Silver Weights & Measures

If you are planning on doing any amount of buying and/or selling of silver, you should become familiar with the weight system used for measuring silver. By understanding the terms used in the troy weight system, you will...

Better understand the relationship between weight, fineness (or
purity) and content of silver coins and other silver objects.

Be able to determine how fair a dealer quoted price is when you
are buying or selling silver coins, bars or other silver items (once you
know the silver content plus the spot price of silver).

The Troy Weight System

To see how this weight system is used as it relates to silver, lets look at two popular U. S. silver coins - the Silver American Eagle and the Peace Silver Dollar. The Silver American Eagle has a silver fineness or purity of .9993. Since this coin is (about) pure silver, its gross weight and net silver weight are (about) the same - approximately one troy ounce.

The Peace Silver Dollar is 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper with a gross weight of .859 troy ounces. This silver coin (uncirculated) contains .773 ounces of pure silver (.859 x .90). Circulated coins contain a little less silver (approximately .765 troy ounces) due to the "wear" factor.

If you know the avoirdupois weight in ounces of a silver item, you can convert it to a troy ounces by multiplying the avoirdupois weight by 0.911.