Through the years, we’ve found that some of our favorite customers are either coin collectors or family of coin collectors. We help people from all over Palos Verdes and the South Bay (Manhattan Beach, Torrance, San Pedro) handle their inherited estate coin collections and bullion on a daily basis.
One of the most common parts of coin collections we see are 90%. We’re referring to common 90% silver US coins, mostly of the 20th century.
What is 90%?
The term “90%” refers generally to common 20th century U.S. coinage which has a 90% silver composition.
When we and other numismatists and dealers talk about 90%, we’re referring to United States 90% silver coinage. Through most of American history, most of US coinage is made of copper, silver, or gold. So a lot of US silver is 90%. But usually what we mean is the more recent silver coinage, minted between the 1920s and 1964. Between the ’20s and 1964, silver coinage had extremely high mintage figures, making it very common.
What to do with 90%?
We see a lot of 90% here at PVCE. It’s extremely common for us, but a lot of our customers don’t understand what it is. So we thought we’d take a moment and tell you everything you need to know about 90%.
Silver dimes, silver quarters, silver half dollars and silver dollars were all minted in the high tens to hundreds of millions every year. In 1964, United States congress voted to end silver coinage for most denominations. The result was that everyone realized the silver coins were going to be more intrinsically valuable than their new copper-nickel replacements, so they began holding on to silver.
In the US, silver half dollars and silver dollars were used commonly for commerce until 1964. Two things happened: one, we didn’t have silver dollars being minted for use since the 1930s, and two, President Kennedy was assassinated. Congress passed a bill to replace the effigy of Ben Franklin with that of President Jack Kennedy for the obverse (face side) or the U.S. half dollar coin. As such, circulation of half dollars stopped almost overnight. They were big and heavy, so a lot of people didn’t love having them in their pockets anyway. But when the general population began hoarding silver, that effectively ended half dollar coin circulation.
The result is that Americans began hoarding everything that was silver in circulation in 1964. The number of mint bags of 90% silver dimes, silver quarters, and silver half dollars we see from 1964 and years just before is astonishing. We see gorgeous mint state silver quarters, uncirculated silver dimes, and in particular gem silver hair dollars by the hundreds and thousands almost daily.
Even older coins, when they’re in poor enough condition – worn out – are sometimes considered 90% also.
The result is that because they’re so incredibly common, these ‘mint state’ uncirculated 90% silver coins have to be in really spectacular condition to be worth anything to a coin collector.
Got 90%?
Call South Bay Silver at Palos Verdes Coin Exchange
If you have the time and expertise to determine a Mint State 62 or 63 (extremely common – up common they’re only worth their silver) and a Mint State 68 90% silver coin, and you’re willing to front the cost of certification from a reputable third party grader ($20 – $50+ your each coin) and you know how to find a buyer for the resulting coins, by all means! We wish you luck!
Test us out. Jump on ebay and type in “1964 half dollar PCGS” and sort by price > lowest first. If you’re familiar with Ebay, check the sold items. You’ll see what we mean.
If you don’t feel like doing all this, understand: that’s one of the things we do. It takes years of training to grade coins and to establish a reputation in the market to sell them reliably. So if you have 90% silver Roosevelt dimes, 90% silver Washington quarters, and 90% silver Kennedy half dollars, please bring them to us and we’ll pay you for them on the spot. Cash, check, whatever you prefer.
Most of the time, the coins you bring us are worth the silver in them. Once in a great while, there may be specific pieces worth a little more. You can set those aside if you like and we’ll check them for you.
Most people don’t have the hours required and they would just rather have the money and their time to do with as they please. But we honor and value all serious coin collectors, so we’ll respect your decision and do the best we can to help you.
So when you’re not sure what to do with 90%, rest assured: Palos Verdes Coin Exchange has your back. We know what to do. And if you don’t want it any more, we’ll buy it from, and we’ll pay more than anybody else. Because we know what we’re doing.
Thanks for reading!
