Currently the value of silver is at its highest for over thirty years, this means that many people are using silver as a way of generating money. To make money through the power of the precious metal silver there are many different ways people are doing this, one of which is selling silver coins.
It might sound strange to many but there are quite a number of people who are making money from silver coins. By this we don’t simply mean getting face value for the coin, or even selling it as a collectors it, no we mean selling for its silver content.
In days of old coins were struck with real gold and silver within, from the time of currency the standard was to use real gold and silver to make coins. This means that older coins have a value that goes way beyond their historical value if they are not of rare coinage.
Why are silver coins worth more for their weight than face value?
When older coins carrying high silver content were first struck the value of silver meant that the face value of the coins were higher than the silver content within them.
Today the value of silver has grown significantly when compared to years gone by. This means that these old coins now have a greater value for their silver content than they do for the value of the coin as a collector’s item.
What silver coins carry the best value?
Any older coins that carry a high silver content are the coins that will give a good value, also those that are heavier in weight will deliver a higher silver content.
An example of this is the British 6 pence coin. Prior to 1920 the silver 6 pence coin carried 0.0841 oz of silver while silver 6 pence coins struck between 1920 and 1946 carries a lower amount of 0.0454 oz of silver.
Another example is the Canadian half dollar and dollar coins prior to 1967. They both have the same silver content but the weight of the dollar coin is nearly double that of the half dollar so is worth nearly twice as much in value.
Silver coins value of silver weight
Below is the current value of British, American and Canadian coins based on the silver price on October 21st 2011 of £19.62 per ounce:
Canadian Silver Coins
1920-1967 Dime – £1.13
1967-1968 Dime (50% silver) – £0.71
1920-1967 Quarter – £2.84
1967-1968 Quarter (50% silver) – £1.39
1920-1967 Half Dollar – £5.70
1935-1967 Dollar – £11.39
American Silver Coins
1916-1945 Mercury Dime – £1.37
1946-1964 Roosevelt Dime – £1.37
1916-1930 Standing Liberty Quarter – £3.44
1932-1964 Washington Quarter – £3.44
1916-1947 Walking Liberty Half Dollar – £6.87
1948-1963 Franklin Half Dollar – £6.87
1964 Kennedy Half Dollar – £6.87
1965-1970 Half Dollar (40% silver) – £2.81
1878-1921 Morgan Dollar – £14.70
1921-1935 Peace Dollar – £14.70
1971-1976 Eisenhower Dollar (40% silver) – £6.01
British Coins
Prior to 1920 Silver 6 pence coin – £1.92
1920 – 1946 Silver 6 pence coin – £1.03
Silver coins weight value
If you are looking into the prospect of making money through silver coins you will need to understand the silver content within the coins and how much money they are worth for their silver content.
To work this out simply take the weight and divide it by 31.1034768 (weight in grams of a troy ounce) and then times this percentage by the value of silver per ounce on the current market.
Summary
If you are looking to invest in silver but do not have the monetary fund’s to go out and purchase large silver bullion then why not look at silver coins.
While gold is currently at a massive high of over £1,200 per ounce, the cost of silver has risen greatly too. This being said the cost of silver is still within the realms of the normal layman and there is no better way of getting involved in silver investments that silver coins.
There are many different coins worldwide that used to be in circulation, in fact some still in circulation. All these coins are worth looking into for their silver content as a way of making money from selling for their weight in silver.
