Junk Silver Calculator
Enter the face value of your pre-1965 90% silver US coins to calculate current melt value. Silver spot: Unavailable
Enter $1.00 for 4 quarters, 10 dimes, etc.
Silver Content by Coin Type
| Coin | Face | Silver oz | Melt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dime | $0.10 | 0.07234 | — |
| Quarter | $0.25 | 0.1808 | — |
| Half Dollar | $0.50 | 0.3617 | — |
| Dollar | $1.00 | 0.7734 | — |
* Applies to pre-1965 dimes, quarters, half dollars, and silver dollars (Morgan/Peace). War Nickels (1942–1945) are 35% silver — use the Silver Calculator for those.
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What Is Junk Silver?
“Junk silver” refers to pre-1965 US coins that contain 90% silver. The term doesn't mean the coins are worthless — quite the opposite. It simply means they have no significant numismatic (collector) premium above their silver melt value.
A $1.00 face value in junk silver coins contains 0.7234 troy ounces of pure silver. This ratio (called the “silver multiplier”) is approximately 14-20x at current silver prices of current spot/ozt.
Junk silver is popular among precious metals investors because it comes in small, recognizable increments (dimes, quarters), is easy to verify (standard US Mint coins), and typically trades at a lower premium over spot than bars or modern bullion coins.
Common junk silver bags are sold in $100, $500, and $1,000 face value amounts. A $1,000 face value bag contains approximately 723.4 troy ounces of silver.