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Silver Coin Melt Value Calculator

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Quick answer

A pre-1965 US silver dime contains 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver, worth about $2.17 at a $30 spot price. A quarter holds 0.1808 troy ounces and a half dollar 0.3617. Pick the coin, the count and the spot price below.

Silver coins are the find that makes a season, and the first question is always what they are worth. This gives the melt value, which is the floor. The figures used are the published mint specifications for weight and fineness, so the arithmetic is exact even though the market is not.

Estimated melt value

$2.17

Silver content figures are the published mint specifications for weight and fineness. This is a melt estimate, not an appraisal or an offer, and a collectable coin may be worth far more than its metal.

Identifying and storing coin finds

Top matches update when you calculate.

A loupe matters more than a scale here: the mint mark and date decide whether a coin is worth melt or many times melt.

Conserv Safe Coin Solvent
Conserv

Conserv Safe Coin Solvent

$8.99

A conservation-grade solvent removes surface dirt without the abrasion that destroys a coin's value. Never use an abrasive or an acid dip on anything that might be collectable.

Best for: careful cleaning of coins you might keep

Check price on Amazon
Minelab Equinox 900
Minelab

Minelab Equinox 900

$999.00

Ships with both the EQX 11 and EQX 6 waterproof Double-D coils, offers six single frequencies alongside Multi-IQ, and is submersible to 16 feet at 2.8 lb.

Best for: the one machine that covers park, field, beach and gold

Check price on Amazon

Do not clean it

This is the one piece of advice on this page that can cost you real money if you ignore it. Cleaning a collectable silver coin destroys most of its numismatic premium, the damage is permanent, and it is instantly visible to anyone who buys coins. Rinse loose soil off under water, pat it dry, and stop there until someone who knows has looked at it. Abrasives, dips and polishing cloths all belong nowhere near a coin you have not identified.

Sort before you sell

Common worn 90 percent silver trades close to melt, which is exactly why it is called junk silver. But key dates and better grades within the same series can be worth many multiples of their metal, and the difference between the two is often a mint mark a couple of millimetres across. Go through a find with a loupe and a reference before you take a bag of it to a dealer by weight.

Recognising silver in the ground

Silver is a strong conductor, so it reads at the top of a target ID scale, typically above copper and well above the pull tab range where most modern trash sits. That does not make it unmissable: a deep silver coin reads lower and less stably than a shallow one, and a corroded bottle cap can wander into the same range. The per-machine target ID charts in the reference section give the bands for specific detectors.

What a dealer pays

Below melt, typically, and how far below depends on quantity and on the dealer. Heavily worn coins have also genuinely lost a little metal, which matters across a large lot and is negligible across a handful. Melt is the number to compare offers against, not the number to expect.

Frequently asked questions

How much silver is in a US silver dime?

A pre-1965 Roosevelt or Mercury dime weighs 2.5 grams and is 90 percent silver, giving about 2.25 grams or 0.0723 troy ounces of pure silver. Quarters are 6.25 grams and halves 12.5 grams at the same fineness, so the silver content scales directly with the face value across the whole 90 percent series.

Which US coins are silver?

Dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier are 90 percent silver, as are Morgan and Peace dollars. Half dollars from 1965 to 1970 are 40 percent silver. Nickels struck from 1942 to 1945 with a large mint mark above the dome are 35 percent silver. Everything else in ordinary circulation is base metal.

Should I clean a silver coin I dug up?

Almost never. Cleaning is the fastest way to destroy the value of a collectable coin, and the damage is permanent and obvious to any buyer. If a coin is only worth its metal it does not matter, but you cannot always tell which is which, so the safe rule is to rinse off loose soil, dry it, and show it to someone who knows before doing anything else.

Is melt value what my coins are worth?

It is the floor. Common worn 90 percent silver trades close to melt, which is why it is called junk silver, but key dates, better grades and anything unusual can be worth many times their metal. Sort by date and mint mark before you sell anything by weight, and use a loupe: mint marks are small and decide the answer.

Does wear reduce the silver content?

Slightly, and it is worth knowing if you are selling a quantity. A heavily circulated coin can have lost a couple of percent of its original weight, and dealers buying bulk junk silver account for that. For a handful of coins the difference is negligible; across a large lot it is real money.

Researched, not professional advice. This tool produces an estimate from the figures you enter and from published manufacturer specifications. Depth, ground coverage and battery runtime all vary with soil chemistry, moisture, temperature and how a machine is configured. Any metal value shown is a melt estimate only: it is not an offer, an appraisal or a guarantee of what a buyer will pay, and collectable coins are frequently worth far more than their metal. Get the landowner's permission before detecting on ground you do not own, keep off protected land, and fill every hole.