Coins and bars
Coins are the category where the object most often beats the metal, and where sellers most often lose money by not knowing that.
The one rule
- Never melt a coin before someone who knows the series has looked at it.
- Date and condition can multiply the value.
- A scrap buyer will weigh it and pay metal. That is all.
United States silver coinage
The dividing line is 1964. Dimes, quarters and half dollars struck in 1964 and earlier are 90 percent silver. From 1965 dimes and quarters contain none, and half dollars dropped to 40 percent until 1970. This is why pre-65 coinage is called junk silver: not because it is junk, but because it trades on metal content rather than collectability.
| Coin | Years | Purity | Silver content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dime (Mercury, Roosevelt) | to 1964 | 90% | 0.0715 ozt |
| Quarter (Washington) | to 1964 | 90% | 0.1808 ozt |
| Half dollar (Franklin, Kennedy) | to 1964 | 90% | 0.3617 ozt |
| Half dollar (Kennedy) | 1965 to 1970 | 40% | 0.1479 ozt |
| Morgan and Peace dollar | 1878 to 1935 | 90% | 0.7734 ozt |
| American Silver Eagle | 1986 on | 99.9% | 1.0000 ozt |
Morgan and Peace dollars are the classic mistake
They hold about three quarters of an ounce of silver, so as scrap they are worth a predictable amount. But certain dates and mint marks, and any example in genuinely uncirculated condition, are worth multiples of that to collectors. A scrap buyer has no obligation to point this out. If you have silver dollars, take them to a coin dealer before anyone weighs them.
Bullion coins and bars
Modern bullion is the simplest thing in this whole guide. An American Silver Eagle, a Canadian Maple Leaf, a Britannia, a Vienna Philharmonic and a Chinese Panda all contain a troy ounce of very pure silver, and they trade close to spot in both directions. The premium over melt is small and predictable.
Bars are simpler still. A poured or minted bar from a recognized refiner - Engelhard, Johnson Matthey, PAMP, a major mint - trades on weight and brand. Older Engelhard and Johnson Matthey poured bars carry a collector premium above their metal because production ended and stackers want them, which is worth knowing before you sell one as plain scrap.
Unbranded or homemade poured bars are the exception. Without a recognized hallmark a buyer cannot assume purity, so expect assay costs to come out of your price, or expect a lower percentage to cover the uncertainty.
Where coins should go
Sort by type before anything else
Separate pre-65 United States coinage, silver dollars, bullion coins, and world silver. Each goes to a different kind of buyer at a different price, and a mixed bag gets valued at the rate of its least interesting contents.
Do not clean them. Ever.
Cleaning a collectable coin can remove most of its premium in thirty seconds. Toning that looks like dirt to you is frequently the thing a collector is paying for. If it is dirty, leave it dirty.
Show silver dollars and anything pre-1900 to a coin dealer
This is the step that most often turns scrap money into real money, and it costs nothing but an afternoon.
Sell bullion and junk silver on percentage
For 90 percent coinage and modern bullion, the metal is the value. Compare percentages the same way you would for flatware, using the melt calculation on the valuation page.
Common questions
What is junk silver actually worth?
Its melt value, which for United States 90 percent coinage is about 0.715 troy ounces of silver per dollar of face value. Dealers quote it as a multiple of face, and that multiple moves with spot.
Are silver dollars always worth more than melt?
No. Common dates in worn condition trade close to metal. But the exceptions are numerous enough that it is never worth assuming, and the cost of checking is one visit to a dealer.
Should I get coins graded?
Only if a dealer suggests a specific coin is worth it. Grading costs money per coin and makes sense for genuinely high-grade or scarce examples, not for a jar of circulated quarters.
Do scratched bullion coins lose value?
Barely, because they sell on metal content. Milk spots and scratches matter for proof or collectable issues, not for ordinary bullion.
What about silver-plated commemorative coins?
Almost always worthless as metal. The commemorative medals sold by mail-order mints are typically plated base metal, and the certificates of authenticity attest to nothing about silver content.
Is 40 percent Kennedy silver worth keeping separate?
Yes. Mixing it with 90 percent coinage means the whole lot risks being valued at the lower rate. Sort by purity before you send anything.
Are old Engelhard bars worth more than spot?
Frequently, yes, particularly the poured ones. Production ended and collectors pay a premium. Mention the brand when you get quotes rather than describing it as a generic bar.
