How can I tell if a coin is silver?

The short answer

For United States coins the date settles it: dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier are 90% silver, and those dated 1965 or later are not. Where the date does not settle it, the edge, the weight, a magnet and the sound of the coin will.

Reading the date

United States dimes, quarters and half dollars struck in 1964 and earlier are 90% silver. From 1965 they are copper-nickel clad, with one exception: half dollars from 1965 to 1970 are 40% silver. Silver dollars dated 1935 and earlier are 90% silver, and the dollar coins struck from 1971 are not, apart from collector issues sold by the mint.

Cents and five-cent pieces are not silver in any ordinary year. The one exception is the five-cent piece of 1942 to 1945, which was struck in an alloy containing 35% silver and carries a large mint mark above the building on the reverse. The full list of dates is on the 90% silver coins page.

The edge test

Stand the coin on its rim and look at the edge. A 90% silver dime, quarter or half is silver-grey the whole way through. A clad coin of the same denomination shows a copper stripe sandwiched between two lighter layers, because that is exactly what it is.

This test takes a second, needs nothing, and settles the question on a coin whose date is worn away. The only coins it misleads on are the 40% silver halves, whose edge shows a faint stripe as well.

The weight test

Silver is denser than the copper-nickel that replaced it, and the mint struck the silver coins heavier. A silver dime weighs 2.50 g against 2.27 g for a clad one; a silver quarter 6.25 g against 5.67 g; a silver half 12.50 g against 11.34 g. A kitchen scale reading to a tenth of a gram separates them without argument.

Weight is also how you catch a counterfeit, because faking the weight and the diameter and the metal at once is hard. Compare against the specifications on the coin’s own page in the coin value catalogue, and see how can I tell if my coin is fake for what else to measure.

The magnet and the ring

Silver is not magnetic. Neither is copper-nickel clad, so a magnet does not separate those two, but it does catch plated steel and most cheap fakes at once: if a coin jumps to a magnet it is not silver, and nothing further needs checking.

Dropped on a hard surface, a silver coin rings for a second or more in a clear high note, where a clad coin gives a short dull click. It is the least precise of the four tests and the one collectors use most, because it needs no equipment. Once you know what you have, the silver melt values pages give what the metal in it is worth.