Silver coins are easier to find than you might think. My son and I recently began collecting coins – and we are finding silver coins. The cool thing is – we are finding these (partially) silver coins while sorting through rolls of commonly used U.S. coins.
We have learned that sorting through rolls of coins is often referred to as coin roll hunting. Pretty cool.
Once or twice a week, we’ll go to the bank and get a few rolls of coins – some dimes, nickels, and quarters. If the bank has them, we’ll also get some half-dollars. We’ll come home and hunt through the rolls for any interesting – or valuable – coins.
By the way – this is a rather inexpensive – and potentially profitable – hobby. Once we sort through the rolls of coins, we’ll keep any that we think are worth keeping, and re-roll the remaining coins. These are then exchanged, on our next trip, for more coin rolls.
My son did a little research and discovered that several commonly used – and not super rare – U.S. coins actually contain a decent amount of silver. (Obviously, there are special coins that are pure silver. When we say silver coins – we are talking about coins that are partially silver, consisting of silver and some other metal. These coins, because they contain a precious metal, are often worth more than face value, which is pretty cool.)
Here’s our list of silver coins –
Jefferson Nickels from 1942 – 1945 contain 35% silver.*
*1942 Nickels with no mint mark do not contain silver.
Roosevelt Dimes from 1946 – 1964 contain 90% silver.
Washington Quarters from 1932 – 1964 contain 90% silver.
Kennedy Half-Dollars from 1965 – 1970 contain 40% silver.**
**1964 Kennedy Half-Dollars contain 90%silver.
So far, we have managed to find at least one of each of these – except for a Roosevelt silver dime. We did, however, find a silver dime – from Canada! Awesome.
There are older coins, much more difficult to find, that also contain silver. Once in a while, when hunting through a roll of coins, you might stumble upon one of these. To be sure: A quick internet search will usually reveal a coin’s worth.
Sorting through a roll of coins only takes a few minutes – and finding silver coins is always fun. We are brand new to the hobby, and being able to find interesting – and valuable – coins, in rolls available through our local bank, makes it pretty easy.
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Additional resource –
Check out this article from the archives: 10 Places To Look When Scrounging For Change
The picture above features some of the silver coins we have found – and two silver coins we received as gifts when we first started collecting.
Good to know about identifying the WWII-era nickels.
The couple of times I pulled a whole bunch of halves from the bank I found nothing. My guess is that those halves had already been picked over. O_o
Some pawn shops have sold me coins for less than melt. One time I got a 1921 Peace dollar (a key date) for basically melt price.
Coins are fun!