Silver coin circulation

I've been wondering, when the US switched from silver coins to what we call clad in the mid 60's, was there a sudden sharp decrease in the silver circulation or was it gradual, like how a 78 dime is less common in pocket change than a 2005 today?

The U.S. stop making silver coins in 1964. There was a few dimes in the mix of clad and silver for the first year, but very fard to find. people stared to save the silver not long after the clad was made.

Thanks, without looking at mintage numbers post 65' to compensate I assume this would have created a brief period without much coinage circulating?

Deadlift - The silver disappearance was not gradual because the intrinsic value of the silver in the coins was more than the face value of the coins even before clad coins were introduced.

Most people don't realize what Tom pointed out a while back...1964 silver coins did not actually stop being minted in 1964.

Clad quarters started being circulated in November, 1965. Clad dimes didn't start being circulated until early 1966. Right up until the initial massive dump into circulation of clad, large quantities of silver coins were being minted to discourage hoarding in an attempt to convince citizens that silver was not disappearing. But the large 1963 and especially 1964 dated silver mintages tell a different story. Philly and Denver were cranking the silvers out to keep them circulating to counteract the hoarding that was going on.

Clad mintages , more than my fuzzy childhood memories, tell the disappearing silver story. The large clad mintages dated 1965-1967 dropped to more typical numbers in 1968 and thereafter. That indicates the vast majority of silver was out of circulation by 1968.

Here's a link to the Johnson Coinage act of 1965: [www.presidency.ucsb.edu]

The 1964 silver dime was minted in 1964, 1965 & 1966; yet, was dated "1964". ((( One reason is because of silver inventory overage. Another reason was to mitigate hoarding. )))

Interesting this topic was brought up. Three days ago, I was giving one-on-one training to an individual...... bringing him up to speed with a new F75. Dual headphone training...... in his back yard. He owned the house. He had the house built.......... and received his C.O. (Certificate of Occupancy) in February, 1969. The property was bare/uninhabited prior to the house being built. We found plenty of pennies....... and many of them were 1956, 1957, 1958 wheat's. Nine dimes were found. All coins were almost exactly at 11" deep. Here's were things get interesting. The dimes dates were:
1961, 1962, 1964, 1964
1965, 1967, 1967, 1967, 1967

Nearly half of the dimes were silver.

What made it more interesting was............. I commented to him that the bulk/majority of all the coins were found in 2 distinct 'stripes' of soil. A pair of 3-feet wide by 13-feet long stripes. . . . . with each 'stripe' of dirt being parallel to each other... and about 2-1/2-feet apart from each other. Then, I made the comment: If I were to guess/speculate....... I would say there 'was' a swingset here in 1969. His eyes lit up........ and he commented: "OMG...... yes! I completely forgot! In fact, when I moved in...... I immediately put up a 2-swing swingset for my two kids (both boys). It was up from Feb, 1969 to Feb 1970. Took it down because my kids could not play nicely, did not want to 'share'...... and got hurt multiple times."

This fact-finding/intelligence-gathering is congruent/parallels with my vivid/distinct experience of clearly remembering that about half of the dimes & quarters in circulation in 1969......... were silver. And I do believe that it was around February of 1969 (as I research my past). It may be locale specific; ...... findings were from Fairfax/Falls Church, Virginia........... and Los Angeles/San Francisco, California. I can also clearly remember that the 'sandwich' coins (clad coins) were really starting to flood/saturate the market. At the time........... I had unusually high interest in 1962 coins......... as that is my birthyear. . . . . hence, my attention to 'years'. Also............. dateless Buffalo's were still quite common in circulation in Feb, 1969.

Interesting. He is getting back his children's allowance money.

Hi Tom,,,,Ironically there is some correlation between that era of a building/structures and dimes being a very prevalent/dominant denomination of coinage being lost.....I guess I don't have the answer but then again I have never given it much thought..........JJ

Tom and Marco-great info. Love this forum

I remember still finding silver dimes and quarters in change during the eighties.

Tom - Very interesting information.

I can't explain the percentage of silver you guys found from verified 1969 drops, but I still respectfully contend that the quantity of silver in circulation in 1969 was way, way less than 50%.

My personal recollection when I collected dimes from rolls for about a year somewhere around 5th or 6th grade was that a roll typically didn't have more than a handful of silver dimes. That year or so would have been between fall of 1968 (start of 5th grade) and early summer 1970 (end of 6th grade).

Mintage figures also support my contention. Massive quantities of clad quarters minted between 1965 and 1967 dropped to about 1/5 of the 1967 total in 1968 and stayed at a similar lower level for years thereafter. That indicates to me that the quarters needed to replace hoarded silver had dropped significantly by 1968.

The dime totals weren't as pronounced, but figures still dropped by over half from 1967 and 1968 and stayed similarly lower for years.

Correction to my post above.

Dime totals dropped by over 1/2 from 1967 to 1968 and stayed lower for years after that

marcomo......... not a problem......... as I am only reporting on two locale datum (Fairfax, VA and L.A.)...... and a Titusville, Florida 1969 house. This is not exactly a overall 'aggregate' picture.

Point well taken, Tom. Back in the pre-internet days, word did not spread the way it does now. It would be no surprise for hoarding to vary significantly in different locales.