Contains 90% silver
That is the metal alone. A 1964 half in worn condition is a bullion coin; in high grade it can be worth a great deal more to a collector.
A half dollar changed metal twice in seven years
Ninety percent silver
Barber, Walking Liberty, Franklin and the first year of Kennedy. Every half dollar struck for circulation in this period is a silver coin.
Forty percent silver
A six-year compromise. Silver was pulled out of the dime and quarter entirely, but the half kept a reduced amount in silver-clad layers.
No silver at all
Copper-nickel over a copper core, the same construction as a modern quarter. Only the San Francisco proofs sold in silver sets contain any silver.
Work out what you have
Four checks that separate a silver half from a clad one in about ten seconds, using the edge, the weight, the sound and the wear.
Price a jar or a bag
Enter a date and a count. The calculator gives mint weight and the trade weight a dealer will actually pay on, which are not the same number.
Every date, 1892 to today
One page per year, laid out as an album page. Empty slots are the years no half dollar was struck at all.
Specifications and arithmetic, not price guesses
What a coin is worth to a collector depends on grade, eye appeal and what someone will pay this week. Those numbers are proprietary, we do not licence them, and inventing them would make this site worthless to you.
What can be stated exactly is how much silver is in the coin, because Congress set it by statute. Multiply that by a live spot price and you get a floor: the number below which nobody sane sells. That is what this site computes, on every page, for every date.
- A 90% silver half
- $23.46
- A 40% silver half
- $9.59
- $100 face of 90% silverAt the 0.715 ozt per dollar trade standard
- $4,637.35
Common questions
- Which half dollars contain silver?
- Every half dollar dated 1964 or earlier that was struck for circulation is 90% silver. Coins dated 1965 to 1970 are 40% silver. Everything dated 1971 or later is copper-nickel clad and contains no silver at all, with one exception: the San Francisco silver proofs sold in annual proof sets, which carry an S mint mark and were never released into change.
- How much silver is in a half dollar?
- A 90% silver half dollar weighs 12.50 grams and contains 0.3617 troy ounces of pure silver. A 40% silver half from 1965 to 1970 weighs 11.50 grams and contains 0.1479 troy ounces. A modern clad half weighs 11.34 grams and contains none.
- How can I tell if a half dollar is silver without the date?
- Look at the edge. A silver half shows an unbroken silver-grey band because the coin is the same alloy all the way through. A clad half shows an orange-brown copper stripe sandwiched between two paler layers. If the edge is ambiguous, weigh it: 12.5 grams is 90% silver, 11.5 grams is 40% silver, and 11.34 grams is clad.
- Is a Bicentennial half dollar silver?
- The ordinary circulating Bicentennial half, dated 1776-1976 with Independence Hall on the reverse, is copper-nickel clad and contains no silver. Only the S-marked version sold in three-piece collector sets is 40% silver. Bicentennial halves were struck in enormous numbers across two years, so a worn one from change is worth fifty cents.
- Are half dollars still being made?
- Yes. The Mint stopped striking half dollars for general circulation after 2001 and made them for collectors only until 2020, then resumed production for circulation in 2021. They rarely turn up in change because almost no retailer stocks them in tills.
- What is melt value, and is it what a dealer will pay?
- Melt value is the market price of the silver in a coin: its silver weight multiplied by the current spot price. It is not an offer. A dealer buys below melt and sells above it, and on common circulated silver that spread usually runs a few percent either side. Melt is a floor under a common date and is irrelevant to a scarce one.