Silver Dollar Value & Melt Value Today

Melt value is the floor

Melt value is what the metal in a coin is worth: its pure silver content times the spot price. A Morgan or Peace silver dollar holds 0.7734 troy ounces of pure silver, so at $60 an ounce its melt value is $46.41. The calculator above uses today's price instead.

That number is the floor. How close a common, worn silver dollar sells to it depends on collector demand. A scarce date, a rare mint mark or a coin in high grade is priced as a collectible, starting from the floor and going up.

The U.S. struck 90% silver dollars for circulation until 1935: Morgans from 1878 to 1921 and Peace dollars from 1921 to 1935. Eisenhower dollars (1971–1978) are copper-nickel unless they are S-mint collector coins in 40% silver. Susan B. Anthony dollars (1979–1999) are copper-nickel clad, and golden dollars from 2000 on have a manganese-brass outer layer.

Is yours a valuable one? Check these first

Check the date, the mint mark and the condition against this list. If your coin matches a key date or variety, have it looked at by a dealer who handles collector coins before you sell it for melt.

• 1893-S: Lowest mintage of any circulation-strike Morgan: 100,000. Fakes made by adding an S to an 1893 are common, so it should be certified.
• 1889-CC: Only 350,000 struck, and just one turned up among the 1.7 million Carson City dollars sold by the government in the 1970s.
• 1895 (no mint mark): Known only as a proof: 880 struck. No regular 1895 Philadelphia strikes have been found, so treat any as suspect until authenticated.
• 1928 (no mint mark): The lowest-mintage Peace dollar: 360,649 struck. Scarce in all grades.
• 1921: First year, struck only at Philadelphia, and in high relief. 1,006,473 struck.
• 1972 Type 2 (no mint mark): The only scarce one of three 1972 Philadelphia types. Struck with a reverse die meant for proofs; look for the shape of the Earth and incuse Caribbean islands.

Mintages and varieties from APMEX's Morgan dollar key dates guide, APMEX's Peace dollar key dates guide and CoinWeek's 1972 Eisenhower dollar guide. For current collector prices by grade, check the PCGS Price Guide or the NGC Price Guide. Prices for key dates change often and depend heavily on grade.

What dealers typically pay

Dealers price common silver coins off the silver spot price, so the melt figure above is the number to anchor on. Some shops quote per coin, others per $1 of face value. Before you accept, put the offer into the Coin Offer Checker: it shows the metal value and where the offer sits against typical dealer pay. For a key date or a high-grade coin, ask for an offer on the coin as a collectible, not as silver.

Not sure it's silver?

The Is My Coin Silver? checker takes the denomination and year and tells you the metal, the silver content and the melt value. Selling a mix of coins? The silver coin melt value calculator adds up several types at once, and the junk silver calculator works from face value.

Where to sell

Compare coin dealers near you: what each one buys, and what recent customers say about the offers they got. If this coin is part of a larger collection, read how to sell a coin collection first.

Value pages for other coins

• Morgan dollar value
• Peace silver dollar value
• Silver quarter value
• Silver dime value
• Mercury dime value
• Silver half dollar value
• Kennedy half dollar value
• Franklin half dollar value
• Walking liberty half dollar value
• War nickel value
• Eisenhower silver dollar value