While it is true that silver constitutes a great alternative for diversifying your portfolio and protecting your finances in a volatile market, not everyone can afford to purchase bullions like the Canadian Maples or the American Silver Eagles. The good news is that you can still find reasonably priced silver, especially if you’re willing to engage in a little legwork. Following are the top places where you are very probable to stumble upon junk silver that is worth collecting.

1. Gas stations and common stores

In these hard economic times, more and more people are using old coins to pay for gas, food and other necessities. Therefore, next time you fill up your car or you go shopping for groceries, try to sneak a peek at the cashier’s drawers and see if there are any strange coins inside. In the event when nothing catches your eyes, then an alternative would be to ask to buy a roll of quarters, dimes and even nickels. If you don’t find anything that could contains silver, don’t forget you can wrap it back up and spend it elsewhere.

2. Antique stores

Reputable dealer shops and antique stores are two other excellent resources for silver coins at affordable prices. As a rule of thumb, remember to check out the inventory of these stores when the silver prices spike, because there are high chances you can buy the coinage for less than the spot price. Despite the fact that you might have to do a bit of driving, the effort is worth is, particularly since you can find incredible deals, sometimes even at hundreds of dollars less than spot price.

3. Flea markets and garage sales

If you don’t have trouble waking up early or mind spending your Sunday mornings checking out various garage sales and flea markets, then you have a chance to find junk silver in either of the aforementioned locations. Considering that very few sellers are aware of the silver coin melt values, this is a great opportunity to buy silver at rock bottom prices.

4. Coin rolls

Just as suggested in its name, coin rolls searching is a great method to come across nickels, dimes, quarters and even half dollars that can contain a certain amount of silver. In general, the coinage issued before 1965 is more likely to contain a percentage of the precious metal. In case you are not certain of whether or not a coin is silver, then don’t hesitate to use the various online resources to determine its composition.

5. Coin counting machines

Lastly, you could try your luck with the coin counting machines, since they are known to kick out some strange coinage from time to time. While most of the times they will release foreign coins, there is always a chance you could find a valuable silver coin. In addition to the machines, you could also ask the register if they received any strange coinage lately. In case you didn’t know, if the machine doesn’t accept the coin, then currency is usually handed to the register along with a receipt.