This week`s column answers more questions from Chicago Tribune readers.
Q-Is this the right time to unload common-date silver coins? We noticed that silver was selling for $7.20 an ounce (in June), its highest level in months.
P. L., Chicago
A-Only Houdini would know for sure. Since early 1986, silver prices have ranged from $10.20 to $4.87 per troy ounce. Many economists predict that the inflation rate will increase later this year and in 1989, which could help boost precious metal prices. Silver`s record value of nearly $50 an ounce was set in early 1980.
Q-Several Indian-head cents I inherited are covered with tarnish and dirt. Please send me instructions on how to shine my coins.
M. J., Delavan, Wis.
A-Don`t try to clean them. Collectors prefer to own rarities that are in their natural, dirty state. Coins cleaned by amateurs almost always sell at a discount on the hobby market.
Q-How much would we pay for coins from the Confederate States of America? We already own several $10 and $20 Confederate bills.
H. J., Chicago
A-Plenty! The Confederacy issued millions of paper dollars but just a handful of coins-12 one-cent pieces and four half dollars.
A Philadelphia die-sinker made the pennies in his shop but failed to deliver them to the South, fearing arrest by federal troops. An original Confederate cent retails today for at least $15,000.
A half dollar is even more expensive; all four specimens were produced in New Orleans on authentic U.S. silver half-dollar slugs confiscated by the Confederacy.
Q-Why do so many old U.S. gold coins cost the same, even those with low mintages? For example, a guidebook says that both the 1898 and 1904 $20 gold pieces sell for about $525 in ”very fine condition.” Yet the government made just 170,470 of the 1898s and more than six million 1904s.
B. M., Arlington Heights
A-Few people can afford to collect the so-called ”double Eagles” or other gold coins by date and mint mark. Specimens with small mintages aren`t in demand, which keeps their prices comparatively low.
