What Should I Do With My Old Silver Dollars?

Did you find some old silver dollars? Maybe you inherited them. Or, perhaps you’ve rediscovered them many years after they were given to you as a gift from somebody.

This leads to a question I receive A LOT: “What should I do with my old silver dollars?”

The answer isn’t always cut and dry — because it depends on a variety of factors.

Here are some questions you’ll need to answer:

• What type of silver dollars do you have?
• What’s their condition?
• Do you plan to keep or formally collect these old coins?
• Are you hoping to sell or make money from them?

I’ll bet you can see this is going to be a lot more complicated than my just giving you a stock answer on silver dollar values and where to sell old silver dollars near you.

And you’re right!

But stick with me here. I’m going to help walk you through this…

Are Silver Dollars Worth Keeping?

I certainly think so!

The United States Mint struck silver dollars for circulation from 1794 through 1935. After a decades-long hiatus, the Mint began striking copper-nickel clad Eisenhower dollars for commerce in 1971. The Mint continues making silver dollars for collectors and investors today, including American Silver Eagles.

Classic silver coins are highly collectible. And that begs the question: What should you do with old silver dollars?

Well, I’ve collected some and I’ve sold some.

My criteria for which silver dollars I value as collectibles versus those that I’ve sold hinged on:

• What my collecting goals are
• What these old coins are worth
• Whether or not I need money at the time

It’s true — I’ve sold many of my collectible coins to pay college tuition, the rent, even my mortgage. And maybe you’re in the same boat I’ve been in. After all, those bills are going to keep on billin’.

The bottom line…

When finances have allowed and my collecting goals have influenced me enough, I keep old silver dollars.

But I’ve sold many, too — when physical needs (like food, water, and shelter) or financial goals (like paying off the mortgage) overrode.

If you collect or invest in American Silver Eagles, you might enjoy my latest book – A Guide Book of American Silver Eagles (Whitman Publishing).

Should You Clean Old Silver Dollars?

When people ask me what they should do with their old silver dollars, you clearly have many options as you’ve seen.

But here’s a piece of advice with one clear answer: No… you should NOT clean your silver dollars!

Removing the coin’s original patina can make its value tank. You could easily devalue a silver dollar by more than 50% if you try cleaning it to make it look shiny and new.

So, just leave your silver dollars exactly as they are — don’t clean them. Don’t try to “improve” them. All you’ll wind up doing is permanently damaging them and knocking out a huge chunk of their value, to boot.

How Can You Tell If A Silver Dollar Is Worth More?

This naturally leads to the question, “How much are my silver dollars worth?”

Well, that depends on:

• The TYPE of silver dollar you have

AND

• The CONDITION of your silver dollar

First, I’ll help you find out the CONDITION of your old silver dollars…

Before anyone can determine any coin’s value, they first need to know what condition the coin is in — it’s grade.

To grade coins yourself, grab a coin magnifier and a copy of the U.S. Coin Grading Standards book. Then, watch this video to see how to grade coins yourself at home:

Now, let’s explore the current values for the different dates and TYPES of silver dollars…

Here’s my current list of silver dollar values by type:

• Flowing Hair dollar values (1794-1795)
• Draped Bust dollar values (1795-1804)
• Seated Liberty dollar values (1840-1873)
• Trade dollar values (1873-1885)
• Morgan dollar values (1878-1921)
• Peace dollar values (1921-1935)
• Eisenhower dollar values (1971-1978)

None of those seem to apply to you?

Some of the most common dates that people look up values for are:

• What is my 1921 silver dollar worth?
• How much is my 1922 silver dollar worth today?
• What is the 1971 Eisenhower dollar value?
• What are 1972 Ike dollars worth?
• Is a 1776 to 1976 silver dollar worth anything?

How to tell if your Eisenhower dollars are silver

Most Ike dollars were made from copper-nickel clad. Yet a small but significant number were struck in a 40% silver clad format.

Here are 2 of the criteria you’ll need to check:

1. The coin’s weight — This is the most important diagnostic. Silver Eisenhower dollars weigh 24.59 grams, give or take a few hundredths of a gram for tolerances.
2. The presence of an “S” mintmark — This is not a foolproof method for checking if you have a 40% silver Ike dollar, but all silver Eisenhower dollars were struck at the San Francisco Mint with an “S” mintmark. So this is a quick visual test you can use when sorting out clad versus silver Ikes. Just be aware that many “S” Ike dollars are clad proofs — so you’ll still need a good coin scale to help verify if your Eisenhower dollars are clad or silver.

What about the 1979 dollar coin value?

Many of the people who ask me what they should do with their old silver dollars tend to have 1979 dollar coins.

These aren’t technically silver dollars, but rather clad dollar coins bearing the portrait of women’s rights leader Susan B. Anthony.

I’ve covered Susan B. Anthony dollar values in depth here on TheFunTimesGuide — with a special emphasis on 1979 dollar coin values as well as 1980 dollar coin values, since I’m most frequently asked about those.

How Much Should You Sell Old Silver Dollars For?

What you should do with your old silver dollars, if you want to sell them, is of course get the best offer you can.

But remember, this isn’t a “I know what I got” situation if you don’t really know what you have. That’s why I’m sharing the information above from all of my silver dollar value articles.

The silver dollar values I‘ve listed here should help you get a better understanding as to what your silver dollars are worth.

Still, you won’t really know until you’ve determined the condition of your individual specimens and maybe shop them around to a few coin dealers near you who can give you some offers.

And, with that, I wish you the best of luck!