Barber Dimes were minted from 1892 through 1916. Unbelievably, some people think that older money may not be worth anything because it is no longer used. This is so incorrect and is not the case. They are worth more than face value mostly because of their silver content. Many older coins are worth more than newer ones, but that is because they also had smaller mintages than coins of today. In the Barber Dime series, many dimes have a market price that is tied to the bullion market.

One fallacy many people have is that these coins are pure silver. But they are not 100% silver. They were made out of a 90% silver and 10% copper alloy. Another misconception is that if you had 10 dimes, this is one ounce of silver. Again, not so. One dime weighs 0.08038 ounces. If you had 10 silver dimes, they would weigh .8038 of an ounce. Then take into consideration that they are 90% silver and you can see that calculating the price is not just taking the current silver price.

Now that we have established some history on the coin, how do you sell your bunch of Barber dimes? Many people are afraid of this transaction, but it is genuinely quite easy.

Today, most silver coins, mainly those dated from 1900 through 1965 are simply sold as a percentage of face value, as are those before 1900 that are very worn. In simple terms, a buyer may quote that s/he is paying 20 times face. This means for each dollar in face value of silver coins, the dealer is paying $20.00. So if you had a roll of silver dimes, which contains 50 dimes or $5.00, then take the face value of the coins ($5.00 times $20) and you get what the dealer may pay. So in this example, a roll of silver dimes may be worth $100.

This is an basic way to find out the estimated market price of your silver coins. Of course, the coins are only worth what someone is agreeable to pay for them. Without a written offer, they might has well be worth nothing.

Some people think that cleaning a coin will make it worth more. After all, who wants a dirty coin? So, should you clean your coins? The answer to that is always no. Even if the coins are average/non collector coins, you should not clean your coins as there is always a chance there may be a rare coin, die error, etc,. in the bunch and you do not to decrease the overall value. The fact is, cleaning coins reduces the worth.

When you want to divest your coins, there are many places you can go, but in my mind the best value is to check with a coin dealer. Places like Craigs List may be an easily done option, but you will be contacted by many odd people and potentially swindlers. Beware of extravagant ads in newspapers from traveling coin buyers. Many people view the coin dealer like the used car salesman. But in reality, the coin dealer, whether online or at a shop is likely to give you the best money for your coins as who else knows the value better than someone who is in business to buy and sell coins.