**Silver & Gold Coin Melt Value Calculator — Any Spot Price**

> Enter the current spot price and see the intrinsic metal value of common silver and gold coins, with the date ranges that tell you whether a coin contains silver at all.

Source: https://orvik.app/tools/coin-melt-value-calculator/ · updated: 2026-09-04

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# What is the silver in this coin worth?

Put in today's spot price and this gives the **intrinsic metal value** of the coin — actual silver or gold weight × spot. Treat it as a floor rather than a price: date, mint mark and condition sit on top of it and for key dates they dwarf it entirely.

Coins **22** Basis **Troy ounce** Updated **2026-09-04** Cost **Free, no account**

Silver spot, per troy ounce Type today's figure from a market source. Currency is whatever you put in. Gold spot, per troy ounce How many of them Coin Dime, 1946–1964 (Roosevelt) Dime, Mercury 1916–1945 Quarter, 1932–1964 (Washington) Half dollar, 1964 (Kennedy, 90%) Half dollar, 1965–1970 (Kennedy, 40%) Morgan or Peace dollar Eisenhower dollar, 40% silver War nickel, 35% silver American Silver Eagle, 1 oz Pre-1920 sterling shilling 1920–1946 half-silver shilling Pre-1920 sterling half crown Pre-1920 sterling florin Dime, 80% silver Quarter, 80% silver Silver Maple Leaf, 1 oz American Gold Eagle, 1 oz Krugerrand, 1 oz Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, 1 oz British gold sovereign US $20 Double Eagle (Saint-Gaudens / Liberty) US $10 Eagle

Melt value

—

A floor, not a price. Check the date and mint mark before you treat any coin as scrap.

- Metal content each **—**
- Total metal **—**
- Typical dealer buy, ~88% of melt **—**

## Metal content of common coins

*Actual silver weight (ASW) and actual gold weight (AGW) in troy ounces, from published mint specifications. These figures do not change; the spot price does.*

| Coin | Years | Metal | Troy oz |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dime, 1946–1964 (Roosevelt) | 1946–1964 | Silver | 0.0723 |
| Dime, Mercury 1916–1945 | 1916–1945 | Silver | 0.0723 |
| Quarter, 1932–1964 (Washington) | 1932–1964 | Silver | 0.1808 |
| Half dollar, 1964 (Kennedy, 90%) | 1964 | Silver | 0.3617 |
| Half dollar, 1965–1970 (Kennedy, 40%) | 1965–1970 | Silver | 0.1479 |
| Morgan or Peace dollar | 1878–1935 | Silver | 0.7734 |
| Eisenhower dollar, 40% silver | 1971–1976 | Silver | 0.3161 |
| War nickel, 35% silver | 1942–1945 | Silver | 0.0563 |
| American Silver Eagle, 1 oz | 1986– | Silver | 1.0000 |
| Pre-1920 sterling shilling | to 1919 | Silver | 0.1682 |
| 1920–1946 half-silver shilling | 1920–1946 | Silver | 0.0841 |
| Pre-1920 sterling half crown | to 1919 | Silver | 0.4205 |
| Pre-1920 sterling florin | to 1919 | Silver | 0.3364 |
| Dime, 80% silver | 1920–1966 | Silver | 0.0600 |
| Quarter, 80% silver | 1920–1966 | Silver | 0.1500 |
| Silver Maple Leaf, 1 oz | 1988– | Silver | 1.0000 |
| American Gold Eagle, 1 oz | 1986– | Gold | 1.0000 |
| Krugerrand, 1 oz | 1967– | Gold | 1.0000 |
| Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, 1 oz | 1979– | Gold | 1.0000 |
| British gold sovereign | 1817– | Gold | 0.2354 |
| US $20 Double Eagle (Saint-Gaudens / Liberty) | 1850–1933 | Gold | 0.9675 |
| US $10 Eagle | 1838–1933 | Gold | 0.4838 |

## Melt value is a floor, not a price

The number this produces is the **intrinsic metal value** — how much pure silver or gold the coin physically contains, multiplied by the current spot price. It is useful as a floor: a common circulated silver coin will not sell for meaningfully less than its metal, because if it did somebody would buy it and melt it.

