MEASURED · 9 OCTOBER 2026

How much is a silver quarter worth? Which quarters are silver, and what each is worth

Every US quarter dated 1964 or earlier is silver, 90% silver since 1838, and its silver is worth far more than 25 cents. Every quarter dated 1965 or later is copper and nickel and worth 25 cents, apart from a few made in silver for collectors. Below: what the metal in each is worth, which years are silver, how to check a quarter in a minute, and when a quarter’s silver first passed its face value.

The short answer

Silver at the London (LBMA) price of $60.865 an ounce on 29 September 2026. The September 2026 average was $64.60, which puts a silver quarter at $11.68. Quarters dated before 1873 hold slightly different amounts of silver: $10.95 to $11.77 at the same price. Copper and nickel at the World Bank’s September 2026 averages: $14,474 and $16,324a metric ton. Collector values are not measured here.

Which quarters are silver

Each quarter is worth 25 cents as money whatever its metal. Silver figures are the silver alone; the 10% copper in a silver quarter is worth a fraction of a cent. A worn coin holds slightly less metal than a new one. Collector premiums are not included.

How to tell a silver quarter in a minute

• Read the date. 1964 or earlier is silver. 1965 or later is not, unless the coin came from a Mint collector set.
• Look at the edge. A copper-nickel quarter shows a copper stripe round its edge: the pure copper core between its two copper-nickel layers, as the law sets them out. A silver quarter is silver-white all the way across the edge.
• Weigh it. A silver quarter weighs 6.25 g, a copper-nickel one 5.67 g and a 40% silver bicentennial 5.75 g. A kitchen scale that reads to 0.01 g tells them apart.
• A 1965 that looks silver on both checks is worth a closer look. A 1965 quarter weighing 6.25 g with no copper stripe may have been struck on a leftover silver blank. Have a grading service such as PCGS or NGC authenticate it before selling.

When a quarter’s silver passed 25 cents

A quarter of 1873 to 1964 holds 0.1808 troy ounces of silver, so its silver is worth 25 cents when silver costs about $1.38 an ounce. On the World Bank’s monthly averages, which start in 1960, silver averaged $1.30 in June 1967, putting a quarter’s silver at 23.5¢. In July 1967 the average jumped to $1.60 and the silver in a quarter was worth 28.9¢: the first month above face. By then the Mint had been striking copper-nickel quarters for two years. The Coinage Act of 1965, signed on 23 July 1965, moved it from 1964-dated silver quarters to 1965-dated clad ones.

It fell back once. After September 1971 the monthly average dropped below the break-even again for two months. The last London fix at which a quarter’s silver was worth less than 25 cents was 3 January 1972, at $1.374 an ounce: 24.84¢. On every one of the 13,826 London fixes since, it has been worth 25 cents or more. In all, the silver has been worth 25 cents or more in 709 of the 801 months since January 1960, and in every month since December 1971.

The silver in a quarter first averaged $1 in September 1978, $5 in January 1980 and $10 in December 2025. On single London fixes it reached $8.94 on 18 January 1980 and $8.80 on 28 April 2011. The record is 29 January 2026, when silver fixed at $118.45 and a quarter’s silver was worth $21.42. By 29 September 2026 silver was $60.865 and the quarter $11.00.

The silver in a quarter since 1960

Monthly averages (World Bank), so single days went further: the record London fix above is higher than any monthly average. Log scale, so equal heights are equal percentage moves.

Silver quarter value, year by year

December averages, except the last row (September 2026 average). The World Bank reports silver to the nearest 10 cents, which matters most in the early rows. Copper-nickel quarters began in 1965.

The 1964, 1965 and bicentennial quarters

1964 quarter

The last silver year, 90% silver like every quarter before it: 0.1808 troy ounces, worth $11.00 at the 29 September 2026 London price.

1965 quarter

The first copper-nickel year: 5.67 g, 5.1977 g of it copper and 0.4723 g nickel, worth 8.29¢ at September 2026 prices. As money it is 25 cents. The one to look for weighs 6.25 g and has no copper stripe; see the checks above.

Bicentennial quarter, 1776-1976

There are no quarters dated 1975. The Mint got Congress’s approval to keep striking 1974-dated quarters until the Bicentennial quarter, dated 1776-1976, took over, according to Wikipedia. The ones that circulated are copper-nickel and worth 25 cents. Congress also mandated 45 million Bicentennial coins in 40% silver, which the Mint sold in three-coin sets (quarter, half dollar and dollar), uncirculated and proof. The silver quarter carries an S mint mark and holds 0.0739 troy ounces of silver, $4.50 at the 29 September 2026 price.

What a quarter costs to make

The Mint’s 2024 annual report put the cost of making and distributing one quarter at 14.68¢ in fiscal 2024, as NBC reported. Over the same fiscal year, October 2023 to September 2024, the copper and nickel in a quarter averaged 5.43¢ at World Bank prices, so everything other than the raw metal cost about 9¢. Copper’s rise since has taken the metal to 8.29¢ in September 2026, the highest monthly value since the copper-nickel quarter began in 1965. The quarter still costs less than 25 cents to make, unlike the nickel; the nickel page has that arithmetic.

Selling or melting silver quarters

The federal melting ban, 31 CFR 82.1, covers only five-cent and one-cent coins; quarters are not in it. Silver quarters are bought and sold for their silver and are usually quoted per dollar of face value. $1 face, four quarters, holds 0.7232 troy ounces of silver: $44.02 at the 29 September 2026 price. A $10 roll of 40 holds 7.232 ounces, $440.18. Worn coins hold a little less silver than new ones, so buyers often weigh or discount them.

Measured by US consumer prices, 25 cents in 1964 bought what $2.70 buys in August 2026. The silver in a 1964 quarter has risen far faster: 44 times face.

Quarters worth more than their silver

• The 1932-D and 1932-S. Each mint struck only about 400,000, and few were saved, so they are collector coins first.
• Errors and coins in top condition. A grading service’s price guide, such as PCGS or NGC, lists them. We did not measure collector values.
• Everything else trades on its silver or its face. A worn 1964 quarter is worth its silver; a 1965-or-later quarter in ordinary condition is worth 25 cents to a bank.

The same arithmetic for the other coins is in how much is a penny worth?, how much is a nickel worth?, how much is a dime worth?, how much is a half dollar worth?, how much is a silver dollar worth? (junk silver) and Kennedy half dollar value. This page is a measurement, not a forecast or personal advice.

How we measured it

Prices: World Bank Pink Sheet monthly averages for silver in US dollars a troy ounce and copper and nickel a metric ton, January 1960 to September 2026; the LBMA silver price to 29 September 2026; BLS CPI-U to August 2026. Metal content: silver quarters of 1873-1964 6.25 g at 90%, 0.1808 troy ounces of silver (NGC’s melt-value figure, also used on our silver-dollar page); earlier quarters weight times fineness, 6.739 g at 89.24% from 1796, 6.682 g at 90% from 1838 and 6.22 g at 90% from 1853 (Wikipedia); copper-nickel quarters 5.67 g (31 U.S.C. 5112) at 8.33% nickel and the rest copper; the 40% silver bicentennial 0.0739 oz; silver proofs from 2019 6.343 g at 99.9%, 0.2037 oz. Face-value line: each month’s World Bank silver average times 0.1808, compared with 25 cents. The World Bank rounded silver to 10 cents then, close to the $1.38 break-even, so the 1971-1972 dip was checked against the unrounded daily London fixes. Fiscal year: the Mint’s, October to September, the average of the twelve monthly values.

Common questions