How to sell silver coins, step by step

Where To Sell Silver Coins is an independent referral service, not a buyer, pawnshop or dealer. When you call or send your coin list, we pass your details to an independent buyer in New York, who makes any offer.

Step one: sort the coins by kind

Clear a table and make piles. Keep anything in a holder, case, tube or envelope exactly as it is, in its own pile.

• Silver dollars: Morgan and Peace dollars.
• 90% coins: dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier.
• 40% halves: half dollars dated 1965 through 1970.
• Bullion: Silver Eagles, rounds and bars.
• Wartime nickels: five-cent pieces from October 1942 through 1945, which are 35% silver.
• Everything else: later coins with no silver, foreign coins, and anything you cannot identify.

The dates are the key, because the Coinage Act of 1965 fixed them: any 90% coins struck after the Act carry the date 1964, and the clad dimes and quarters that replaced them could not be dated earlier than 1965. The full list is on what years are silver coins.

Step two: set aside anything that might be collectible

Look through each pile for coins that stand out: much older than the rest, unusually sharp and bright, a design you do not recognize, or a coin someone kept apart. Put them in a pile of their own. Every silver dollar belongs in this pile until it has been looked at, because silver dollars are also collected. Our guide on where to sell silver dollars explains why.

Step three: count face value

For 90% coins you do not need a scale. Count the face value of each pile: a dime is ten cents, a quarter twenty-five, a half fifty. Every dollar of face value in 90% coins holds 0.7234 troy ounces of silver at full weight, whatever the mix. Count 40% halves separately: each holds about 0.1479 troy ounces.

Step four: work out the melt value

Melt value is silver weight in troy ounces times the spot price of silver. Look up spot on the day you sell, because it moves daily. Then:

Coins	Silver weight	Melt value at spot X
90% coins, per $1 face	0.7234 troy oz	0.7234 x X
40% half dollar, each	0.1479 troy oz	0.1479 x X
Morgan or Peace dollar, each	0.7734 troy oz	0.7734 x X
American Silver Eagle, each	1 troy oz fine	about 1 x X

Write the totals down. This is the floor under your coins: an offer on common silver is usually below it, because a buyer must refine or resell, but you now know where the floor is.

Step five: decide what to sell, and how

Common silver coins sell for their metal. Bullion coins sell for their metal. Coins in the collectible pile need someone to look at them one by one, and a few may be worth more at auction. You can sell everything at once, or sell the common silver and take more time over the rest. For the kinds of buyers and what each suits, see sell silver coins.

Step six: prepare what to bring

• Photo ID. In New York City a licensed buyer must see an official ID with your signature, record its type and number, and have you sign in person. A copy is not enough.
• The coins, sorted, in their original holders, tubes and boxes.
• Your counts and melt figures, on paper.
• Any paperwork: receipts, certificates, an inventory if the coins are from an estate.
• Your own age: buyers cannot buy from minors.

Step seven: ask for a written offer

Describe the coins by phone first if you can: the kinds, the face value of the 90% coins, the count of dollars and Eagles. Then ask for an offer in writing. A good written offer says what it covers, the troy weight or face value it is based on, and which coins, if any, were valued above their metal.

In New York City, a business that buys precious metal must weigh it on an approved scale, reading in divisions of 0.01 troy ounce or finer, and tell you the troy weight. Wherever you are, ask to see the scale’s reading.

Step eight: compare, then decide

Get a second offer on the same coins, close together in time, because spot moves. Compare like with like: total for total, or per coin for per coin. Ask either buyer to explain any big difference; often it is one coin valued as a collectible by one buyer and as metal by the other.

• Walk away from any buyer who will not explain the offer.
• Walk away from pressure to decide now.
• In New York City, look for the DCWP licence on the wall and the licence number on the receipt.

Step nine: keep a record

Keep the receipt and your own notes of what you sold and for how much. In New York City the buyer must also keep a record of the sale, including the item description and your details, and cannot resell used goods for 15 days. On taxes: a profit on coins may be taxed as a capital gain, at a maximum federal rate of 28% for collectibles (IRS Topic 409), and some larger bullion sales may be reported by the dealer on Form 1099-B. Ask a tax professional about your sale.

The best way to sell silver coins

The best way to sell silver coins is the one where you know the numbers before you hear the offer. Sort, count and work out melt yourself; let the buyer judge collector value coin by coin; get it in writing; compare. For mixed tins from a relative, start with where to sell old coins. For whole collections, read selling a coin collection.

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