When Did They Stop Making Silver Quarters?

For centuries, the United States incorporated precious metals into its coinage. Silver played a prominent role in the composition of various denominations, including quarters, dimes, and half dollars. This reflected an era when currency value was directly tied to the metals from which it was made. This approach began to face challenges in the mid-20th century.

The Shift from Silver Quarters

The United States Mint officially ceased producing quarters with 90% silver content for general circulation in 1964. While coins dated 1964 were the last to contain this high percentage of silver, their minting continued into early 1966. This transition was formalized by the Coinage Act of 1965, signed into law on July 23, 1965. The Act mandated a significant change in the composition of dimes and quarters, moving away from silver entirely.

Beginning in 1965, quarters were produced using a new copper-nickel clad composition. This alloy featured an outer layer of 75% copper and 25% nickel, bonded to a pure copper core. This change created a coin that maintained a similar appearance but lacked the intrinsic silver value of its predecessors.

Driving Factors Behind the Change

Economic pressures and market conditions drove the decision to remove silver from quarters and other circulating coinage. In the early 1960s, the price of silver began to rise, eventually reaching a point where the metallic value of silver coins exceeded their face value. By June 1965, the silver content in a dime was worth more than its ten-cent face value, creating an unsustainable situation for the Treasury.

This increase in silver’s market price led to widespread hoarding and melting of silver coins by the public. This resulted in a severe coin shortage in circulation. The U.S. Mint’s silver stockpiles were rapidly depleting, and continuing to strike coins with high silver content was economically unfeasible and unsustainable. The Coinage Act of 1965 was an economic response to stabilize the coinage supply and reduce production costs.

Identifying Silver Quarters

Identifying silver quarters is straightforward. Any U.S. quarter dated 1964 or earlier is composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. Quarters minted from 1965 onward are made of copper-nickel clad material and contain no silver.

Another method for identification involves examining the coin’s edge. Silver quarters have a solid silver-colored edge without a visible copper stripe. Copper-nickel clad quarters display a distinct reddish or copper-colored stripe along their edge, often called a “copper sandwich.” A “ring test” can also offer a clue: silver coins produce a higher-pitched, more resonant ringing sound when dropped compared to the duller thud of clad coins.

Transition for Other Silver Coinage

The compositional change affecting quarters also extended to other U.S. coin denominations. Dimes, like quarters, had their silver content removed starting in 1965. They transitioned to the same copper-nickel clad composition.

Half dollars underwent a similar change. While dimes and quarters became silver-free in 1965, the Kennedy half dollar maintained a reduced silver content of 40% from 1965 through 1970. This “silver-clad” composition featured an outer layer of 80% silver and 20% copper bonded to a core of 21% silver and 79% copper. By 1971, silver was eliminated from the half dollar, aligning its composition with that of the dime and quarter.