Scrap Silver Prices Today
As of October 2, 2026, silver spot is $59.97 per troy ounce, which makes a gram of sterling worth $1.78 and a gram of 90% coin silver worth $1.74 in melt value. The table prices each common fineness by the gram, pennyweight and troy ounce. A buyer pays a percentage of melt, and the calculator shows what that comes to on your silver.
Scrap silver value by purity
Melt value is the silver a piece contains, priced at spot. A buyer's offer is a percentage of these figures. Sterling has its own page with a value-by-weight table, and US coins are priced by face value on the junk silver calculator.
| Purity | Marks | Content | Per gram | Per dwt | Per troy oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fine silver (.999) | 999, .999, FINE SILVER | 99.9% | $1.93 | $3.00 | $59.91 |
| Britannia (.958) | 958, figure of Britannia (UK) | 95.8% | $1.85 | $2.87 | $57.45 |
| Sterling (.925) | 925, STERLING, STER, lion passant (England) | 92.5% | $1.78 | $2.77 | $55.47 |
| 90% coin silver (.900) | US coins carry no mark; 900 | 90% | $1.74 | $2.70 | $53.97 |
| European .800 | 800, crescent moon and crown (Germany) | 80% | $1.54 | $2.40 | $47.97 |
Melt values at the spot price of $59.97 per troy ounce, as of October 2, 2026. Scroll the table sideways for the per dwt and per ounce columns.
Scrap silver calculator
Silver spot: $59.97/ozPick the fineness, enter the weight, then the percentage of melt your buyer pays. 100% is the full melt value.
Melt value
$17.83
10 g of Sterling (.925) holds 9.25 g of pure silver (0.2974 troy oz, 5.948 dwt).
Offer at 100% of melt
$17.83
The buyer keeps $0.00 of the melt value.
Ask each buyer what percentage of melt they pay and which spot price they use, then enter it above. Melt values use the live silver spot price.
The silver spot price behind every figure
Every value on this page is the spot price times a fineness and a weight, so a 2% move in silver moves your scrap value 2% too.
How to read silver marks
Look on the back of flatware handles, under the base of hollowware and inside ring bands. The number is the silver content in parts per thousand. A buyer tests unmarked pieces, and marks can be faked, so expect a test either way.
- 925, STERLING, STER
- Sterling, 92.5% silver. Sterling hallmarked in England carries a lion passant (a walking lion).
- 958, figure of Britannia
- Britannia silver, 95.8%. Mostly British pieces. The Royal Mint's Silver Britannia bullion coin is a separate thing and has been .999 since 2013.
- 999, FINE SILVER
- Fine silver, 99.9%. Mostly bullion bars, rounds and coins, plus some handmade jewelry.
- US coins (no mark)
- Dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier, and Morgan and Peace dollars, are 90% silver. Value them by face value.
- 800, 830, 835
- Continental European silver: 800 is common on German and Italian flatware, often beside a crescent moon and crown on German pieces; 830 and 835 turn up on Scandinavian, Dutch and German silver. Use Other fineness in the calculator for 830 or 835.
- COIN, PURE COIN
- Older American coin silver flatware. The fineness varies, often around 90% or a little less, so a buyer will test it.
- EPNS, EP, silver plate, quadruple plate
- Silver plated: a thin layer over base metal. Little or no scrap value as silver.
- German silver, nickel silver, alpaca
- Copper, nickel and zinc. No silver at all, despite the name.
Weighted and hollow-handle pieces
Candlesticks, candelabra, compotes and some trophies are often weighted: a thin sterling shell filled with pitch, plaster or cement, and sometimes marked "weighted" or "reinforced". Hollow-handle knives have a stainless steel blade and a sterling handle filled with cement, and cake servers and cheese knives often have steel blades too.
Only the silver counts. Weigh the silver parts on their own where you can (forks and spoons are usually solid), and expect a buyer to deduct the filler and blades from anything you can't take apart. A weighted candlestick can weigh far more than the silver in it.
How to weigh scrap silver
- 1Sort by mark before weighing. Sterling, 800, coin silver and plate each go in their own pile, since each is priced at its own fineness. Set plate aside.
- 2Weigh only the silver. Leave out stainless knife blades, and weigh weighted pieces with the filler in mind (see below).
- 3Use grams if you can. On a kitchen scale, choose oz (scale) or lb (scale) in the calculator. A kitchen-scale ounce is 28.35 g, about 9% lighter than the 31.10 g troy ounce silver is priced in.
- 4Count coins instead of weighing them. US 90% coins are valued by face value. The junk silver calculator converts any face value to silver ounces.
Where the money goes between melt and offer
Melt value is the silver content at spot. A buyer pays less because the silver still has to be refined: the refiner melts and assays it and pays for what it recovers, less its fee. The buyer also covers testing, handling and shipping, keeps a margin, and carries the risk that silver falls before the lot is settled. Silver is worth much less per gram than gold, so costs charged by weight take a bigger share of each dollar of melt value.
Ask each buyer what percentage of melt they pay and which spot price it's based on, and compare them in the calculator. Flatware in a pattern people collect, and pieces by well-known makers, can sell above melt, so check the sterling silver price page before scrapping a full set. For coins, the silver coin melt values page has each coin's silver content.
Published by MetalCharts, a free precious metals resource providing real-time prices, interactive charts, educational guides, and portfolio management tools. All market data sourced from COMEX, LBMA, and LME.
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