On Finding Rare Silver Coins - Why a Sliver of Silver is so Hard to Find

In the early days of the United States, gold coins were commonly used. Money had intrinsic value, partly because people only trusted 'real' cash and the federal government still didn't have everyone's financial trust. However, paper currency and non-gold coins began appearing soon thereafter. Eventually, silver was used to a greater extent instead of gold. Nowadays, gold coins in circulation are nonexistent, and silver coins are extremely rare.

Before 1965, dimes and quarters were made out of 90% silver and 10% copper(Pure silver gets scratched easily and wouldn't hold up well). The reason silver coins were minted was simply that the government could afford to produce the coins at the face value of the metal content. But in the 50s and 60s it became evident that silver was becoming too expensive for the U.S. Government to purchase. Silver is quite rare, and the demand was getting huge.

Thus the switch to copper and nickel quarters was made. Once the new coins came in, though, coin collectors and people in the know started to hoard all the silver coins. The percentage of silver coins in circulation began to drop rapidly, and attics all over the country contained jars and rolls of them.

Today, it is extremely rare and lucky to find a silver coin in circulation. If you find one, chances are it's in worn and mediocre condition. I still remember the first time I received a silver quarter.

It was a memorable experience, because it happened on the school bus on my way home one day in high school. I was selling candy for a class field trip we were taking, and on the bus a friendly boy asked to buy some of the candy. So I obliged and sold him candy, and he handed me two quarters. One of them looked fake and too whitish, and so I looked at the date. 1947, it read. I was astonished and told the kid something like "do you know what you just gave me?", and he shrugged it off, like it wasn't any big deal. I later learned he lived with his grandpa, who probably was the source of it. So I put the quarter aside, suspecting it was special.

In the last eight years after that incident, I have managed to obtain only two more quarters, and one dime from before 1965. Of those two quarters, just one was given to me. And I have tried quite a bit to find the others. I have probably gone through at least 50 quarter rolls, or 2000 quarters just from rolls. And I've looked through at least a few thousands more in circulation. It was probably a waste of time to search the rolls, I now realize.

I found out that snack machines and machines with coin-slots reject silver coins. The reason is that the machines sense the coins, mainly by weight. Perhaps they may also zap the coins with electricity and the new copper ones conduct the electricity in a certain way. The weight of the old silver coins is greater, also(6.25 grams versus the new ones which are about 5.7).

And so now you a re knowledgeable about silver coins. Today finding an old silver quarter is very lucky indeed, but keep your eyes open and listen to the sound of your change. It is always fun to find rare coins, whether they be old pennies or strange international coins that look like US coins.