What is U.S. junk silver worth today?

Junk silver is the shop name for common-date, circulated U.S. silver coins bought for the metal. In a jar or an estate box, that pile is usually dimes, quarters, and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier. Kennedy halves from 1965 through 1970, and Jefferson nickels from 1942 through 1945 with the large mint mark, are silver too, with a different amount in each coin. A Morgan or Peace dollar is 90 percent silver on a heavier planchet, and shops usually price it apart from the small change.

The metal figure for any of these coins is the melt calculator. A local dealer will make you an offer on the coins in hand.

The silver coins in a jar

The date does more work than the portrait. This is the chart for the pieces people actually find. Fine silver in the last column is the as-struck figure the melt calculator uses. A worn coin weighs a little less.

| Coin | Years | Alloy | Fine silver, as struck | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dime | 1964 and earlier | 90% silver, 10% copper | 0.07234 troy oz | | Quarter | 1964 and earlier | 90% silver, 10% copper | 0.18084 troy oz | | Half dollar | 1964 and earlier | 90% silver, 10% copper | 0.36169 troy oz | | Kennedy half | 1965–1970 | 40% silver | 0.1479 troy oz | | War nickel, large mint mark | 1942–1945 | 35% silver | 0.05626 troy oz | | Morgan or Peace dollar | through 1935 | 90% silver | 0.77344 troy oz |

Ten dimes, four quarters, or two half dollars are each $1 of face value. On the 90 percent rows, that dollar of face was struck with the same silver. A 40 percent half, a war nickel, and a silver dollar were not. Keep those three in their own piles before anyone names a price for the jar.

Roosevelt dimes through 1964 are the silver Roosevelts, charted on the pre-65 Roosevelt page. Mercury dimes are the silver dime before that, 1916 through 1945, on the same planchet. Washington quarters from 1932 through 1964 are the silver quarters people find most often. Walking Liberty halves, Franklin halves, and the 1964 Kennedy half are the 90 percent halves.

Kennedy halves from 1965 through 1970 are 40 percent silver. A Kennedy half from 1971 on is the clad coin. Same portrait. The date is the sort. A clad half shows a copper-colored line on the edge. The 1965 through 1970 half has silver in the outer layers, so read the date on that coin.

War nickels are the silver Jeffersons. A large P, D, or S over Monticello marks the wartime alloy. The chart is the war nickel page. A 1942 nickel without that large letter, including 1942-D, stayed the ordinary copper-nickel coin.

Morgan dollars run 1878 through 1904 and again in 1921. Peace dollars run 1921 through 1928, then 1934 and 1935. Both are pre-1936 silver dollars, and both are on the last row. The charts are the Morgan page and the Peace page. Read the eagle before you decide which dollar you are holding. The Morgan note walks through 1921, when the Mint struck both designs.

A Barber dime, quarter, or half is the same 90 percent planchet. The Barber dime page is one of those charts. A silver coin from before the 1873 weights can be a different planchet. Set that one aside for a dealer.

Circulation dimes, quarters, and halves dated 1965, 1966, and 1967 were struck with no mint mark. A missing letter on those three dates is how they left the Mint.

How much silver is in them

The Coinage Act of February 12, 1873 set silver coins at 900 parts pure silver and 100 parts copper, and it set the half dollar at 12.5 grams. The quarter is half of that weight, 6.25 grams, and the dime is one fifth, 2.5 grams. An 1874 State Department dispatch quotes that standard and that half-dollar weight, and it counts two half dollars as 25 grams. Ten dimes or four quarters are the same 25 grams. Nine tenths of 25 grams is 22.5 grams of silver.

NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C prints a troy ounce as 31.1034768 grams. Divide 22.5 grams by that figure and the result rounds to 0.7234 troy ounce of silver in $1 face, as struck. The calculator's own figures land in the same place: ten dimes at 0.07234 troy ounce are 0.7234. Four quarters at 0.18084, and two halves at 0.36169, are the same dollar of silver within the rounding of those per-coin figures.

Worn coins are lighter. Hero Bullion's note on the 0.715 figure explains the trade count: circulated 90 percent dimes, quarters, and halves are figured at 0.715 troy ounce of silver per $1 of face, under the as-struck weight, as an allowance for wear. That count is for those three denominations. A silver dollar, a 40 percent half, and a war nickel each keep the silver weight in the chart.

The Coinage Act of 1965 set the new half dollar at 11.5 grams, with 4.6 grams of silver and 6.9 grams of copper, and an outer alloy of 800 parts silver and 200 parts copper. That is 40 percent silver. The calculator uses 0.1479 troy ounce for one of those halves. Two of them, $1 face, are about 0.2958 troy ounce, well under the 90 percent dollar of face. The same act still allowed 900 fine halves only until the new coins were on hand, and no later than five years. On this site, 1964 is the 90 percent Kennedy year.

The National WWII Museum's note on wartime money prints the nickel alloy as 56 percent copper, 35 percent silver, and 9 percent manganese, and it says the weight of the coin stayed put. The 1873 act had set the five-cent piece at 77.16 grains, which is 5 grams. Thirty-five percent of that weight is the calculator's 0.05626 troy ounce. Twenty war nickels are $1 face and about 1.125 troy ounces of silver, more than $1 face of 90 percent dimes. One times-face number cannot cover both piles.

The act of February 28, 1878 ordered silver dollars of 412.5 grains troy of standard silver, the weight and fineness of the dollars already coined. The 1873 act defines that silver standard as 900 parts pure metal. Nine tenths of 412.5 grains is 371.25 grains of silver, and a troy ounce is 480 grains, so the dollar holds 0.77344 troy ounce. That is the calculator's Morgan and Peace figure. One of those dollars has more silver than $1 face of dimes, quarters, and halves. Leave dollars out of the 0.715 count.

