This is a question we get from customers daily at P&G Jewelry & Coin. Here are a few insider tips and dates that can help you determine if your coins have silver value.
There are several coins we see most often that are more valuable than face due to their silver content. The most common US minted coins that we see which have value well beyond face are the coins that include 90% silver dollars, half dollars, quarters and dimes with a date of 1964 and earlier.
Including the following:
Morgan Dollars
Peace Dollars
Walking Liberty Half Dollars
Franklin Half Dollars
1964 and before Kennedy Half Dollars
1964 and before Roosevelt Dimes
Mercury Dimes
1964 and before Washington Quarters
Liberty Quarters
Seated Liberty Coins
American Eagle Coins
& More!
There are a few additional US minted coins that have a smaller percentage of silver including a few years of buffalo nickels during WW2 and Kennedy half dollars between 1965 to 1969 which are worth more than face value due to their silver content. But the primary dates to watch for are 1964 & before.
Insider Tip: If you are looking at a fist full of old coins and want to do an eyeball test, turn them on their side. If the side has a dark orangish color in it then its probably not silver. If the side is all silver in color, then you probably have a good one. Of course, we are always willing to look through your older coins at the store and if you have the 1964 and before 90% coins we buy them almost daily. You can expect to us to pay 10X-15X the face amount, but it could be much more depending on the condition of the coin or numismatic value, the spot price of silver and other factors.
A great way to organize the coins before coming in is by denomination. Many of our customers have all the dimes together, half dollars, silver dollars, quarters, etc in zip lock bags with like denominations. This makes the process of working through the coins very efficient and saves you time! We buy older US silver (also called constitutional silver) weekly, in quantities from 1 coin to thousands of coins. We typically buy these types of coins with cash on the spot but if you have a large quantity of a thousand or more pieces please call ahead to make an appointment so we can make sure we can have appropriate staffing.
If you have any questions about older US Minted coins or selling your US minted silver coins please stop in 9-5
M-F or call us today!
Tim Schill
General Manager
P&G Jewelry & Coin
1847 Cleveland Rd
Wooster, OH 44691
330-264-0201
330-347-1790 (cell)
