Q&A for How to Melt Silver Coins

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What should the oven temperature be set at?

Community Answer

Pure silver melts at a temperature of 1,761 degrees F. Your oven's not hitting that...

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Question

Is it illegal to sell or melt US coins?

Community Answer

Despite rumors to the contrary, it is not illegal to melt U.S. silver coinage for its metal value. It was illegal from 1967 to 1969 to do so, during which time the government recalled as much silver coinage from circulation as it could.

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If I melt down a 40% silver half dollar with a torch and cast it, is it still 40% silver, or does the torch dissolve the other metals?

Community Answer

It will still be 40% silver, as you are not removing any of the other materials from the coin. You will need to bring chemistry into this equation, which is hard to do with the availability of the required materials.

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If melting down coins with other metals in them, how do I get the other metals out?

Community Answer

It depends on the metals. If you're talking a 90% US silver coin (such as a pre-1964 half dollar or quarter dollar), you would need to utilize chemistry. The easiest way would be to dissolve the coin in nitric acid, then add copper until the silver drops out of solution. The trouble with that is, it's extremely inefficient, won't get you above 99% purity (not even 'Three Nines'), nitric is extremely hard to get a hold of if you're not a business with a need (due to terrorism concerns), and even if you can get it, nitric acid is extremely expensive to transport.

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Who could I sell the melted silver to?

Community Answer

Defacing US currency and selling it is illegal if you're doing it in large amounts. You technically could sell it to anyone who is willing to purchase silver, but I wouldn't recommend it.

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Is it illegal to melt silver coins?

Community Answer

No, it is completely legal in the US to do this. Check with local laws in other countries.

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If I melt 99.99% pure silver lingots and mold them into bars, would their purity be affected during the process?

Community Answer

Technically no, maybe a few of the silver or other metals may "burn" away or if not done properly you could potentially end up with slag build up which would be the metals oxidizing essentially becoming waste. But in general usually no, it will still be 99.99% or very close.

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