Junk Silver Quarters

This is a "junk silver" quarter. Hardly junk considering with current silver prices, this 90% silver content quarter is worth about a dollar.

The Washington quarter was minted between 1932 and the present with several changes. Most notably, was in 1965 when the coin went from 90% silver to zinc, copper and other base metals known then as the "Johnson Sandwich" for Lyndon Baines Johnson, then the president of the United States.

Prior to 1965, the Washington quarter contained silver and was minted in large numbers - as many as 704 million in 1964 alone.

Many silver coins including the Washington quarter were melted by the federal government in an effort to reclaim the silver. However, many are available if you look carefully.

- For instance, I found a 1946 Washington quarter in the change tray at a Coinstar machine a few months ago.
- My daughter found one in my change from a gasoline station last summer.
- I found another in a change jar recently.

Many are reporting receiving pre-1964 quarters as consumers empty their change jars for essentials like gas or food due to the economic problems in our country.

Keep your eyes out for one of these beautiful coins with a high value.

Junk Silver: Coinstar Find - 1964 Silver Dime

My son, daughter and I went to the supermarket after basketball practice on Tuesday.

My son, always on the prowl for loose change, looks below the self checkout registers as I pay for my groceries. He usually comes up with a quarter, dime or penny for his troubles.

When we leave the supermarket, he always checks the Coinstar machine for change. There are a number of places to look as most people swapping their coins in are sloppy or in a hurry and overlook coins they may have dropped.

My son always checks the tray on top where people drop their coins in. Sometimes he finds an odd penny or two there.

He looks under the Coinstar machine, naturally, and is often rewarded with some coin or another.

But the best place to look is in the Coinstar return tray. Why?

Because rejected coins fall into the return tray and many times, the customer in a hurry leaves their rejects behind.

Certain coins are rejected by Coinstar machines such as dirty, damaged or sticky coins. Foreign coins. Silver and new "gold" dollars i.e. President coins.

And silver coins.

That's right, junk silver coins are rejected by Coinstar machines. I found a 1946 quarter in the reject tray a couple of months ago.

This time, my son found three foreign coins and lo and behold, a beautiful 1964 Eisenhower silver (90%) dime!

So the next time you stop off at the grocers, check out the Coinstar machine.. You never know what you might find!

Some great advice regarding junk silver

I found another great website with practical advice regarding junk silver, not only as an investment, but as preparation for use as a currency when and if our current money loses its value.

First, our current money, the dollar, is backed by the full faith and trust WE have in the federal government. If you have lived here your entire life like I have, you know there have been several instances where trust in the government has been tested.

Further, our dollar is based upon nothing tangible; not gold, land, oil or silver, nothing.

In short, we are indeed trusting that the federal government will make good on its promise that the dollar can be used, for all debts, public or private.

If you have concerns, consider silver as a safeguard in the event the dollar loses much of its value. For this particular purpose, junk silver is ideal.

Junk silver are U.S. coins, dimes, quarters and halves, minted before 1965, and which contain 90% real silver in their content.

Yes, there are silver dollars, but the U.S. ceased minting silver content dollars in 1921 and they are seldom available unless one purchases direct from a coin or jewelry store.

Junk silver has real value and is easily recognizable. While Walmart may not know their value, the merchant who survives a real economic meltdown will.

Read the article I mention here and let me know what you think.

Junk Silver Bags

"I have been interested in buying some junk silver coins and keep hearing a term - junk silver bags. What does that mean?"

First junk silver is a great investment and hedge against inflation and the further eroding value of the dollar. Junk silver, pre-1965 U.S. silver coins, dimes, quarters and halves, represent a real investment in silver as they contain 90% silver by weight.

Although many silver investors purchase silver in small quantities, such as in rolls or loose, coin dealers prefer to deal in bags. A bag is described by its weight of the coins it contains.

For instance, a quarter pound bag contains a quarter of a pound of junk silver quarters, dimes, halves or a combination of the three. Now the weight is not the number of coins, but the weight of silver content. So a quarter pound bag actually weighs more than 4 ounces.

GovMint, our featured advertiser, sells quarter pound bags of junk silver for as little as $99.00 making it an affordable way to get into the precious metals investing game.

Bags can contain more than a quarter pound with popular sizes being quarter, half, full pound and larger sizes. After a certain limit however, it can become impractical to purchase larger bags, especially for transport.