A silver spoon, a broken chain, a bag of old coins: each is worth, at minimum, the value of the pure silver inside it. That value — the melt value — is one multiplication: the item’s weight, times its fineness (the share that is actually silver), times the current silver price. Everything else in this subject is detail around that multiplication: reading the marks that state fineness, converting between troy ounces and grams, and understanding why a dealer’s offer sits below melt value. This guide covers all three, and it states one limitation plainly: silver prices move all day, so this page never quotes one. You enter the price; the page does the arithmetic.

How melt value is calculated

The formula has three inputs and no hidden steps. First, weigh the item in grams (a kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 grams is accurate enough for most scrap). Second, find the fineness from the purity mark, as a decimal: sterling 925 becomes 0.925. Third, take the silver price per troy ounce and convert it to a price per gram by dividing by 31.1035. Multiply the three: weight in grams × fineness × price per gram. That is the melt value.

Worked example: a sterling (0.925) item weighing 120 grams, with silver at $38 per troy ounce. The price per gram is $38 ÷ 31.1035 = $1.2217. The pure silver content is 120 × 0.925 = 111 grams. The melt value is 111 × $1.2217 = $135.61. Change any input and the result scales in proportion: double the weight, double the value; a fineness of 0.800 instead of 0.925 cuts the value by about 13.5%. The silver price in this example is illustrative — enter the live price when you calculate, because a price that moved $2 overnight moves a 111-gram lot by about $7.

For a lot of mixed items, calculate each fineness group separately and add the results. A bag containing 200 grams of sterling and 150 grams of 800-fine silver is two calculations, not one average fineness, because the average hides the composition. The calculator on the hub page handles one fineness at a time; run it once per group and add.

Purity marks and fineness: the numbers that matter

Silver fineness is stated in parts per thousand. The marks you will meet most often are 999 (fine silver, 99.9% pure, used for bullion bars and some jewellery), 958 (Britannia silver, 95.8%, the traditional British standard for higher-grade plate), 925 (sterling, 92.5%, the standard for British and American silverware and jewellery), 900 (coin silver, 90%, the United States coin standard until 1964 for dimes, quarters, and half dollars), 835 (a continental European standard), and 800 (a common continental standard for flatware and hollowware). Each mark may appear alone, with a maker’s mark, a date letter, or an assay-office mark beside it.

American coins deserve a note of their own, because they are the most common scrap silver most people actually own. United States dimes, quarters, and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier are 90% silver; half dollars dated 1965 to 1970 are 40% silver; nickels and pennies were never silver in the ordinary sense (the wartime 1942–1945 nickel was 35% silver). A roll of pre-1965 quarters is therefore not “silver coins” in the abstract — it is a known weight of 90% alloy, and its melt value follows from the weight of the roll. Weigh, do not count, when precision matters: wear removes metal, and a heavily circulated coin weighs less than its mint specification.

Troy ounces, grams, and pennyweights: getting the units right

Precious metals are weighed in troy ounces, and the troy ounce is not the ounce on a kitchen scale. One troy ounce is 31.1035 grams; one avoirdupois (ordinary) ounce is 28.3495 grams. Silver prices are quoted per troy ounce. If you weigh an item in ordinary ounces and multiply by the per-troy-ounce price, you overstate the value by about 9.7%. If you weigh in grams and divide by 28.35 instead of 31.10, you make the same error in the other direction. The calculator on this page works in grams and converts internally; if you are doing the arithmetic by hand, divide grams by 31.1035 to get troy ounces.

Two older units still appear in the trade. The pennyweight (dwt) is 1/20 of a troy ounce, or 1.555 grams, and is common in jewellery valuation in the United States. The grain, 1/480 of a troy ounce, appears in older references. Neither is needed for a melt calculation, but if a dealer quotes “$dwt” or a price per pennyweight, convert before comparing: price per gram × 1.555 gives price per pennyweight, and price per pennyweight × 20 gives price per troy ounce.

Melt value versus a dealer’s offer

A dealer who buys scrap silver must turn metal back into money, and each step costs something. The dealer assays the metal or bears the risk that the fineness is overstated; ships and insures it; pays a refiner whose charge depends on the lot’s size and fineness; and sells the refined silver at a wholesale price that may fall between purchase and sale. The offer reflects all of that, plus a margin for the business. For common, well-marked material, offers of 80% to 90% of melt value are typical; for mixed or unmarked lots, 70% to 80% is common. An offer below 70% of melt for clean sterling deserves a second opinion.

Three things raise the offer you receive. First, clean and sorted material: sterling separated from plated ware, coins separated from jewellery, each group weighed and marked. Second, quantity: a refiner’s fixed charges spread thinner over a larger lot. Third, competition: two or three written offers, each stating the price per troy ounce used and the percentage of melt paid, turn a negotiation into a comparison. Be cautious of buyers who quote a lump sum without showing the weight, fineness, and price — the calculation should be visible, because it is simple.

Finally, check for value above melt before selling as scrap. Hallmarked antique silver, signed designer jewellery, complete flatware services in their cases, and rare coins can be worth several times melt value to a collector. A quick check — searching for the maker’s mark and pattern, or asking an auction house for a free estimate — costs nothing and can prevent an expensive mistake. Melt value is the floor. It is not always the ceiling.

What this page cannot do: live prices and predictions

This page deliberately contains no live silver price. The spot price moves throughout the trading day, and any figure printed here would be stale within hours — misleading precisely when it matters most. Enter the price from a market source at the moment you calculate: a bullion dealer’s quote, a market-data site, or your broker. If you are comparing offers received on different days, re-run the calculation at a single common price so the comparison is about the dealers’ margins, not about price movement.

Nothing here predicts the silver price. Articles that forecast where silver “will go” are speculation, and this guide offers none. The decision to sell now or hold is a judgement about your need for the money, your view of the market, and the cost of waiting — all of which are yours to make, with the melt value as the factual anchor. If a buyer pressures you with a prediction, treat the pressure, not the prediction, as the information.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate the melt value of scrap silver?

Multiply weight in grams × fineness (as a decimal) × silver price per gram. The price per gram is the per-troy-ounce price divided by 31.1035. Example: 120 g of sterling (0.925) at $38 per troy ounce is 120 × 0.925 × ($38 ÷ 31.1035) = $135.61 at that illustrative price.

What is sterling silver worth per gram?

It depends on the live silver price: sterling contains 0.925 grams of pure silver per gram of alloy, so its per-gram melt value is 0.925 × (price per troy ounce ÷ 31.1035). At $38 per troy ounce that is about $1.13 per gram. Enter the current price for a current figure.

What is the difference between sterling and coin silver?

Sterling is 92.5% silver (925 fine); coin silver is 90% silver (900 fine), the standard for United States dimes, quarters, and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier. Per gram, sterling’s melt value is about 2.8% higher than coin silver’s at the same price.

Why will a dealer offer less than melt value?

The dealer bears assay, transport, insurance, and refining costs, plus the risk that the price moves before the metal is sold, and needs a margin. Offers of 70% to 90% of melt value are typical depending on the material and lot size. Melt value is your negotiating floor.

Does tarnish reduce the melt value?

Barely. Tarnish is a thin surface layer of silver sulfide; it adds almost no weight and removes almost no silver. A heavily tarnished item weighs essentially the same as a polished one. Clean it only if you are selling it as an object — polishing antique silver can reduce its collectable value.

Should I sell my silver now or wait?

This guide makes no price prediction, and neither should any buyer pressuring you. Decide on your need for the money and your own view of the market. What you should not do is sell below melt value to a buyer whose pitch is a forecast.