Testing
How to tell if silver is real: 7 tests you can do at home
Weigh it, measure it, then a magnet, an ice cube and a glass of water. What each test catches, what fools it, and the fake Silver Eagle that weighed too much.
Stacker Guides
For people who already own the stuff, and people about to. Every guide comes with a calculator. None of them comes with a sales pitch.
Practical answers for anyone holding physical gold or silver: how to tell if it’s real, what it’s worth, what you paid over spot, what gets reported to the tax authorities and how to keep track of it. Every figure links to its source, and nothing here tells you what to buy.
The guides
Testing
How to tell if gold is real: the home tests that work
Read the stamp, check where it rubs, try a magnet, then weigh it in water. Which tests to skip, and the tungsten fake that weighs exactly what gold weighs.
Stamps
Gold and silver stamps explained: what 14K, 585, 925 and GF really mean
Every karat and fineness number, sterling to EPNS, the letters that mean the gold is only a coat, how to read a UK hallmark, and who checks each stamp before it is sold.
Markets
Why did silver spike in January 2026, and why did it fall so hard?
Five years of shortfalls, a London squeeze and borrowed money took silver to $121.67; one Friday took a quarter of it back. What drove it, what broke it, and how it compares with 1980 and 2011.
Pennies
Copper pennies: which years are copper, what they’re worth, and why you can’t melt them
Every penny from 1982 and earlier holds about four cents of copper. Which years are which, how to sort a jar by weight, the melting law and its exceptions, and the 1943 penny that sold for $204,000.
Coins
Kennedy half dollar value by year: which are 90% silver, which are 40%, and which are neither
The 1964 half is 90% silver, 1965 to 1970 are 40%, and everything since holds none. How to tell them apart by the edge, what each holds, the Bicentennial half, and the few worth more than their silver.
Bars
Gold bar sizes and weights: from a 1-gram bar to the 400-ounce bar in the vault
Every common bar from 1 gram to the 27-pound vault bar: what each weighs and is worth, cast versus minted, assay cards, why small bars cost more per ounce, and why no two vault bars weigh the same.
Paper money
Silver certificate value: what a blue seal dollar bill is worth, and why it no longer buys silver
Most 1935 and 1957 blue seal dollars are worth about face value. Which ones collectors want, how the promise of silver on demand ended in 1968, and what the silver dollar it promised would fetch today.
Taxes and privacy
Do coin dealers report gold and silver sales to the IRS?
Buying is reported only when you pay more than $10,000 in cash. Selling is reported only for big futures-grade bars, not coins. Why the list everyone quotes is out of date, and the rules in the UK, Canada and Australia.
Taxes and privacy
Do you pay taxes when you sell gold and silver?
In the US, yes, as a collectible at up to 28%. How to work out the gain, why part of it is just inflation, why a silver-for-gold swap is a sale, and the rules in the UK, Canada and Australia.
Buying
What is junk silver? Which coins it includes and what to pay
Pre-1965 dimes, quarters and halves, sold by the dollar. How much silver is in $1 of face, a pound of coins or a 55-pound bag, and how to turn any dealer’s quote into a price per ounce.
Buying
Why do gold and silver cost more than the spot price?
Spot is the price of the coffee beans; you are buying the latte. Where the premium goes, why silver’s runs so much higher than gold’s, and what the cheapest buyers paid in 2026.
Identifying
When did coins stop being silver? The cutoff year, country by country
The US after 1964, Britain after 1946, Canada halfway through 1968. The cutoff and the silver content for thirteen countries, and how to check the coin in your hand.
Selling
Where to sell gold and silver coins for the best price
Coin shop, online dealer, pawn shop or eBay? How to turn every offer into a price per ounce, why the biggest sale price can leave you with the least, and how to sell safely.
Storing and care
How to clean silver coins, and why you usually shouldn’t
Cleaning an old coin is washing a vintage concert T-shirt in bleach. When to leave tarnish alone, the one safe way to remove dirt, what the foil trick does, and what milk spots are.
Coins
Morgan silver dollar value: how much silver, and why it sells above melt
0.7734 troy ounces of silver in every old Morgan. Melt values at a range of silver prices, where to find the mint mark, the rare dates, and why a scrapyard price is only the floor.
Basics
What is a troy ounce? Troy ounce vs regular ounce
Bigger donuts, smaller box. Why a troy ounce is heavier than a regular ounce, why a troy pound is lighter, and why your 1-ounce coin reads 1.1 ounces on the kitchen scale.
Rules
Is it legal to melt coins? Pennies, nickels and silver
Silver coins, yes. Pennies and nickels, no: up to $10,000 in fines. The exceptions, the rules in the UK, Canada and Australia, and why melting silver usually loses money anyway.
Buying
Silver Eagle vs Maple Leaf vs Britannia vs Krugerrand
Same water, different bottles. How the six big one-ounce silver coins differ in purity, size, security features, premium and tax.
Storing and care
How to store gold and silver at home, and what insurance covers
The sock drawer is not a hiding place, it is a checklist. Home safes, bank boxes and vaults compared, and the $200 insurance limit most people never read.
The Coin Cellar: calculators for stackers
Melt values, premiums, the ratio and a private place to keep track of your stack. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Melt value
Junk silver calculator: what is your silver worth?
Every US silver coin, by count or by face value. A pre-1965 dime holds about 0.0723 troy ounces of silver, and the calculator does the whole jar.
One coinWhat is a 1964 silver quarter worth?
In 1964 the minimum wage was five silver quarters an hour. This is what those five quarters are worth now, and what an hour of minimum wage buys instead.
Year checkerIs my coin silver?
Pick the coin, type the year. Dimes, quarters and halves from 1964 or earlier are 90% silver; the war nickel, the 40% half and the S-mint collector coins are sorted out too.
SellingCapital gains tax on gold and silver
The US tax on selling at the 28% collectibles rate, short or long term, and how much of your “gain” is only inflation.
Counterfeit checkIs my coin fake?
Type the weight, width and thickness. See how far each is from the mint’s specification for 20 silver and gold coins, from the Silver Eagle to the Krugerrand.
Cost basisWhat did you pay over spot?
Your true cost per ounce once shipping and fees are counted, the premium in dollars and percent, and the spot price that gets you back to level. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Your stackMy Stack: a private gold and silver tracker
Coins, bars and rounds with what you paid: melt value today, gain or loss in money and in ounces. No account, no ads, and it never leaves your browser.
RatioThe gold-to-silver ratio
How many ounces of silver one ounce of gold buys, charted against fifty-seven years of its own history, with the honest answer to whether that makes silver cheap.
Not a stacker yet?
Start with the articles, sixteen stories about how money works and how it gets debased, beginning with a stone at the bottom of the sea. Or play in the Rec Room, where the calculators are for everybody.