Junk Silver: Pre-1964 coin value

If you have some pre-1964 junk silver coins on hand and are curious as to their value, look no further than Coinflation for up to the minute pricing.

Coinflation has great tool which shows the coin, the face value, and the silver value of the coin.

For instance, a Mercury head dime, one of the most popular junk silver coins, has a 90% coin silver content. Coinflation shows that the Mercury has a face value of .10 and as of today, at $10.56 an ounce, has a silver coin value of .76.

Coinflation can be a great tool to use before buying junk silver online or at your coin or jewelery store as it will provide the current pricing of the coin. Remember to add a dealer premium to the sale - your retailer, both online and in person needs to make some profit on the deal.

Check out Coinflation here for more up to the minute junk silver pricing.

Junk Silver: Silver dollars

Silver dollars have gone through quite an evolution the past 100 years.

Once upon a time ago, they were actually made from silver and were valued upon the going price of silver. So a silver dollar could change sizes based upon the market value.

That changed when Congress set fixed prices for precious metals and made the silver dollar a real piece of backed currency.

The current silver dollar has two problems; it is not silver in color and has no silver content. Dollar coins are actually clads (metal discs clad in some type of metal and made of other base materials).

Silver coins of any denomination containing a majority of silver, 90% silver content, were minted until 1964. After that date, all coins went to a fraction of silver and became known as clads.

The Susan B Anthony silver dollar replaced the Eisenhower dollar coin and had no silver content.

The Eisenhower silver dollar was minted in 1971 had none if any silver content.

The Eisenhower dollar coin was the first dollar coins since the Peace dollar coin. It was called the Peace dollar because the obverse featured the word PEACE on the bottom portion of the coin.

The Peace dollar ceased being minted in 1936 making it the last real silver dollar coin.

Earlier silver dollar coins include the Walking Liberty and Morgan. The Morgan still turns up in collections and can be purchased over the counter from most coin retailers.

Junk Silver Coins

When investing in precious metals, we are often led to believe we are required to invest in gold bars or ingots.

However, there is a better and more affordable way to invest in silver - junk silver coins.

First, junk silver does not mean "worthless" in the sense of having no monetary value. Rather, junk silver coins have little numismatic value to coin collectors. However, junk silver coins are dimes, quarters, halves and dollars minted before 1965 which have 90% pure silver content.

Often you will see them listed as pre-1965, pre-1964, or common date silver U.S. coins.

Junk silver coins include the following:

Dimes - Roosevelt and Mercury head dimes minted before 1965






Quarters - Washington quarters minted in the same time frame, pre-1965..



Halves - While the 1964 Kennedy half contains 90% silver, the Franklin half, minted from 1948 t0 1963 is often more available because of the quantity minted during those years.



Dollars - There were only a limited number of Peace dollars minted in 1964 and those were not authorized into circulation. Eisenhower dollars were not released until 1971 and only a few contain 40% silver and the rest are clad. The only junk silver dollar coins are Peace and Morgan silver dollars.



Junk silver coins represent an easy way to invest in precious metals because they can be purchased one coin at a time, in rolls or in bags.

The cost of these coins is determined by the current rate silver is trading at plus a small premium for the dealer.

Buy Junk Silver

The other day I posted about where to buy junk silver, today I wanted to mention why buy silver.

Buying junk silver is a wise investment for your portfolio, as a hedge against inflation and because of the uncertainty of our economy.

The dollar is rapidly diminishing in value and putting your money into tangibles has never been more popular.

Tangibles includes precious metals like junk silver.

Before you forget, junk silver is used to describe pre-1965 U.S. silver coins with little numismatic value, but which have 90% silver content. These coins include dimes, quarters, halves and silver dollars from this time period.

So again, why buy junk silver?

As the dollar erodes in value, what you purchased yesterday may cost a little bit more tomorrow. Silver is bargain priced right around $10.00 an ounce. Which makes buying junk silver inexpensive and a bargain.

