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Junk Silver Content Card

Silver in common pre-1965 US coins, in troy ounces (ozt).

Coin	Years	Silver	Content each
Dime	≤ 1964	90%	0.0715 ozt
Quarter	≤ 1964	90%	0.1788 ozt
Half dollar	≤ 1964	90%	0.3575 ozt
Dollar (Morgan/Peace)	≤ 1935	90%	0.7734 ozt
Half dollar (Kennedy)	1965–70	40%	0.1479 ozt
War nickel	1942–45	35%	0.0563 ozt

The face-value shortcut

For 90% coins, every $1 of face value ≈ 0.715 troy ounces of silver (the circulated-wear convention). So $10 face in quarters ≈ 7.15 ozt. Multiply by today's spot to get melt value.

Spot it in seconds

Date: 1964 or earlier on a dime, quarter, or half = 90% silver.
Edge: solid silver-white edge = silver; a copper stripe through the middle = modern clad.
Never sell silver coins to a scrap yard — take them to a coin or bullion dealer.