What Is Junk Silver? (And How to Price It)

The name is the worst thing about it. "Junk silver" sounds like something you'd skip, and it scares off beginners who assume it means damaged, fake, or worthless. It's none of those. Junk silver is real silver, ordinary circulated coins that happen to be made of the stuff, and it's often the cheapest way to buy silver there is. The "junk" only means the coins carry no value to a collector above their metal. They're worth what their silver is worth, with no collector premium on top. For someone buying silver to stack, that isn't a downside. It's the whole point.

So here's what actually counts as junk silver, US and Canadian, and how to price any bag of it, whether you find it at a coin shop or in an auction lot.

What makes a coin "junk silver"

Three things together: it's a real legal-tender coin, it's made of silver, and it carries no collector premium above its metal value. That last one is what the word "junk" is pointing at. A rare date or a coin in pristine condition is worth more than its silver to a collector, so it isn't junk, it's numismatic. A worn, common coin that nobody collects is worth exactly its silver, so it trades as junk. Same metal, different buyer.

Because junk silver is priced on metal alone, it usually carries one of the lowest premiums over spot you'll find, and it comes in small denominations, so it's easy to buy a little at a time and easy to sell later. Those are real advantages for a stacker. The only thing you have to know is which old coins actually contain silver and how much, because that changed by country and by year.

US junk silver: the 90% coins

In the United States, the classic junk silver is 90% silver, and the rule is simple by date: dimes, quarters, and half dollars minted 1964 and earlier are 90% silver and 10% copper. The Coinage Act of 1965 ended it, and coins struck after that are copper-nickel with no silver. So pre-1965 dimes (Roosevelt, Mercury), quarters (Washington), and halves (Walking Liberty, Franklin, and the 1964 Kennedy) make up the bulk of US junk silver.

The number to remember: $1 of face value in 90% coins holds about 0.715 troy ounces of silver in circulated condition. It doesn't matter whether that dollar is ten dimes or four quarters, the silver comes out about the same. So a $10 face bag holds roughly 7.15 ounces.

A few things sit in their own categories and aren't standard 90% junk, worth knowing so you don't mis-price them. Kennedy half dollars from 1965 to 1970 are only 40% silver. War nickels from 1942 to 1945 are 35% silver, while regular nickels have none. And old silver dollars (Morgan, Peace) hold more silver per dollar of face but usually carry collector premiums, so they're priced on their own rather than lumped in with junk.

Canadian junk silver: the 80% coins, and the messy years

Canada's story is similar, but the numbers differ, which trips up people who apply the US figure to Canadian coins. Canadian circulating silver was 80% silver, not 90%, and the clean run is 1920 through 1966 for dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars.

The Canadian number to remember: $1 of face value in 80% coins holds about 0.60 troy ounces of silver. Multiply face value by 0.6 and you have your ounces. A Canadian dime is 0.06 oz, a quarter 0.15, a half 0.30, and a dollar 0.60.

Then come the messy years, and they're worth understanding because they're a genuine trap. In 1967, the Mint struck dimes and quarters in both 80% and 50% silver, and there's no way to tell them apart by looking. In 1968, dimes and quarters were 50% silver early in the year, then switched to pure nickel with no silver at all, and again you can't tell which is which by eye. Half dollars and dollars stayed 80% through 1967 and went to nickel in 1968, with no 50% versions. So 1966 and earlier Canadian silver is cleanly 80%, while the 1967 and 1968 dimes and quarters are uncertain, which is why dealers tend to price mixed Canadian junk a little conservatively. (Pre-1920 Canadian coins are a higher sterling silver and hold more, but you'll see those far less often.)

How to price any bag of junk silver

Here's the whole method, and it's the same discipline the rest of this blog runs on: figure the metal first, then account for everything stacked on top.

Step one, the melt value. Face value times the silver factor times spot. - US 90%: face × 0.715 × spot - Canadian 80%: face × 0.60 × spot

At $75 spot, a $10 face bag of US 90% holds 7.15 oz, so its melt is about $536. The same $10 face in Canadian 80% holds 6 oz, so about $450. (Spot will be whatever it is when you read this. The factors don't change.)

Step two, the premium. Junk silver trades at a premium over that melt, usually a low one, sometimes higher when small silver is in demand. The asking price is melt plus a bit. Compare that premium to what other forms of silver cost, since a low premium is junk silver's main advantage and the whole reason to reach for it.

Step three, if it's at auction, the all-in. Junk silver turns up at auction in bags and lots ("$50 face value 90% silver"), and the same rule applies as for any auction lot: the hammer isn't what you pay. Add the buyer's premium and shipping to get your all-in, divide by the ounces of actual silver, and set that all-in cost per ounce against what a dealer charges for the same junk silver. A bag that looks cheap on the hammer can lose to a dealer once the premium and shipping land, which is the whole point of running the all-in, applied to coins instead of bars.

One tax note for Canadian buyers

Here's one that surprises people: in Canada, junk silver is taxable, not exempt. The GST/HST exemption for precious metals requires silver of at least 99.9% purity, and junk silver is 90% or 80%, well below that line. So unlike a .9999 bullion coin or bar, a bag of junk silver has sales tax on it. That doesn't make it a bad buy, the low premium can still win, but fold the tax into your real cost when you compare. (We're not tax specialists, so confirm your own situation.)

The bottom line

Junk silver is one of the most accessible ways to stack: real silver, low premiums, small divisible pieces, and coins that are easy to recognize and easy to resell. The name is the only intimidating thing about it, and now it isn't. Learn the two factors, 0.715 for US 90% and 0.60 for Canadian 80%, and you can price any bag in your head against spot.

When it shows up at auction, treat it like any other lot: figure the silver, add the all-in, and compare. Quick Check runs that math on a lot in seconds, and BullionBidder does it across a whole catalog, so a bag of "junk" gets the same honest all-in-versus-retail read as everything else. The coins were never junk. They were just waiting for someone who knew how to price them.