Market Calendar
The Retail Premium Index

Junk Silver Premiums Relative to Spot, Month by Month

In August 2026 the 90% junk silver ($1 face value) carried 3.6% under spot, or $2.21 an ounce under the metal value, against 3.4% for the silver composite in the same month and the reading sits in the 3rd percentile of the product's own history.

Retail Premium Index, August 2026-3.6%-$2.21 per ounce over spot3rd percentile of its own history
August 202612 of 12 silver benchmarks this month
1-year average-2.3%
All-history average14.5%155 months
Retail Premium Index silver composite, August 20263.4%

The year's range so far-7.9% in March 2026 to 0.6% in February 2026

captured 31 Aug 2026 · How these numbers are made

Month by month

Compare against:
-20.0%0.0%20.0%40.0%60.0%80.0%January 2013October 2014July 2016April 2018January 2020October 2021July 2023April 2025
See the figures
90% junk silver ($1 face value) and Silver composite, by month
Category90% junk silver ($1 face value)Silver composite
January 20139.1%
February 201312.1%
March 20138.4%
April 201316.7%16.0%
May 201324.7%
June 201314.6%
July 201318.0%
August 201313.3%
September 20138.4%10.0%
October 20138.7%9.5%
November 20138.8%9.5%
December 20138.1%8.1%
January 20149.7%9.7%
February 20148.5%8.5%
March 20148.9%8.9%
April 20149.2%9.2%
May 201411.2%10.0%
June 201410.0%10.0%
July 20147.4%7.4%
August 20147.2%8.5%
September 20147.0%9.1%
October 201412.7%12.8%
November 201417.0%17.1%
December 201415.7%15.9%
January 201516.0%13.8%
February 201517.3%14.1%
March 201518.0%13.9%
April 201513.8%13.8%
May 201515.5%14.2%
June 201515.8%14.7%
July 201520.8%18.7%
August 201545.9%19.4%
September 201569.9%20.3%
October 201535.6%17.1%
November 201522.2%15.5%
December 201529.0%15.9%
January 201629.2%15.2%
February 201623.8%14.2%
March 201627.1%13.3%
April 201616.6%13.8%
May 201614.4%13.7%
June 201612.4%12.5%
July 20168.4%10.1%
August 20167.3%11.0%
September 20169.2%9.8%
October 201611.1%11.1%
November 201613.8%11.9%
December 201614.4%11.4%
January 201712.5%11.5%
February 20177.8%8.9%
March 20177.6%9.1%
April 20177.0%10.9%
May 20179.5%11.6%
June 20178.5%11.2%
July 20178.0%11.8%
August 20176.0%10.9%
September 20174.2%10.6%
October 20173.6%8.1%
November 20173.5%8.0%
December 20173.8%7.7%
January 20183.4%8.2%
February 20181.9%6.3%
March 20183.3%7.9%
April 20182.8%11.2%
May 20182.7%11.2%
June 20183.2%10.5%
July 20183.5%9.8%
August 20184.0%10.4%
September 20185.9%8.6%
October 20187.0%12.8%
November 20185.7%11.0%
December 20185.8%12.3%
January 20195.0%11.9%
February 20195.1%11.8%
March 20195.2%11.7%
April 20194.3%11.2%
May 20194.4%11.0%
June 20194.9%10.6%
July 20194.6%11.2%
August 20194.3%10.2%
September 20194.3%10.0%
October 20192.9%9.0%
November 20193.0%10.8%
December 20193.3%8.5%
January 20203.0%10.6%
February 20202.7%10.1%
March 202023.2%16.6%
April 202046.1%38.8%
May 202023.9%29.6%
June 202017.7%17.8%
July 202015.9%16.8%
August 202015.2%15.8%
September 20209.7%15.1%
October 20209.1%13.8%
November 20208.2%10.7%
December 20205.2%9.3%
January 20217.8%11.1%
February 202126.8%20.1%
March 202131.0%20.6%
April 202133.1%22.9%
May 202126.2%20.2%
June 202121.0%18.8%
July 202119.6%16.7%
August 202119.0%16.1%
September 202124.5%16.1%
October 202133.5%17.2%
November 202130.6%15.3%
December 202131.7%17.8%
January 202231.6%17.0%
February 202227.8%16.9%
March 202227.4%19.3%
April 202234.4%24.8%
May 202239.8%27.5%
June 202240.3%24.6%
July 202245.8%24.8%
August 202245.8%25.8%
September 202249.4%28.9%
October 202262.4%31.9%
November 202253.9%30.8%
December 202231.5%17.9%
January 202327.3%15.9%
February 202323.2%15.5%
March 202330.0%18.3%
April 202358.4%20.4%
May 202357.2%19.4%
June 202341.1%17.5%
July 202327.7%16.6%
August 202316.8%16.8%
September 202319.9%13.2%
October 202320.4%14.0%
November 202313.5%13.9%
December 202318.2%14.8%
January 202415.6%14.9%
February 202411.5%14.1%
March 202410.4%13.0%
April 20246.5%10.6%
May 20247.0%9.4%
June 20245.8%10.4%
July 20244.8%10.2%
August 20249.8%9.6%
September 20249.2%9.6%
October 20246.6%9.4%
November 20247.5%9.1%
December 20248.0%9.6%
January 20255.1%6.9%
February 20254.5%6.8%
March 20255.9%6.5%
April 20254.2%7.7%
May 20251.4%9.8%
June 20254.4%6.9%
July 20251.3%5.5%
August 20250.6%6.1%
September 20250.6%4.8%
October 20250.7%7.8%
November 20250.3%5.7%
December 20250.4%5.9%
January 20260.1%7.5%
February 20260.6%10.9%
March 2026-7.9%7.6%
April 2026-6.0%6.0%
May 2026-1.4%6.1%
June 2026-7.5%3.5%
July 2026-4.1%7.7%
August 2026-3.6%3.4%
Monthly premium over spot, January 2013 to August 2026, against the silver composite. Months with very few sales are drawn like the others here and left out of the averages and the high.

Based on SD Bullion transaction data. Figures before March 2019 are historical estimates.

Some months of this series were revised at the latest publish. See Revisions

Silver premiums | Compare with Silver Eagle

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The month's premium
-3.6% · -$2.21/oz
2026 range
-7.9%-0.6%

What moves this premium

Pre-1965 United States dimes, quarters and half dollars, struck in 90% silver, traded by face value; one dollar of face value contains about 0.715 troy ounces of silver. No new junk silver is ever made, so its premium is a pure supply-and-demand signal: in calm markets it can trade near or even below the metal value of its silver, and in shortages it has spiked hard as buyers reach for small, divisible, recognisable silver. Its percentile within its own history is the shortage siren this index watches.

What miners pay to produce an ounce is the other half of the picture: see what the tracked producers spend against the metal price.Miner margins

About the 90% junk silver ($1 face value)

Issuer
United States Mint
Product type
Circulating 90 percent silver coinage
Fineness
.900
Benchmark unit
One dollar of face value
Silver content
About 0.715 troy oz per dollar of face value
Typical coins
Dimes, quarters and half dollars
Era
Pre-1965
Country
United States

Premium benchmark: circulated 90 percent silver coin by face value; excludes silver dollars, collector grades, proofs and commemorative issues.

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The Retail Premium Index

Questions buyers ask

What is junk silver and why does it have a premium at all?

Pre-1965 US dimes, quarters and half dollars, ninety percent silver, sold by face value in rolls and bags. Nothing new is ever minted, so the supply is whatever comes out of drawers and estates, and the premium is the market clearing that supply against demand for small, recognisable, divisible silver. The series covers ordinary circulated coin; collector grades and silver dollars are left out where they can be identified.

Why does the junk silver premium swing so much?

Because supply cannot answer demand. When buyers want small silver, there is no mint to call and the premium jumps; when silver rallies hard and holders sell, dealers can be buried in coin and the premium collapses, at times below the metal value of the coins. That is why the silver page ranks the latest month against its own history: the percentile is the shortage siren.

Can a junk silver premium be negative?

It has been. When the silver price moves very fast, ninety percent coin has sold for less than the metal in it, because melting it down costs money and the buyers who want small silver are outnumbered by the holders selling it. The series shows those months as they happened rather than smoothing them away.

How to read this page

The Retail Premium Index publishes the average premium paid on retail orders at SD Bullion, month by month, for each benchmark bullion product. A premium is what a buyer pays above the metal value of the piece, as a share of that value; a dollar figure is shown only where the record carries it. It includes the mint's and the distributor's charges as well as the dealer's, so it is not a measure of dealer margin.

A premium can also be negative: when the metal price moves very fast, some products have sold for less than the metal in them, and the series shows that as it happened.

Where next

The Retail Premium Index is a free public resource published for educational purposes only. It is compiled from real transaction records and from market data we license, using the methods described on the methodology page, and we correct it when we find errors. It is not a price quote, an offer to buy or sell, or investment advice, and it may not match figures compiled by other dealers or from other sources, whose products, pricing and methods differ from ours. The methods, the products covered and the period covered may change over time; nothing about the continuation, consistency or method of the index is guaranteed, and any figure may be revised or withdrawn. Past premiums do not indicate future premiums. The figures come from one retailer's own records of completed orders, and for the months before March 2019 from estimates of what the metal was worth at the time of each sale.

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