Canadian Silver Coins Melt Value

Every circulating Canadian silver coin from 1920 to 1968, with its silver content and live melt value. The 80 percent coins hold silver in exact proportion to face value, 0.6 troy ounces per Canadian dollar, whether that's ten dimes, four quarters, two 50-cent pieces or one silver dollar. Specifications are from NGC's world silver melt value guide.

Canadian dollar figures convert at 1.4240 CAD per US dollar, the October 2, 2026 daily reference rate. Silver priced directly in Canadian dollars is on the silver price in CAD page.

Dimes, quarters and 50-cent pieces dated 1920 to 1966 are 80 percent silver, and so is every circulating silver dollar from 1935 to 1967. Coins dated 1919 or earlier are 92.5 percent sterling (see the table further down). Circulating coins dated 1969 or later contain no silver. Only 1967 and 1968 need a closer look.

Partway through 1967 the dime and quarter dropped from 80 to 50 percent silver. The two versions look the same and weigh the same, so only a specific gravity test or a dealer's XRF reading separates them; untested, it's safest to count a 1967 dime or quarter at the 50 percent figure. In 1968 the dime and quarter were struck in both 50 percent silver and pure nickel, and a magnet sorts those: nickel coins stick to it, silver ones don't. The 1968 50-cent piece and dollar are nickel only.

Canadian dealers often quote 80 percent silver as a multiple of face value. C$1 face holds 0.6 troy ounces in 80 percent coins and 0.375 ounces in 50 percent dimes or quarters.

These are full mint weights. Worn coins hold slightly less silver, so buyers of circulated lots often pay a little under the figures above. For US 90 percent coins, which hold 0.7234 ounces per US dollar of face, use the junk silver calculator.

Canadian dimes, quarters and 50-cent pieces were 92.5 percent sterling silver until 1919. The small silver 5-cent piece was sterling through 1919 and 80 percent in 1920 and 1921, before the nickel 5-cent coin replaced it in 1922.

Most coins from this period are old enough that collector value, not silver, sets the price. Melt is the floor for heavily worn common dates.

Most circulated dimes, quarters and 50-cent pieces from the 1950s and 1960s trade close to melt. Key dates are priced on rarity instead: the 1921 50-cent piece, the 1921 silver 5-cent piece, the 1948 silver dollar and the 1936 "dot" coins are well-known examples, along with better-grade coins of any date. Check dates before a mixed lot is sold by weight. Typical dealer markups on bullion products are on the coin premium page, and US silver coins are compared on the silver coin melt values table.