US quarters that were minted before 1965 contain silver. The silver quarters were struck with an alloy that contains 90% silver. The melt value for each silver quarter is over $4.00 today.
Silver quarters, like all 90% silver US coinage are sometimes referred to as “junk silver”. This is a common term adopted from the coin collecting industry for coins that have no numismatic value. Their value lies strictly in the intrinsic silver content.
Junk silver quarters are a great way to get started with investing in silver. They are fractional and you can buy them close to spot price. In some cases, you can buy silver quarters at spot price.
Silver Quarters in Circulation
There are still some silver quarters circulating alongside modern quarters. The Washington Quarter was introduced in 1932. More than 3 billion silver Washington quarters were minted up until the debasement began in 1965. While many have been melted down over the years, there are still plenty available in the wild.
The easiest way to tell if you have a silver quarter is to look at the date. All quarters that were minted prior to 1965 contain 90% silver content. If your quarter is from 1964 or earlier, then it is a silver quarter.
Silver Quarter Worth
At the very minimum, a silver quarter is worth its weight in silver. A 90% silver quarter has an overall gross weight over around 6.25 grams. Therefore, it has roughly 5.625 grams of silver. Based on the spot price, the intrinsic value of the silver is worth significantly more than the face value. Which is the primary reason that the government stopped to use of silver and made the switch to clad coins.
An easy way to estimate how much your silver quarters are worth is that each $1.00 Face Value, or four silver quarters, contains .715 troy ounces of silver. This is a commonly accepted weight that takes into consideration that there may be some wear and tear from circulation.
For more information about which silver quarters may be key dates and have some numismatic value you can check out the page on coinflation.com.
You can easily compare online dealer prices for 90% silver quarters:
