90% Silver Coins - $1 Face Value (coins may consist of quarters, halves or dimes)

Buying pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver coins is the preferred method of purchasing bullion for many people. Gainesville Coins offers $1 Face Value Bags of 90% Silver Coins in any multiple you desire. Just enter the number of $1 face value lots you want in the "Quantity" field.

90% U.S. circulated silver coins, also known as "junk silver," have a silver content proportional to their face value. One dollar in face value equals .715 troy oz of silver content, which is why these coins are sold in multiples of face value. Each lot of $1 face value coins could consist of any possible combination of dimes, quarters, or halves, all minted on or before 1964.

Possible 90% Silver Coins You Could Receive:

• Dimes: Mercury (1916-1945), Roosevelt (1946-1964)
• Quarters: Standing Liberty (1916-1930), Washington (1932-1964)
• Halves: Walking Liberty (1916-1947), Franklin (1948-1963), Kennedy (1964)

Why US Silver Coins Were Abolished

By the early 1960s, much of Western Europe had not only recovered from the devastation of WWII, but was booming economically. Spurred by the Space Race between the US and Soviet Union, technology was growing by leaps and bounds.

All this meant that silver demand across the globe skyrocketed, at a time when silver mining production stagnated. In the five years between 1959 and 1964, the average annual price for silver had jumped from 91 cents an ounce, to $1.29 an ounce. This happened to be the ”melt price” for US silver dollars. Above $1.29/oz, it became more profitable to melt down silver dollars and sell the metal than to spend them. Speculators in 1964 rightfully assumed that prices would never fall below that point, and massive hoarding of silver dollars occurred. Of the 460 million silver dollars that were supposed to be in circulation in 1964, practically none could be found.

This frenzy struck the smaller silver coins, too. The US economy was growing so rapidly, there likely would have still been a coin shortage even if people weren’t hoarding dimes, quarters, and half dollars. (Banks were offering to pay paper $1 bills for 98 pennies, the change shortage was so acute.)

The two active US Mints in Denver and Philadelphia doubled coin production in 1964 from the previous year, but could hardly make a dent in coin demand. In 1963, the government used 111 million troy ounces of fine silver for subsidiary coinage. In 1964, it was 195 million ounces, and was estimated to require 234 million ounces in 1965.

The inability of the US Treasury to find silver on the open market meant that its silver reserves were falling by a total of 430 million ounces a year. At that rate, the government would run out of silver in three years unless US silver coins were replaced with clad coins. There was no other choice.

Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1965 on July 23. The Mint kept making silver coins until the conversion over to clad coins could be completed. In order to keep speculators from snapping up every single silver coin made during this interim as rarities, all the silver coins minted after 1964 carried the 1964 date.

Since Gainesville Coins has no minimum purchase level for orders of any type, we are one of the few online bullion distributors who will sell you as little as $1 face value junk silver. We recognize that not everyone can buy junk silver in $100 or $1000 face value bags (though we sell those too.) Make Gainesville Coins your go-to source to buy pre-1965 90% silver coins.