* * * * *
                                        
                                 Silver change
                                        
 [1]  [2] I almost didn't go. 

I was feeling a bit tired after lunch so I debated with myself if I really
wanted to hit the convenience store and get some Coke [3]. I'm not sure if I
won or lost as I ended up going to the convenience store. I was most
surprised to find myself with a 1952 U.S. (United States) quarter in the
change I received. 

As a kid, I had one of those books that list the prices collectors are
willing to pay for coins of certain years and there was a remarkable
difference between the 1964 and 1965 U.S. quarters. The 1965 quarter was the
first year the U.S. mint stopped [4] using silver to make the quarter;
therefore the price differential. 

I no longer have the book (which was the price guide for something like 1979
or some such year) so I have no idea how much exactly my 1952 quarter is
worth, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out—a quarter weighs 5.670g [5]
(those are the current quarters, but they can't have changed that much in
weight over time and that's the first figure I found with Google [6]) and the
current price of silver [7] is $4.445 an ounce, but that's Troy ounces of
which there are 12 per pound, not 16, so you have 38 grams/ounce and not the
usual 28 grams/ounce … so you divide … then multiply … but the quarters back
then were 90% silver, not 100% so you adjust accordingly and you get … 59¢
worth of silver! 

Um … yea. 

But it's still neat! 

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2002/11/23/usq.1952.jpg
[2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2002/11/23/usq.1966.jpg
[3] http://www.coke.com/
[4] http://www.coinresource.com/articles/FRB_united_states_coins.htm
[5] http://www.coinmag.com/50states/statehoodquarters.html
[6] http://www.google.com/
[7] http://www.kitco.com/market/

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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