How to use this checklist
Work through the checklist with the actual coins in front of you — a desk, decent light, and ideally a pocket scale that reads to 0.01 grams. The first section is the identification workflow in the order dealers use it: date first, edge second, then the ring and weight tests for anything ambiguous. The middle section covers the coin types that get mis-sorted most often, and the last section is what to do before you put a dollar figure on anything. Check items off only once you've actually done them, not when you're sure you would.
What your result means
The score measures how much of the identification work is finished, not how much silver you have. A high score means your sort is trustworthy: the 90%, the 40%, the war nickels and the worthless clad are in separate piles, and the collectibles are set aside. A low score usually means one thing — a jar of mixed coins nobody has dated yet. That's the starting point, not a problem: the first two checks (date and edge) take seconds per coin and settle the vast majority of US coinage.
When to trust it
Date plus edge plus weight settles virtually every genuine US coin — the specifications are law, not opinion. Trust the ring test as a fast screen, not a verdict. Where the checklist stops being enough: suspected counterfeits (weight is the tell — fakes are usually off), world coins with their own silver eras, and anything that might be a key date. Those deserve a coin shop, a club, or a grading service before they're sold by weight. And the final valuation is only as good as today's spot price — the junk silver calculator lets you enter it fresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will a magnet stick to a silver coin?
No — silver isn't magnetic, and neither are copper-nickel clad coins, so a magnet can't tell them apart. What a magnet does catch is the most common counterfeit base: steel. A magnet snapping onto a 'silver' coin ends the identification right there. Genuine silver and genuine clad both ignore the magnet, which is why the date and edge checks do the real sorting work.
Do bicentennial quarters and half dollars contain silver?
The ones from circulation, no — 1776–1976 quarters, halves and Eisenhower dollars found in change are copper-nickel clad, worth face value. The exception is the 40% silver versions struck at San Francisco for collector sets, which carry an S mintmark and were sold in special packaging. If your bicentennials came from a relative's mint-set collection rather than a coffee can of change, they're worth checking before tossing them in the clad pile.
What's the fastest way to sort a big jar of old coins?
Date-sort first: everything 1964 and older in one pile, everything 1965 and newer in another — that one step splits silver from clad for dimes and quarters. Then pull the halves regardless of date and sort them into 1964, 1965–70, and 1971+ buckets. Check any nickel from 1942–45 for the large mintmark above Monticello. Weigh a sample of ten coins from each pile if you suspect fakes, then count or total the face value and run it through the junk silver calculator.