Buy junk silver from your local coin or jewelry shop, pawn shop, online at Ebay or at reputable online coin and metal dealers.

Take the plunge an buy a roll of pre-1965 dimes, quarters or halves today and protect your hard earned money.

Junk Silver in your pocket

Alert!

The recent economic downturn in the U.S. is indirectly effecting junk silver.

How?

With people struggling to pay bills and make ends meet, more and more are hitting the change jar, ashtray and piggy bank for cash.

Usually, this means grabbing a handful of quarters and either trading them in for dollar bills or using them for small purchases.

Regardless, those coin jars and piggy banks all to often contain junk silver - pre-1965 U.S. silver coins such as dimes, quarters and halves.

Shoppers are returning these long lost coins to circulation and making them available to you and me in our change!

How can you get some of these common date silver coins?

Shop with cash - when you shop with cash, you will naturally receive change back. Do not spend any of these coins until you have carefully screened them for junk silver coins.

Keep an eye out for coins in your family. Kids and the spouse may have a few coins and not ever know it!

Consider reviving the old practice of purchasing rolled quarters and dimes from the bank and checking for pre-1965 dates. Time consuming but well worth it.

A convenience store clerk in Michigan reported receiving two rolls of silver dimes from a cash strapped customer for gasoline. All of the dimes were pre-1965 Roosevelt and worth more than the $20.00 face value of the rolls! Wow!

A young waitress in Rhode Island reported receiving a handful of coins for a tip from a customer. Discouraged at first, she noticed a quarter in the tip looked "funny" in her words. After taking it to a local coin shop, she received a total of $27.00 for all the coins in the tip. There was that much silver in those coins!

Keep an eye out in your pocket change as you may stumble across a quarter or dime worth far more than its face value.

Junk silver? Where can I get some?

Junk silver.

With a name like that, why bother having any, right?

Wrong.

Junk silver, also called common date silver, refers to U.S. coins minted before 1965 and includes dimes, quarters, halves and silver dollars.



History of junk silver

When silver was removed from U.S. coins after 1964, most of the coins with 90% silver content were allowed to stay in circulation. But in the years afterwards, the government made a concerted effort to collect and melt U.S. silver coins.

With the banking system's cooperation, huge amounts of 90% silver quarters, dimes and halves were pulled from circulation, sent to government mints and melted to silver ingots and bars. These were stored or used for other purposes by the government.

However, because of the vast numbers of 90% silver coins already in circulation, naturally millions of silver dimes, quarters and halves remained in cash registers, piggy banks and coin trays across the country.

Collectors began searching for junk silver coins in the early 1970's. Although these common coins had little numismatic value, they had tremendous potential value as the silver was a hedge against inflation and the devaluation of U.S. dollar at the time.



The common method then and which continued to this day was to purchase rolls of quarters and dimes from the bank, search each coin, save the pre-1965 coins and return the rest to the bank. Then the process would start all over again.

Until the 1980's, this generally proved a worthwhile pastime. However, as collectors and the government pulled more coins out of circulation, this method of searching for junk silver became tiresome and fruitless.

Today's collector of junk silver is more likely to do the following to obtain a supply of common date dimes or quarters.

Coin shops
Many coins shops have junk silver in bags, boxes or shrink wrap available for market price plus premium.

Gold and silver exchanges
A popular type retail store specializing in the buying and selling of gold, silver and precious stones.

Pawn shops
Although the stock may sometimes be available, the pricing may not be accurate. Shop carefully.

Ebay
The popular online auction site hosts several sales of junk silver coins, sometimes in lots and others in small amounts like rolls or a few coins.

Online coin dealers
One of the best and most reputable ways to buy junk silver for current prices and in guaranteed amounts and quantities.




With silver at record price right now and with the economic uncertainty in the U.S., buying some junk silver may not only be an interesting purchase, but a smart investment as well.