Old Silver Coins: Which U.S. Coins Are Silver

Yes. Every old U.S. silver coin is worth at least the silver in it, which is many times its face value. Golden Eagle Coin lists these silver values per coin at a spot price of $64.27 per troy ounce (checked September 25, 2026):

• Dimes, 90% (Barber 1892–1916, Mercury 1916–1945, Roosevelt 1946–1964): $4.65 each.
• Quarters, 90% (Barber 1892–1916, Standing Liberty 1916–1930, Washington 1932–1964): $11.62 each.
• Half dollars, 90% (Barber 1892–1915, Walking Liberty 1916–1947, Franklin 1948–1963, Kennedy 1964): $23.25 each.
• Dollars, 90% (Morgan 1878–1921, Peace 1921–1935): $49.71 each.
• War nickels, 35% (1942–1945): $3.62 each.
• Eisenhower dollars, 40% collector versions: $20.32 each.

A scarce date or a high grade can add a collector premium on top. These figures move with the silver price every day.

No. Dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier are 90% silver, but Lincoln cents never contained silver, and nickels contained silver only from 1942 to 1945 (Golden Eagle Coin). The Coinage Act of 1965 moved dimes and quarters to copper-nickel clad, and Kennedy half dollars dropped to 40% silver (Wikipedia); Golden Eagle Coin lists the 40% halves for 1965–1970.

A grey 1943 cent looks silver but is zinc-coated steel; see the 1943 penny page.

Dealers call circulated 90% U.S. silver coins bought for their metal junk silver or 90% silver; SD Bullion, for example, sells them under the heading 90% Junk Silver. Junk does not mean damaged: it means the coin is priced by its silver, not its rarity. Collectors also call each coin by its design: Mercury dime, Barber quarter, Standing Liberty quarter, Walking Liberty half, Franklin half, Morgan dollar, Peace dollar.

Because 90% dimes, quarters and halves contain silver in proportion to face value, you can price a jar without sorting by type. From Golden Eagle Coin's per-coin figures, ten 90% dimes hold $46.50 of silver, and so do four quarters or two halves (at $64.27 per ounce, September 25, 2026). So $1 face value in pre-1965 dimes, quarters or halves holds about $46.50 of silver.

To update the figure, multiply by today's spot price and divide by 64.27. Dealers usually buy below and sell above that metal value, so ask for their bid before you sell.

• Check the date first. Dimes and quarters dated 1965 or later are clad; halves from 1965 to 1970 are 40% silver (Golden Eagle Coin).
• Look at the edge. Clad coins are copper-nickel over a copper core (Wikipedia), so the edge shows a copper stripe. A 90% silver coin has an even silver-grey edge.
• Weigh it. A silver Roosevelt dime weighs 2.5 g and a clad one 2.268 g (Wikipedia). A silver Eisenhower dollar weighs about 24.624 g and a copper-nickel one about 22.68 g (Wikipedia). A scale that reads to 0.01 g separates dimes; 0.1 g is enough for dollars.
• 1965–1967 coins have no mint mark. The Mint left them off to discourage hoarding (Wikipedia), so a missing mark on those dates is normal, not a sign of silver or an error.

A small number of dates are worth far more than their metal. The 1893-S Morgan dollar had a mintage of 100,000 and one sold for $2,086,875 in 2021; the 1895 Morgan was struck only as proofs, 880 pieces (Wikipedia). The 1928 Peace dollar has the lowest Peace mintage, 360,649 (Wikipedia). Before you sell a jar of silver by weight, pull out anything with an S, D, O or CC mint mark and look the date up; the rare coin identifier and CoinLens can do that from a photo.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Every price names the price guide, dealer listing or auction and the date it was read; where we could not confirm a figure we say so instead of estimating. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.