What you should actually expect to be offered
Silver discounts run deeper than gold — lower value density means handling costs eat a bigger share. Pre-1965 US coins usually beat flatware at the same weight; consolidated lots get better percentages.
Check the hallmark first
“925” or “Sterling” means 92.5% silver; “900” or pre-1965 US dimes, quarters and halves are 90%; “800”/“835” appear on continental European pieces. Silverplate (EPNS, “silver on copper”, A1, triple-plate) carries only a microscopic silver layer — plate has no melt value and buyers pay nothing for it.
The junk-silver shortcut
For pre-1965 US coinage: $1.00 of face value — any mix of dimes, quarters, halves — contains 0.715 ozt of pure silver. Face value × 0.715 × spot = melt value. Common-date circulated coins are also the easiest silver to sell at a strong percentage, because dealers resell them without refining.
Why silver offers are lower than gold offers
A pound of sterling is worth two orders of magnitude less than a pound of 14K gold but takes the same testing, sorting, shipping and refining effort. That fixed cost is a bigger slice of a silver lot — so every buyer's percentage is lower, and consolidating into one larger lot measurably improves the offer.
Frequently asked questions
How much is sterling silver worth per gram?
Sterling (.925) melt value per gram is spot ÷ 31.1035 × 0.925. Buyers typically offer 30–80% of melt depending on buyer type and lot size.
Are pre-1965 US coins worth more than melt?
Common-date junk silver trades close to melt; key dates and better conditions can be worth far more — check before selling anything by weight.
Is silverplate worth anything?
As metal, effectively nothing — the layer is thousandths of a millimeter. Complete sets have modest value as tableware, not as scrap.
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Other metals
Gold calculator · Platinum calculator · Palladium calculator · Copper calculator · Nickel calculator · Brass calculator