What it is not is what the coin is worth. Three things sit on top of melt value and any of them can dominate it:

- **Numismatic premium.** Rarity, date, mint mark and condition. A 1916-D Mercury dime contains about $2 of silver at typical prices and sells for thousands. Melting a scarce date destroys most of its value permanently.
- **Dealer spread.** Nobody pays spot. A dealer buys common circulated silver somewhere below melt and sells somewhere above it, and the gap is their margin. For bullion coins the spread is a few percent; for scrap it is wider.
- **Bullion premium.** Recognised one-ounce coins — Eagles, Maple Leafs, Krugerrands — trade above melt because they are easy to authenticate and resell. That premium moves with demand and has at times exceeded 30% for silver Eagles.

The practical order of operations: calculate melt, then check whether the date and mint mark carry a premium, and only then decide whether you are holding bullion or a coin.

## Working out whether a coin is silver at all

For United States coinage the answer is almost entirely a date question, because the Coinage Act of 1965 removed silver from circulating dimes and quarters in one step.

*Silver content of circulating US coinage by date. The 1964 cut-off is the single most useful fact in coin sorting.*

| Coin | Silver years | Fineness |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dime and quarter | Through 1964 | 90% |
| Half dollar | Through 1964 | 90% |
| Half dollar | 1965–1970 | 40% |
| Dollar (Morgan, Peace) | Through 1935 | 90% |
| Eisenhower dollar | 1971–1976, collector issues only | 40% |
| Nickel | 1942–1945 war nickels, large mint mark over Monticello | 35% |
| Everything after 1970 | None in circulation | Copper-nickel clad |

Two physical checks help when the date is worn off. Look at the **edge**: a clad coin shows a copper stripe sandwiched between two white layers, and a silver coin is uniformly white all the way through. And listen — dropped on a hard surface, a 90% silver coin rings with a long clear tone while a clad coin gives a dull short clunk. Both are reliable enough to sort a jar quickly.

In the United Kingdom the equivalent dates are 1919, when circulating coinage dropped from sterling to 50% silver, and 1946, after which there is none.

## Getting a spot price that means something

This calculator asks you to type the spot price rather than fetching one, deliberately. A number that arrives automatically from somewhere is a number nobody checks, and a stale precious-metal price produces a confidently wrong answer.

Spot is quoted per **troy ounce**, which is 31.1035 grams — about 10% heavier than the ordinary avoirdupois ounce. Mixing the two is the most common arithmetic error in this whole area.

Where to read it: any major financial data provider, the London Bullion Market Association benchmark, or the live quote on a large dealer's site. Note the currency. A US dollar spot price applied to a British sovereign gives a dollar answer, and converting afterwards is a second place to go wrong.

Spot also moves. Precious metals can shift several percent in a day, and dealer buy prices lag the move in one direction and lead it in the other. Treat any melt figure as valid for a few hours, not a few weeks.

## Before you sell anything for scrap

1. **Sort by date and mint mark first.** Ten minutes with a date list separates the coins worth melt from the coins worth many times melt. Key dates exist in every US series and they are not rare knowledge — every price guide lists them.
2. **Do not clean anything.** Cleaning is the single fastest way to destroy numismatic value. A hairlined or polished surface is visible to any grader and typically removes half the premium or more. Tarnish on silver is not damage.
3. **Get more than one offer.** Buy prices for the same bag of common silver routinely vary by 10% between dealers in the same town.
4. **Know what percentage of melt you are being offered.** Ask directly: "what percentage of spot is that?" A reputable dealer will answer. For common circulated 90% silver, somewhere in the high eighties to low nineties of spot is a normal buy price.
5. **Be careful with anything that might be an error or a variety.** Doubled dies, off-metal strikes and repunched mint marks can be worth hundreds and are invisible to somebody weighing a bag.

Melting United States coinage is legal, with one exception: it has been illegal since 2006 to melt or export cents and five-cent pieces for their metal content, because their copper and nickel content briefly exceeded face value. Silver and gold coinage is not restricted.

## Spotting a fake before you calculate anything

Counterfeit bullion and counterfeit key-date coins are both common, and the tests that catch most of them need no equipment beyond a magnet and a scale.

