coin guide

How and Where to Sell Silver Coins

Where to sell silver coins depends on which kind you hold. Bullion coins and U.S. dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier sell for their silver: troy ounces of silver times the spot price, less the buyer's margin. A local coin shop or an online marketplace that publishes its buying price will take them. Rare coins sell on rarity and condition, sometimes at auction, so check for them before you sell anything by weight.

Sort Your Coins Into Three Groups Before You Ask for a Price

Buyers price silver coins by three different rules, and one number quoted for a mixed box prices all of it as the cheapest group. Sort before you ask.

Modern bullion coins make up one group. The U.S. Mint defines a bullion coin as an investment-grade coin valued by its weight and fineness, and both are stamped on the piece. Federal law puts the words "1 Oz. Fine Silver" on every American Silver Eagle. Other government-minted silver coins belong here, and privately minted rounds are priced the same way.

U.S. silver struck for circulation is the second group. The Mint struck its silver coins at .900 fineness from 1837, and the Coinage Act of 1965, approved on July 23, 1965, removed silver from circulating coins. The Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) lists Barber, Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, Barber, Standing Liberty and Washington quarters, and Barber, Walking Liberty, Franklin and 1964 Kennedy half dollars at 90% silver. Two later issues are priced apart, and NGC lists Kennedy half dollars of 1965 to 1970 at 40% silver, with 0.1479 troy ounce each, and wartime nickels of 1942 to 1945 at 35%, with 0.0563. Common, worn 90% coins are called junk silver, which means no collector premium, not poor quality.

Collectible coins are the third group. The American Numismatic Association (ANA) says a collector coin's value rests on rarity, demand, condition and mintage and may exceed its bullion value. A Mercury dime or a Morgan dollar can move here from the silver-content pile on its date, its mint mark or its condition.

How a Silver-Content Offer Is Built

A silver-content offer has three parts: the troy ounces of silver in the coins, the spot price and the buyer's margin. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and FINRA define the spot price as the cash price for immediate delivery of physical metal, quoted in dollars per troy ounce, and our live silver price charts show it. Ounces times spot is the melt value, which the ANA defines as the basic intrinsic bullion value of a coin if melted and sold. The ANA fixes a troy ounce at 480 grains, or exactly 31.1034768 grams.

A 1 oz bullion coin carries its silver weight on its face. For 90% silver the trade counts face value instead, because the weights are proportional. NGC lists the 90% silver dime at 2.5 grams, the quarter at 6.25 grams and the half dollar at 12.5 grams. That makes $1 of face value 10 dimes, four quarters or two half dollars, and each combination weighs 25 grams unworn. Multiply by 0.900 for 22.5 grams of silver, then divide by 31.1034768 for 0.7234 troy ounce. NGC's per-coin figures agree: 0.0723 troy ounce in a dime, 0.1808 in a quarter and 0.36169 in a half dollar. Worn coins hold slightly less.

Silver dollars don't fit that sum. NGC lists Morgan and Peace dollars at 26.73 grams, with 0.7734 troy ounce of silver in each. One Morgan holds more silver than $1 of face value in dimes, so count dollars separately, and only after you've checked their dates.

Last comes the buyer's margin. By the CFTC and FINRA advisory, a business that trades metal sells above the spot price and buys back below it. That gap is the spread, and each business sets its own.

How Collectible Coins Are Priced and Why a Price Guide Isn't an Offer

No formula prices a collectible coin. The ANA says an exact value can only be established by a careful physical examination of the item by an experienced numismatist, a coin specialist.

Price guides set the wrong expectation. The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) states that its Price Guide lists average asking prices for PCGS-graded coins and applies only to coins PCGS has graded. In the PCGS glossary, the bid is the buying quotation and the ask is the selling quotation. An offer for your coin is a bid, so it sits below the Price Guide figure. An ungraded coin isn't the coin in the guide at all.

Dates and Mint Marks to Check Before You Accept a Melt Price

A few dates turn a silver-content coin into a collectible one, and the mint mark, the small letter showing where a coin was struck, is often the whole difference. Three examples from PCGS CoinFacts, not a complete list, show the scale.

In 1916 the Denver Mint struck 264,000 Mercury dimes, against 22,180,080 at Philadelphia. In 1932, Denver struck 436,800 Washington quarters and San Francisco 408,000, against 5,404,000 at Philadelphia. San Francisco struck 100,000 Morgan dollars in 1893, and PCGS estimates fewer than 10,000 survive. A D on a 1916 dime, a D or an S on a 1932 quarter and an S on an 1893 dollar each deserve a second look before the coin goes on a scale.

A rare date is a reason to have the coin examined, not proof of anything. PCGS calls the 1916-D dime one of the most widely counterfeited U.S. coins, often made by adding a D to a common 1916 dime. It warns that many fake 1893-S dollars are made by adding an S to an 1893 Philadelphia coin. The U.S. Mint adds that unmarked imitations of pre-1950 U.S. coins are produced abroad and sold online, despite the federal rule that copies be marked "COPY."

