Calculator
What the silver in it is worth
Melt value is the market price of the metal in a coin. It is the floor under a common date and it is irrelevant to a scarce one, so it is worth understanding exactly what this number is before you act on it.
Melt calculator
Reference
| Standard | Per $1 face | Value today |
|---|---|---|
| .925via the 50-cent coin | 0.6911 ozt | $61.37 |
| .800via the 1-dollar coin | 0.5993 ozt | $53.21 |
| .500via the 25-cent coin | 0.3247 ozt | $28.83 |
Per dollar of face value at the Mint’s standard weight. Coins that circulated weigh slightly less, which is the reason the trade rounds these figures rather than weighing bags.
Mint weight against trade weight
Four 80 per cent silver 25-cent coins leave the press holding 0.5998 troy ounces of silver between them. Ten 80 per cent 10-cent coins hold 0.5993. Two 50-cent coins hold 0.5998. Those three figures are not identical because the Mint’s published weights are not exactly proportional, and the difference between them is about a twentieth of one per cent.
The trade collapses all of that into one convention: a dollar of face value in Canadian 80 per cent silver is priced as 0.6 troy ounces, whatever the coins actually are. That is close enough for a bag and it is what a dealer will quote, which is why this site shows both the derived figure and the convention rather than pretending they are the same number.
Circulated coins are also lighter than their standard weight, because metal wears off. On one coin that does not matter. On a hundred dollars of face value it is the reason the buyer prices by face rather than by weight.
What this number is not
- It is not an offer. A dealer buys below melt and sells above it. On common circulated silver that spread usually runs a few per cent either side, and it is how the business pays for itself.
- It is not a ceiling. A scarce date or an exceptional grade is worth a multiple of its metal, and selling one for melt is an expensive mistake. This site cannot tell you which dates those are, because that information is proprietary, but a low mintage figure on a year page is a signal to look further before selling.
- It is not a floor for damaged coins. A holed, cleaned or badly scratched coin still contains its silver, and some buyers discount it anyway.
- It says nothing about base metal coins. A nickel quarter is worth twenty-five cents. There is no melt trade in nickel or plated steel coinage and no dealer wants a jar of it.
Before selling anything, sort by date. Everything from 1966 and earlier in the 10, 25 and 50 cent coins and the dollar is silver, 1967 and 1968 are the years that need testing, and 1969 onward is not silver at all. The five-cent coin is the exception and stopped being silver in 1921. That single sort separates the metal from the pocket change in a few minutes, and it is the same sort a dealer will do in front of you.
The list
When the Mint publishes, and when silver moves
An occasional email with two triggers and no schedule. It goes out when the Royal Canadian Mint publishes or revises a circulation coin specification and this site is rebuilt from it, and when the silver price moves far enough to change what a jar of old change is actually worth. The Mint does not publish often, so neither does this.
One address, held so the email can be sent. What is collected and how it is handled is in the privacy notice, and every email carries an unsubscribe link. No catalogue values, no price forecasts, and nothing telling you whether to buy or sell.
Common questions
- What is melt value?
- The market price of the metal in a coin, and nothing else. For a Canadian silver coin it is the troy ounces of silver in it multiplied by the current silver price. It ignores condition, scarcity, date and demand entirely.
- Is melt value what a dealer will pay me?
- No. A dealer buys below melt and sells above it, and that spread is how the business works. On common circulated silver it usually runs a few per cent either side. Melt is the reference point both of you are negotiating around, not the price.
- How much silver is in a dollar of Canadian face value?
- About 0.6 troy ounces for 80% silver coinage. Worked out from the Mint's published weights it is 0.5998 troy ounces in four 25-cent coins and 0.5993 in ten 10-cent coins, which is why the trade rounds it to 0.6 and prices bags on that figure rather than weighing them.
- Why is the figure in Canadian dollars when silver trades in US dollars?
- Because a Canadian reader holding Canadian coins wants a Canadian number. The conversion uses the Bank of Canada's published daily average USD/CAD rate, which is a rate you can look up and check. It is a daily rate rather than an intraday one, so a melt figure here is a live silver price at the Bank's last published exchange rate.
- Does wear reduce the silver in a coin?
- Yes, slightly. The weights on this site are the Mint's standard weights, which is what a coin weighed when it was struck. A coin that circulated for forty years has lost some metal to wear. On a single coin the difference is not worth thinking about; on a bag it is why buyers price by face value rather than by the mint standard.