Yes — a melt calculator works for foreign silver coins, but only when you enter the coin’s actual fineness, because foreign silver was struck to different standards than US coinage: Canadian silver is .800 or .500 fine depending on the year, classic Mexican silver runs from .720 to .903, and British coins dropped from .925 sterling to .500. Run a foreign coin through a calculator set to the US 90% default and the number it prints is simply wrong.
Melt values from Bullion Price Check, data as of November 8, 2026 (silver spot $52.07 per troy ounce). Melt is metal value only, before any premium or dealer spread, and excludes shipping and tax.
The Formula, Worked Once
Every melt value on this page is the same three steps: gross weight in grams × fineness ÷ 31.1035 = troy ounces of pure silver, × spot price = melt value. Worked on a Canadian silver dollar (23.33 g, struck at .800 fine): 23.33 × .800 = 18.67 g of pure silver = 0.6001 troy ounces, worth $31.25 at $52.07 spot. Once you can do that once, you can price any foreign coin from a scale and the tables below — no country-specific calculator required. For United States coinage, our silver coin melt value guide covers each denomination.
Canada: Sterling, Then .800, Then .500
Canada followed the British sterling standard early, then debased twice in the twentieth century — which is why the year matters as much as the denomination:
| Era | Fineness | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1920 | .925 (sterling) | Dimes, quarters, halves of the early Dominion issues |
| 1920–1967 | .800 | Dimes, quarters, half dollars, and silver dollars (1935–1967) |
| 1967–1968 | .500 | Dimes and quarters in the transition years (some 1967 issues are still .800) |
| 1969 onward | No silver | Circulating coinage switched to nickel |
The reference coin is the silver dollar: 23.33 grams at .800 fine melts for $31.25 at today’s spot. The trap in Canadian silver is 1967–1968 — the same dime or quarter can be .800, .500, or (from mid-1968) pure nickel, so those two years get weighed and checked individually, not priced from a chart.
Mexico: .903 Classics, the .720 Peso, and .999 Libertads
Mexican silver starts near the top of the fineness scale and works down through the twentieth century:
| Coin / era | Fineness | Example melt |
|---|---|---|
| 8 reales, to 1897 (27.07 g) | .903 | $40.92 |
| 1 peso, 1920–1945 (16.66 g) | .720 | $20.08 |
| Mid-century small change | .500 down to .100 | Check the year — fineness fell in steps |
| Libertad bullion, 1982 onward | .999 | Melts like any fine silver — $52.02 per ounce of weight |
The cap-and-ray 8 reales at .903 fine is purer than US 90% coinage, which surprises people — 27.07 grams of it holds 0.7859 ounces of silver, worth $40.92 today. The silver Libertad is a different case entirely: it is a modern .999 bullion coin whose price is melt plus a premium that moves with the series, covered in our Mexican Silver Libertad guide.
Britain: From Sterling .925 to .500 — and the Same Coin Halves
British silver held the sterling standard for centuries, then halved its fineness in a single step after the First World War:
| Era | Fineness | Florin (11.31 g) melt |
|---|---|---|
| To 1919 | .925 (sterling) | $17.51 |
| 1920–1946 | .500 | $9.47 |
| 1947 onward | No silver | Circulating coinage switched to cupronickel |
The two florins in the table are the same size and weight, struck a few years apart — yet the pre-1920 coin holds 85% more silver. That single fact is why foreign melt values can never be read off a denomination chart alone. Modern British bullion is a separate standard again: silver Britannias were struck at .958 fine from 1997 to 2012 and .999 from 2013, a quirk covered in our British Silver Britannia purity guide. For sterling silver from the jewelry and US angle — hallmarks, 925 vs 90% — see our sterling melt value guide.
Shop Modern British Silver
Current-issue British silver in stock: the 1/10 oz silver Britannia and the 1/4 oz silver Britannia — both .999 fine, so their melt is simply their weight at spot.
Mexican Silver Coins and the Libertad
Mexico is the deepest foreign-silver story most stackers meet. The classic pesos come in distinct fineness eras: the pre-1920s coinage at .903 fine, the .720 fine issues of the 1920s through the 1940s — the famous cap-and-rays pesos among them — and lower-fineness issues in the 1950s, so a Mexican peso’s melt value is set by the fineness of its date, worked with the same formula as every table in this guide. The modern chapter is the Libertad: struck by the Mexican Mint since 1982 in .999 fine silver, in sizes from 1/20 oz up to a full kilo, carrying the Winged Victory design that makes it one of the most collected bullion coins in the world. A 1 oz Libertad melts for exactly its ounce of fine silver; the premium it carries over melt — driven by genuinely low mintages in many years — is the collector layer on top. Our dedicated guide to Mexican Libertad sizes, premiums, and value covers the series coin by coin.
Foreign Silver Melt FAQ
Does a silver price calculator work for foreign silver coins?
Yes, provided the calculator lets you set the fineness — and provided you set it correctly. The calculator’s arithmetic is universal (weight × fineness × spot); what changes by country is the fineness you feed it: .800 or .500 for Canada, .720 to .903 for classic Mexico, .925 or .500 for Britain.
Which Canadian coins are .500 silver?
Dimes and quarters from the 1967–1968 transition. Canadian silver coinage was .800 fine from 1920 through 1967; the .500 issues are confined to those two years before nickel replaced silver entirely in 1969.
Are British coins from the 1940s silver?
Partly. British coins struck through 1946 are .500 fine silver; from 1947 the circulating coinage is cupronickel with no silver at all. The date, not the design, decides it.
Why do two coins of the same size melt for different amounts?
Because melt follows pure silver content, not size. A pre-1920 British florin and a 1920s florin weigh the same 11.31 grams, but at .925 versus .500 fineness they hold 0.3364 and 0.1818 troy ounces of silver — $17.51 against $9.47 at today’s spot.
Are Mexican silver Libertads covered by these tables?
They don’t need to be — Libertads are .999 fine bullion, so an ounce of Libertad melts for the same $52.02 as any other ounce of fine silver. Their market price adds a premium over melt, which is a separate question from fineness.
Melt values: Data by Bullion Price Check, as of November 8, 2026. Values are approximate and move with spot. Educational content only — not financial advice.