JarSort · Inherited coin values
1968 Canadian silver quarter — silver or nickel?
A 1968 Canadian quarter can be .500 silver or plain nickel — same design, same date, very different value. The silver version melts for $5.05 (NGC) or $4.37 (Royal Canadian Mint), depending on which source you trust; the nickel version is worth 25 cents. The magnet test decides which one you have.
The three numbers that matter
Prices as of Oct 24, 2026 · Silver spot $53.80/ozt (Kitco) · Circulated, common date, problem-free, raw (uncertified) unless stated
No number is shown until the magnet test is done: a 1968 quarter that sticks to a magnet is nickel (25¢). The asking range is a soft estimate — the melt floor is the more reliable number, and no honest dealer goes below melt for a silver coin.
The magnet test first
Hold a magnet to the coin. Sticks = nickel, worth 25¢. Doesn't stick = silver. That is the first test, and it decides the price. A coin that does not stick is not automatically silver — but combined with the date and design, the magnet sorts a 1968 pile correctly almost every time.
Weigh it — and know what the scale can and cannot tell you
Use a 0.01 g scale. About 5.83 g supports the NGC melt ($5.05). About 5.05 g cannot settle it — under the Mint figure, silver and nickel both weigh 5.05 g, so weighing cannot separate silver from nickel. Only the magnet test does that. The gap is roughly $5.05 of melt versus 25 cents of face value.
Why 1968 is two coins
Canada dropped silver from its coinage in 1968. Early 1968 quarters were struck in .500 silver (0.0938 oz) in Ottawa; later ones in pure nickel (some in Philadelphia), identical in design. The changeover is why the date alone does not price the coin — the metal does.
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