Junk Silver Calculator

A worked example: a coffee can of pre-1965 change

The fastest way to value junk silver is by face value: add up the dollars, multiply by 0.715 troy ounces per $1 of 90% coins, then multiply by the silver price. The calculator above does exactly that, coin type by coin type.

Say a jar holds 35 Roosevelt dimes and 8 Washington quarters, all dated 1964 or earlier, plus 4 Kennedy halves dated 1967. Using an example silver price of $30 per ounce:

1. Face value of the 90% coins: $3.50 in dimes plus $2.00 in quarters equals $5.50.
2. Silver in those coins: $5.50 × 0.715 = 3.93 troy ounces.
3. Silver in the 40% halves: 4 × 0.1479 oz = 0.59 troy ounces.
4. Total silver: about 4.52 oz. At the example $30, melt value is roughly $135.70.

Why 0.715 and not 0.7234

Brand-new 90% dimes, quarters and halves contain 0.7234 troy ounces of silver per dollar of face value. Decades in circulation wore some metal away, so the trade uses 0.715 as a realistic average for mixed circulated coins. A full $1,000 face bag is usually treated as about 715 ounces of silver.

Quotes as a multiple of face

Dealers often price junk silver as a multiple of face value rather than per ounce: “18 times face” means $18 for every $1 of coins. Divide any bid by the face value and you can compare it directly with the calculator’s melt ÷ face line.

Dates and marks that decide whether a coin is silver

Traps that catch new sorters

• Not every 1942 nickel is silver. Production switched partway through the year, and only pieces with the big mint mark over the dome carry 35% silver.
• A 1965 quarter looks just like a 1964 one from the front. Check the edge every time.
• Susan B. Anthony, Sacagawea and Presidential dollars have no silver, whatever their color.
• Canadian and other foreign silver coins mixed into U.S. change use different alloys and weights, so leave them out of the calculator.

Other 90% series you may find

• Barber dimes, quarters and halves, struck from 1892 to 1916.
• Mercury dimes, 1916 to 1945, and Roosevelt dimes from 1946 through 1964.
• Standing Liberty quarters, 1916 to 1930, and Washington quarters from 1932 through 1964.
• Walking Liberty halves, 1916 to 1947, and Franklin halves, 1948 to 1963.

All of these are 90% silver and use the same 0.715 rule, but older series are more likely to include dates worth more than melt.

The scale test

When the edge is worn or dirty, weight settles it. A 90% silver quarter is specified at 6.25 grams; a clad quarter at 5.67 grams. A 90% dime weighs 2.50 grams against 2.27 for clad. A 40% Kennedy half is 11.50 grams, a clad one 11.34 grams, a gap small enough that you need a scale reading to 0.01 g.

Silver dollars count differently

One dollar in Morgan or Peace dollars holds about 0.7734 oz of silver, more than a dollar’s worth of dimes. Since the 1850s, dimes, quarters and halves have been struck slightly lighter per dollar than the silver dollar, which is why the calculator lists dollars as a separate line.

When melt value undersells a coin

Junk silver is priced as metal because most of it is common and worn. A handful of dates are not. The 1916-D Mercury dime, the 1932-D and 1932-S Washington quarters, and scarce Morgan dollars such as the 1893-S trade on collector demand, often far above melt.

A quick screen before you sell by weight

1. Pull out anything that still shows full detail and original luster, which may be uncirculated.
2. Set aside every coin dated before 1920 and check the dates and mint marks against a price guide.
3. Set aside all silver dollars. Morgan and Peace dollars carry a collector premium even in worn grades.
4. Weigh or count what remains as bullion.

Morgan dollars have their own values on our Morgan silver dollar page.

Peace dollars from 1921 to 1935 are covered on the Peace dollar value page.

The 40% halves of 1965 to 1970 are listed on the Kennedy half dollar page.

Worn coins and weight loss

Heavily worn Barber and early Mercury coins can lose more silver than the 0.715 average allows. If a lot is mostly smooth, dateless coins, weigh it and expect a buyer to adjust the price downward. Bright, lightly circulated 1950s and early 1960s coins sit closer to the full 0.7234 figure.

Proof and mint sets

Silver proof sets from the 1950s and 1960s, and the 40% silver bicentennial sets dated 1976, are often priced a little above their melt value because collectors want them in the original packaging. Breaking them up for melt usually loses that small premium, so value them as sets first.

Don’t clean them

Polishing or dipping an old coin leaves hairline scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors discount heavily. For melt, cleaning adds nothing; for a scarce date, it can cost most of the premium.

Rolls, bags and taxes on junk silver

Junk silver usually changes hands in standard rolls and bags, so it helps to know what each holds.

Larger lots trade as bags: a full bag is $1,000 in face value, and half and quarter bags are also common. Mixed bags of dimes and quarters trade at about the same rate, since every $1 of face holds the same silver.

Every dollar weighs 25 grams

Here is a shortcut the trade relies on. Ten 90% dimes weigh 25 grams, four quarters weigh 25 grams, and two halves weigh 25 grams. So every $1 of 90% face value weighs the same 25 grams, whatever the mix. A full $1,000 bag therefore weighs about 25 kilograms, or roughly 55 pounds, before the bag itself. Weighing a large lot and dividing by 25 grams gives its face value without counting.

Worked example: a half bag

A $500 face half bag holds about 500 × 0.715 = 357.5 ounces of silver. At an example price of $30 per ounce, that is $10,725 of melt value, and it weighs about 12.5 kilograms.

Taxes

For federal tax purposes, silver coins are collectibles. Long-term gains on junk silver are taxed at up to 28%, the same as bullion. Keep a record of what you paid, and if you inherited the coins, of their value at the date of death, since that becomes your cost basis.

Coins are valued on the silver side of the market, but many sellers also hold gold, and the gold price today page shows spot for that metal.

The history behind the 1965 switch is on our silver price history page.