Silver Dime Value
Byline: Reviewed by the Silver Value Chart Editorial Team · Updated September 19, 2026
$4.80 melt value per coin
0.07234 troy oz of silver at $66.38/oz
Quick answer
A pre-1965 US dime contains 0.07234 troy ounces of silver — 2.5 grams of 90% silver alloy — worth $4.80 as of September 19, 2026. Dimes dated 1965 or later contain no silver.
- Years struck
- through 1964
- Gross weight
- 2.5 g
- Fineness
- .900
- Actual silver weight
- 0.07234 troy oz
- Diameter
- 17.9 mm
- Face value
- 10¢
The smallest unit of junk silver
The silver dime is the smallest divisible unit of US 90% coinage, and that gives it a practical role the larger denominations do not have.
For anyone holding silver in coin form, dimes are the finest increment available — $4.80 of metal per coin at today's price. Bags of silver dimes have historically been popular for exactly this reason. Whether that divisibility is worth the slightly higher handling cost is a matter of preference, not fact.
They are also the most likely silver coins to still turn up in circulation, because their small size means they get overlooked. Not often — the vast majority were removed from circulation decades ago — but more often than quarters or halves.
The two designs
Mercury dimes (1916–1945) are the more collected. The name is a misnomer: the figure is Liberty wearing a winged cap symbolizing freedom of thought, not the god Mercury.
The series key is the 1916-D, struck in tiny numbers at Denver and valuable in every grade — heavily worn examples still command serious money. It is also among the most counterfeited US coins, usually by adding a D mintmark to a common 1916 Philadelphia coin. Treat any 1916-D as unverified until a grading service says otherwise.
Other dates worth attention: 1921 and 1921-D (low mintages), 1942/1 overdate and 1942/1-D, where the 2 is struck over a 1 and is visible under magnification.
Roosevelt dimes (1946–1964) replaced the Mercury after Roosevelt's death. The silver issues run 1946 through 1964 and are common — almost all trade purely as metal. This is the dime you will find most of in a junk silver bag.
Earlier Barber dimes (1892–1916) also appear. Most circulated examples trade near melt, but the 1894-S is one of the great American rarities, with only a couple of dozen believed to exist.
Telling silver from clad
The edge test settles it. A silver dime has a solid silver-white edge. A clad dime shows a copper stripe. On a dime the stripe is thin but perfectly visible — and because dimes are small, stacking a pile on edge is the fastest sort of all.
Weight: silver 2.5 g, clad 2.268 g. A 0.01 g scale separates them cleanly.
Sound: silver rings noticeably higher and longer.
Date: definitive, but dimes wear heavily and dates are often the first thing to go.
Worked examples at today's price
| Quantity | Face value | Silver content | Melt value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 dime | $0.10 | 0.07234 oz t | $4.80 |
| 10 dimes | $1.00 | 0.7234 oz t | $48.02 |
| 1 roll (50) | $5.00 | 3.617 oz t | $240.09 |
| 100 dimes | $10.00 | 7.234 oz t | $480.19 |
| $100 face | $100 | 72.34 oz t | $4,802 |
Ten dimes hold exactly the same silver as four quarters or two half dollars — 0.7234 troy ounces per dollar of face value. That constant is what lets a mixed jar be valued by face value alone; see the junk silver calculator for the full explanation and the circulated-wear multiplier the trade actually uses.
Why wear matters most on dimes
Dimes are the denomination where the gap between theoretical and actual silver content is widest, and it is worth knowing if you are selling in quantity.
A dime is the smallest and thinnest US silver coin, with the highest surface area relative to its mass. It also circulated hardest — dimes were spent constantly, where half dollars often sat in drawers. Decades of handling abrade a trace of metal from every surface, and on a coin this small that loss is proportionally greater than on a quarter or a half.
This is exactly why the trade values circulated 90% coinage at 0.715 troy ounces per dollar of face value rather than the theoretical 0.7234. A jar of well-worn dimes sits at the pessimistic end of that range; a roll of uncirculated 1964 Roosevelts sits at the optimistic end. If your dimes are genuinely smooth — dates faint, design details softened — assume the lower figure and be pleasantly surprised rather than the reverse.
Sorting a jar without going mad
If you have inherited a coin jar, a practical order of operations:
- Sort by edge first, not by date. Pour the coins onto a tray, push them into a row on their sides, and pull the ones with no copper stripe. This is minutes rather than hours.
- Then sort the silver pile by denomination and add up the face value.
- Then check dates on the silver only — you have already reduced the work by whatever fraction of the jar was clad.
- Set aside anything unusual: Mercury dimes generally, anything pre-1946, anything that looks uncirculated, and any 1916 dime with a mintmark.
- Weigh the remainder and value it by face value.
Resist the urge to clean anything at any stage.
What dealers actually pay
Silver dimes trade near melt. They need no assay, they are impossible to fake profitably at this value, and retail buyers like them for divisibility.
Some dealers pay marginally less per ounce for dimes than for larger denominations, because counting and handling 500 dimes takes longer than handling 50 halves. The difference is small but real, and it is one reason larger denominations are slightly more efficient to sell in quantity.
Melt value is a ceiling, not an offer, though for junk silver the gap is narrow.
If you are buying instead
Dimes offer the finest divisibility in junk silver, at a modest premium over spot. See what a realistic premium over spot looks like →
Related pages
Silver quarter value · Silver half dollar value · War nickel value · Junk silver calculator
FAQ
What year did dimes stop being silver?
- From 1965 dimes were struck in copper-nickel clad with no silver content.
How much silver is in a silver dime? 0.07234 troy ounces — 2.5 grams of 90% silver alloy, so 2.25 grams of actual silver.
Are Mercury dimes worth more than Roosevelt dimes? For metal, no — identical content. As collectibles, Mercury dimes are more sought after, and specific dates such as 1916-D are worth far more than melt.
Can I still find silver dimes in circulation? Very rarely. Almost all were withdrawn decades ago, though their small size means they are overlooked slightly more often than larger coins.
How many silver dimes make a troy ounce? About 13.8 dimes, since each holds 0.07234 troy ounces.
Data sources: Spot price via api.gold-api.com · COMEX futures (SI=F) via Yahoo Finance. Prices are for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Figures on this page were generated . Silver is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce.