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Junk Silver

U.S. Silver Coins were minted for circulation until 1964 at which point the spot price of silver got so close to the denomination of the coins that is was no longer economically feasible to issue these coins.  In addition, people had begun hoarding silver coins as silver prices increased and especially after 1965, when silver coins were no longer made but could still be found in change.

1965 is when the U.S. Mint started to introduce which is known as copper-nickel or cupro-nickel coinage.  That is what you find in your change today.

Silver coins issued until 1964 were made with 90% silver content. These coins were Half Dollars, Quarters and Dimes as well as Silver Dollars until 1935.  A Silver Dollar issued from 1935 or before contains .7735 troy oz. of actual silver content, while a half dollar contains .3617 oz. of silver, a quarter has .1808 oz. of silver, and a dime has .0723 oz. of silver.

In addition, Kennedy Half Dollars issued from 1965 to 1969 (containing .1479 troy oz. of silver) and Eisenhower Silver Dollars issued from 1971 to 1976 (containing .3161 troy oz. of silver) that were made of 40% silver, and during World War II from late 1952 until 1945, when nickel was needed for the war effort, silver was used to make Jefferson nickels, which consisted of 35% silver.

All of these coins are frequently bought and sold by the roll or in bags of a certain face value, and they are traded for their silver content rather than any numismatic premium since they are typically low-grade coins that have little numismatic value.

These coins are usually called "junk silver" and are purchased by investors who wish to accumulate silver at the lowest premium over silver content value, or by refiners of precious metals. Depending on the silver market and the market for junk silver at the time, the premiums on junk silver vary quite a bit.  When junk silver is readily available and demand for silver coins is running lower, premiums for these coins is very low, and this is usually the least expensive way to buy silver.  At other times, when demand for silver coins is higher, and there may be supply disruptions in the silver or silver coin market, premiums for these coins will be higher, but they are still lower than the premiums at such times for pure silver bullion coins like American Silver Eagles.

These coins are sold using live feed pricing, which means the price of the product is constantly adjusted based on the current price of silver.