World silver coinage worth recognizing
Inherited coin tins are rarely all one country. British, Canadian, Australian and continental European coinage turns up constantly, and the purities differ enough to matter.
| Coinage | Silver years | Purity |
|---|---|---|
| British, pre-1920 | to 1919 | 92.5% |
| British, 1920 to 1946 | 1920 to 1946 | 50% |
| British, 1947 on | none | No silver |
| Canadian dimes to dollars | to 1967 | 80% |
| Australian pre-decimal | to 1945 / 1946 to 1963 | 92.5% then 50% |
| Mexican peso, various | to 1967 | 10% to 90% |
The 1947 line in British coinage
British silver coinage stopped containing silver entirely in 1947. Everything from that year on is cupronickel with no melt value at all, however convincingly it looks the part. Between 1920 and 1946 it is 50 percent, and before 1920 it is full sterling. Three eras, three completely different answers, and a jar of mixed British change usually contains all three.
How to present coins to a buyer
Sorted coins fetch better prices than a bag, for the same reason sorted flatware does: somebody has to do the work, and whoever does it captures the value.
Group by country, then by purity, then by whether a piece might be collectable. Count each group and write the totals down. For United States junk silver, quote the total face value, since that is the unit the trade actually uses. For anything you suspect is better than scrap, keep it out of the bag entirely and handle it separately.
Photograph both sides of anything unusual before it leaves the house. Dates and mint marks are small, and a photograph settles any later question about what was sent.
Finally, resist the urge to tidy. No cleaning, no polishing, no rubbing at the toning with a cloth to see what is underneath. More collectable value has been destroyed by well-meant preparation than by any dishonest buyer.
Reading a coin before you sell it
Three things separate a coin worth its metal from a coin worth many times more, and all three are visible without any equipment beyond good light and patience.
The date. Within a single series, particular years were struck in far smaller numbers than others, and scarcity drives collector value regardless of silver content. A worn common date trades near melt; a scarce date in the same worn condition can be worth a large multiple. You do not need to memorize which is which - you need only to notice that the date matters and to let a dealer check it rather than a scale.
The mint mark. A small letter, usually near the date or on the reverse, tells you which mint struck the coin. For United States coins the common marks are none for Philadelphia, D for Denver, S for San Francisco, and older marks like CC for Carson City. The same year from a different mint can be worth wildly different money, and the mint mark is easy to miss precisely because it is small.
The condition. An uncirculated coin that never entered daily use, with its original luster intact, is a different object to a coin worn smooth in a till for fifty years. Here is the trap: what looks like grime to you is often the toning a collector prizes, so cleaning to make a coin "look better" can destroy most of its premium. Leave every coin exactly as you found it.
Rounds are not coins
A silver round looks like a coin but is privately minted bullion with no face value and no legal tender status. Rounds are perfectly good silver, usually one troy ounce of .999, and they sell on metal like bars. The distinction matters only so you do not go hunting for a scarce date on something that was made last year to be melted-adjacent from the start.
How dealers price junk silver
United States 90 percent coinage is bought and sold by face value, not by weight, because the arithmetic is fixed and everyone in the trade knows it. A dollar of face value in dimes, quarters or half dollars contains roughly 0.715 troy ounces of silver, whether that dollar is four quarters, ten dimes or two halves. Worn coins hold a touch less, which is why the accepted figure sits slightly below the theoretical 0.7234.
So a dealer quotes junk silver as a multiple of face value that moves with spot. A bag with 100 dollars of face value holds about 71.5 troy ounces of silver, and the melt value is that figure times the current spot price. When a dealer offers you "so many times face," you can check it in one step: multiply the face value by 0.715, multiply by spot, and see what percentage of that number the offer represents. It is the same percentage-of-melt discipline used everywhere else on this site, applied to coins.
This is why junk silver is one of the easier things to sell fairly. The content is standardized, the market is deep and liquid, and there is little room for a buyer to invent a story about purity. Sort your 90 percent from any 40 percent Kennedy halves, total the face value of each, and you are ready to compare quotes with confidence.
Sterling and coin-silver objects that are not coins
Some inherited "coin" tins turn out to hold small silver objects rather than currency: souvenir spoons, medals, fobs, the odd napkin ring. Marked pieces follow the same rules as any silverware - a purity mark means solid silver, EPNS or a plating mark means it is not. Unmarked small items are worth testing before you assume either way, and the identification guide covers how.