Per ounce, and per pound

People asking what junk silver is worth per ounce are asking for the metal. Count the fine silver in troy ounces, from the chart or from the melt calculator. The calculator multiplies that silver by the spot it fetched. The figure on that page is melt.

People asking per pound are asking about scale weight. A pound on a kitchen scale is the coins, silver and copper together, and worn coins weigh less than they did on the day they were struck. The same NIST appendix prints an avoirdupois pound as 453.59237 grams. $1 face of the 90 percent dimes, quarters, and halves was struck at 25 grams, so a pound of unworn coins is about 18.14 dollars of face value. That is the number stamped on the coins. A thousand dollars of face, as struck, is 25,000 grams, about 55.1 pounds.

Shops count face value because ten dimes, four quarters, and two halves were struck to the same silver. A scale mixes the copper in, and it mixes worn coins with unworn ones. Use the calculator for the metal figure. Ask a dealer what they will pay for the pile in front of them.

How a shop prices the pile

A shop buying common circulated 90 percent silver usually prices it in one of two ways. One is a multiple of face value, so many times face. The multiple moves when the silver spot moves. The other is a share of the melt figure, spot times the silver in the coins, with the shop's margin between that melt and the offer.

Say which pile you have. Ninety percent dimes, quarters, and halves can share one times-face number. Forty percent halves, war nickels, and silver dollars need their own. A bright coin from a roll can share the silver of a worn one and still be the coin a collector asks to see. Sort first.

The melt calculator is the metal figure. A local dealer will make you an offer. Write the number down, and get a second look when the pile is large.

Dates worth more than the metal

A common worn date is a metal conversation. A handful of dates and mint marks are the coins to pull out before the rest of the jar is sold for the silver. The series pages name them. If you cannot see the thing the page describes, you do not have that coin.

On Mercury dimes, 1916-D is the key. 1921 and 1921-D are the semi-keys. 1942/41 and 1942/41-D are the overdates. A normal 1942 is not the overdate. The mint mark sits on the reverse, to the left of the fasces.

On Washington quarters, 1932-D and 1932-S are the twin keys that page names. A common late silver date stays in the metal pile.

The Walking Liberty page does not name a traditional key. It calls 1919 and 1921 scarce. The Franklin page does not name a key date. Full Bell Lines is a strike call on the bell, not a date. The pre-65 Roosevelt page does not name a traditional key either. 1964 is the last silver year on that page. Plenty of them were saved. A last-year date is not the same thing as a scarce date.

On Morgan dollars, the dates that page names are 1889-CC, 1893-S, 1893-CC, 1894, 1895, 1895-O, and 1895-S. Carson City is a mint, not a grade. A CC date is not automatically a key. The Peace dollar key named there is 1928.

The 1964 Kennedy half is the first year and the 90 percent year. That does not make it a key. The 1965 Kennedy half is the first 40 percent year. That does not make it a key either. On war nickels, the large mint mark is the alloy mark. The war nickel page names 1943/2-P as a variety, and it does not name a traditional key inside that alloy.

Leave the dirt. Cleaning is the fastest way to make a decent coin look worse to a dealer. You do not need a slab to sort a jar. A common worn dime can go to the counter without one. The longer checklist, including wheat cents and gold, is what old coins are worth money.

Take the jar to a shop or a show

When the silver is sorted and the dates above are in a separate holder, take the box to a person who buys coins. The coin dealer directory lists public shops, including Ohio coin dealers. A coin show puts several tables in one afternoon. Bring the list. A local dealer will make you an offer.

People Also Ask

What is junk silver?

Common-date, circulated U.S. silver coins that a shop buys for the metal. In a jar or an estate box, that is usually dimes, quarters, and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier. The metal figure is on the melt calculator. A local dealer will make you an offer.

Which U.S. coins are 90 percent silver?

Dimes, quarters, and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier. The common ones are pre-65 Roosevelt dimes, Mercury dimes, pre-65 Washington quarters, Walking Liberty halves, Franklin halves, and the 1964 Kennedy half. Morgan and Peace dollars are 90 percent silver on a heavier planchet.

How much silver is in a dollar of 90 percent coins?

As struck, $1 face of those dimes, quarters, and halves holds about 0.7234 troy ounce of silver. Shops often count circulated coins at 0.715 troy ounce per dollar of face. The melt calculator uses the per-coin figures.

What is junk silver worth per ounce or per pound?

Per ounce, count the troy ounces of fine silver and open the melt calculator, which multiplies that silver by the spot it fetched. Per pound is scale weight. As struck, $1 face of 90 percent dimes, quarters, and halves weighs 25 grams, so a pound of unworn coins is about 18.14 dollars of face value. A local dealer prices the coins in hand.

How do shops price junk silver?

By a multiple of face value, or as a share of the melt figure, with the shop's margin in the offer. Keep 40 percent halves, war nickels, and silver dollars in their own piles. Browse coin dealers or coin shows. A local dealer will make you an offer.

Which dates should I pull out before selling silver as junk?

On Mercury dimes, 1916-D, 1921, 1921-D, and the 1942/41 overdates. On Washington quarters, 1932-D and 1932-S. On Morgan dollars, the dates named on the Morgan page. On Peace dollars, the 1928 Peace dollar. A 1964 Kennedy half is the 90 percent year, and a 1965 half is the first 40 percent year. The longer sort is what old coins are worth money.