What a Grading Holder Tells a Buyer

A coin sealed in a PCGS or NGC holder has already been examined, so a buyer of graded coins is bidding on a stated grade. NGC grades on the Sheldon scale of 1 to 70, with 60 the threshold for Uncirculated. A PCGS holder carries a 7 or 8 digit certification number that anyone can verify online.

Read the label before you assume a grade. NGC won't assign a numeric grade to an improperly cleaned coin and gives it a Details grade instead, with a value that depends on how severe the problem is and where it sits. PCGS uses No Grade codes, and code 92 means Cleaning. One writer in the ANA's magazine notes that common Details coins offer little unless they're silver coins with inherent value.

Where to Sell Silver Coins and What to Check in Each Channel

Four kinds of buyer take silver coins. The CFTC and FINRA note that retail metal sellers aren't regulated at the federal level, so the checking falls to you.

A local coin shop suits a mixed lot that needs examining in person. The ANA holds its member firms to a code of ethics and lists them in a directory, so ask about ANA membership. An online marketplace suits bullion coins and 90% silver, where price is a matter of weight. Before you ship to an online firm, run the CFTC and FINRA check: verify its physical address and how long it has operated.

An auction suits a rare coin, because competing bidders set the price. A pawn shop or jewelry buyer is convenient for a few common coins.

The U.S. Mint doesn't sell its bullion coins directly to the public. It sells to authorized purchasers and requires them to maintain a two-way market, buying as well as selling. That requirement is the structural reason American Silver Eagles are easy to sell.

The ANA urges sellers to be wary of cold-call solicitations and mobile offices set up in temporary locations such as motels, offering instant cash for gold and silver coins. The CFTC and FINRA say never to respond to cold calls or to pop-up operators at public events or at your door, and the Mint urges caution with classified ads and online forums.

How to Get a Fair Offer for Your Coins

ANA guidance is to resist selling an item before researching its potential value. For bullion and 90% silver, that research is arithmetic. For a collectible coin, it's an examination.

• Work out melt yourself. The CFTC and FINRA method is to multiply the weight of the metal by the current spot price and compare that figure with the price in front of you.
• Ask for a bid on each group separately, with key dates and graded coins priced coin by coin.
• Collect bids from more than one buyer on the same day, because spot moves, and compare them as a share of melt.
• Ask when the price locks and how you'll be paid.

Leave the coins as they are. The U.S. Mint warns that polishing or cleaning coins can reduce their value, and the ANA's magazine reports that improperly cleaned coins often lose value, sometimes by more than half. On a coin that sells for its silver, cleaning adds nothing a buyer pays for. Keep coins in their capsules, tubes and grading holders, since the Mint's guidance is that modern coins and sets should be bought and sold in their original cases and capsules.

Taxes and IRS Reporting on a Coin Sale

A sale above your cost is a taxable gain. The IRS taxes net capital gains from selling collectibles, such as coins or art, at a maximum 28% rate.

Whether the buyer reports the sale is a separate question. Under the IRS instructions for Form 1099-B, a precious metal sale isn't reportable when the metal is in a form the CFTC hasn't approved for regulated futures trading, or when the quantity is below the minimum for a CFTC-approved contract. One customer's sales in a 24-hour period count together for that test, and the exception doesn't apply if the buyer knows a customer is splitting sales to avoid reporting. No product list or ounce threshold appears in the Form 1099-B instructions. Filing a form or not doesn't change whether the gain is taxable.

We're not a registered investment advisor and can't give individual investment or tax advice, so speak with a tax professional or financial advisor.

How Selling Works on Our Two-Way Market

The CFTC and FINRA tell people buying metal to ask how much they'd receive if they had to sell it back tomorrow. On our marketplace that answer is published: product pages show a bid beside the ask, so the price to sell is in view before you buy.

You can sell silver on our platform even if you bought it elsewhere. Almost every product we carry can be sold, with a minimum selling transaction of $1,000, and quantity minimums and maximums can apply. You'll need an account. Our guide to how selling works on our platform covers the steps, and Bullion Standard Pro members see live, executable wholesale bid and ask pricing. We're a member of the ANA and an authorized dealer for PCGS and NGC.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is $100 of junk silver worth?

It depends on the spot price on the day you sell. By NGC's listed weights, $100 of face value in 90% silver dimes, quarters or half dollars holds about 72.3 troy ounces of silver when unworn, which is 100 times 0.7234. Multiply those ounces by the current spot price for melt value, then expect a bid below it by the buyer's margin.

How do I sell my silver for cash?

A local coin shop, pawn shop or jewelry buyer is the usual route for payment in person. Choose one with a permanent address, because the ANA's warning is about temporary buyers offering instant cash. We operate online only, so selling through our marketplace means shipping your coins.

How much should I sell my silver coins for?

For bullion and 90% silver, start from melt value: troy ounces of silver times the spot price. The CFTC and FINRA say a business buys metal below the spot price, so compare same-day offers as a share of melt. For a collectible coin, have it examined before you accept any figure.