How to tell if a coin is silver: dates, edge, weight and safe tests

For U.S. coins the date answers most of the question: dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier are 90% silver, Kennedy halves from 1965 to 1970 are 40% silver, and 1942-1945 war nickels with a big mint mark above Monticello are 35% silver. A look at the edge and a few seconds on a scale confirm it without harming the coin.

By the Coin Scanner team · Updated 2026-10-13

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Step 1: the date tells you most of it

U.S. coins followed a legal silver standard for a long time. The Coinage Act of 1873 required silver coins to be 900 parts silver and 100 parts copper out of 1,000, and fixed the half dollar at 12.5 grams, with the quarter and dime at one-half and one-fifth of that weight. Those standards ran through the last silver coins dated 1964. The Coinage Act of 1965 then replaced silver in the dime and quarter with copper-nickel clad metal. It also directed that any 90% silver coins struck after the Act was signed still carry the date 1964.

The half dollar did not lose its silver all at once. Under the 1965 Act the Kennedy half became a 40% silver coin: an outer layer of 800 parts silver and 200 parts copper over a silver-copper core, with the whole coin weighing 11.5 grams and containing 4.6 grams of silver. The U.S. Mint says silver was removed from the half dollar entirely in 1971. Separately, wartime Jefferson nickels from 1942 to 1945 were made from a 35% silver alloy and are marked by a large P, D or S above Monticello's dome (see war nickels).

Weights for the dime, half and dollars are as listed by PCGS CoinFacts; the quarter is the 1873 legal standard (PCGS rounds it to 6.30 g). Troy ounces use the NIST factor of 31.1034768 grams per troy ounce. Modern silver proof sets and bullion coins are made for collectors and are not covered by this table.

Step 2: look at the edge

The U.S. Mint describes today's dime, quarter and half dollar as clad coins: a copper core sandwiched between layers of a different metal. That core is visible as a copper-colored stripe on the edge. A 90% silver coin is the same alloy all the way through, so its reeded edge is uniformly silver-gray. This is the quickest way to sort a handful of 1964 and 1965 quarters.

Step 3: weigh it

Silver coins are heavier than their clad replacements. Most kitchen scales are not precise enough, but an inexpensive scale reading to 0.01 g works well. Wear removes a little metal, so a well-worn silver coin can weigh slightly less than its standard.

Weight is especially useful for spotting transitional errors, such as a 1965 coin struck on a leftover silver blank, which would weigh like a silver coin despite its date. Coins like that should go to a grading service for confirmation.

Tests that help, and their limits

Magnet test

Silver is not attracted to a magnet; it is weakly repelled. A coin that sticks is therefore not solid silver. The catch, as bullion dealers point out, is that copper and copper-nickel do not stick either, so a magnet can rule silver out but cannot prove it.

Ring or ping test

Tapping a coin gently with another piece of metal and listening is an old dealer habit. A Thermo Fisher application note on coin testing describes it as non-analytical: near-pure silver gives a sustained ring, while alloys sound different. It works best when you compare against a coin you know is genuine, and the result depends on how and where you tap, so treat it as a hint rather than proof.

Density (specific gravity)

Every metal has a characteristic density. The Royal Society of Chemistry lists silver at about 10.5 g/cm³ and copper at 8.96 g/cm³. Weighing a coin in air and again suspended in water lets you calculate its specific gravity, and a silver coin reads noticeably higher than a copper-based clad one. The differences in weight are tiny for small coins, so you need a sensitive scale and care.

Why not acid?

Acid kits and scratch tests remove or stain metal. The Thermo Fisher note calls the acid test destructive and says it is not acceptable for evaluating valuable numismatic coins, warning that damage can cut a collectible coin's value by thousands of dollars in some cases. If you need certainty, an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) reading from a dealer or assayer is non-destructive.

Melt value: how to calculate it

Melt value is what the silver inside a coin is worth as metal. Work it out in three steps:

1. Multiply the coin's standard weight by its silver fineness (2.50 g × 0.90 = 2.25 g for a dime).
2. Divide by 31.1034768 to convert grams to troy ounces (2.25 ÷ 31.1034768 ≈ 0.0723 oz t).
3. Multiply by the current silver spot price per troy ounce, which you can find on any bullion price chart.

For example, at a hypothetical round price of $10 per ounce (not a current price), a silver dime would hold about 72 cents of silver. Melt value is a floor for common worn coins; scarce dates, high grades and errors can be worth far more as collectibles, so check the date before selling anything as scrap.

Silver outside the U.S.: Britain and Germany

British coins followed a different path. The Royal Mint notes that in the 1920s, as silver prices rose, coins such as the crown went from 92.5% to 50% silver, and that by 1947 they contained no silver at all and were struck in cupro-nickel. See UK pre-decimal coins for dates and denominations.

In West Germany, the Bundesbank's records show that the 5 DM commemorative coins from 1952 through the 1979 "Deutsches Archäologisches Institut" issue were 11.2 g of an alloy with 625 parts silver per 1,000, about 7 g of silver each. From the 1979 Otto Hahn coin onward they were copper-nickel at 10.0 g. The circulating 5 DM coin issued until 1974 was also 625 silver. More detail is in DM-Münzen Wert.

Identify first, then decide

Before you weigh or test anything, scan both sides with Coin Scanner: it reads the date and mint mark, identifies the coin and gives an estimated value range, which tells you right away whether you are holding a silver date or a scarce variety. Estimates are a starting point. For anything that looks rare or unusual, a professional grading and authentication service is the safe way to confirm what it is.

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Coin Scanner identifies a coin from a photo of both sides, reads the date and mint mark, and gives an estimated value range so you know whether it deserves a closer look.