Junk Bin Silver Finds

Here is a tiny find:

Ottoman Empire, 10 para, AH1293, regnal year 26 (1900)

I thought it was an old copper coin - but no! It is a .100 fine piece of worn, tarnished silver. The ASW: 0.0064!

Found in the 18/$1 bin... its melt value, not accounting for wear, is just 14 cents!!

In general... before World War 2.

My best advice is to mix up some world silver with world copper-nickel, and practice finding "that silver look". Silver coins are brighter gray, and they tone in a much greater range of colours (burnished, lightly toasted yellow, a slight greenish tinge for low-purity silver, that give-away look where the devices are gray and the fields are black, etc.). Look through this thread for pictures of average silver coins!

But if you want a real list to print out and surreptitiously check next time you're hunting for world coins:
- Canada: 1967 and earlier, and some non-magnetic issues of 1968
- USA: 1964 and earlier, of course
- Switzerland: 1967 and earlier
- France: 5 francs, 1969 and earlier. France had plenty of occupation and invasion, so it's difficult to keep track of everything - I think it's worth buying all French coins from before World War I, except the ubiquitous slick 5/10 centimes of Napoleon III. Before World War I, everything from at least 50 centimes and up was silver.
- Germany: 5 marks, 1974 and earlier. Note that 5 marks is convertible to the Euro, and is worth about $3.50 right now, so it might be worth it to just buy all mark coins you find.
- Austria: 5 schillings, 1968 and earlier (scarce 1968 copper-nickel issues exist, which are also worth buying). 10 schillings, 1973 and earlier. Again, Austrian schillings will always be convertible to the Euro, and 10 schillings is about $1. For higher schilling denominations... again, buy them all. If they're not white like silver, they are base-metal circulating coins, but they will still be worth 10 schillings to the dollar. (I will gladly trade these for Canadian junk silver.)
- Greece: 20 drachmai (looks like "APAXMAI") and higher. It must have a king's head on it - the Greek republic issued no circulating silver.
- Mexico: Mexico had many steps of debasement, with the peso falling from a silver-dollar type coin: .903, .800, .720, .500, .300, .100, and finally base-metal. The cut-off for the peso is 1967 and earlier... 50 centavos is 1951 and earlier... higher denominations are all across the map, but if you find anything above 1 peso from before 1971 in a junk bin, buy it! The last hold-out of silver in Mexico was 100 pesos, in 1979 and earlier.
- Mexican new pesos: High-value bi-metallic coins (N$10 and up) have .925 silver centers, to motivate Mexicans into giving up their old pesos. Buy these from 1995 and before - many, many coin dealers don't even know about this, so ask to see all new peso coins.
- UK: 1946 and earlier is .500 silver - 1918 and earlier is .925 silver. The UK is nice, because there are no tricky copper-nickel coins from before this cut-off date to confuse you. For British colonies, the rule of thumb is: during and before World War II is silver.
- Australia: All pre-decimal (pence, shillings, pounds) coins are silver. 50-cent coins that are round are silver.
- Spain: 100 pesetas with Francisco Franco are about half an ounce of silver.
- Sweden: Smaller denominations were turned to base metal before large denominations. 1, 2, and 5 krona coins from 1967 and earlier are silver (1968 has silver and base-metal issues, but the odds are good for silver), and fractional denominations from 10 to 50 ore from 1961 and earlier are silver. There was a circulating (?) commemorative of 10 kronor in 1972 that was large and silver, which can be easily distinguished from nickel-sized base metal 10 kronor coins (1991-date). Once again, even these base metal 10 kronor coins have a face value of about $2.
- Thailand: Thai coins are hard to tell apart for the uninitiated, but if it has a king, and the king is not wearing glasses, then it is either silver, or one of the numerous Thai commemoratives.
- Netherlands: 1 and 2.5 gulden, 1966 and earlier (1967 coins are predominantly nickel, so check with a magnet). All 1/2 gulden (50 cents) coins are silver, as the denomination proved unpopular and was last minted in 1930. 10 and 25 cents are silver from 1945 and earlier - except for the large, black zinc German occupation issues that don't bear the head of Queen Wilhelmina. Zinc is very reactive, so if you find any German-occupation zinc coins that have not black, they are usually worth buying.
- Japan: These are tough to tell apart, usually. However, if any have the English text "[number] SEN", they are worth buying, even if not silver (it's like American coins - 1 sen is a large cent, 5 sen is copper-nickel). 10 sen and up with this English text will be silver. For modern issues... two 100 yen types are silver. One says 100 YEN and has a phoenix, the later one has a large 100 flanked by many horizontal lines - the latter should be in this thread somewhere. 1000 yen and above is always worth buying if you're lucky enough to find any (100 yen = 1 dollar).
- India: 10 rupee coins with the dates (1869 - 1949) [Gandhi birth centennial] and 1970 will be silver. For British India - remember what I said about "up 'til the end of World War II".

That's all I can think of right now. Most (not all) Canadian coin dealers have a good knowledge of world coins, but some American collectors appear to only be concerned with American coins! I can't believe it, but apparently it's true. Those are the dealers you target, of course.

From the Edmonton Coin Show:

20 cents each:
Sweden, 25 öre, 1958, 0.0298 ASW
UK, 3 pence, 1918, 0.0420 ASW

12/$1 bin:
Sweden, 10 öre (hey... what are the odds?), 1962, 0.0185 ASW

Total: 0.0903 ASW for 48.3 cents

BONUS: Billon silver Swiss 10 rappen coin found in the "free with admission" bin at the front:

No Pic of it yet, Lighting was not cooperating.
But Paid 15.10 for this:
1890(Year 23) Japan 1 Yen in AU with Luster.

Yay for random Pawn Shops!

Estate sale today, 1940 Mexico Peso, for a dollar... .3856 ounces of silver... fun.

Also, 1944 1/4 rupee from India, and two 1950 10 Ore Sweden... which are less than .02 of an ounce. But, hey, it was fun finding any silver at all.

Today's silver!


- Isles du Vent (Windward Islands, now a part of French Polynesia), 12 sols, 1731. This beats my George II 1745 LIMA shilling by 14 years! Can you believe it was in the 18/$1 bin?! ASW roughly 0.07 (unsure of purity)
- Mexican 2 reales!! This was a really exciting find, especially in the 18/$1 bin. ASW 0.1963
- Belgium, 1 franc, 1910. A badly dipped coin... 12/$1 bin. ASW 0.1342
- Netherlands, 10 cents, probably 1925. 18/$1 bin. ASW 0.0267

Total: 0.431 oz (!) for 25 cents

2 French francs, a fairly old type (1887-A).

From the $2 bin... ASW is 0.268.