Silver content of U.S. Coins

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by CoinCorgi, Aug 30, 2025 at 8:24 PM.

  1. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    When 100F outside and bored, do a spreadsheet...

    What y'all think?

    silver.png
     
    imrich, masterswimmer, Neal and 9 others like this.
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  3. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    oops...gms/troy oz
     
    Mr.Q and SensibleSal66 like this.
  4. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    I'll happily tell anyone who asks* that I'll pay full melt for three-cent silvers, even if they're worn enough to have lost significant weight. In fact, I'll pay the higher Type II/III melt value, even for Type I pieces. Because I'm just that kind of generous guy.

    * since nobody has asked, this is not a solicitation to buy, please don't move it to the WTB forum, or otherwise take it seriously
     
  5. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

  6. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    If you are going to call it % Ag then please format it as ###.## not #.####
     
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  7. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Or just call it something like "silver fineness".
     
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  8. ksmooter61

    ksmooter61 Not in Kansas anymore

    I love a good spreadsheet; too bad you can't post it here. This looks like a great tool to have available, especially when at the LCS or show.
     
    Mr.Q, dwhiz and CoinCorgi like this.
  9. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    Yup. I rushed to finish something I could post, and in doing so I missed details such as you point out. Which is what I wanted...feedback. I will polish it up with more labels and formatting and more logical columns. Also, I want to make it generic for any spot price.

    I did get a bit confused when reading the Red Book on Gobrecht dollars. 1836 was clearly 416 grains per coin and 1838-1839 were clearly 412.5 grains per coin, but what were the re-strikes (late 1850's thru early 1870's)? I'd assume they were the 412.5 grains (like the seated liberty $'s of the same time period), but it is not specifically stated as so in the Red Book. I'll try to find another reference to clarify.
     
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  10. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    Thanks. Maybe it can be downloaded (the image) and use character recognition to import it into Word and/or Excel. Hmmm...
     
    Randy Abercrombie, Mr.Q and -jeffB like this.
  11. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Collecting for 49 years Moderator

  12. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    I don't mean this negatively but if it's legit your work that means you have the .xlsx and can export in a text only format like CSV or even XML.

    If instead it's something you found on the web and let us know the URL and you can always import it into Excel modern Excel with the data functions.
     
    Mr.Q likes this.
  13. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Looks like we can upload .zip files here to our hearts' content, so you could compress it and post it if you're so inclined. Maybe. (I forget if you're a Mac or PC guy, but I'm guessing that Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, MS Excel, and even Libre Calc would all understand some of the more basic formats...)
     
    Randy Abercrombie and CoinCorgi like this.
  14. Mr.Q

    Mr.Q Well-Known Member

    Oh-oh-oh I have an idea, let's make our own.
     
  15. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

  16. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    Arithmetic? On a Sunday?
     
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  17. Neal

    Neal Well-Known Member

    I made one of these long ago, with both gold and silver. It's super easy. I didn't include anything like trimes or Gobrecht dollars (original or restrike), not being likely to be able to buy any at melt. But I did include lots of foreign coins that might show up in dealers' junk boxes or bullion boxes. I don't much use it anymore because melt is so high now I have mostly stopped buying just for melt. It has to be a coin I really like, like an ancient, for which melt is meaningless.

    I do find this one interesting, however. Seeing the melt value of the older coins is cool, especially seeing the slight changes indicated by arrows in the 1800s.
     
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  18. CoinCorgi

    CoinCorgi Tell your dog I said hi!

    Doing something like this highlights the variations in weight that I didn't necessarily know.

    For instance I wasn't aware that clad quarters weigh less than 90% silver quarters. I assumed they'd be able to match the weight by adjusting the material quantities. Not that it matters but who knew!
     
    -jeffB likes this.
  19. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    More important to match the diameter and thickness since that was what stupid vending machines measured. With Silver denser than copper and copper-nickel alloys, the weight is less.

    That's why the War Nickels have their peculiar alloy.

    However, with modern coins, the electrical signature is also important, and that's why Golden dollars have THEIR peculiar alloy.
     
    Neal likes this.
  20. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    I've assumed that when we shifted from silver to clad coinage the vending machine manufacturers and operators just had to suck it up. Maybe the difference in conductivity and the difference in weight canceled each other out for the machinery in use, but I doubt it. CoinStars reject silver, and I'm guessing modern vending machines would do the same. (I almost never use the things, and I'm not curious enough to risk spending silver at face value.)
     
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  21. Barney McRae

    Barney McRae Well-Known Member

    I didn't realize war nickels were only 35% silver. Learn something new every day, even though I never really thought about it before.
     
    CoinCorgi likes this.
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