how much silver is in a ben franklin half dollar

[DeClaire]

Well, it turns out that old Ben Franklin is worth a lot more than just fifty cents. The man who famously said "a penny saved is a penny earned" must have had a good chuckle knowing his face would one day be on a coin packing a significant precious metal punch.

Your Franklin half dollar, struck between 1948 and 1963, isn't just a piece of pocket change. It's a hefty little disc made of 90% silver and 10% copper. To get down to the nitty-gritty, each one of these coins contains approximately 0.36169 Troy ounces of pure silver.

So, while he may be famous for flying a kite in a thunderstorm, the real shock is how much silver the U.S. Mint packed into his tribute coin. It’s a piece of currency that makes both historical and financial "cents."