**Weight and dimensions.** Every legitimate coin has published specifications to a hundredth of a gram. A cheap 0.01 g jeweller's scale and a caliper catch the majority of fakes, because the counterfeiter cannot match the density of silver or gold with a base metal and still hit both the weight and the diameter.

**The magnet slide.** Silver and gold are not magnetic but they are strongly diamagnetic. A neodymium magnet slid down a tilted silver bar visibly slows as if moving through treacle; on a fake it either sticks or slides freely. It is a genuinely useful test and takes seconds.

**The ping.** A struck silver coin has a distinctive long high ring. Several phone apps analyse the frequency, and a dull tone is a strong warning sign.

**Look at the details.** Cast counterfeits show soft lettering, a seam on the edge, and small pits from air bubbles. Compare the font and the position of the date and mint mark against a genuine example; counterfeit key dates are frequently made by altering the date on a common coin, and a magnified look at the digits shows it.

For anything expensive, third-party grading and encapsulation by a recognised service is the answer. It costs money and it is far cheaper than buying a convincing fake.

## Questions people ask about this

Which US coins contain silver?

Dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier are 90% silver. Half dollars from 1965 to 1970 are 40%. Morgan and Peace dollars through 1935 are 90%. War nickels from 1942 to 1945, identifiable by a large mint mark over Monticello, are 35%. Everything circulating after 1970 is copper-nickel clad, and you can see the copper stripe on the edge.

What is melt value?

The intrinsic value of the metal in a coin: its actual silver or gold weight in troy ounces multiplied by the current spot price. It acts as a floor for common coins, because anything selling below melt would simply be bought and melted. It is not what a coin is worth — rarity, date, mint mark and condition sit on top of it and can dwarf it.

Should I melt my old silver coins?

Sort them by date and mint mark first. Key dates in every US series are worth many times their metal, and melting one destroys that permanently. For genuinely common circulated coins, selling to a dealer at a percentage of melt is normal and reasonable — ask what percentage of spot you are being offered, and get more than one quote, because offers on identical material vary by around ten percent between dealers.

How do I tell a silver coin from a clad one without checking the date?

Look at the edge. A modern clad coin shows a copper-coloured stripe sandwiched between two white layers; a 90% silver coin is uniformly white all the way through. The sound test also works: dropped on a hard surface, silver rings with a long clear tone while clad gives a short dull clunk.

Is a troy ounce the same as an ounce?

No. A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams, about ten percent heavier than the ordinary avoirdupois ounce of 28.35 grams. All precious metal spot prices are quoted per troy ounce, and mixing the two units is the single most common arithmetic error in melt calculations.

Should I clean a coin before selling it?

No, and this is close to an absolute rule. Cleaning leaves hairlines and an unnatural surface that any grader recognises instantly, and it typically removes half or more of a coin's premium. Tarnish is not damage; on silver it is a natural sulphide layer that collectors often prefer. Leave it alone.

Is it legal to melt coins?

In the United States, yes for silver and gold coinage. It has been illegal since 2006 to melt or export cents and five-cent pieces for their metal content, because their base metal value briefly exceeded face value. Other countries have their own rules — the UK, for instance, restricts defacing current coinage.

## Not sure what the coin even is?

Worn dates, foreign issues and unfamiliar mint marks are where melt calculators stop being useful. Photograph both faces and Orvik identifies the issue, the country and the year.

- [Get Orvik free](https://orvik.app/app/)

## Keep reading on Orvik

- [Coin identification](https://orvik.app/collectibles/coin-identification/)

- [How to identify coins](https://orvik.app/collectibles/identify-coins/)

- [Coin identifier apps](https://orvik.app/collectibles/coin-identifier-app/)

- [Scanning coins to identify them](https://orvik.app/collectibles/scan-coins/)

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- [Stamp identifier](https://orvik.app/collectibles/stamp-identifier/)

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- [Gemstone identification](https://orvik.app/rocks/gemstone-identification/)

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## Where the data comes from

- [US Mint — coin specifications](https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/coin-specifications)
- [London Bullion Market Association — precious metal prices](https://www.lbma.org.uk/prices-and-data/precious-metal-prices)
- [American Numismatic Association — collecting guidance](https://www.money.org/)
- [Royal Mint — historic UK coin specifications](https://www.royalmint.com/)

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