US 90% "Junk" Silver Bags

Buying US 90% "Junk" Silver

US 90% (or "junk") silver coins are dimes, quarters, or half dollars minted in 1964 and earlier, when US coinage was still made of real silver (90% silver, 10% copper). 90% junk silver is one of the most cost-effective ways per ounce to buy bulk silver because no fees for refining or minting have been added to the cost.

Modern silver bullion coins and bars always pass along a small manufacturing premium to the investor. Not so with 90% US junk silver. These coins were made years ago by the US Mint, free of charge, for use as currency. Today that means you get more silver for your money.

Face Value Silver Bags

US 90% junk silver is bought and sold by face value, usually in $1,000 face-value bags but also in bags of $500, $250, and $100. It sounds complicated but it's really quite simple. A full $1,000 bag contains 2,000 half dollars, or 4,000 quarters, or 10,000 dimes. It weighs 795 ounces, regardless of whether it's made up of dimes, quarters, or half dollars. Because each coin is 90% pure silver by weight (plus 10% copper, added as a hardener), a $1,000 bag contains 715 net oz of pure silver, regardless of the denomination of the coins.

Silver in Small Increments

Apart from superior cost-efficiency, another advantage of US 90% junk silver is the trading flexibility it provides. You can buy in the denomination of your choice, so you have incremental size alternatives that do not exist with 100-oz. silver bars or even 1-oz. American Silver Eagles. In fact, you can trade in increments as small as one dime if you choose.

We sell 90% junk silver bags of dimes, quarters, or half dollars but not mixed bags. A $1,000 face-value bag is close to the size of a football and weighs 55 lbs. A $500 face-value bag, like the one pictured above, contains half as many coins, half as much silver, and is half as large and heavy.

Note: 90% silver junk bags sometimes contain a few 90% silver dimes, quarters, or half dollars dated 1992 to 2010. These were made by the U.S. Mint for special edition, 90% silver coin proof sets and have the same silver content as the pre-1965 90% silver coins. They're easy to spot because they do not have the copper/nickel edge of the non-silver coins of the same mintage years. Just look at the rim of the coin for verification. If uniformly grey, it's 90% silver.