The History of Silver Coins

In the past, a silver coin was stamped in different denominations by the U.S. Mint for more than 170 years. In fact, a silver coin played an important part in American history. There used to be a silver coin for dollars, half dollars, quarters, and dimes. There was a worldwide silver shortage in 1965 and a silver coin underwent significant changes. There were no silver in dimes and quarters from 90 percent in the previous versions. Moreover, it only remains 40 percent in the half dollar coin.

The Kennedy half was the last half dollar silver coin and the silver content was reduced to 40 percent from 1965 to 1969. Many coin collectors are hanging on to these silver coins because they are not minted anymore. However, there are still so many of them in circulation and as a result they only have a small premium over their face value. In fact, some collectors consider them as junk coins.

The dollar silver coin has different story. It was minted from 1794 to 1935 and afterwards it was discontinued. The production of the dollar coin was resumed in 1971 with Eisenhower dollar, but it had no silver content. This dollar coin was replaced by the Susan B. Anthony one dollar coin in 1979 and the coin is considered as a failure in the mint's history due to its unpopularity. Then, the gold plated Sacagawea dollar was produced and currently the presidential dollar coins are the latest version of one dollar coin.

The U.S. Mint used to sell silver coins in bags where one bag is worth $1,000 at face value. This meant that a bag of dimes had 10,000 coins, a bag of quarters had 4,000 coins, and a bag of half dollars had 2,000 coins. For companies that supply collectors with bulk amount of silver coins, this practice still exists. Usually each bag has $500 face value because if not it will be too bulky and heavy.

U.S. Mint and some private mints still produce .999 silver coins even today. The one that is struck by the U.S. Mint has a label stating that it can be used as legal tender. The other one, the privately minted coin, has the purity and weight of the silver so it is easy for buyers and sellers.

When the economy is depressed, it is common for many investors to collect silver coins as a hedge against inflation. However, the demand tends to fluctuate following the economy and thus investing in bars of .999 pure silver of 100 ounces have replaced silver coins.

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