Fair Market Value (FMV) framework.

If the silver value of a coin exceeds its FMV, the correct action is to sell the coin — not melt it.
 

Melting is an irreversible act that destroys optionality.

1. FMV ≠ Spot Price
    
   • FMV incorporates collectability, liquidity, recognisability, and resale pathways.
      
   • Spot price reflects only raw metal value.
      

1. Coins Carry Embedded Optionality
    
   • A coin can always be melted later.
      
   • Once melted, it can never return to coin form.
      

1. Market Cycles Change
    
   • Melt decisions are often made at price extremes.
      
   • History shows that collectable premiums frequently re-assert once volatility settles.
      

1. Liquidity Is Higher Than Assumed
    
   • High-grade florins, shillings, and crowns retain active collector demand, even during metal spikes.
      
   • Selling at FMV preserves value and trust.
      

Melting should only be considered if all of the following apply:

• Coin is severely damaged or irreversibly impaired
   
• No identifiable collector or secondary market exists
   
• The piece trades consistently below melt value, not temporarily
   
• The holder is a refiner or industrial processor, not a collector or trader
   

If any of those conditions are missing → do not melt.

What we BUY we can SELL — 100%.
 

Melting is not a selling strategy.
It is an admission that the market was not properly understood.

We do not participate in speculative melt behaviour.

We sell silver coins at Fair Market Value, preserving:

• the asset
   
• the market
   
• and collector trust
   

• FMV first
   
• Optionality preserved
   
• Melting is a last resort — not a strategy

Short answer:
Almost never — unless all numismatic value has already been irreversibly lost. 

At The Sanctuary, our doctrine is simple and absolute:

If the silver value exceeds the coin’s Fair Market Value (FMV), you sell it — you don’t melt it.
 

Melting is not a strategy.
It is the final outcome after value has already been destroyed.

Fair Market Value reflects:

• collector demand
   
• condition and originality
   
• historical and numismatic interest
   
• liquidity in an open market
   

FMV is not catalogue fiction and not melt hysteria.
It is what real buyers will pay today.

If FMV exists, melting is value destruction.

Melting a 92%+ silver coin may only be rational if all of the following apply:

• The coin is heavily damaged (holed, bent, filed, corroded)
   
• It has no remaining collector demand
   
• It cannot be sold at or above intrinsic silver value
   
• The coin is common to the point of being non-recoverable numismatically
   
• The sale is conducted purely as bullion, not disguised as a coin transaction
   

This is the exception, not the rule.

• Circulating Commonwealth silver in reasonable condition
   
• Florins, Shillings, Crowns with intact surfaces
   
• Coins that trade at or above FMV, even during silver spikes
   
• Coins purchased specifically as numismatic items
   

Melting these is not efficiency — it is panic pricing.

At The Sanctuary:

• We buy below FMV
   
• We sell at FMV
   
• We do not melt coins to “lock in” gains
   
• We allow the market to price the object, not the furnace
   

What we BUY we can SELL — 100%.
 

That is discipline.
That is liquidity.
That is trust.

Rising silver prices do not invalidate numismatics.
They test discipline.

Those who melt first usually regret it later.
Those who sell properly preserve value — and reputation.

Fair Market Value isn’t a claim — it’s a discipline.
What you see is what you get.