Silver Content and Values of US Mint Products

After silver traded below $27 per ounce in late January, prices have come back in dramatic fashion. Today, the price of silver reached a 31 year high at nearly $34 per ounce. This has the consequence of making certain United States Mint products relatively better bargains based on the rising metal value of the coins.

At this time, the US Mint has only five different products which contain silver: the 2010 Silver Proof Set, 2011 Silver Proof Set, 2010 America the Beautiful Silver Proof Set, and the proof and uncirculated 2011 Army Commemorative Silver Dollars.

The silver content of each of these products in troy ounces is shown below.

	Silver Content
2010 ATB Quarter Silver Proof Set	0.90420
2010 Silver Proof Set	1.33823
2011 Silver Proof Set	1.33823
Proof Army Silver Dollar	0.77344
Unc Army Silver Dollar	0.77344

Based on a silver price of $34 per ounce, the metal value of a few products is now approaching the US Mint's issue price. The table below shows the silver value for each product, the face value of any non-silver coins included, total of the silver and other face value, and the US Mint's current price.

	Silver	other FV	Total	Price
2010 ATBQ Silver Proof Set	30.74	0	30.74	32.95
2010 Silver Proof Set	45.50	5.06	50.56	56.95
2011 Silver Proof Set	45.50	5.06	50.56	67.95
Proof Commem Silver Dollar	26.30	0	26.30	54.95
Unc Commem Silver Dollar	26.30	0	26.30	49.95

While the US Mint adopted a pricing strategy to allow them to frequently adjust the prices of products containing gold or platinum, the products containing silver are subject to their old procedure which requires publication in the Federal Register. In the recent past, the issue prices for silver products have been established prior to the start of sales and not adjusted subsequently. In extreme circumstances, the US Mint would have the ability to suspend sales until new prices could be published and made effective.

Besides current US Mint products, there are a number of past products that often trade on the secondary market for below the silver value. Within comments, some readers have mentioned the 2000 Silver Proof Set or the 1971-1974 "Blue Ikes". These are uncirculated Eisenhower Dollars that the US Mint struck in 40% silver for collectors.

An excellent resource for checking the metal value of U.S. coins is Coinflation.com, which I used to help in the calculations above.