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Enter coin counts or face value to get the live melt value of your bag of pre-1965 US silver coins. Mercury, Roosevelt, Washington, Walking Liberty, Franklin, Kennedy halves (90% and 40%), plus Jefferson war nickels. No signup, no email — just the math.
Enter the number of coins you own
| Qty | Coin | Composition | ASW (oz) | Melt Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barber Dime | 90% | 0.0715 | $0.00 | |
| Barber Half Dollar | 90% | 0.3575 | $0.00 | |
| Barber Quarter | 90% | 0.17875 | $0.00 | |
| Eisenhower Silver Dollar (1971-1976 — 40%) | 40% | 0.3162 | $0.00 | |
| Franklin Half Dollar | 90% | 0.3575 | $0.00 | |
| Jefferson War Nickel (1942-1945) | 35% | 0.056 | $0.00 | |
| Kennedy Half Dollar (1964 — 90%) | 90% | 0.3575 | $0.00 | |
| Kennedy Half Dollar (1965-1970 — 40%) | 40% | 0.1479 | $0.00 | |
| Mercury Dime | 90% | 0.0715 | $0.00 | |
| Morgan Silver Dollar | 90% | 0.77344 | $0.00 | |
| Peace Silver Dollar | 90% | 0.77344 | $0.00 | |
| Roosevelt Dime (pre-1965) | 90% | 0.0715 | $0.00 | |
| Standing Liberty Quarter | 90% | 0.17875 | $0.00 | |
| Walking Liberty Half Dollar | 90% | 0.3575 | $0.00 | |
| Washington Quarter (pre-1965) | 90% | 0.17875 | $0.00 |
Coins shown at melt value only. Barber, Standing Liberty, Morgan, Peace, and silver Eisenhower issues typically trade above melt due to numismatic premium — the figure here is the dealer-buy floor, not a market estimate.
Enter a coin count to see the melt value of your bag.
"Junk silver" is shorthand for pre-1965 US coinage that was struck in 90% silver — Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, Washington quarters, Walking Liberty / Franklin / 1964 Kennedy half dollars — plus 1965-1970 Kennedy halves which dropped to 40% silver in a clad alloy before silver disappeared from US coinage entirely in 1971. Jefferson "war nickels" struck 1942-1945 (35% silver, copper-silver-manganese alloy) are also commonly grouped under junk silver despite the lower purity. The term "junk" doesn't refer to condition; it refers to the absence of numismatic premium. These are the bullion-tier coins, valued for their silver weight, not their date or mint mark.
Each coin has a known silver content (Actual Silver Weight, or ASW) set by the US Mint at the time of striking. A pre-1965 dime contains 0.07234 troy ounces of silver, a quarter 0.18085 oz, a 90% half 0.36170 oz, a 1965-1970 Kennedy 40% half 0.14789 oz, and a 1942-1945 war nickel 0.05626 oz. Multiply each coin count by its ASW, sum the totals, and multiply by the live silver spot price to get melt value. This calculator does that math instantly, with the silver spot pulled from our live feed (refreshed every 10 minutes).
1965 is the cutoff year for US 90% silver coinage. Before then, all dimes, quarters, and halves were 90% silver; after the Coinage Act of 1965 they switched to a copper-nickel clad with no silver content. Kennedy halves were the lone exception — they dropped from 90% to 40% silver between 1965 and 1970, then went clad. When you sort a mixed bag, anything dated 1964 or earlier (excluding Kennedy halves: 1964 = 90%, 1965-1970 = 40%, 1971+ = 0%) is silver-bearing. The calculator's labels mark every input that spans the 1965 cutoff with an explicit "(pre-1965)" suffix to keep this unambiguous.
Junk silver's value is its melt value: the silver content of the coin multiplied by the current silver spot price. A pre-1965 dime contains about 0.07234 oz of silver, so at a $33/oz spot it carries roughly $2.39 of melt value. This calculator pulls live silver spot and computes the melt value of any combination of coins you enter. Note that dealers price junk silver above melt (premium for handling, sorting, shipping) — typically 5-25% over melt depending on bag size and demand cycles.
Pre-1965 dimes, quarters, and half dollars are all 90% silver — that includes Mercury Dimes (1916-1945), Roosevelt Dimes (1946-1964), Washington Quarters (1932-1964), Walking Liberty Halves (1916-1947), Franklin Halves (1948-1963), and 1964 Kennedy Halves. Coins dated 1965 and later are copper-nickel clad with no silver content, with one exception: 1965-1970 Kennedy half dollars were struck at 40% silver before going fully clad in 1971. Pre-1916 Barber series (dimes, quarters, halves) are also 90% silver but trade at numismatic premium, not melt — they aren't typically called "junk."
The per-coin silver content values are sourced from US Mint coin specifications and are exact for fresh-from-the-mint coins (silver_oz = mass_grams × purity / 31.1034768 troy ounces per gram). Real circulated junk silver coins lose roughly 1-2% of their mass to wear over decades, so a heavily-worn bag will carry slightly less silver than the calculator estimates. The melt value is also exact relative to current silver spot — but bear in mind that dealers buy below melt and sell above melt, so this calculator estimates intrinsic value, not what a dealer will pay or charge today.
Kennedy half dollars were struck at three different silver compositions across their history. The 1964 issue was 90% silver (12.50g total mass, 0.36170 oz silver per coin) — same composition as Walking Liberty and Franklin halves. From 1965 through 1970, Kennedy halves switched to 40% silver in a bonded clad construction (11.50g total, 0.14789 oz silver per coin). From 1971 onwards Kennedy halves became copper-nickel clad with zero silver content. This calculator handles all three groups: the 90% bucket includes 1964 Kennedy halves, the 40% bucket covers 1965-1970, and clad halves are excluded from junk silver entirely.
Jefferson nickels struck from late 1942 through 1945 carry 35% silver in a copper-silver-manganese alloy — the US Mint switched to this composition during World War II to free up nickel for ammunition production. They're identified by a large mint mark (P, D, or S) above Monticello on the reverse, where pre-war Philadelphia issues had no mint mark at all. Each war nickel weighs 5.0 grams and contains 0.05626 troy ounces of silver. They aren't typically worth more than melt outside collector grade, so they trade as junk silver despite being a different alloy class than the 90% / 40% silver coins. Note: only the 1942 nickels with the large mint mark are silver — early-1942 nickels in the standard composition are NOT.
Yes. The URL updates as you enter coin counts, so bookmarking or sharing the page link preserves your full inventory. Send a link to a fellow stacker or estate-liquidator partner and they'll see the same melt value at the spot price when they open it. The URL stays compact (only non-zero values are encoded). State stays local to the page — there's no signup, no account, no tracking of your bag inventory beyond what the URL itself encodes.
Once you've calculated the melt value of your bag, the simplest next step is comparing what dealers charge. The "Browse the cheapest junk silver →" button below the calculator results takes you to our junk-silver-by-premium ranking, which lists every junk-silver bag in our network sorted by lowest premium over spot. For selling, local coin shops typically buy below melt; large online dealers (APMEX, Money Metals, JM Bullion, Hero Bullion, BGASC, SD Bullion) buy at or near melt for larger bags. Always shop the buy-side spread the same way you'd shop the sell-side spread — it's just as wide.