Which US Coins Are Silver? A Year-by-Year Cheat Sheet

US dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier are 90% silver, and so are Morgan, Peace and Trade dollars. Kennedy half dollars from 1965 to 1970 are 40% silver, and Jefferson nickels from 1942 to 1945 with a large mint mark over Monticello are 35% silver. Everything struck for circulation since 1971 contains no silver at all.

That's the whole rule in three sentences. The rest of this cheat sheet breaks it down coin by coin, flags the look-alikes that fool people, and shows what the silver is worth.

The quick rule by denomination

If you remember one date, make it 1964. The Coinage Act of 1965 took silver out of dimes and quarters and cut the half dollar to 40%, so 1964 is the last year of 90% silver for all three.

Dimes

Three designs are silver: the Barber dime (1892–1916), the Mercury dime (1916–1945) and the Roosevelt dime from 1946 through 1964. Each weighs 2.50 g and contains 0.07234 troy ounces of silver.

Roosevelt dimes dated 1965 and later are copper-nickel clad, weigh 2.268 g and have a copper stripe on the edge. Same portrait, same size, no silver. Date is the only thing you need to check.

Quarters

The Barber quarter (1892–1916), Standing Liberty quarter (1916–1930) and Washington quarter from 1932 through 1964 are all 90% silver. Each weighs 6.25 g and holds 0.18084 troy ounces. A 1964 Washington silver quarter looks identical to a 1965 clad one from the front, so turn it over and look at the edge.

The Bicentennial exception

Quarters dated 1776–1976 are almost always clad. The exception is the 40% silver 1976-S version made for collectors, which weighs 5.75 g and holds 0.07398 troy ounces. You won't usually find those in pocket change; they were sold in collector sets. Our guide to the Bicentennial quarter shows how to tell them apart.

State, park and other modern quarters

Circulating state, territory and national park quarters are clad. The Mint has made silver versions for collector proof sets, but those come in special packaging, not from the bank.

Half dollars

Halves are where the dates get slightly trickier, because silver lasted longer.

• 90% silver: Barber (1892–1915), Walking Liberty (1916–1947), Franklin (1948–1963) and the 1964 Kennedy. Each weighs 12.50 g and holds 0.36169 troy ounces.
• 40% silver: Kennedy halves from 1965 to 1970. They weigh 11.50 g and hold 0.14792 troy ounces, less than half the silver of a 1964 half.
• No silver: Kennedy halves from 1971 on are clad and weigh 11.34 g.

The 40% coins are the ones people misjudge most. Their edges don't look quite like a 90% half or a clad one, so the date is the safest check. A 1967 Kennedy and a 1972 Kennedy look the same from the front, yet only the 1967 holds silver. See which Kennedy halves are silver for a full date breakdown and how to weigh them.

Dollar coins

Eisenhower dollars cause the most confusion. The silver ones were S-mint coins sold to collectors; the ones that circulated are clad and weigh 22.68 g against 24.59 g for the silver version. Our Eisenhower dollar silver check walks you through it.

Nickels: the wartime surprise

Normal nickels are 75% copper and 25% nickel, with no silver. From 1942 to 1945, though, the Mint changed the alloy during World War II. These "war nickels" are 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese and hold 0.05626 troy ounces of silver each.

You can spot them by the large P, D or S mint mark above Monticello's dome on the reverse. It was the only time a P appeared on a nickel before 1980. Here's what one is worth in metal at today's price.

Don't rely on the date alone for 1942. Not every 1942 nickel is silver, so look for the big mark over the dome rather than the year. More detail is in our war nickel guide.

Coins people think are silver but aren't

• 1965 and later dimes and quarters. Bright and silvery when new, but clad.
• Golden dollars. Sacagawea and Presidential dollars are manganese brass with no gold and no silver. See whether golden dollars contain gold.
• 1943 steel pennies. They look silver but are zinc-coated steel and stick to a magnet.
• Susan B. Anthony dollars. Copper-nickel clad, despite the silver color.
• Circulation Eisenhower dollars. Only the S-mint collector versions have silver.

What the silver is worth, per $1 of face value

Because the Mint kept the silver proportional to face value, one dollar's worth of 90% dimes, quarters or halves holds the same silver: 0.7234 troy ounces when new. Dealers figure worn coins at 0.715 troy ounces per $1 face.

Here's a worked example. Say you find $5 face value of 1950s quarters, which is 20 coins. Dealers would count that as 5 × 0.715 = 3.575 troy ounces. If silver were $40 an ounce, the melt would be $143. At today's live price, $1 face of 90% silver is worth about $38.19, and $1 face of 40% Kennedy halves about $15.80.

The live table below lists every silver US coin with its current melt value, so you can check yours in one place.

For a bigger mixed pile, the junk silver calculator totals face value by type and prices it at spot. And if you want the background on why these numbers matter, start with our explainer on how coin melt value works.

One more tip for mixed piles: count silver by face value, not by number of coins. Twenty dimes and eight quarters are both $2 face, and both hold the same silver. That's why buyers and our tools ask for face value instead of a coin count.

Sorting a coin jar in five minutes

1. Pull every dime, quarter and half dated 1964 or earlier into one pile.
2. Pull Kennedy halves dated 1965 to 1970 into a second pile.
3. Flip nickels dated 1942 to 1945 and keep any with a large mint mark above the dome.
4. Set aside any large dollar coin and check its type and mint mark.
5. Look over the silver piles for older or unusually sharp coins before you think about selling them for melt.