Silver Price Calculator
Price source: Spot price from Gold-API.com, with the front-month CME futures price (via Yahoo Finance) as a fallback. Prices are cached by our server and CDN, so they can lag the market by up to about an hour. How we check accuracy
How silver is priced
Silver is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce (31.1034768 g).
The LBMA Silver Price is set once a day at noon London time. CME silver futures (SI) cover 5,000 troy ounces each and drive prices during US hours.
The price is for fine silver (999). Sterling and coin silver contain less, so multiply by the purity before valuing them.
Silver purity grades
| Grade | Fineness | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Fine | 999 (99.9%) | Bullion bars and most modern bullion coins |
| Britannia | 958 (95.84%) | UK hallmark standard; pre-2013 Britannia coins |
| Sterling | 925 (92.5%) | Cutlery, jewellery, most UK hallmarked silverware |
| Coin silver | 900 (90%) | US dimes, quarters and half dollars dated 1964 and earlier |
Metal value = weight × fineness × price per unit of pure metal.
Worked examples
- 100 g of sterling silver
- 100 g × 0.925 = 92.5 g fine silver = 2.974 troy oz. At an illustrative $50/oz that is $148.70.
- $1 face value of pre-1965 US coins
- Contains 0.7234 troy oz of silver when new; dealers usually use about 0.715 oz to allow for wear.
- A 1 kg bar in troy ounces
- 1,000 ÷ 31.1034768 = 32.1507 troy oz. At $50/oz that is $1,607.54.
Prices in examples are illustrative; use the calculator above for the current price.
Common pitfalls
- Retail premiums are much larger for silver than for gold relative to the metal value, especially on single coins.
- In the UK and most of the EU, investment gold is exempt from VAT but silver bullion is not, which raises the effective purchase price.
- "Silver plate" and "EPNS" items are a thin silver layer over base metal; their silver content is negligible.
Weights used for silver
Precious metals are priced in troy ounces; everyday scales use avoirdupois ounces and pounds.
| Unit | Grams | Troy ounces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 gram | 1 | 0.03215 |
| 1 troy ounce | 31.1034768 | 1 |
| 1 ounce (avoirdupois) | 28.3495231 | 0.91146 |
| 1 tola | 11.6638038 | 0.375 |
| 1 pound (avoirdupois) | 453.59237 | 14.58333 |
| 1 kilogram | 1,000 | 32.15075 |
Frequently asked questions
What unit is silver priced in?
US dollars per troy ounce. One troy ounce is 31.1034768 grams, about 9.7% more than the 28.35 g ounce used on kitchen scales. To get the price per gram, divide the ounce price by 31.1034768.
Why is a dealer's silver price different from spot?
Spot is the wholesale price for large bars. Coins and small bars are sold with a premium that covers minting, distribution and the dealer's margin, and dealers buy back below spot. The calculator shows metal value at spot.
Sources
- NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement — NIST
- LBMA precious metal prices (gold, silver, platinum, palladium) — London Bullion Market Association
- Silver futures (SI) contract specifications — CME Group
- Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries (16 CFR Part 23) — US Federal Trade Commission
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