Coin tools
Junk silver value: what is a dollar of old silver coins worth?
Add up the face value of your 90% silver dimes, quarters and halves and type it in. The tool converts it to pure silver and prices it at the silver price of the moment.
Junk silver: face value to silver ounces
Melt value
$390.20
| Pure silver | 7.234 troy oz |
| Silver per $1 face value | 0.7234 troy oz |
| Metal value against face value | 39.0 times |
Dimes, quarters and halves dated 1964 or earlier. At silver $53.94 per troy oz (last price read).
“Junk silver” is the trade name for common 90% silver coins valued for their metal rather than for their date: dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier that are worn, ordinary or damaged. Because the Mint struck them at weights proportional to their face value, every dollar of face value contains the same quantity of silver, 0.7234 troy ounce, whatever mix of coins makes it up. That figure follows from the weights and fineness published by the Bureau of the Mint: a dime of 2.50 grams, a quarter of 6.25 grams and a half of 12.50 grams, all 90% silver. At $53.94 an ounce, the price read on October 27, 2026, ten dollars of face value holds metal worth about $390.20. The tool above does the conversion for any amount at the live price, and the one below counts single coins. Check the date of each coin first: a scarce date is worth more than its silver.
How much are my silver dimes worth?
Melt value of 10 coins
$39.06
| One coin | $3.91 |
| Face value | $1 |
| Pure silver | 0.723 troy oz |
At silver $53.94 per troy oz (last price read).
Mintages, metals and prices read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Why face value is enough to value 90% silver
The 90% silver dime, quarter and half dollar of the twentieth century were designed as a family. The quarter weighs two and a half times the dime and the half twice the quarter, and all three are nine parts silver to one part copper. The silver in a coin is therefore proportional to its face value, and so is its melt value. A roll of fifty dimes, a roll of twenty quarters and a roll of ten halves each have a face value of five dollars, and each holds the same 3.617 troy ounces of silver.
| Coin | Weight | Pure silver per coin | Coins per $1 face | Silver per $1 face |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dime | 2.50 g | 0.0723 oz | 10 | 0.7234 oz |
| Quarter | 6.25 g | 0.1808 oz | 4 | 0.7234 oz |
| Half dollar | 12.50 g | 0.3617 oz | 2 | 0.7234 oz |
| Silver dollar | 26.73 g | 0.7735 oz | 1 | 0.7735 oz |
| Kennedy half, 1965 to 1970 | 11.50 g | 0.1479 oz | 2 | 0.2958 oz |
The silver dollar is the exception in the table: it was struck to an older standard and holds more silver per dollar than the smaller coins. The 40% Kennedy halves hold well under half as much per dollar. Mixing them into a 90% count overstates the silver, so count them apart.
Counting by the coin
When you have a few coins rather than a bag, counting them one by one is simpler. The tool below takes a number of 90% dimes and returns face value, silver content and metal value at the same price as the main tool.
How much are my silver dimes worth?
Melt value of 10 coins
$39.06
| One coin | $3.91 |
| Face value | $1 |
| Pure silver | 0.723 troy oz |
At silver $53.94 per troy oz (last price read).
For quarters, halves, dollars and wartime nickels, the melt value calculator works the same way for every coin type.
Prices, wear and what a buyer pays
The silver price comes from gold-api.com, asked by your browser when the page opens; the World Bank’s monthly average for September 2026 is kept as a reference. Silver moves every minute the markets are open, so the figure on your screen is the one to use, not a number in an old article.
Worn coins lighten slowly in circulation, so a bag of heavily used quarters contains a little less silver than the arithmetic says. The difference is small but it is one reason buyers quote below the full metal value, together with their refining and handling costs. The tool shows the full value of the metal so that you can compare any offer against it.
Before you sell or melt
Read every date. Low-mintage dates exist among Mercury dimes, Washington quarters and Walking Liberty halves, and they are worth more as coins than as metal; the silver coin years page helps you separate silver from clad first. Unlike pennies and nickels, silver dimes, quarters and halves are not covered by the melting ban of 31 CFR Part 82, which applies only to one-cent and five-cent coins. Keep in mind that the metal value is the floor, never the ceiling, of what an old coin can be worth.