junk-silver-calculator

Calculate the melt value of pre-1965 US junk silver coins.

Zero dependencies. Works in Node.js, browsers, and Deno. Published by MetalMetric.

Install

npm install junk-silver-calculator

Quick Start

const { meltValue, byFaceValue, coins, COINS } = require('junk-silver-calculator');

// Calculate melt value of a single coin at a given spot price
meltValue('washington-quarter', 30.00);
// → { coin: 'Washington Quarter', asw_ozt: 0.1808, spot: 30, melt_value: 5.42 }

// Calculate melt value by face value
byFaceValue(10.00, 30.00);
// → { face_value: 10, spot: 30, silver_ozt: 7.15, melt_value: 214.50 }

// Get all coin data
coins();
// → [{ id: 'morgan-dollar', name: 'Morgan Dollar', ... }, ...]

API

meltValue(coinId, spotPrice)

Calculate the melt value of a single coin at the given silver spot price.

| Param | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | coinId | string | Coin identifier (see table below) | | spotPrice | number | Silver spot price in USD per troy ounce |

Returns: { coin, asw_ozt, spot, melt_value }

byFaceValue(faceValue, spotPrice, [type])

Calculate total silver content and melt value for a dollar amount of junk silver.

| Param | Type | Default | Description | |-------|------|---------|-------------| | faceValue | number | — | Total face value in USD | | spotPrice | number | — | Silver spot price per troy ounce | | type | string | '90' | '90' for 90% coins, '40' for 40% Kennedy halves |

Returns: { face_value, spot, silver_ozt, melt_value }

The 90% calculation uses 0.715 oz per $1 face value (circulated coin average). The 40% calculation uses 0.2958 oz per $1 face value.

coins()

Returns the full coin reference array with all ASW data.

COINS

Object containing all coin IDs as constants.

Coin IDs

| ID | Coin | Purity | ASW (troy oz) | |----|------|--------|---------------| | morgan-dollar | Morgan Dollar (1878–1921) | 90% | 0.7734 | | peace-dollar | Peace Dollar (1921–1935) | 90% | 0.7734 | | walking-liberty-half | Walking Liberty Half (1916–1947) | 90% | 0.3617 | | franklin-half | Franklin Half (1948–1963) | 90% | 0.3617 | | kennedy-half-90 | Kennedy Half Dollar (1964) | 90% | 0.3617 | | kennedy-half-40 | Kennedy Half Dollar (1965–1970) | 40% | 0.1479 | | washington-quarter | Washington Quarter (1932–1964) | 90% | 0.1808 | | standing-liberty-quarter | Standing Liberty Quarter (1916–1930) | 90% | 0.1808 | | roosevelt-dime | Roosevelt Dime (1946–1964) | 90% | 0.0723 | | mercury-dime | Mercury Dime (1916–1945) | 90% | 0.0723 | | war-nickel | War Nickel (1942–1945) | 35% | 0.0563 |

Examples

Price a bag of junk silver

const { byFaceValue } = require('junk-silver-calculator');

// $100 face value bag at $30/oz spot
const bag = byFaceValue(100, 30.00);
console.log(`$100 face = ${bag.silver_ozt} oz silver = $${bag.melt_value} melt`);
// → $100 face = 71.5 oz silver = $2145.00 melt

Calculate premium paid

const { byFaceValue } = require('junk-silver-calculator');

const paid = 2400; // what you paid
const bag = byFaceValue(100, 30.00);
const premium = ((paid - bag.melt_value) / bag.melt_value * 100).toFixed(1);
console.log(`Premium: ${premium}% over melt`);
// → Premium: 11.9% over melt

Check all coin melt values

const { meltValue, coins } = require('junk-silver-calculator');

const spot = 30.00;
coins().forEach(c => {
  const result = meltValue(c.id, spot);
  console.log(`${result.coin}: $${result.melt_value.toFixed(2)}`);
});

Background

What is junk silver?

Junk silver is pre-1965 US coins (dimes, quarters, half dollars, dollars) containing 90% silver. They're called "junk" because they have no numismatic premium — value is pure metal content. The Coinage Act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 23, 1965, removed silver from US circulating coinage.

$1.00 face value of circulated 90% silver coins contains approximately 0.715 troy ounces of pure silver. This accounts for average wear on circulated coins. Uncirculated coins contain 0.723 oz per $1 face value.

According to MetalMetric's stacker trends data, junk silver accounts for 11.8% of all items tracked in user vaults, with quarters being preferred 2.4:1 over dimes for the lower sorting effort per ounce.

Live Calculator

For real-time calculations with live spot prices, use MetalMetric's web calculator:

https://metalmetric.com/melt/junk-silver-calculator

MetalMetric also provides:

• Gold melt value calculator
• Scrap gold calculator by karat
• Precious metals glossary (75+ terms)
• Gold price history (1793–2026)
• Silver price history (1792–2026)
• Free portfolio tracker

Related

• MetalMetric — Precious metals portfolio tracker
• MetalMetric API — Developer documentation
• MetalMetric MCP Server — AI assistant integration
• Wikidata: MetalMetric

License

MIT © MetalMetric